Becoming Green: Office Buildings are more and more sustainable

The search for a more sustainable way of living is passing through office buildings. More and more of them are incorporating green spaces or using green materials in construction.

One example is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation campus in Seattle. The couple’s charity is trying to make a difference in many different fields and one is obviously sustainability. The design by architecture firm NBBJ recycles water both to use in restrooms, also cooling it down at night to chill the environment.

Being self sufficient is therefore one of the main goals for today.

Britain has one outstanding example, winning the “Outstanding” Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) rating. It is Manchester’s One Angel Square, “powered by a pure plant oil fed Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system and utilizes rapeseed oil which is grown on The Co-operative’s own farm land” according to the cooperative group. Excess energy is sent back to the grid.

The Crystal in London, winning the Leadership in Energy and Environmental design, is literally fuel free. It is run on electricity, mostly obtained by solar panels, and combines LED and fluorescent lights. The roof was designed to collect rainwater and water itself is recycled.

Solar panels and water recycling are in fact two of the main features that should be adopted. However, many office complexes are also including green spaces and greenhouses for employees to enjoy. The most relevant example is Amazon’s The Spheres, a green space with waterfalls and more than 40,000 plants for all Seattle employees to enjoy. Meetings, too, take place here.