American City and County

San Francisco raises the bar for green government buildings (with related video)

The city’s newest office building aims for LEED-Platinum

The exterior of the wind turbine tower features a kinetic sculpture by Ned Kahn that moves as the wind blows and powers LEDs that shimmer at night.

Photo by Bruce Damonte

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) employees begin moving from their previously leased offices into their new energy-efficient headquarters this month. The 277,511-square-foot building near City Hall demonstrates the latest in efficient building technologies and aims to achieve LEED-Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Up to 7 percent of the building’s energy needs are generated onsite by rooftop solar panels and four wind turbines located in a tower on one side. On another side of the building, exterior louvered blinds automatically tilt to block high-intensity sun and open to admit filtered light into workspaces. Inside is an onsite gray-water and black-water treatment system called the Living Machine by Charlottesville, Va.-based Worrell Water Technologies that can treat up to 5,000 gallons of wastewater per day. Additionally, a rainwater harvesting system stores up to 250,000 gallons of water per year for exterior irrigation.

The $190 million building was designed by locally based KMD Architects and Stevens Architects to use 32 percent less energy and 60 percent less water than a typical office building of similar size. Additionally, SFPUC estimates it will exceed the state’s requirements for energy efficiency in new office buildings by 55 percent.

Watch a video below of the kinetic sculpture by Ned Kahn that is installed on the wind turbine tower.

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