AIA Declares GSA One of Top Ten Plus Awards Recipients For Earth Day

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) along with its Committee on the Environment (COTE) has declared the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Central South Building 1202 as one of the recipients for the Top Ten Plus Awards, according to The Hills. The Top Ten Plus recognizes projects which have complied with AIA’s requirements.

The Federal South Center South Building 1202 was designed by ZGF Architects LLP and built by Sellen Construction. Aside from its current award in sustainable building design, it was also a recipient of the AIA/COTE Top Ten Project Award program. GSA’s redevelopment project was a part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With the new structure, the previously toxic site was transformed into a cost-effective, high-performance, safe and sustainable workplace for the U.S. army Corps of Engineers. The construction was completed within a span of only 31 months and has complied with its original $72 million budget.

For a course of its first year, the building’s energy performance has met the goal of more than 30 percent better than the ASHRAE 90.1. The ASHRAE 90.1 is the current benchmark for commercial building energy codes in the country. After which, the facility’s metered energy performance has complied with the quantifiable metrics for sustainable design including AIA 2030 Commitment. By the end of 2014, the Federal Center South building has consumed 61 percent less energy than the national average for buildings of similar scale. It has also been using 46 percent less water than what was defined in the current plumbing code.

Todd Stine, a partner at ZGF Architects LLP, said “This project demonstrates the success of performance-oriented contracting and the value of both energy modeling and post-occupancy monitoring.”

In a report by Real Estate Rama, the COTE Top Ten Plus jury commented, “We admired ZGF Architects for their persistence over time to improve both their understanding of the planned performance of the building and its actual performance; they were genuinely curious about how the building was working out. There are signs of science and research in the relationship between daylighting and employee performance along with evidence that the building has caused an enhanced environmental culture amongst its occupants.”