Extreme Green
Extreme GreenSM represents GLL's philosophy of sustainable design and development. Extreme Green services ensure that buildings developed by GLL will strive to meet and exceed prevailing standards of environmental design, development, and operation.
Sustainable Design
The 350 Mission project is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council with the goal of a LEED® Platinum certification. The design team has incorporated sustainable and environmentally friendly elements into all aspects of the building core and shell. Once the building is ready for occupancy, tenants will be encouraged to support sustainable practices in their improvements.
Beyond LEED®: Minimizing 350 Mission's Carbon Footprint
To help address the global challenge of climate change, the 350 Mission team has gone well beyond targeting a LEED® Platinum designation: GLL has challenged the design team to make 350 Mission a carbon neutral building. In presenting this challenge, GLL is elevating the standards for environmental sustainability in commercial properties and is positioning 350 Mission to be among the first carbon neutral commercial buildings on the West Coast.
350 Mission addresses energy efficiency through a variety of strategies. HVAC distribution will be under the floor to more effectively distribute heating and cooling from the floor up, to only the areas occupied by people. This system does not require as low a cooling temperature as traditional buildings, because higher delivery temperatures will be sufficient to produce the same ambient temperature conditions, substantially reducing energy requirements. This approach conserves energy when compared to traditional schemes that unnecessarily expend energy to first cool the area between the occupant's head and the ceiling. The engineering team also conceived a unique zoned heating and cooling approach that uses only enough energy to regulate the temperature of spaces used by occupants, and delivers only the amount of air needed for comfort from the occupied floor level.
The building will be capable of using 100% outside air for cooling. While most modern office buildings, even those in San Francisco's mild climate, are designed to limit the use of natural ventilation, 350 Mission will allow the use of ambient conditions to provide "free cooling" instead of mechanical refrigeration further reducing the building's carbon emissions and delivering additional operational cost savings.
Employing state-of-the-art computer software, the destination control elevator system will require fewer elevator cabs and will deliver occupants directly to their floors faster and with substantial energy savings.
350 Mission will sponsor the use of bio-fuels and will use energy from other green energy concepts, such as geothermal heating and cooling. The development team went from underground to the base of the building to apply an innovative new system that will use the ground water beneath the building to assist in heating and cooling the extensive lobby area.
Because of the more sustainable environment within the building, tenants will be able to realize significant cost savings. While the average building's energy costs run over $2.50 per square foot, 350 Mission's design will cut energy costs by over one third.
To further reduce carbon emissions, GLL is planning to assist tenants in reducing their use of fossil-fuel powered vehicles by installing parking spaces and charge stations for electric vehicles as well as the increasingly popular Zipcar® system. Over 100 bicycle racks are slated for installation, and bike commuters will be invited to use lockers and showers in the building's fitness facility.
Conserving Natural Resources
Even the structural frame of the building will be environmentally friendly: instead of overseas-sourced steel, the building will be framed in locally manufactured concrete and will use far less structural material than a traditional steel-framed highrise. Another innovative feature of 350 Mission is the Sustainable Form Inclusion System (SFIS) used in the building's structure. This structural system utilizes non-biodegradable post-consumer materials as a substitute for a large portion of heavy concrete. "Throwaway" materials, such as styrofoam or plastic bottles, which would normally sit in a landfill for centuries, are productively reused, to both decrease the weight of the building and add additional structural integrity. As a result of this forward-looking approach, 350 Mission will literally have a lighter footprint than many of its neighbors. In terms of weight savings, 350 Mission's structural slab requires about 25% less concrete. Engineers estimate that the 5,400 cubic yards of concrete saved by using the system — about 600 truckloads — would be enough to lay 20 miles of concrete sidewalks.
Another benefit of the system is that less steel (used for rebar to strengthen concrete) is required. Again, engineers estimate the building will save about 1.2 million pounds of steel, enough to make 8,000 refrigerators or 1,000 cars. Remarkably, all of these materials and weight savings will result in a building constructed to handle live loads of 80 pounds per square foot — or 30 pounds more than called for in the San Francisco City Code.
To conserve natural resources, such as potable water, the team has proposed the use of graywater and harvested rainwater in tanks for cooling as well as for landscaping irrigation and toilet flushing. 350 Mission will also strive to reuse materials from demolition in the new construction, such as excavated building piles to create lobby seating.
350 Mission will not only be environmentally sustainable, it will contribute to the well-being and productivity of its corporate tenants. With 10-foot to 10.8-foot-high floor-to-ceiling heights and exterior glazing, 350 Mission will offer generous views and natural daylight. Its flexible, column-free spans will allow tenants to configure their offices to meet their unique needs.
GLL Development and Management, Inc. is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council.
www.usgbc.org
Who is the U.S Green Building Council?
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings and communities that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. The U.S. Green Building Council has developed the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System. 'USGBC' and related logo is a trademark owned by the U.S. Green Building Council and is used by permission.
What is LEED®?
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED addresses all building types and emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies in five areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED® is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 through a consensus based process, LEED serves as a tool for buildings of all types and sizes. LEED certification offers third party validation of a project's green features and verifies that the building is operating exactly the way it was designed to. LEED® certification may be awarded at the levels of Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, based on a point system with points awarded for environmentally-friendly design features. 'LEED' and related logo is a trademark owned by the U.S. Green Building Council and is used by permission.
