• Libraries all over the globe are finding more ways to engage with the community while protecting the environment.
• Snøhetta and Stantec designed the Charles Library so natural light reaches 90% of its occupied areas.
• William Rawn Associates renovated the 1895 Boston Public Library with LED lights, low-flow plumbing, and more.

Every book you can imagine, access to endless information, community services—what do you think of when you think of a library today? What about green libraries?

Modern libraries are so much more than places to check out books, though they’re certainly that, too, and we’re grateful. But some of the best libraries are also community spaces, acting as hubs for cultural programming, education, children services, and more.

As anchors in their cities, libraries new and old should also be built to last. We’ve come to depend on these institutions all over the world, and architects have told us it’s become increasingly important that the design of these buildings be sustainable.

But what is a green library exactly?

According to the International Federation of Library Associations, green libraries are “designed to minimize negative impact on the natural environment and maximize indoor environmental quality by means of careful site selection, use of natural construction materials and biodegradable products, conservation of resources, and responsible waste disposal,” and that’s just to begin with.

We think the best libraries should also stand the test of time, built with sustainable building materials that are durable.

Some of our favorite green libraries also incorporate clever daylighting solutions, have multiple methods of bringing the community together, incorporate energy-efficient HVAC, and more. These are some of our favorite standout green libraries.

Springdale Library, Toronto

RDH Architects designed the public library, garden, park, and splash pad in Brampton to create an experiential relationship to the project’s greenfield setting—complete with undulating, organic sectional topography. Photo by Nic Lehoux

Next to a park in the Toronto suburbs, Springdale Library is alive with color and natural light. It has a green roof and uses water reclamation strategies and geothermal heating. The surrounding landscape inspired RDH Architects to design the project to be both eye-catching and organic. A nearby remain inspired the building’s fluid architecture and its surrounding green spaces, which allow the library to blend within its environment.

“We were trying to deal with sustainability in a poetic architectural way, as well as being performative,” Tyler Sharp, principal and design director at RDHA, previously told gb&d.

Inside, Sharp and the design team worked to create an environment of exploration. Like the exterior, much of the library’s interiors also draw inspiration from the surrounding scenery. An organic, calming color palette of greens and yellows is used throughout, while globular pendant lights and embedded LED lights create a planetary, starry sky above stacks of books and reading areas. In the children’s area, a moss-like carpet backs up to the outer reflecting pools, blurring the boundaries of inside and out.

Hayward Public Library, Hayward, CA

The library’s facade features an open joint red terra-cotta rain screen, matching the color of the city’s historically brick buildings. Photo courtesy of Noll & Tam Architects

Noll & Tam Architects designed the Hayward Public Library to meet net zero goals, optimizing natural sunlight and looking beyond the site for energy production and water reuse. They installed additional solar panels on the municipal parking garage next door to supplement the building’s energy production. Underneath the building, a 400,000-gallon cistern collects rainwater for reuse.

The library’s facade features an open joint red terra-cotta rain screen, matching the color of the city’s historically brick buildings. Flexible design was a key goal of the project, as the team hope to keep the building alive and relevant for many years to come. “I think it could continue to serve as a library for the next century quite easily. But it will need to adapt,” Scott Salge, principal at Noll & Tam, previously told gb&d.

Winthrop Library, Winthrop, WA

The design team shifted window openings, doorways, overhangs, and a slatted wooden scrim to best control heat gain and glare during the Methow Valley’s arid summers. Photo by Benjamin Drummond

Johnston Architects designed this library in Washington state to be a community hub that can double as a place pf refuge in times of wildfire and other extreme weather events. “The area is impacted by climate change in the form of wildfires and other extreme weather events—increasing the need for a safe, clean environment for locals to gather during smoky, extremely hot or cold seasons,” architect Harmony Cooper told gb&d. “The library was thoughtfully designed as a refuge from the elements during these intense but increasingly common periods. The new library’s goal was to satisfy these needs. Upon completion the project was met with enthusiastic community support.”

The main library space is one large open room with high ceilings and extended windows, allowing natural light to pour in. We used technology developed in-house by design technologist Shane Leaman to study the proposed design’s daylighting, glare, solar heat gain, and energy use. As a result the team shifted window openings, doorways, overhangs and added slatted wooden scrim to minimize heat gain and glare during the Methow Valley’s summers while still allowing light to peek through without significant energy loss.

Temple University’s Charles Library

Temple University’s Charles Library. Photo by Michael Grimm

Snøhetta and Stantec designed Temple University’s new Charles Library, completed in August 2019, with an impressive green roof and expansive atrium lobby, all set on a textured granite base.

The four-story, 220,000-square-foot library has natural light in 90% of its occupied areas, reducing the amount of artificial light required.

“Snøhetta was looking for large glazed windows to increase the transparency of looking into the building. The side benefit of that is that we’re bringing in natural light to 90% of the occupied areas,” Scott Sullivan, principal architect at Stantec, told gb&d.

“All of our lighting inside the building has either a combination of photoelectric sensing or occupancy sensing. If it’s a nice sunny day, the lights won’t turn on. If it’s a cloudy day or night, the lights will then turn on based on occupancy or darkness levels.”

Austin Central Library

The LEED Platinum Austin Central Library emphasizes daylighting. Photo courtesy of Lake|Flato

Daylighting is also emphasized at the LEED Platinum Austin Central Library, designed by Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch.

The 198,000-square-foot facility has a six-story atrium at its core that provides daylight to more than 80% of the library’s regularly occupied spaces.

“The presence of daylight makes people feel happy and more productive. It makes people want to be there,” David Lake, principal in charge for Lake|Flato, told gb&d.

Before ever breaking ground the architects made models to explore light in the space.

“We took the models outside and tried all different configurations. We wanted to harvest the light evenly around the building without glare but still have a library that could be flexible in the future,” Lake says. “It was our biggest challenge.”

Boston Public Library

Inside the renovated Boston Public Library. Photo courtesy of William Rawn Associates

Beyond natural light, of which there is also plenty in this renovation, you’ll find a beautiful 1895 building with surprisingly modern amenities and sustainable design, thanks to William Rawn Associates.

Completed in 2016, the renovation shows us what historic libraries can be, with a design that both preserves history while also becoming a community hub with multiple, updated entrances. A light-filled space spills out into a new public plaza, complete with Wi-Fi and outdoor seating on one of Boston’s liveliest thoroughfares.

“This project creates a new civic idea for public libraries—with a heightened sense of being open, welcoming, and seamlessly connected to the city streets,” Cliff Gayley, principal architect on the project, told gb&d in the initial interview.

Beyond new LED lights and increased daylight all around, the design team also installed low-flow plumbing fixtures, occupancy sensors, and VAV (Variable Air Volume) boxes to reduce energy and conditioned air usage as part of the project.

Tulsa Library

Inside this Tulsa Library, a fully automated lighting system utilizes daylight harvesting, scheduling, and vacancy and occupancy sensors. Photo by Lara Swimmer

In Oklahoma, the reimagined Tulsa Library includes updated HVAC alongside historic spaces as MSR renovated the building to bring it into the 21st century.

“The historic quality of the space was important and the detail it carried. There were a lot of great things we did not want to lose,” says Dagmara Larsen, project manager at MSR, in an interview with gb&d.

The team worked to maintain the look of the existing 145,000-square-foot structure as much as possible by keeping the roof, balcony, entryway, and other aesthetic details the same. They added glass study cubes to the balcony to increase daylight, utilizing a space that was once unusable.

Now the HVAC system runs on frictionless bearing chillers, a heat-recovery chiller, and dual wheel ventilation air handlers. A fully automated lighting system utilizes daylight harvesting, scheduling, and vacancy and occupancy sensors.

Virgilio Barco Library

Photo courtesy of Taller de Arquitectura de Bogotá

In Bogotá the BiblioRed project got off the ground with services at the Virgilio Barco Library, designed by Rogelio Salmona S.A., and other libraries., in the eary 2000s.

“They made four big libraries in parks in areas that used to be dangerous or for lower income people,” saso María Elvira Madriñán, widow of famous Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona and herself a leader in architecture, share with gb&d. “[Before] there was one library downtown. Many kids didn’t have the access to go downtown to the library, so these projects started to give the kids the possibility to access to books and culture.”

Madriñán says the great network of libraries managed to have wide coverage, complemented by a network of small libraries in schools and colleges to reach all of the city.

The Virgilio Barco Public Library was built inside a park designed by Salmona, with pedestrian and bike paths, canals, lakes, and native trees. In addition to being a place of learning and community, the project emphasized the issue of water management. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre site makes great use of rainwater by integrating it into the building. According to UNESCO, the project challenges the concept of contemporary public space as it incorporates meeting places and open access so all can enjoy the space, whether they want to take a walk in nature or go inside and read.

Tianjin Binhai Library

Inside Tianjin Library. Photo by Ossip van Duivenbode, MVRDV

Incredible daylighting and two rooftop patios make this library in China stand out.

The Tianjin Binhai library is truly a green library that makes you stop and stare, asking, “Was this made for Instagram?” as it’s almost too beautiful not to photograph.

Designed by MVRDV and the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute, the 363,000-square-foot space was commissioned as part of a plan to create a cultural district in the city. The library is surrounded by four other cultural buildings, all connected by a glass-covered public corridor. A public park sits in front of the library.

Terraced bookshelves wrap the walls while also being represented on the outside—each level doubles as a louvre, allowing light and air to flow through. Glass walls in the front of the library open to the park outside to allow for nature views and enhanced daylight.

