| Southface
Eco Office
Atlanta, Georgia
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Studies: Green Buildings> Southface Eco Office
USGBC Regional Office Meets Sustainable Objectives
with Concrete
 The
new Eco Office of the Southface Energy Institute, an Atlanta, Ga.-based
organization focused on promoting sustainable development, is designed
to be the region’s most prominent “green” building.
Currently under construction, the building’s extensive use of concrete
on various sections of the structure showcases the benefits of concrete
solutions in sustainable development and demonstrates the versatility
of the world’s most widely-used building material.
The building’s design has incorporated many concrete products that
enable it to achieve optimal durability and energy performance:
• ICF wall systems in the Eco Office improve energy performance
and lower heating and cooling costs. In an ICF system, concrete is poured
around a stacked foam frame to create a solid wall, which provides continuous
insulation as well as a point of attachment for interior and exterior
finishes. As a result, the Southface Eco Office will require far less
energy to regulate temperature than buildings with traditional walls.
• Plans call for the use of pervious concrete on sidewalks
and similar hardscape around the exterior of the building. Pervious concrete
is an open void material designed to allow rainwater to filter into the
ground through the paved surfaces, rather than settling on the surface.
This innovation provides improved storm water drainage for sidewalks,
parking lots, and other public spaces. Pervious concrete also has a reduced
heat storing capacity, creating a cooler surface. This is a particularly
important asset in cities like Atlanta, where the urban heat island effect
raises temperatures significantly in the metropolitan area.
• The “green roof” that will sit atop the
Eco Office at Southface is another sustainable development application
made possible by the use of concrete. To build a green roof, a thick layer
of topsoil is poured over a concrete base, and vegetation is planted for
an attractive, environmentally sound roof. Green roofs reduce stormwater
runoff, provide additional insulation, and can help reduce the heat island
effect. Because it can support the significant amount of weight that soil
and vegetation add to a structure, concrete is an ideal choice for green
roof designs.
• Southface also will incorporate recycled materials in
the concrete portions of its Eco Office. Up to 40 percent of the cementious
portion of the concrete mix in the building is composed of recovered material.
The recycled cementious materials in the Eco Office will include fly ash,
the by-product of burning coal for electricity, and slag cement, which
is produced from the ground slag by-product of steel manufacturing.
To support the Southface project more than 30 member companies of the
Georgia Concrete & Products Association have pledged to donate cement-based
materials.
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC), a national organization
that set the standard for green building in the United States with its
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system,
has announced that the Southface Eco Office will serve as a training facility
and resource to educate builders about green building and LEED certification.
The extensive use of concrete in this USGBC facility demonstrates the
prominent role concrete plays in sustainable development.
The Eco Office of the Southface Energy Institute will incorporate a variety
of concrete products to meet green building objectives. When completed,
the building will be a symbol of concrete contributions to environmentally-responsible
building and sustainable development.
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Project Manager:
Southface Project Management
Architect:
Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Inc.
Structural Engineer: Ksi/Structural Engineers
Civil Engineer:
Eberly & Associates
MEP Engineers:
Keen, Inc. and
McKenney’s , Inc.
Construction Team:
DPR Construction Inc.,
Hardin Construction Co., LLC,
Holder Construction Company,
Skanska USA Building,
The Winter Construction Company
with assistance from
R.J. Griffin & Company
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