The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design

Project Description

FROM SKANSKA:

Skanska announces that it has completed the construction of The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design (The Kendeda Building) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in partnership with The Kendeda Fund.

The Kendeda Building with 47,000-square-foot of programmable space, is the first academic and research building in the Southeast to pursue Living Building Challenge 3.1 certification – the world’s most ambitious green building program – which aligns with Georgia Tech’s longstanding vision for its campus to serve as an educational center for innovation that transforms future generations. The Kendeda Building will need to meet 20 specific performance requirements, or “Imperatives,” for 12 consecutive months of occupancy and operation. Certification is anticipated in 2021. The project is also pursuing the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification at the Platinum level.

“The Kendeda Building is an incredible and beautiful example of sustainable design, integration with nature, human inclusion and well-being,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “Thanks to our partnership with The Kendeda Fund, it will inspire architects, civil engineers, business and policy leaders for generations to come.”

The Kendeda Building will use just one-third the energy of a comparable building, generate more electricity than it uses on an annual basis from solar panels on its roof, and capture and treat rainwater for all purposes, including drinking. The building uses materials that avoid the most hazardous chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), halogenated flame retardants, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which have been shown to harm humans and the environment and are common in other buildings.

“Skanska has a great deal of experience in constructing sustainable buildings in challenging climates such as we have here in Atlanta. Projects like this are a catalyst to reshape how people think about the built environment and its interaction with its immediate surroundings,” said Scott Cannon, executive vice president and general manager of Skanska’s building operations in Georgia and South Carolina. “We leveraged the breadth of disciplines in our company to find creative, practical and replicable solutions in terms of cost, materials, and technologies that other buildings in the Southeast can use to meet similar environmental standards.”

Located on a 1.35-acre site at the corner of Ferst Drive and State Street in Atlanta, the building includes classrooms, teaching laboratories, a maker space, offices, an auditorium, student commons, and a rooftop garden with an apiary. The project offers unique learning opportunities for designers, builders, and building operators, such as how to tackle the region’s humidity and potential droughts. Nearly everything removed during construction, including the site’s surface parking, was salvaged, recycled, or turned into another usable product. It represents one of the best examples of repurposed materials being incorporated into a commercial building design:

Slate shingles from the roof of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association building were used on the walls and floors of showers and restrooms.

Two-by-fours from dismantled movie sets were used in the nail-laminated floor decks. Nearly 500 10-by-six-foot flooring units were assembled by workers from the community, hired — as part of The Kendeda Building’s Equity Petal — through the Georgia Works training program.

Stone Mountain granite curbs from the Georgia State Archives Building were incorporated into the landscape around a constructed wetland.

Heart pine joists that were initially part of Tech Tower — one of Georgia Tech’s two original buildings dating back to 1888 — were converted to treads for The Kendeda Building’s staircase.

Lumber from storm-felled trees on Georgia Tech’s campus was kiln-dried, milled and planed to make counters and benches outside the building.

Wood boards from a former church on 10^th Street in Atlanta was used on the lobby ramp and as or on? decorative walls.

Skanska collaborated with the design team of Lord Aeck Sargent and The Miller Hull Partnership as well as Georgia Tech to establish project goals and formalize strategies to help ensure a successful pathway to the LBC 3.1 certification. The Living Building was funded through a $30 million grant from The Kendeda Fund, one of the leading philanthropic investors in civic and environmental programs in the Atlanta area with a commitment to ecological and social causes. The investment represents the fund’s largest single grant and ranks among the largest capital gifts ever received by Georgia Tech.

There are only 23 LBC fully certified Living Buildings in the U.S. to date. The Kendeda Building at Georgia Tech brings Skanska’s experience on LBC projects to eight: Two projects are constructed and fully certified, and six are recently completed but not certified, under construction, or in the design phase.