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The post Green Libraries with Inspiring Designs in 2024 appeared first on gb&d magazine.

• Lincoln Yards’ first major project, 1229 W Concord, recently opened on the Chicago River.
• Bird-friendly glass, expansive balconies, and a sculptural staircase reveal a commitment to beauty and sustainability.
• The design team at Gensler brought the feeling of hospitality to the life sciences project.

An eight-story-building overlooking the recently revitalized Chicago River sets the tone for Lincoln Yards—Sterling Bay’s new 53-acre mixed-use community in a once heavy industrial area of Chicago. The project at 1229 W Concord encompasses 285,000 square feet and is leasing for life sciences companies.

The building’s relationship to the river was critical to its design, according to Gensler Principal Michael Townsend. “This project is the first picture of what this area could look like in the future and the community’s connection to the river,” he says.

As a life science building, he says it emphasizes Chicago’s commitment to the industry. “It’s saying, ‘Hey, we want to make an investment in life science. We see a lot of great potential for life science in Chicago, and we think a lot of that could happen at Lincoln Yards.”

Inspiring Interiors

Lori Mukoyama, the design principal at Gensler who led the interior design at 1229 W Concord, says the team mixed and matched bespoke furniture, layered rugs, and plants. “We’re not doing one vendor anymore. We’re definitely having more fun with it.” Photo by Kendall McCaugherty

To be clear, this is not your average life science building. For starters, while its exterior is dominated by glass, that glass is bird-friendly. Access to nature and a sense of openness abound, as balconies give people up-close access to the outdoors while city views are abundant. Inside, the interiors are inviting. A warm, neutral color palette draws you in, and public spaces are designed with cozy furniture, wood detailing, lamps, plants, rugs, and other aspects to make public spaces feel more like home.

It’s all inspired by the nature around the building, says Lori Mukoyama, the design principal at Gensler who led the project’s interior design. She and Townsend both have a hospitality background and said part of this building’s mission was to think differently about what people need—especially post-Covid.

A wood wall in the interior is a perfect example of doing things differently. Rather than a perhaps more expected glass wall—giving the feeling of airport security—Gensler thought, why not design something that feels more at home in hospitality? “I don’t want to go to work feeling like I’m going through a terminal every day,” Mukoyama says. “So we created a wood screen that has beautiful DNA. If you look at it from the side, it looks like it has a helix going through it, and then a bookshelf as well.” It offers security and separation, but it’s also aesthetically pleasing and multipurpose.

The design team wanted the interiors to feel like a continuation from outdoors—from water and nature to wood and glass. An enormous white circular staircase conjures the wind as it carries people to the second floor. The color palette reflects the greens and ombre tones of foliage, rugs are layered to provide a feeling of warmth, and woods are pulled from native species. “We’re trying to bring that whole experience inside the space,” Mukoyama says.

Much of the design was informed, perhaps surprisingly, by the sanatoriums of the 1800s and 1900s. While there may have been no cure for tuberculosis, the experts of the time knew access to fresh air and daylight made people feel better. “At the time buildings and architecture were not providing those things. It was a full building movement and the bones of what we think of as modern architecture today,” Townsend says. “If you look back at some of the sanatoriums of the time, you’ll see the direct inspiration we took from those in this building—with these long horizontal balconies and ample levels of daylight in the space, floor to ceiling glass, color palettes, and things like that.”

Light & Air

Those principles of light, air, and openness drove much of the project’s design, as those elements were top of mind when this project started and the design team was largely working from home. “We were all talking about the value of fresh air and access to outdoors and daylight. Those are the principles for a great building and environment for the people inside,” Townsend says.

It’s a really beautiful art piece and a nod to the ingenuity and the thinking behind life sciences.

Mukoyama says the lighting strategy was especially important, as it wasn’t all direct. When you think of a lab you may think of harsh lighting, and the team took great care to ensure that wasn’t the case here. “We wanted to take advantage of the architecture and the glass, taking advantage of full height space. Michael and his team were really conscious to carve out a tall lobby space. Everyone has access to that lobby, so then you give everybody the opportunity to have that nature and that closeness to natural daylighting.”

In the middle of the stairway—itself a work of art in the corner of the lobby—a stunning light fixture hangs, furthering the idea of the helix and adding more soft lighting. “We have a lot of soft cove lighting and indirect lighting. There’s a really beautiful glow. You feel very warm and comfortable, and it’s also very peaceful,” Mukoyama says.

Unlikely Pairs

The interior design of 1229 W Concord feels warm and inviting—more hotel or living room than life sciences building. Photo by Kendall McCaugherty

A lot of the design centered on pairing the unexpected—combining the comforts of home with the sterileness of life sciences. In the ceiling, a metal panel has acoustical benefits and provides beauty and a feeling of calm comfort, while the white and wooden staircase brings people together.

“It appears as a visually continuous ceiling, but it also helps absorb sound. Then, when you go up the stairs, you suddenly have an exposed ceiling. That’s so different because it slides right into this really beautiful, perforated, off-white ceiling panel,” Mukoyama says.

Wood stairs carry you up the stark white staircase. “That ribbon of wood on the inside of the stair becomes the foundation of flooring, to the second level of the amenity area, which is where we have smaller breakout conference rooms and communal tables. That encourages people to have those opening meetings and still to gather and congregate together in a different way,” she says.

Setting Expectations

The Gensler-designed 1229 W Concord building in Chicago builds upon the health and well-being principles established in early 20th century modernism—natural light, openness, and access to the outdoors—principles brought about by the tuberculosis pandemic. Photo by Kendall McCaugherty

From the beginning the design team and Sterling Bay wanted to set the expectation that people who work in this building want to take part in an outdoor lifestyle. They want to be connected to a broader Riverwalk experience that will ultimately travel through Lincoln Yards. “Putting the amenities on the ground level and the main conferencing space on level two with outdoor terraces was very intentional,” Townsend says.

Mukoyama says the design continues to reveal people’s desire for outdoor space as part of their daily work lifestyle. People demand access to nature, and they want spaces that feel more like home. You’ll find a beautiful fitness center on the ground floor, and the staircase is highly visible, encouraging people to walk to and from building amenities. “That already changes your mentality of what you’re walking up to.”

The stair itself is prefabricated in three steel sections, designed and engineered to be self-supported. “It’s a really beautiful art piece and a nod to the ingenuity and the thinking behind life sciences,” Mukoyama says.

Plants, too, are unexpected in a life sciences building, as such spaces are required to be more sterile due to contaminant concerns. “Since we created such a generous amenity and community space on the ground floor and on the second, we wanted to bring that to light.” They used the public area as an opportunity for biophilic design. “In the actual lab area you wouldn’t be able to do that, but in a lobby environment you can, so you get both experiences in this building.”

Design for the Birds

Lincoln Yards’ first major project, 1229 W Concord, is a life sciences building that overlooks the Chicago River. It was completed in 2023. Photo by Kendall McCaugherty

The building’s position along a migratory path meant considering serious bird-friendly strategies, too. Ultimately several levels of the building’s exterior glazing were outfitted with a subtle stencil pattern to avert bird collisions, protecting hundreds of species annually. It’s an expectation of all buildings at Lincoln Yards now, Townsend says.

[ps2id id=’bird’ target=”/]“Chicago’s one of the most heavily trafficked migratory paths on Earth, particularly in the United States. We have a particular problem here in Chicago with this. This building has a number of ways that it is helping to minimize those collisions,” he says.

The typical glazing in the tower is an insulated glass unit with the Solarban 90 low-e coating and a 0.23 solar heat gain coefficient. A silkscreened quarter-inch dot spaced two-by-four inches helps make the glass more visible to birds. The exterior reflectance of the unit is also only 12%, which Townsend says is very low compared to many modern buildings in Chicago. “This helps limit the reflectance of the sky in the glass, which can also disorient birds.”

Lighting can also interfere with birds’ navigation systems. “That’s one of the reasons many buildings in Chicago turn off their lights after a certain period of time,” Townsend says.

As part of Sterling Bay’s efforts to further establish the life sciences community in Chicago, 1229 W Concord plays a key role in this first phase of developing the heart of Lincoln Yards. While the state-of-the-art building is designed to be a home for innovation, it also sets a precedent for design that is both science- and people-friendly, as the project takes cues from hospitality at every turn.

“It was a very purposeful blending of maybe what you would expect in a more warm, hospitable environment, almost like your living room or a hotel or any other hospitality-based environment,” Townsend says. “Scientists are people, too. All the things we think are so valuable to the human experience are also valuable in a lab environment.”

Project Details

Project: 1229 W Concord
Location: Chicago
Completion: 2023
Size: 285,000 square feet
Architect: Gensler
Developer: Sterling Bay
General Contractor: Power Construction
Carpet: Tarkett
Terrazzo: Menconi Terrazzo
Lighting: Anne Kustner Lighting Design
Landscape Design: Site Design Group
Awards: Pursuing LEED Silver, WELL Health-Safety Certification, and the RESET Air Standard

A special frit on the glass that helps prevent bird collisions is part of Gensler’s design at the riverfront 1229 W Concord life sciences building in Chicago. Photo by Kendall McCaugherty

A high-performing facade and low-VOC materials round out the building’s design. “Everything we’re seeing architecturally is also a beautiful mix of sustainable materials,” Mukoyama says. Photo by Kendall McCaugherty

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The post Gensler’s Lincoln Yards Project Puts the Life in Life Sciences Design appeared first on gb&d magazine.

