DLRGroup | The Portland Building | Northwest

The Portland Building Reconstruction project consisted of a complete renovation/restoration of the original 1982 building designed by Michael Graves, including new exterior cladding, seismic upgrade, MEP systems replacement, and new interior workplace. The project is LEED Platinum certified and pursuing WELL certification. 

The building has been updated to be fossil-fuel free, retrofitted with electric-only mechanical systems, and has brought down potable water use by about 45% per year. The project also tracked and exceeded its goals for the diversity of the project team, with with 30% minority / 10% female journeymen and 33% minority / 17% female apprentices.

Archimania | 663 South Cooper | South

This project reimagines Middle America’s aging commercial corridor building stock as a conduit for 21st century community building, proposing the idea of carbon neutral corridors. archimania began with the purchase and upcycle of two of these commercial buildings on Cooper Street in Memphis, Tennessee, and redesigned them with two varying approaches to energy, to test different strategies. Through a highly analytical design process, the team designed a net-zero energy, carbon neutral building with a financial payback period of less than ten years. This proves the economic viability of the case study as a shift in conventional developer logic.

IA Interior Architects | Orthodontics Only | South

This is the First Net-Zero LEED Platinum orthodontic office in the US and the first LEED Platinum commercial building in the Kendall neighborhood of Miami-Dade County.

Mahlum Architects | Rainier Beach Clinic | Northwest

The Rainier Beach Clinic offers a new model for dialysis care on an urban site previously used as a storage yard for tires, industrial scrap, and derelict vehicles. Biophilic design strategies utilized across the project restore and protect native ecosystems and provide amenities for the building occupants and surrounding community through prominent, public-facing garden spaces.

Studio 804 | Monarch Village | Midwest

With the introduction of Monarch Village, twelve tiny dwellings expand the Lawrence Community Shelter’s ability to provide supported environments in which individuals experiencing homelessness can quarantine or isolate.

Over the long term the dwellings, which are pursuing LEED Platinum certification, will afford individuals and families staying at the Shelter a commodity that typically evades households experiencing homelessness: privacy. Simultaneously, they would reduce the number of guests sleeping in the dorms, facilitating better social distancing thus keeping the entire population safer from airborne illnesses. These homes are also the first of their kind in North America to feature full, private bathrooms for the residents.

Ross Barney Architects | McDonald’s Chicago | Midwest

The design team for this project re-designed the iconic Rock n’ Roll McDonald’s to celebrate the company’s move from the suburbs to downtown Chicago and presented a new vision for a global brand by placing its environmental stewardship front and center.

This LEED Platinum certified project serves as a learning lab for future projects within its typology. In addition to a CLT structure, the project deploys a host of strategies including higher efficiency kitchen equipment and HVAC systems, photovoltaic panels, Solatubes, and carbon cure cement.

By creating a city oasis where people can eat, drink, and meet, it underscores an equitable experience for McDonald’s customers from all backgrounds.

Miller Hull Partnership & Lord Aeck Sargent Planning and Design, Inc. | The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design | South

The Kendeda Building showcases many firsts in sustainable design. It achieved full Living Building Certification in 2021 after proving its net positive energy and water performance after one year of occupancy.

In addition to a host of integrated and ingeniously designed building systems, 25,000 linear feet of 2-by-4 material was salvaged from Atlanta’s Lifecycle Building Center, which sourced the lumber from discarded film sets. The decking was assembled by apprentices hired through local nonprofit Georgia Works!, providing valuable trade skills. Wood salvaged from storm-felled trees on campus and in southern Georgia was used for countertops and furniture.

Humanscale | Net Positive Products

Humanscale has achieved Living Product certification (LPC) on 25 of their office products. This means that every time any of the 25 products are made it actually leaves the world better off. The certification is the highest standard of climate-forward designations due to its test of measured performance versus design intent.  Each individual product is audited across twenty sustainability categories such as climate, waste, and more. Because LPC is so rigorous, only 42 products have been certified to date—25 of those are Humanscale products.