America’s most sustainable building for 2016 owes its performance to aluminium reflecting panels

A joint project by America’s SERA Architects and Cutler Anderson Architects in association has earned the nation’s highest accolade for sustainability in the built environment, thanks to the use of aluminium reflecting panels and other "green" components and technologies.

The architects’ renovation of The Edith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building (EGWW) in Portland, Oregon received the 2016 Top Ten Plus award from the American Institute of Architects, ahead of 10 other exemplar sustainable projects listed on the AIA’s annual ‘Top Ten’ list.

The EGWW was a Top Ten award winner back in 2014 but has since improved its ecological footprint through a process of post occupancy studies and refinement of its technologies and performance. The AIA’s Committee on the Environment (COTE), who oversee the awards, felt these improvements and commitment to ongoing refinement warranted the award upgrade.

Until 2013, the 47610sqm EGWW could only have been considered an energy hog, using around 1.7kwh of energy per sqm. But by 2015, after an extensive green retrofit by SERA and CAA in association, and a post-occupancy tweaking of its technologies, the building is now using less than half that figure and also 60 per cent less water than a typical building.

Central to the building’s new performance was the architect’s biggest undertaking, the replacement of the former pre-cast concrete cladding with a high-performance skin of aluminium reflecting panels and shading elements that were modelled to respond year-round variations of the sun. On the southwest and southeast elevations, horizontal light shelves reflect light and provide shade, while west-facing vertical ‘reeds’ provide relief from the low-angle sun – all without obstructing views.

The building’s precast concrete cladding was replaced with a relatively light glass and aluminium system which lightened the structure and allowed the building to meet today’s more stringent earthquake code without requiring a major structural upgrade.

The replacement of the pre-cast concrete cladding with a high-performance skin not only made the building more energy efficient, but also allowed for a radiant heating and cooling system that freed up approximately 2,900sqm of extra net rentable space.

Another key to the building’s performance is that radiant heating and cooling system which is said to provide better for indoor air quality than conventional systems and be incredibly efficient – it’s estimated to save 10 per cent to 15 per cent of total building energy use when compared to a variable air volume mechanical system.

The building scored a Platinum LEED Rating and its energy performance is only expected to improve.