• A couple from London is committed to renovating a long neglected property in the Azores.
• Solar Branco Eco Estate on São Miguel Island in Portugal has eight eco-friendly suites and cottages.
• The hotel produces zero food waste, runs largely on solar, and educates guests about how they can make a difference environmentally.

Minutes from town on a large plot of farmland on the island of São Miguel sits Solar Branco Eco Estate—once an elegant summer home with a barn and pig sty that fell into neglect with leaking, untenable buildings and crumbling, overgrown rock walls. Today Solar Branco is an evolving adaptive reuse project of great proportion. It’s beautiful and luxurious yet environmentally aware, producing zero food waste and offering clean, simple, high-quality accommodation.

Caroline Sprod and her husband Ali Bullock first visited this area in the Azores in 2006 on their honeymoon. “We always had it in the back of our minds that one day we would love to go and live there,” Sprod says.

They didn’t have a hospitality or farming background, but they had a passion for sustainable design and gardening. Bullock previously worked in marketing, and Sprod has done all kinds of different work, including (and currently) as a forest therapy guide. They’re smart, ambitious, and entrepreneurial. Their journey ultimately took them from their home in London to Hong Kong for Bullock’s career and, finally, to the Azores. “When we lived in Hong Kong I had a rooftop garden, but everything was in pots,” Bullock says. “I figured if you can keep things alive in Hong Kong, you can garden anywhere.”

Sprod says they dreamed of one day starting a sustainable guesthouse. “We went on an exploratory trip to the Azores looking for a rundown property in the countryside that had interesting outbuildings—something quirky we could bring back to life. Straightaway we found this place.”

The land needed serious love but had clear potential. “We could see it could be something really beautiful, so we bought it and embarked on our journey,” Sprod says.

Restoring a Historic Property

Today the property that is the Solar Branco Eco Estate is home to impressive grounds, from the flowers and fruit-bearing trees to the boutique hotel accommodations, restored ruins, and even a bit of an accidental animal refuge. Photo by Rui Soares

Photo by Rui Soares

The 19th century property dates back to a time when many on the island were growing and exporting oranges to places like London. It was a brief period of riches for those farmers, many of whom then lost their fortunes when disease came in and wiped out their crop.

Before its most recent transformation, Solar Branco was a summer house; this was in the days before flights out of São Miguel were plentiful. Bullock says the previous owner lived in nearby Ponta Delgada and used the place as his vacation home. It had been for sale for several years, but no one seemed to want to take on the renovations needed. But Sprod and Bullock love saving things and saw its charm right away. Plus, they had a vision that was sure to succeed—and a dream to build something unlike any other accommodation on the island.

Education and Animals

Today old buildings, fallen timber, repurposed doors, salvaged plants, and even some unexpected animals find new life at the Solar Branco Eco Estate. Phrases like “rescue hedgehogs” and “the parakeets we saved” are as commonly heard from Bullock as the more expected “free-range chickens” or “frog ponds.” The hedgehogs, at least for one group of American tourists, were among the property’s biggest surprises. Bullock says they burrow among salvaged wood in a dark corner of the property on any given day, safe from curious and sometimes dangerous dogs. “We don’t feed them, but they have a place to stay and there’s enough to eat. If they want to stay they stay, or they can go.”

Ali and Caroline carefully remove a hedgehog. Photo by Rui Soares

You’ll also find three dedicated wildlife ponds, local birds, and a large area for the roaming chickens who eat any leftover food that doesn’t go to compost.

Neighboring cows still roamed the grounds when Sprod and Bullock purchased the property in 2018, but the land was incredibly overgrown at that time, and some of the century-old New Zealand Christmas trees had sadly been cut down. “We saved the others; thank goodness,” Bullock says.

A big part of owning Solar Branco is education. “We love showing people around,” Bullock says. He takes pride in the hotel’s truly environmental practices and wants to share that knowledge with guests.

The hotel aims to achieve at least 80% energy use from renewable sources like the solar panels on the property, for example, and they strive to keep all of the grass natural.

“A lot of so-called eco hotels have perfect cricket grass, which of course doesn’t have any flowers for the bees. There are hotels here where you see that it’s all beautifully manicured, but it’s no good for the wildlife. We explain to people that we don’t cut the grass because we want to keep the wildflowers for butterflies and insects. You have to maintain it a bit, but we try to keep it as natural as we can.”

Today you’ll find limes, lemongrass, avocado, mangoes, strawberries, pineapple sage, honeysuckle, and morning glory, among other beautiful and delicious offerings, plus plentiful clover for the bees. He points to budding coffee plants, one of his latest endeavors, and laughs. “We won’t be taking on Starbucks anytime soon,” he says. He pulls a guava from a tree and encourages a guest to take a bite. “You really can grow almost anything here. It’s incredible.”

He and the team also planted hedging to fight the wind, a continued struggle, but one he says will pay off. Currently the hotel employs eight people, including Bullock and one full-time gardener tending to the grounds.

From Dilapidated to Destination

Called The Ruin, this two-story cottage was an abandoned farm building for decades before being brought back to life as part of Solar Branco. “We wanted to take something that was old and crumbling and restore it to something beautiful and comfortable,” says co-owner Caroline Sprod. Photo by Rui Soares

Bullock and Sprod worked with architect Joana Oliveira from Mezzo Atelier to bring their vision for Solar Branco to life. The eco estate officially opened to guests in June 2023. “Portugal is not a place where you can do this DIY,” Sprod says, adding that resources can be difficult to find. “We found an architect we wanted to work with who grew up maybe two miles from here. She combines local features in a modern and minimalist way, which is a style that spoke to me. I felt we had the same understanding of what we wanted the place to look like.”

The property’s main house, or solar, which Sprod says loosely translates as “country house,” was in a livable-ish state when the couple purchased the property five years ago. They lived there while work was ongoing.

“Everything was a bit decrepit,” Sprod says. The electricity was unreliable, water leaked in the bedroom when it rained, but at least one of the toilets worked.

We wanted to take something that was old and crumbling and restore it to something beautiful and comfortable.

Three of the property’s outbuildings—originally one farmer’s cottage and two pigpens—were hidden from view when the property fell into disuse. The area became overgrown and covered in trash. In total the Solar Branco Eco Estate now has eight luxury suites and cottages. The Barn is a two-story cottage built on the site that previously housed an old farmyard storage shed.

The Gin Library, formerly stables, is now home to more than 1,000 bottles of gin from all over the world. What started with Ali’s own collection has grown to include bottles guests bring to add to the library, too. Photo by Rui Soares

Each room in Solar Branco is thoughtfully appointed. The hotel gives guests real-time visibility of their energy usage to encourage them to use only what they need. Photo by Rui Soares

Sprod says the main house, built more than 100 years ago, is the heart of the project as well as the center of the estate. It has three luxury bedrooms and a separate studio apartment upstairs, as well as a spacious dining area on the ground floor.

Bullock says it took about four years to get the property to its current state, though much of that work continues, including restoring the land on a hill below the main house where stone walls were so overgrown you wouldn’t have known they were there. “Sadly we had to cut back some of the trees down there because they just hadn’t been looked after in 40 years,” he says.

Work continues on the hill below the estate. Photo by Rui Soares

Photo by Rui Soares

Volcanic rocks found all over the property were used to repair crumbling walls, while banana trees, now thriving, started going in as soon as they bought the place. “We cleared the land and started to restore it immediately,” Bullock says.

Sustainable Programming

Co-owner Caroline Sprod prepares a special meal at the hotel. Photo by Rui Soares

Sprod and Bullock do things differently from much of the hospitality industry. They view hosting guests as a partnership—an opportunity to educate and work together to make the world a better place.

Solar Branco recently installed an innovative system for resource monitoring that gives hotel guests a report on the ecological impact of their stay. Called My Green Butler, the program measures individual guests’ resource usage. They can get real-time info about how much water and electricity they used, for example, and tips for how to reduce it. Feeling chilly? Grab an extra, cozy blanket from the closet. And so on. “It tries to partner with them rather than take away enjoyment,” Sprod says. “It’s meant to be a very engaging way to help people really take ownership of the resources they’re using.”

Solar Branco has a total ban on single-use plastic and pesticides and is the first in the Azores to commit to being a zero food waste hotel. They’ve been able to reduce the resources used in the food by relying on seasonal offerings grown on the farm or nearby. “We try to give people things they wouldn’t necessarily have day to day as well, rather than the same offer you might get anywhere,” Sprod says.

Local oranges from the property are on offer to guests at breakfast when in season. Photo by Rui Soares

You won’t find an overwhelming smorgasbord at Solar Branco, but you certainly won’t go hungry. Breakfast offers everything you need to start the day off right, say, before a long hike—and is quite literally farm to table. “A lot of businesses feel under pressure to offer this huge variety. We are really trying to not feel held hostage by that thought. We try to explain to people about what we’re serving, why we’re serving it, and how they can enjoy something really local,” Sprod says.

Guests can take their fruit (grown on the farm), pastel de nata (Portuguese custard tart), and locally sourced breads and jams with their coffee or tea and dine on the terrace overlooking the green hills and ocean beyond. “A lot of people say it’s so quiet and tranquil here,” Sprod says. “We look out onto farmland. Right now I can see a couple of cows. It’s quite a nice vista.”

