Broader Goals
Perkin+Will's Commitment to Sustainable Design
- Text by:
- CAMILA QUERASIAN, RA, LEED® AP
- Images Courtesy of:
- PERKINS+WILL MIAMI
Building a more environmentally stable future requires two things: vision and experience. Perkins+Will has advocated sustainable design since Larry Perkins and Phil Will founded the company in 1935, and the firm has been designing award-winning sustainable buildings ever since.
Sustainability has always been a top tenet of Perkins+Will's design excellence. The firm has the largest number of LEED® Accredited Professionals of any other design company in the world, and has recently developed a free estimating and evaluating online tool for architects and designers.
In April 2009, Perkins+Will launched the 2030e2 Estimating + Evaluation Tool. This free online tool is built to help architects better measure and design buildings to meet the goals of the 2030 Challenge. Specifically, the tool allows designers to set goals for energy conservation, on-site renewable energy, and grid-supplied renewable energy when designing new buildings. The 2030 Challenge is a global initiative endorsed by the American Institute of Architects that addresses the need to reduce energy use. Currently, buildings use about 76% of energy produced in the United States and contribute approximately 48% of the annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions through energy use, construction, and maintenance. The 2030 Challenge calls for the aggressive reduction of energy in all new and existing residential, commercial, and institutional buildings over the next 20 years with the ultimate goal of achieving fossil fuel independence and carbon neutrality by 2030.
The firm's sustainable design strategic plan calls for industry leadership in the areas of LEED projects (in quantity and level of certification), education, research, marketing, and green operations. Today, as the firm stands as the number one sustainable design firm in the country (according to Architect Magazine's The Architect 50 2009 ranking), the Miami office's LEED work shines at the cutting edge of green building in Florida, the Middle East, and South America.
A variety of sectors and design disciplines are represented in these projects. From the LEED Silver Certified Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in Port St Lucie, to the 40,000-student, LEED registered new campus for the Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University for Women in Saudi Arabia, the firm brings to its clients and to their buildings' occupants the energy savings, comfort and work productivity that high-quality, green design affords. In Miami, the Clinical Research Building at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the City of Miami Beach Multi-purpose Parking Facility, and the Brickell Financial Centre's interiors are additional examples of the impact Perkins+Will Miami has on bringing green and LEED projects to the community. More recently the firm has finished construction on its new Miami offices and has also completed the 175,000 square foot Burnham Institute for Medical Research at Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida. Both projects have obtained high levels of energy consumption reduction (41 and 25 percent, respectively) and are weeks away from receiving LEED Gold certification.
Perkins+Will remains committed to reducing energy consumption while enhancing local environments. The firm believes that by showing leadership, researching new solutions, and sharing knowledge it can create ideas and buildings that honor the broader goals of society.
For more information on Perkins+Will visit: www.perkinswill.com.The 2030e2 tool can be found on the Perkins+Will website at http://2030e2.perkinswill.com.
