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has designed an office building that uses one-fifth the amount of energy that a standard office building in the Northwest does, according to the firm.

The $72 million project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ Seattle district is one of ZGF‘s most sustainable efforts ever, said Todd Stine, a principal at the firm.

鈥淚t’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime type project,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re in the top one percent of energy efficiency in the country of all office buildings.鈥�

The building is on a former brownfield site. Originally, an existing warehouse was going to be renovated, but the General Services Administration and ZGF determined it would be too expensive to meet Department of Defense antiterrorism-force protection requirements, including that all walls be reinforced to withstand explosions.

The warehouse was torn down, but its materials were reused for the office building. Concrete, for example, was crushed and reused to raise the building off of the site’s floodplain. Structural timber was reused for floor decking and interior wood finishes.

ZGF also implemented a number of sophisticated structural designs and systems to reuse energy in new ways, Stine said.

鈥�(We’ve given it) a much higher level of efficiency,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re able to knock down our peak loads pretty significantly.鈥�

The first strategy was to use an oxbow shape to minimize the building’s envelope and maximize exposure to daylight.

鈥淭hat’s a basic strategy in terms of having good bones,鈥� Stine said. 鈥淲e’ve maximized the building footprint with the minimal amount of envelope.鈥�

A hydraulic system was put in place, so the building is being heated and cooled through the use of water rather than air 鈥� much more efficient, Stine said.

Also, a phase change tank was placed on the roof: Energy is produced when heat is extracted as ice capsules thaw. And geothermal systems were incorporated into the building’s foundations (165-foot steel piles driven into the floodplain), eliminating the use of one boiler and one cooling tower.

As a result, the building has a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating and an ENERGY STAR score of 100.

鈥淏etween the high level of energy efficiency and the opportunity to harvest all that timber and reuse it 鈥� it’s extremely efficient,鈥� Stine said.

鈥淥n the Boards鈥� is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please call 503-802-7240 or email [email protected].