Guests can dine on the terrace overlooking the beautiful grounds and farmland beyond. Photo by Rui Soares

In the evenings guests can reserve a spot in the chef-led sushi experience in the hotel’s invitation-only speakeasy behind the Gin Library (formerly stables, now home to more than 1,000 bottles of gin from all over the world) after a complimentary gin and tonic happy hour. Chef Joanna blends typical Azorean flavors with local, sustainable fish in an omakase-style dinner.

Solar Branco is home to Europe’s largest gin collection and serves hundreds of gin and tonics a month. As such, they’re committed to ensuring 100% of their glass is recycled once those bottles are empty. Photo by Rui Soares

Locally Sourced Interior Design

Accommodations at Solar Branco Eco Estate are clean, minimalist, and organic, including handmade soaps from a Portuguese artisan. Photo by Rui Soares

“Bom Dia” breakfast is included in each guest’s stay, with locally sourced ingredients and bananas and oranges from the property. Photo by Rui Soares

Throughout the estate interior design incorporates small artisans from Portugal and the Azores wherever possible. “There aren’t that many people producing things locally, but for example the beds are made in a workshop in Portugal with natural materials. They’re really good for the body to breathe at night,” Sprod says. “We got the bedding from a factory in Portugal that uses really nice natural materials, too. It’s soft and gives people a comfortable night’s sleep. It can help cut down on the resources people use if they have a bed that keeps them cool.”

Tables throughout the spaces are made using wood from trees that fell on the island. “There’s a carpenter who lovingly looks at this wood and dries it out for years until it’s ready to be made into furniture. He made us tables for our dining room and all the different rooms,” Sprod says.

Dishes come from a small manufacturer in Portugal who uses recycled glaze—a process Sprod says is quite innovative for its waste reduction in manufacturing. Organic toiletries are made by a small Portuguese producer, including essential oils made from local plants. “We try to be really thoughtful about all of these things. I love things that are stylish but also unfussy, minimalist, and fit in with the sustainability focus we have.”

A greenhouse was built using windows and materials from the original buildings. Photo by Rui Soares

What they couldn’t use, like old shelving, they gave to neighbors during the renovation. “This is not a super rich community,” Sprod says. “There are people who really appreciate having building materials they can reuse.”

Windows that came out of the original buildings were moved to the back garden area and used to make greenhouses—now full of plants. “Typically in the construction industry here, the easiest thing is to scoop these things up in the back of the lorry and dump them in a landfill rather than make the effort to move them,” Sprod says. “We try to minimize any waste, and we wanted to be thoughtful about how we were treating the building and the contents in it.”

Crumbling rock walls were at every turn when the couple first bought the property that became Solar Branco. In the distance sits another of Ali’s projects—a vintage VW van being repurposed for special events. Photo by Rui Soares

A side view of The Ruin at the Solar Branco Eco Estate. Photo by Rui Soares

There are a diverse mix of accommodations to choose from at the Solar Branco Eco Estate. Photo by Rui Soares

Solar Branco Eco Estate. Photo by Rui Soares

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• The Gensler Seattle Office at 1200 6th Avenue underwent a redesign of its entire 15,000-square-foot fifth floor of the Park Place building.
• The new concept centers around the idea of a workshop where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas and experimenting.
• Flexible design was key, while repurposing furniture gave pieces that may have ended up in the landfill a new and exciting life.

Gensler has designed some of the most impressive and respected buildings in the world—from international airport projects to global headquarters to stadiums and more. Their designs influence the way we live and work today and, as the largest architecture firm in the world (both in revenue and number of architects, with offices in 50-plus cities worldwide), they are committed to steering the sustainability conversation.

Given that nearly two-thirds of the buildings that exist today will still exist in 2050, the path to design resilience must include adaptive reuse, write Gail Napell and Anne Bretaña on Gensler’s blog. By renovating existing buildings and repurposing materials, developers can decrease both the amount of carbon and the amount of debris and waste going into landfill, they write.

The time is now, according to Architecture 2030. “If we do not achieve a 65% reduction in total global emissions by 2030 we will have lost the opportunity to meet the 1.5/2 ℃ warming threshold and climate change will become irreversible. The immediate focus for embodied carbon reductions must therefore be on the next decade.”

Repurposing and reusing sustainable building materials and implementing flexible design are key to reducing global emissions. We recently talked to Gensler Seattle’s managing directors Ryan Haines and Kristin Jensen about how their recent office redesign is a testament to innovative adaptive reuse.

Gensler Seattle Office Gets a Makeover

The Gensler Seattle team’s resilience goals resulted in diverting 22,039 pounds from the landfill and avoided 8.5 total metric tons of greenhouse gases. Photo by Heywood Chan Photography

It’s almost become expected—commercial interior designs replaced every 10 or even seven years. Interiors often have a much shorter “shelf life” than the buildings themselves, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Part of the resilience story is to not tear down the whole office,” Haines says, pointing to their own successful Seattle Gensler office renovation in 2023. He says the new office feels “recognizable but different,” with renewed vigor, excitement, and opportunity.

Gensler started talking about making significant changes in the Seattle office in 2017, as the team had grown and needs evolved. The way people worked was changing, and employees wanted different types of places to work and collaborate in.

Part of the resilience story is to not tear down the whole office.

“We implemented pilot studies and leveraged survey data about where employees best focus, collaborate, mentor, learn, and grow,” Haines says. They set out to design for flexibility with an emphasis on improved ways to work both remotely and together.

The team initially designed and documented a complete renovation of the 15,000-square-foot space, but the pandemic had other plans. New ways of working and financial constraints required reimagining the overall strategy. With limited resources, the team saw an opportunity for an even more resilient approach.

Instead of demolishing the entire floor, new space types and functionalities were integrated while minimizing environmental impact. Ultimately Gensler’s design team was able to reuse 99% of the carpeting, 63% of ceilings, 62% of furniture (reused or salvaged from vintage shops), 60% of light fixtures, and 44% of walls—significantly reducing waste as well as the embodied carbon associated with making new products. Ample recycling and composting and an efficient HVAC system added to the team’s environmentally focused goals.

The Mission

Merge is a large social space outfitted with the latest technology so staff can work, collaborate, and socialize in person or virtually on a 118-by-66.5-inch screen. Photo by Heywood Chan Photography

“It started out as a means to expand our space slightly and make the office more efficient overall,” Jensen says. Before the pandemic the Seattle team was using nearly 90% of the fifth floor of the Park Place building. They expanded their lease to encompass the entire floor and planned to be more efficient by utilizing the corridors and common areas, but when Covid struck, they realized they needed to pivot. Resiliency and efficiency remained key goals, but the team began to reconsider what work could look like.

“We were already on an activity-based workplace path, but how is that amplified by hybrid work and new levels of virtual engagement that didn’t exist before?” Jensen says. They doubled down on sustainability. “It was a heightened goal and an opportunity we knew would be achievable by reusing more things. That would make it more cost effective and more sustainable at the same time.”

Haines says the design benefits were many. “There are multiple reasons to not just tear everything out and start from scratch. Cost is one, carbon footprint, and throwing away all that in the waste stream is another.”

Collaboration Meets Resilience with Flexible Spaces

Activity-based work often means a greater sense of openness, Haines says. “Private office-sized spaces” convert nicely to small huddle or focus rooms, phone rooms, and other more modern and flexible workspace. “There’s a propensity to be able to do that, but you have to have the wherewithal to know in the design process to not just wipe things clean and start from scratch,” he says. “It’s looking at how to repurpose those spaces in an effective way while still meeting the requirements of a client or, in our case, our own desire to work differently.”

The light-filled perimeter of the office was one of several conference rooms before—a fairly standard space just a few years ago. “We added that plywood back wall and changed the furniture so much more is on wheels,” Haines says. The now flexible workspace is reinforced by the wood aesthetic that carried over from the old project and emphasizes the “workshop” feel.

“Our new office concept centers around the idea of a Workshop—a non-precious, scrappy space to experiment, tinker, share ideas, and evolve,” Jensen says. “We envisioned the office as a center of activity to collaborate and shape the culture while fulfilling the critical human need of socializing and developing meaningful relationships.”

From the moment you get off the elevator you know you’re in the Gensler Seattle office. The elevator lobby is branded with graphics as an evolving display of sketches, designs, and musings. Photo by Heywood Chan Photography

Haines says the plywood goes a long way to reinforcing this idea. “You’re not seeing really expensive wall materials and such. And the movable shelving can live and change over time in terms of what’s on the walls, what’s on the shelf, what’s important to staff, what’s relevant. It’s a much more flexible, non-precious aesthetic overall. Everything is on wheels in the whole space—including in the kitchen.”

Spaces can change dramatically based on needs, say, if Gensler is hosting a large event versus a more intimate meeting. More comfortable lounge furniture adds to the flexible, collaborative feeling while providing the types of work opportunities you can’t get from home.

The office went from having nearly a one-to-one ratio of desks to people to a space with essentially two zones, Jensen says. Employees (there are more than 100) can work at one of the 40-some sit-stand desks with monitors when they need to focus on more individual work, or they can spend time in one of the more open areas—like Merge, the Nest, lab areas, lounge areas, the model shop, or even the podcast booth. There’s also a wellness room where you can meditate or just find a moment of quiet, a mother’s room with space for multiple mothers, and individual phone booths.

