Page 20 - ArchDC_Summer 2020

Typical office floor.

Green roof of the DC Water headquarters building.

The building’s interior materials “are simple and durable, or cooling as appropriate. Small, low-speed fans requiring very
befitting a utility agency,” the firm said. The lobby employs little energy circulate the conditioned air as needed.”
polished concrete floors, wood benches, and a wood-slat ceiling, As a result of these and other design features, the building
and includes an interpretive exhibit that explains the building’s uses about half as much energy as a typical new, energy-code-
features, as well as interior windows for viewing the existing compliant office building of its size, putting it in the top 2% of
pumping station’s machinery. The new building’s upper floors, Washington office buildings in terms of minimizing energy
Shockey said, “were designed to the highest-quality flexible use per square foot. The building’s water-saving features—
spaces, with raised-access floors, modular glass partitions, and including the capture of rainwater for use in the building’s
systems furniture that are employed for flexibility.” Parts of toilets and for irrigating its landscaping—reduce the structure’s
the 200-foot-long truss were left exposed on the interior to add water use by more than 1.2 million gallons per year.
sculptural accents to certain spaces. “The real differentiator DC Water’s new headquarters building “demonstrates that
of the interior,” Shockey added, “is that the curvilinear façade modern civic architecture can be both beautiful and sustainable,
and narrow floor plates afford fabulous views and generous yet efficient in every sense,” SmithGroup said. The agency’s
daylighting to the occupants, compared to most buildings.” support for “something that was different but [which] embodied
Taking advantage of the underground network of waste and expressed their sustainable aspirations,” Shockey added,
water tunnels, the building incorporates “an innovative “makes a strong statement about stewardship.”
wastewater thermal recovery system made by SHARC Energy People “spend much of their lives in office buildings, so
Systems—never before used in a U.S. office building—[that] [those buildings] need to be human-centric,” Shockey said.
captures heat from the flowing waste water in the winter, while “But they also need to be better neighbors in terms of carbon-
using it as a heat sink in summer,” the firm said. “The device reduction goals and contribution to the urban context. As we
transfers heat between the wastewater piping and a separate design 21st-century buildings to come closer to carbon neutrality,
clean-water loop that runs to a heat-recovery chiller in the building. they won’t look or act the same as buildings of the past. We’ll
The system provides both cold and hot water to a series of fan- have to take a deeper approach to designing all buildings.”
powered terminal units in the ceiling that provide space heating

18 LIQUID ASSET