United Solutions Office Building

The design goal for this new, $5.7 million, computer based facility was to provide a new home for the headquarters of a highly regarded credit union services organization, while also finding an architectural design response that was compatible with the surrounding high-tech campus. This three story, 25,000 GSF structure is located on a gently sloping site that caters to a variety of technology driven companies.
 
The steel structure has an exterior base of concrete block, metal studs and gypsum wallboard. Both composite aluminum panels and brick veneer are utilized in a rain screen assembly. The north and south faces of the building are adorned with large aluminum curtain walls, while the south facing portion of the standing seam metal roof is equipped with photovoltaic panels, as an additional source of energy. In addition, the buildings heat load is released through geothermal ground water heat exchange wells.
 
With the client’s goal in mind to offer natural daylight and a view from virtually all of the occupied spaces, a light harvesting system was utilized to procure suitable, cost effective lighting levels for each workspace. The system measures ambient light, which is then compared with the predetermined, ideal lighting level in each space. The system will then control the level of artificial light necessary to maintain the desired light intensity. Additionally, each space is monitored for occupancy. The lights are set to turn off when a space is unoccupied. This building is so efficient, that it’s entire lighting load is less that 20kW, of which the electric company will receive none of that load.
 
Further effort to increase sustainability in the design was placed on environmental conditioning. After an initial purge period, the ventilation system will monitor the levels of carbon dioxide and adjust to maintain a clean environment.