The large area called Merge is home to a giant monitor where anyone can call in remotely to work with the team onsite and feel more connected. “That’s enabled a lot of content sharing,” Haines says. “It’s also a really meaningful part of the experience of presenters in our space. You can have successful engagements instead of when, even if you have a big space with a relatively big flat screen panel, it’s still pretty unreasonable for 90% of the people in the room. Investing in that large screen makes the content much more immersive and accessible. That’s been a good investment.”

Accommodating Different Work Styles

The Nest is another meeting or work area with lower lighting and a more comfortable living room style. Photo by Heywood Chan Photography

Gensler has long had modern video conferencing in key spaces, but the need for most firms grew even more after the pandemic. “We all got more savvy with AV and tech and Teams and Zoom and what have you,” Haines says. The Seattle office focused on exploring the differences and needs in tech and collaboration whether someone was at home or in the office. They wanted to ensure, for example, that anyone calling into a meeting didn’t feel left out. “How do you make that meeting experience, even if we are in the office, an enjoyable experience and a fundamentally fair experience?”

The Gensler design team wanted to remove that old experience of being the ignored person on a call when not in the room. “There was a tremendous amount of potential for that to play out as a return of that experience, and that’s not equitable. It also penalizes those who are quieter or have other diverse considerations to consider,” Haines says. “That doesn’t make them an ineffective member of the team.”

They set up dual screens to ensure that even while sharing content you can see everyone’s faces clearly. Haines says the ability to see and read body language was key, and top-notch lighting, cameras, and mics were crucial. “There’s always room to keep innovating in that space, but ultimately we’re trying to make the hybrid experience relatively stress-free so you can come into the office and feel engaged in those interactions.”

Staff can also find a quieter place to work called the Nest. There lights are kept fairly dim. “People go in there if they prefer a quieter, darker space,” Jensen says.

Haines says the Nest was designed to be moody. At one point it was even called the Speakeasy. Once people started coming into the office, though, they realized staff didn’t just want to hang out there; they wanted to work there on their laptops, away from other well-lit spaces at times.

“It gives some reprieve. That is one of the spaces that really resonates with people that you don’t see in many office spaces. You can almost feel people’s blood pressure go down when they walk in. There’s something to be learned big picture there,” Haines says. It can also be turned into a fully functional meeting room if needed.

Making More Sustainable Choices

Traditional workstations with ergonomic sit-stand desks are mixed with collaboration tables. Photo by Heywood Chan Photography

Net-positive embodied carbon branding and signage were created by the Gensler Brand team. Photo by Heywood Chan Photography

Much of the furniture across the project was repurposed, refinished, or upgraded to extend its useful life, Jensen says. The design team even sourced vintage pieces like a bar they refinished and painted matte black for the Nest. They re-cushioned mid-century modern chairs from the thrift store. Old tables from Gensler’s San Francisco office were refinished and given new life in Seattle, too. “We’ve had those tables for more than 10 years,” Jensen says.

The “workshop” feel extends across the entire floor. “Because it’s an area that’s non-precious it didn’t require everything to be so perfect. You don’t have to have four matching chairs for it to work,” Jensen says. “It exudes this ability to be eclectic, which suits the reuse story.”

Part of the resilience story is also clear in Gensler’s branding and signage. All of the graphics are wheatpasted, with posters of sketches, screenshots, and musings lining the entry walls. Haines says the walls provide a snapshot of the office culture at any moment and keep the space fresh at low cost. Recyclable cardboard was chosen for code and wayfinding signage, with simple braille tape that reinforces the theme and minimized carbon. “It’s completely compostable, and it changes over time in a very unconscious kind of ‘flyer on the telephone pole’ kind of way. I like the expressiveness of that and the resilience story behind it,” he says.

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• FLÜWO Headquarters was designed by SCOPE Architects in Germany and is a standout example of human-centric design.
• SCOPE designs from a user-oriented perspective to develop architecture from a multi-layered context of cultural and social aspects.

When SCOPE Architects set out to reinvent a 1980s office building, they knew they faced some serious challenges. For one, they were building partly on the existing structure. Plus, they had to upgrade the building to meet today’s standards—including structural fire protection.

“The goal of the extensive renovation was to create a new home for FLÜWO—currently one of the largest building cooperatives in Southern Germany—allowing employees to work in teams and providing space for informal communication,” says SCOPE Architects’ Kathrin Lewald, the project leader on the headquarters.

FLÜWO is situated on a four-lane main road in a mixed area of office and residential buildings. Inside, the design is at once colorful and warm, with comfortable seating areas and an emphasis on biophilic design.

Our vision is to create buildings that offer added value to society, meet the individual needs of the users, and handle the resource space responsibly.

We recently talked with Lewald to learn more about the project’s challenges and successes in sustainability:

How did you solve this project’s biggest challenges?

Sensitive dismantling and demolition work preserved various building elements such as the screed, shell, and facade. In addition, we developed individual and refined detailed solutions for the existing building.

How does this project fit the firm’s overall mission?

Plants and acoustic elements enhance privacy even in open spaces. Photo by Zooey Braun

We design from a user-oriented perspective and develop architecture from a multi-layered context of cultural and social aspects. Our work is characterized not only by the fulfillment of technical and formal qualities, but also by the assumption of social responsibility: Our vision is to create buildings that offer added value to society, meet the individual needs of the users, and handle the resource space responsibly. In a nutshell: “Creating human spaces.”

Tell us about the lighting in this project.

The work cafe features a mix of intelligent and natural lighting as well as plant life. Photo by Zooey Braun

The motto was flexibility, which we implemented using pendant luminaires with a grid arrangement between the cooling ceilings. This made it possible to place the workstations flexibly and independently of the lighting. The same applies to the meeting rooms, where power rails enable a free arrangement of the furniture and thus flexible use.

How did you design for acoustics?

Photo by Zooey Braun

In the workplace area, metal cooling ceilings and micro-perforation in light gray create a technical, rather cool atmosphere in contrast. The warm and soft felt slatted ceiling in the corridor areas with an additional layer of fleece forms a harmonious balance to this. In addition, carpeting and acoustic absorbers on the walls and between the workbenches optimize the acoustics.

How did you choose this color palette?

Contrasting materials are implemented with a clear design vocabulary in the entrance area. Photo by Zooey Braun

We chose a contrasting mix between light and dark surfaces combined with natural colors and materials such as oak wood, cork and multiplex. Colorful accents are set by different shades of green and exhilarating eye-catchers in bright green-yellow. Distinct graphic elements reflect FLÜWO’s cooperative ideals, guide visitors through the building, and create identification points.

How is the final space used?

Biophilic design was emphasized through addition of plants and natural light. Photo by Zooey Braun

Visitors are invited to chat at the guest café inside Flüwo. Photo by Zooey Braun

SCOPE created a differentiated and diverse working environment that promotes growth, change and agility across roughly 3,000 square meters. In addition to a central work café, spaces for creative work, workrooms for trainees, workshop areas, meeting rooms and a restaurant were created.

The concept allows additional utilization of meeting and communication areas through the creation of a sublet coworking space. The joint usage produces a lively and innovative working environment.

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• Designed by Corgan, Wells Fargo’s new campus in Las Colinas, Texas produces more energy on site than it consumes. It’s the first net-positive project for both the client and the architecture firm.
• The project started with an initial goal of net zero, but when the client moved the target, 0the design team had to scrutinize every system to reach net positive.
• Corgan’s commercial sector leader Matt McDonald shares why financial institutions are making big sustainable building moves.

Workspaces designed around wellness and sustainability are important for attracting top talent, says Matt McDonald, the commercial sector leader at Corgan. “If you’re a college graduate, you’re going to be looking for an organization that aligns with your priorities. You want to put your career and energy into a place that is giving back to the environment, giving back to a community, or giving back in some capacity.”

He’s noticed some financial institutions, like JPMorgan Chase’s net-zero HQ in Manhattan and Goldman Sachs’ Dallas campus, have been making a push toward sustainability in their building efforts. “Corporations these days are looking beyond being competitive and really doing the right thing. They realize they’re the entities that have the ability to influence how the real estate market happens and how commercial real estate gets developed.”

Corgan recently designed an incredibly sustainable campus for Wells Fargo in Irving, Texas that will go beyond net zero to generate more energy onsite than it consumes when it’s complete. Currently under construction, the mixed-use development will consist of two 10-story office buildings connected to a parking garage via a skybridge. The 850,000-square-foot project is targeting LEED Platinum, with special attention paid to site planning and building orientation, facade design that mitigates heat gain, solar panels, regionally sourced materials, lighting interventions, and interstitial biophilic elements throughout the space.

It’s Corgan and Wells Fargo’s first net-positive project. We recently sat down with McDonald to learn more about how they plan to achieve this inspiring project and its challenges.

What is net positive?

Designed by Corgan, Wells Fargo’s new campus in Las Colinas, Texas produces more energy onsite than it consumes. It’s the first net-positive project for both the client and the architecture firm. Rendering courtesy of Corgan

The idea of creating a net zero development or building is giving back an equal amount of the power of your consuming, so therefore your impact on the utility grid is zero.

It’s net positive when you’re generating more energy on the site than you’re using. You’re able to give that power back to the utility grid, store it, or do something else with it.

This is a very aspirational goal, and we’re thrilled on many levels to actually achieve this.

How do you achieve net positive?

As the crown of the building, the PVs are softly up-lit at night to create the illusion of a delicate floating plane—a signature mark of the project and its vision. Rendering courtesy of Corgan

You can create power onsite in a couple of ways. You’ve got hydroelectric if you’ve got a river or a dam close by. You’ve got wind potential if you’ve got the availability for that. But based on where we are and where the site is, it made the most sense to focus on solar power.

