by ArchitectureWeek

When Perkins + Will recently sought to move its Atlanta offices, the firm wanted the new facility to serve as a case study for sustainable design, expressing the culture of the firm.

So, the multidisciplinary design practice purchased a 1986 office building down the street — right across from Richard Meier's iconic High Museum of Art, and its Renzo Piano expansion — reconfigured it while retaining most of the structure, and improved the energy-using systems.

The renovated six-story, 79,000-square-foot (7,300-square-meter) building at 1315 Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta meets the 2030 Challenge and recently earned LEED Platinum certification.

This project is one of four office buildings on the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects list for 2012, created by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE). ArchitectureWeek will also publish the six other projects on this year's top ten list, which are all buildings for education.

1315 Peachtree Street · Atlanta, Georgia

The facade redesign at 1315 Peachtree Street offered the opportunity for several favorable changes, including altering the massing and section of the building, providing connections between pairs of floors, and adding a fifth-floor outdoor terrace. The west facade now features low-e glazing and fixed horizontal and vertical sunscreens.

No less important than the project's green design goals was a commitment to support the firm's own design work. The Perkins + Will office space, located on the building's top four floors, accommodates work at individual workstations, while also providing several kinds of spaces to facilitate group work, including team rooms where projects "live."   >>>

1315 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia — Iowa Utilities Board Building, Des Moines, Iowa — Mercy Corps Headquarters, Portland, Oregon — Chandler City Hall, Chandler, Arizona

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Perkins + Will adapted the 1980s office building at 1315 Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta to house its own offices, previously located down the street. The LEED Platinum-certified building was recently named one of the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects for 2012. Photo: Eduard Hueber Extra Large Image SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE The two-story ground-floor lobby of 1315 Peachtree Street looks out onto the High Museum of Art across the street. The Museum of Design Atlanta occupies a new street-level tenant space in the six-story office building, and the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library occupies the second floor. Photo: Eduard Hueber Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.