GSA Regional Field Office
Houston, Texas
The design of the LEED certified, 275,000-square-foot office building is generated by careful integration of concerns for security, sustainability, and appropriate image into a thoroughly synthesized design solution.
A lightweight metal frame was hung off of the very capable concrete walls to carry a “second skin” for the building, conceived to provide shade rather than capture heat.
Heavily fritted laminated glass is attached to the lightweight frame with stainless steel clips. The almost opaque glass, which is placed away from the actual thermal wall of the building, shades the structure substantially from direct heat gain from the hot Texas sun. The space between the two skins becomes a significantly cooled microclimate reducing the load requirements for air conditioning systems. Apertures in the glass skin, sized somewhat smaller than the actual windows, are carefully placed to provide excellent day-lighting with reduced glare for interior work spaces. The concrete walls are sheathed in aluminum shingles that both reflect heat and allow the high thermal mass of the concrete to benefit the temperature stability of the structure.
The GSA building, which was designed in a joint venture with Leo A Daly, has been carefully designed to maximize environmental sensitivity, promote daylighting and views, and provide for the potential of solar energy capture. The buildings and paved areas are carefully located to preserve several stands of existing trees. Cut and fill of earthwork has been balanced; swales and berms are located in such a way as to minimize erosion and runoff.
The office building maximizes daylighting by design: the plan is purposefully narrow, presenting broad faces to the south and north, and thin faces to the east and west, and the windows are oversized, nearly 9 feet high.
Other sustainable design elements and building strategies that this project employs include:
- Site selection adjacent to mass transit facilities and above the 500-year floodplain
- Bicycle storage and changing facilities
- Reduction of heat islands via the use of covered parking
- Elimination of visual light pollution by careful specification and location of light fixtures
- Water efficiency through the selection and use of drought-hardy landscaping, rainwater harvesting, low-usage plumbing fixtures and cooling tower water recycling
- Reduction of energy costs through the use of high-performance glass, high insulation values, dedicated energy recovery units, and special selection and design integration of energy efficient HVAC systems, including a full building under-floor HVAC system
- Specification and design that integrate a high percentage of recycled and locally harvested materials
- Exceptional indoor environmental quality that includes CO2 monitoring and low VOCs for all interior materials
- Daylighting and views provided to nearly all work areas through careful design of building floor plate, window size, high floor-to-ceiling height, and careful interior space planning
- Substrate for future thin-film photovoltaic application (at the discretion of the owner) provided by the screenwall system
Awards: Texas Society of Architects Design Award; Austin AIA Design Award (Merit); Houston AIA Design Award; Crystal Achievement Award for Most Innovative Energy Efficient Glass Project
Publications: AIArchitect – May 2006; ARCHITECT Magazine – February 2007; Contract – May 2006; Texas Architect – July/August 2010; Texas Architect – September/October 2010