Access to sunlight and views is also important. One of the sustainability goals is to make sure you’re getting natural light deep into the building floor plates. These are really large floor plates—40,000 square feet each—but we’ve designed them to be long and narrow so you don’t have dark spots in the middle of the building.

One of the counterpoints to that is when you have too much natural light, you have some heat gain and glare that comes along with that. This is probably one of the larger installations on a corporate campus of an electrochromic glazing system on the exterior. What that does is when the sun is bearing down the glass darkens a bit so you are minimizing some of that heat gain, while still taking advantage of the views and the light without using window shades to block the view.

How has this plan evolved?

The initial goal was to be net zero. The client came back to us late in the design process and said, “Hey, we want to really bump the goal here to be net positive.” We really had to knuckle down and scrutinize every system, every plug load, every computer, taking it down to the actual number of employees who were going to be utilizing power onsite.

Wells Fargo has its own sustainability team. They’re challenging us on our energy models, our solar heat gain, and our energy usage. They’re really pushing the envelope, no pun intended, to really make sure we’re maximizing the availability of technology and really trying to stretch sustainable development.

How do you balance aesthetics and performance?

Rendering courtesy of Corgan

This is an initiative Wells Fargo is very proud of. The idea of seeing the solar panels was something they were not afraid of. The solar canopy makes that top level of the architecture usable by shading it, while also being able to showcase and make visible what we’re doing on the sustainability front.

There was a balance between the calculation of the required area and then structurally how far you can cantilever those things out at an economic rate. We did have to be very particular about how the underside of those canopies look because it will be visible from the street. It will have to be very carefully installed, and we’ll be monitoring that very carefully, but the idea of creating that as a thoughtful and very visible approach to sustainability was something that became a design element in itself.

Where does biophilia fit in?

We wanted a large parking structure because we are going to have 5,000 to 6,000 cars we have to manage on a daily basis. Putting that on a separate piece of property gave us the perfect opportunity to utilize that upper level for photovoltaic panels to harness all the energy.

That also reduced surface parking and minimized paved outdoor spaces. We could maximize the green both from an accessibility and walkability perspective but equally for views. You offset the heat island effect by utilizing more landscaping and create outdoor amenity space that is so desired.

With this site being on the waterfront, you have this tremendous outdoor amenity that will never be blocked. Not only does it help you from a sustainability perspective because you won’t have anything that’s casting shade on your building, but you’ve got these unadulterated views of this really thoughtful development that’s here in Las Colinas.

How do you see sustainable design strategy evolving?

I think there’s a lot of tried and true sustainable practices that are being tested for their maximum potential. If you think about using the sun to generate power, using the earth to do geothermal wells for heating and cooling, these are not new practices. These are timeless practices that have been done based on what the good earth has given us. We’re just learning new and innovative ways to utilize them and maximize their efficiency.

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• LinkedIn adds three new buildings and two new parking structures to their campus in Mountain View.
• Designed by STUDIOS Architecture, the project emphasizes the connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.
• This project is one of the first to use low-carbon concrete and is LEED Platinum–certified.

Arrive at Building One of LinkedIn’s Middlefield campus in Mountain View, California and you’ll be greeted by orange stairs. You can walk through the lobby and take them all the way up to the sixth floor, but if you don’t want to go inside, you can also take the outside stairs to the third floor terrace deck.

From the onset the team behind the project was interested in creating connections between indoor and outdoor spaces. “Early on we didn’t really have the ins and outs of everything, but we had this idea of creating a meaningful outdoor space and physically connecting them,” says Jeong Choi, a principal at STUDIOS Architecture.

To accentuate this they used orange blocks to represent the stairs in a physical model. As they communicated with city officials and others about the project, they also fell in love with the character of the stairs. “We talked about how nice it is to have features that differentiate the building rather than having random glass boxes everywhere.” It set the expectation for the design quality for the rest of the campus—and for the city as a whole.

More than 20% of the total annual energy cost of the LinkedIn Middlefield project is offset by renewable site-generated energy when the building is running at its full capacity. Photo by Kyle Jeffers

STUDIOS has been working on various projects with LinkedIn since 2013. This recent long journey to find LinkedIn a new home included a land swap with Google and a global pandemic. LinkedIn inherited three 1980s-era buildings from Google. After some deliberation they decided to not tear them down, but that limited their buildable land drastically. “The limits gave us the opportunity to be more creative. It became our driving force to create a better performing building that blend well with the existing buildings,” Choi says.

In the end the team added three new buildings and two new parking structures to the three existing buildings to create a one-million-square-foot campus earning LEED Platinum certification.

Massing

The third-floor terrace deck provides a secure outdoor space that maintains its connection with the ground level. People on the upper floors almost always have immediate access to outdoor decks designed to support many activities. Photo by Kyle Jeffers

The new LinkedIn campus is surrounded by native tree canopies, while gardens across the site collect and treat stormwater. The landscaping and irrigation systems of the project reduced potable water consumption for irrigation by 90%. Photo by Kyle Jeffers

Working within the confines of the site, a typical 120-by-300-foot office building was out of the question. In contrast, the new buildings on the LinkedIn campus are as narrow as 65 feet. “As a result we worked with the structural engineer to be more efficient about the structural layout and without sacrificing usable space,” Choi says.

The design team optimized load paths to reduce the number of columns and create more open space. They also pushed the stairs outside and created the overhangs that ultimately became distinctive features of the project.

Performance

The parking structure features an illuminated orange staircase. Perforated metal panels are folded in three ways and have slightly different colors to mimic tree bark. Photo by Kyle Jeffers

“The design of the building is really performance-driven. By designing a better performing building, it uses less energy to maintain,” Choi says.

The long and narrow buildings can bring in a lot of natural light, but too much light can lead to heat gain. Putting the information into physical and energy models, the team fine-tuned ways to optimize performance. They tweaked angles and directions, experimented with ways of breaking into the massing, and calculated the ratio of vision glass to opaque glass for each face of the building. “Those kinds of percentages are very carefully designed based on analysis that we have in a computer model.”

Low-Carbon Concrete

Precast concrete was chosen for the lower levels to create a sense of harmony with existing builds. Photo by Kyle Jeffers

When choosing building materials the design team wanted to ensure they wouldn’t alienate the existing buildings. As a result, they chose precast concrete.

Traditional concrete is often associated with high carbon emissions, and with LinkedIn’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030, the team wanted to push the envelope for what could be done sustainably. Partnering with CarbonCure—a Canadian company working to reduce embodied carbon in concrete—the LinkedIn campus is one of the first developments to use a new technology. The project used two strategies to reduce carbon—replacing the cement in concrete with fly ash and slag (byproducts of coal and steel production, respectively), and using Carbon Cure technology that injects CO2 captured from large emitters into concrete during mixing. The combined strategy is estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 2,400 tons, a 30% reduction over business as usual, according to CarbonCure.

“Technology keeps evolving,” Choi says. The solution they thought was best five years ago is no longer the latest and greatest. Today the industry is working on carbon-negative concrete. “It’s a crazy concept. Building a new building could be more sustainable than not building.”

Project Details

Project: LinkedIn Middlefield
Architect: STUDIOS Architecture
Location: Mountain View, CA
Size: 700,000 square feet
Structural Engineer: Forell/Elsesser
Civil Engineer: BKF Engineers
General Contractor: Devcon Construction
Curtain Wall: Walters & Wolf
Landscape Architect: PWP Landscape Architecture
Certification: LEED Platinum

Full site plan. Image courtesy of STUDIOS Architecture

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• BuildingWork’s design team included contemporary features while working within the town’s historic district guidelines.
• The design incorporates many cultural elements that illustrate the local native community’s involvement in the project.
• Cross-laminated timber was used in creative ways to build sustainably within a tight, publicly funded budget.

The small maritime town of La Conner, Washington is known for its rich historic district. Buildings built as early as the mid-1800s line the streets between dark evergreen trees. Among them, the La Conner Swinomish Public Library blends in beautifully, even though it’s entirely modern.

The BuildingWork architect team, led by founder and principal architect Matt Aalfs, didn’t shy away from the challenges this project faced. Working under strict historic guidelines with a fixed budget, the team found creative ways to complete the vision without compromise. The result is one of the first publicly funded buildings to use almost entirely cross laminated timber—a prefabricated engineered wood product with a low carbon footprint—and earn a LEED Silver certification.

The building is also special for its collaboration with the local Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. While La Conner and the Swinomish reservation are neighbors, the two groups have long been separated by a complex history. When the town chose to upgrade its original 1,500-square-foot, one-room library, the Tribal Community became one of its largest benefactors. The new space is an asset to both communities, and the design reflects the Swinomish’s strong involvement as a key partner.

“We’re proud of how it came out from a design standpoint,” Aalfs says. “It was a wonderful opportunity to figure out how the architecture could reflect native culture in a really authentic way and present a public space that is welcoming to everyone.”

The Design Details

Interior walls were left exposed initially in an effort to reduce material costs; the end result is a warm and inviting space that highlights one of Washington’s greatest resources. The Douglas fir lumber was provided as cross laminated timber panels by Vaagen Timbers, and the dimension lumber used came from Sierra Pacific. Photo by Doug Scott

When you approach the library entrance an 18-foot cedar story pole captures your attention. The pole was designed by Swinomish elder and master carver Kevin Paul and is an important cultural expression.

