Architects’ headquarters gets ‘green’ seal of approval

Moseley Architects' reserved parking spaces aren't for mothers with young children. They're for people who drive fuel-efficient cars.

The Richmond firm is all about energy efficiency. It used green building techniques to renovate a contaminated garage as long as a football field into its headquarters.

The soot was so thick in the barrel-vaulted structure that wood ceilings, 28 feet high at the apex, had to be blasted, but not with sand. Sand would have damaged the wood, so peanut and walnut shells were used.

The building, at 3200 Norfolk St. near the Bow-Tie Cinemas, has attained the highest of four levels of recognition from the U.S. Green Building Council: Platinum LEED, for "Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design."

The $10 million project also qualified for $4 million in historic tax credits, offsetting some of the costs.

The building previously was occupied by Baker Equipment Co. and used to retrofit trucks, adding cherry pickers, augers and the like.

The structure, which was built in the 1930s, is one of only four buildings in Virginia to receive Platinum LEED designation. And it is the only Platinum LEED building in the state to also receive historic tax credits.

"It was a big, previously ugly, unsightly and underutilized building in Scott's Addition," said Mimi Sadler, a historical architect and tax credit consultant with Sadler & Whitehead Architects in Richmond.

"Now it's a welcoming beacon inviting people to do good architecture and good design," she said.

"The exterior and interior offer wonderful architecture, while before it was just depressing."

The building features a roof section where vegetation grows for storm-water management, natural lighting systems, porous concrete in the parking lot, bamboo and wood ceilings, cork flooring, low-flow toilets and waterless urinals, and work station dividers made from sunflower seeds.

A plaque made of recycled green glass noting the platinum achievement doubles as a table in the lobby.

"We knew we could do gold [a lower level of efficiency], but if we spent a little more money we could go for the big kahuna," said Bob Mills, president of the firm.

Mills estimated it cost 5 percent more to add the LEED features. "There is no doubt it cost more, but it's hard to quantify. We got into the spirit of it."

The first Platinum LEED building in the state -- and the only other one in the Richmond area -- is Virginia Commonwealth University's $2.6 million research and edu cation building, the Rice Center, in Charles City County.

A new construction building, the Rice Center uses geothermal heating and cooling, solar power generation and advanced water recycling and wastewater treatment systems. The LEED certification was an extra $250,000, said Brian Ohlinger, VCU facilities manager.

The added expense will be recovered in four years through savings on utility bills, except for $40,000 solar panels, which will be recouped in 12 to 15 years, Ohlinger said.

A big player in LEED certification, Moseley Architects designs buildings for governments, schools and detention facilities. Projects include the only LEED-certified federal prison, the Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, N.C. -- new home for Bernie Madoff, who was convicted this year of money fraud and laundering and sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Moseley's headquarters is a showplace for prospective clients interested in going green and a workplace for architects doing green design, Mills said.

"We could have built further out in the county or we could do what we preach to our clients, which is to do infill and take brownfield buildings and bring them back to life," he said.

"It's a living laboratory. We also moved here for selfish reasons -- to recruit more talent. Young architects do not want to work in the suburbs." They want to be near the things that make them tick -- cool buildings.

"It feels more like an architect's office," said Kenny Durrett, 38, an architect at the firm and a project manager on the building. "It's a more creative environment, more inspiring for design, more collaborative."

Employees had been crammed into a suburban office in Chesterfield County. The firm employs 111 people in Richmond and 210 companywide.

Nothing at this location is covered with drywall and carpeting. It's all exposed, duct work included.

"I love it," Mills said. "It's like a giant Erector set."

The floor is mostly polished concrete. "It's not perfect, but I don't want it to be perfect," Mills said.

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or .