At the base of the pole a traditional Salish person is seen with outstretched hands. Two salmon then represent resources, and an eagle rests on top as a symbol of wisdom. The story pole reflects the purpose of the library—to be a place where everyone can join together and learn more.

Aalfs says the design team wanted the story pole to be a key element of the design. The front of the building was redesigned to be a neutral backdrop behind the pole, while the piece’s primary colors became the color palette of the building’s facade.

The facade also recognizes the town’s history. A photographic survey provided an idea of some key historic characteristics that reflect La Conner architecture. Wood cladding and detailing, vertically proportioned windows, and decorative cornices all come together to mimic a typical 19th century building in a subtle way.

Large and round light fixtures by Louis Poulsen hang like spotlights over the reading areas inside the La Conner Swinomish Library. Photo by Doug Scott

A massive corner bay window, with tall glass panels framed in steel, is another example. It’s a contemporary element that harkens back to the broad shop windows of local historic buildings. It also looks out on a main intersection, inviting people into the cozy reading nook.

The design team utilized daylighting throughout this project to create the ideal soft lighting libraries desire. Bright and harsh lighting can create contrasts that make it hard to read. The bay window brings in a lot of natural light and is on the east side of the building so lighting is indirect throughout the day. Tall vertical windows bring light deep into the space. And skylights overhead have a diffused layer of glass and brighten the reading room with a soft glow. For the electrical lighting the building does use, solar panels provide a good amount of onsite power generation.

Sustainability

The library utilizes high efficiency heating and cooling systems, provided by Daiken and Mitsubishi, to achieve LEED. Photo by Doug Scott

Aalfs says it was important to the team to find ways to advance sustainability across the project. Their use of cross-laminated timber as the structural element was a great achievement in that direction. CLT is a lightweight, solid wood panel made from layering boards in alternating directions that are bonded together with structural adhesive. It’s often used as an alternative to conventional building blocks like concrete or steel, and it produces a much smaller carbon footprint with virtually no waste.

Because this project had to be as cost-efficient as possible, the team had to find creative ways to use CLT and to show funders that the higher cost was not only worth it but could be done without compromising in other ways. Leaving the CLT exposed on the inside of the building and eliminating costs of drywall and paint helped to keep the project within budget.

Structural concept diagram showing mass timber design. Image courtesy of BuildingWork

“We let the mass timber be what it is—the structural element of the whole building and also the interior finish,” Aalfs says. “It’s a good example of how you can use it on a small budget. Really it’s proof it can be done.”

The CLT in this project was manufactured in Washington from locally sourced Douglas fir. Another advantage of this material is that it is prefabricated offsite, so it can be installed in a much shorter time than if the team were to use other materials. After the product was brought onsite, the entire building was up in just three days.

The new space is a great asset to the community with dedicated reading areas, public access computers, and a large meeting room. Staff also have new areas to work in, and overall the library can host and provide for more children, teens, and adults. All of this was accomplished with an innovative, forward-thinking design team and a collaboration between the native and non-native communities that Aalfs hope will grow with this space for years to come.

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Project Details

Project: La Conner Swinomish Public Library
Location: La Conner, WA
Completion: July 2022
Size: 5,400 square feet
Architect & Interior Designer: BuildingWork
Civil & Structural Engineer: KPFF
Mechanical Engineer: The Greenbusch Group
Electrical Engineer: TFWB Engineers
Envelope Consultant: RDH Building Science
LEED Consultant: ArchEcology
Specifications: Applied Building Information
General Contractor: Tiger Construction
Lighting Design: Blanca Lighting Design
Landscape Architect: Karen Kiest Landscape Architecture
Certification: LEED Silver

The library utilizes high efficiency heating and cooling systems, provided by Daiken and Mitsubishi, to achieve LEED. Photo by Doug Scott

Exterior metal panels come from AEP Span, windows and doors from Andersen, Milgard, and Kawneer for the La Conner Swinomish Public Library. Photo by Doug Scott

The post Designing a Sustainable Library with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community appeared first on gb&d magazine.

• The LEED Platinum–certified Center of Developing Entrepreneurs is a new mixed-use project in Charlottesville that creatively combines coworking and retail.
• EskewDumezRipple worked on this project to make it feel more like home while celebrating green living.

When the design team at EskewDumezRipple got to work on a new mixed-use project in Charlottesville, Virginia, they knew it needed to serve as an inviting front door to the downtown mall.

“CODE was designed to act as a highly visible beacon to the Charlottesville community,” says Jose Alvarez, principal architect at EskewDumezRipple.

The Center for Developing Entrepreneurs, or CODE, was designed to be a place where locally grown innovations in information technology and clean energy could grow into locally based businesses rather than relocate.

The project’s design is warm and walkable, with nods to nature at every turn. The building itself traverses a steep surrounding incline, and the design team carried this notion through to the interiors—carving away at materials or revealing them as the building is similarly carved into and extruded from the earth. “Various program elements celebrate these different layers, like the layers of earth and stone that build up over time and are revealed through excavation,” Alvarez says.

The color palette is also inspired by the earthy tones and metals found on the ground, with bronze metal colors, charcoal textures, and warm wood tones.

Challenges

Walkability was among the project’s biggest challenges, Alvarez says, as the team wanted to locate CODE on the pedestrian mall.

The team decided to stair-step up from the mall toward the intersection of Main and Water streets, spiral up further to meet the scale of Water Street, then design a cascade of occupiable terraces and green roofs.

Throughout the design they performed simulations not just for their impact on energy consumption but also to examine the impact of shadows that would be cast. “The spiraling form also generates a courtyard that is simultaneously inviting for pedestrians and yet provides a feeling of enclosure with a water feature at its center.”

The next challenge was to make the extremely topographical site universally accessible. “The solution was to include a sizable public plaza space with low sloping planes to accommodate ADA accessibility throughout the plaza and provide accessible connections between different site elevations,” Alvarez says.

Sustainability

CODE was designed to employ systems and technologies beyond even LEED standards. Photo by Alan Karchmer

Photo by Alan Karchmer

Throughout the project the design team assessed carbon emissions associated with the materials used for construction, helping the team lower the carbon footprint of the project even before the building opened.

CODE was designed to deliver an indoor working environment informed by the latest research results on how air quality, daylight, and views impact human cognitive function. They achieved this with an energy use intensity about one-third that of typical office buildings, helping the building achieve LEED Platinum.

“Green building decisions often prove to be the healthiest decisions for those who will use the building the most,” Alvarez says. “The sustainable intentions of the project were important for the project to provide both performance-enhancing features for the environment and the workers it hosts.”

Photo by Alan Karchmer

The building envelope design draws from the brick cladding and punched window openings of the historic context but is implemented with a modern rainscreen to achieve high levels of insulation and thermal comfort while protecting against water intrusion.

“The story of this project illustrates the way our team works,” Alvarez says. “Draw from the vernacular, reinterpret to modern needs and methods, test design concepts with simulation against goals based on the latest in research, and deliver a result that bridges from past to future with a superior environment for occupants and superior environmental performance.”

The team chose materials with low emissions throughout, and the building ventilation system provides more than twice the standard flow of fresh air—and in ways that still achieves energy use that is one-third that of the benchmark office building.

“We also love the self-shading feature of the inset windows and the articulation of the facade materials as the building negotiates the site slopes and historic context.”

Coworking & Community

The project was designed to increase the fresh air exchange and provide fine-tuned environmental controls for natural ventilation and daylighting. Photo by Alan Karchmer

The design team researched coworking spaces extensively, visiting various facilities to find the best balance, especially as coworking continues to experience rapid development and innovation, Alvarez says.

“The design team worked with a client representative in pursuing a vision to uphold the changing nature of work, straddling a line between the formal and informal, instilling a unique blend of clean commercial space with a more relaxed residential feel,” he says. “All interior elements, from furniture and textiles to fixtures and artwork, were handpicked by the team in fostering a warm, welcoming space.”

The office’s communal elements were designed to stand out from each other, while private offices were more standardized—furthering the notion that most people would gravitate to the communal spaces they found most pleasing, Alvarez says.

“Early on the layout and circulation were planned to encourage crosses between the public, the coworking tenants, and the private office users, facilitating conversation and connection between different users and working to balance the vibrance and fun of a coworking space with the formality and professionalism of world-class office and auditorium space.”

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That feeling of community continues outside, with an “outdoor workplace” experience among green roofs. The cascading green roofs cover eight garden roofs—an amenity to tenants and visitors but also a benefit to visiting birds, insects, and pollinators of all kinds, Alvarez says. The rooftop terraces and gardens support more than 90 distinct species, including more than 7,000 perennials and grasses, 100 shrubs, and 75 large trees, many of which are native. The roof also captures rainwater that is then stored in two underground cisterns and used to irrigate the plants.

Today the project is 100% leased and the coworking space has a waiting list. “The plaza space is being constantly activated by community events and pedestrian mall gatherings,” Alvarez says. “It is exciting to see the benefits that the project has brought to downtown Charlottesville—and how the power of design can bring a sense of place to a community.”

Project Details

Project: Center of Developing Entrepreneurs (CODE)
Location: Charlottesville
Completion: 2022
Size: 215,000 square feet
Architect: Wolf Ackerman
Associate Architect: EskewDumezRipple
Structural Engineer: Fox & Associates
Civil Engineer: Timmons Group
MEP Engineer: 2RW
Interior Design: EskewDumezRipple
General Contractor: Hourigan
Lighting Design: DKT Lighting
Landscape Architect: Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect
Sustainability: STRUCTR Advisors
Energy Modeling: Thornton Tomasetti
Certifications & Awards: LEED Platinum, 2023 AIA National Architecture Award

Ceiling designs at CODE include product from Arktura and Hunter Douglas. Carpets by Bentley. Photo by Alan Karchmer

The post Designing Coworking Spaces for Entrepreneurs appeared first on gb&d magazine.

• An impressive music venue in Chicago was once a storage and distribution site for bulk Morton Salt.
• The venue opened its doors in 2022 and continues to expand with onsite retail, food trucks, and more.
• Blue Star Properties, HBRA Architects, and 16 on Center collaborated to bring the venue to life.

The Salt Shed in Chicago is a music venue like few others. For starters, it’s quite large for such a spot in the heart of a city; the 100,000-square-foot multi-venue site features a 5,000-capacity “fairgrounds” outdoor concert space on the Chicago River with skyline views, as well as the adjoining “shed,” a 3,600-capacity indoor performance hall in the historic Morton Salt building. Its programming is diverse—everything from four nights of Run the Jewels to a sold-out run of Japanese Breakfast to Iggy Pop, Third Eye Blind, and even classical music. You’ll also find family-friendly programming, private event spaces, onsite retail, food trucks, six permanent bars inside, and more. But what’s most special about The Salt Shed is the space itself. It could have just as easily been demolished.

The Salt Shed is highly visible in this part of Chicago; you can see its iconic roof from the highway, and it has long been known and loved by the community. It’s a rare example of such preservation on grand display.

“Chicago’s industrial past, as expressed in architecture, is vanishing. To preserve this by giving new life to these buildings and districts is a great joy,” says Aric Lasher, former principal architect and director of design at HBRA Architects, and the architect on the project. “The rooftop sign is a familiar landmark to Chicagoans. Preserving it was like saving a significant part of Chicago’s built history.”

The History of The Salt Shed

Hospitality group 16 on Center stepped in in late 2019 to plan the Salt Shed renovation. Together with developer Blue Star Properties, alongside the owners of the property R2 and Sky Deck, they collaborated to transform the Morton Salt building into what it is today. Photo by Sandra Steinbrecher

The brick-clad Morton Salt Company Warehouse Complex was built between 1929 and 1930 to store, package, and distribute bulk salt brought to the site via the Chicago River, according to a City of Chicago Landmark Designation report.

The project was originally the work of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White—a successor to D.H. Burnham & Co, known for the World’s Columbian Exposition, the beloved Marshall Field’s building in Chicago, and Union Station in Washington, D.C.

Both the building’s structural integrity and its incredible history helped to make it one worth saving, according to the Landmark Designation report. The overall form and masonry exteriors dating back to 1930 remain, along with the open docks that are surrounded by music fans on any given day today. Fenestration in the packaging buildings are largely intact, as well as the complex’s iconic roofline with distinctive parapets, roof monitors, and conveyor structures.

The “fairgrounds” outside at The Salt Shed include the original overall form and masonry exteriors dating back to 1930, along with the open docks that are surrounded by music fans on any given day today. Photo by Elizabeth De La Piedra

The report called it an “excellent example of a truss-roof ‘production shed’-style storage building, once a common building type in Chicago, and significant in Chicago’s industrial history.” It continues: “The complex is an excellent example of small-scale industrial architecture executed in a modern industrial style with Prairie-style influences.”

The building’s primary elevations are clad in multi-hued red-face brick with plain Bedford limestone trim—an example of utilitarian design with strong vertical and horizontal lines inspired by the Prairie School, the late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style common in the Midwest and exemplified by projects like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House.

The complex was sold in 2009 to the fertilizer and salt conglomerate K & S Group, who closed Morton Salt’s Elston Avenue Complex in 2015.

The Salt Shed Today

The historic Morton Salt factory was transformed to include a 3,600-capacity indoor performance hall. Photo by Nick Langlois

When the Morton Salt factory closed in 2015, hospitality group 16 on Center (also known for its work in restoring and running music venues like Thalia Hall and the Promontory in Chicago) stepped in in late 2019 to plan the renovation. Together with local developer Blue Star Properties, alongside the owners of the property R2 and Sky Deck, they collaborated to transform the Morton Salt building into what it is today. Blue Star brought in Lasher from HBRA for architecture, while Blue Star did the interior design. The Salt Shed opened its gates to music fans in 2022.

Redesigning the project to be the success it is today was no easy feat. “A performance venue is complex, and fitting it into a fixed envelope is challenging,” Lasher says.

The architecture team chose an asymmetrical box layout as a result and designed so the boxes would access the outdoor space as well. “Flexibility was important. We worked with Craig Golden at Blue Star and a theater consultant we’ve worked with on many projects. The client had much experience and many innovative ideas, so that contributed to an amazing outcome.”

The Details

Workers restore the historic Morton Salt Shed roof sign. Photo by Sandra Steinbrecher

Golden, founder of Blue Star Properties and cofounder of 16” On Center, says the team took great pride in preserving as many elements as possible for The Salt Shed—from not painting over graffiti on the outside of the building to restoring the roof with significant help from Kingspan. You’ll see old, heavy metal doors throughout the building, and Golden even envisions a future for the old boiler room in the back of the building. He hopes one day an outside bar will come in and set up shop there. “We want to keep a sense of space,” he says of the adaptive reuse project. “And we want the activity. People will come in here for many things.”

When you arrive at The Salt Shed an original truss welcomes you into the fairgrounds. You’ll see old I-beams transformed into benches outside, and many of the trusses were left to naturally rust.

Going to The Salt Shed is a much different experience than seeing a show at many big venues all over the country. “We toured the newer ones, which are wonderful, but they’re basically big black boxes because that’s the most efficient, cheapest thing to put seating in,” Golden says. “That’s all very generic.”

The most sustainable building is one that doesn’t get torn down.

Newer venues often have more stadium-like seating, but The Salt Shed team wanted a flat floor. Now they can host parties and set up cocktail tables when there’s not a concert, for example. “We love the flexibility.”

Golden points to how they could have painted everything inside the venue to make it “bright and cheery,” but the team really wanted to keep it as original as possible. “We could renovate it to the nines, or we could leave it. Again, it’s about keeping that whole sense of a place,” he says.

That is part of what Lasher loves most about the project, too. “The most sustainable building is one that doesn’t get torn down, and old buildings embody the culture and history of a specific place,” he says.

Much of the ductwork and original columns were left exposed inside The Salt Shed. Photo by Sandra Steinbrecher

Inside the venue, Upstaging did all of the lighting and Chicago’s Dock 6 custom-made wood bars. You’ll see exposed fabric DuctSox and the original columns. Fabric architectural panels help to control the sound. “We wanted it to be the best sounding room we could produce inside of an old salt shed,” Golden says.

Artist and crew spaces inside The Salt Shed get the VIP treatment—full bathrooms with showers, onsite laundry, and spaces that remind you more of hotel lobbies and guest rooms than green rooms, complete with seating by Ligne Roset, vibrant colors, and full kitchens. It’s in stark, but beautiful juxtaposition to the industrial feel just beyond those behind-the-scenes doors. “We try to take our notion of hospitality and bring it here. Not only is this a quirky spot, but it gives you that sense of being somewhere important,” Golden says.

Because Blue Star is the developer, general contractor, interior designer, and also operates the venue themselves, they’ve been able to bring most of their dreams for the project to life. “I love the mashup of old and new, and I also love the eclectic nature of it,” Golden says.

The Future of The Salt Shed

The entire Salt Shed project comprises approximately 100,000 square feet—35,000 in the Shed and 65,000 in the packing house and garage. Photo by Josh Druding

While the most major construction began in 2019, many projects are ongoing. A new catering kitchen is going in on the first floor, and a new VIP deck and pedestrian bridge—a nod to the original conveyor belt—was just completed. Work is also being done on the second and third floors for future tenants and private parties. In one space you can see where the old conveyor belt would have been that carried the salt across the original wood floor.

Work on many projects is ongoing inside the massive Salt Shed venue. Photo by Sandra Steinbrecher

Next door but still part of the complex, a Goose Island brewery is going up inside the Salt Shed’s former maintenance garage on the riverfront. Golden it says it’s yet another historical building reimagined and adding to the venue’s plentiful entertainment offerings.

While the focus overall will continue to be music, Golden wants the whole community to enjoy The Salt Shed. “Food shows, art shows, anything that engages the community more—that’s who we are,” he says. “That’s what keeps people coming back, too. Post-pandemic we’re all looking for things that are real. And we want to get back to doing what we love and taking care of each other. We are unique in that we have all these things under one roof. We’re just going to let it keep snowballing—in a good way.”

Project Details

Project: The Salt Shed
Location: Chicago
Completion: 2022
Size: 100,000 square feet
Cost: $60 million+
Recent Architect: HBRA Architects
Interior Designer: Blue Star Properties
Stage Lighting: Upstaging
Roof Restoration: Kingspan

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Six custom-made permanent bars can be found inside The Salt Shed venue. Photo by Sandra Steinbrecher

Japanese Breakfast plays a sold-out run inside The Salt Shed. Photo by Nick Langlois

The post Saving The Salt Shed: An Adaptive Reuse Success Story appeared first on gb&d magazine.