Green Washington Awards 2012: Architecture

WINNER: ZGF Architects, Seattle
National architecture, urban planning and interior design firm. Leads the industry in the green renovation of historic buildings.

Green Actions: ZGFs high-performance structures are loaded with energy-efficient technologies, sustainable materials and green-leaning mechanical systems. Its Project Performance Team is guiding the company toward achieving the 2030 Challenge, a global effort to create carbon-neutral-only new construction by the year 2030. Concern for the environment can be found within its own walls, too. From flex-car membership for staffers to an intensive in-house recycling program, ZGF offers one of the greenest workplaces in an industry at the forefront of sustainability. Results: Achievements can be found throughout the Seattle area. ZGF designed the newly minted U.S. General Services Administration Federal Center South, a highly sustainable home to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It designed the new University of Washington Molecular Engineering and Sciences Building, which became the first lab building on campus with a naturally vented office component, reducing the energy required to cool the office portion of the building by 98 percent. Perhaps its most iconic project is the rehabilitation of Seattles King Street Station, which, when completed, will reduce the buildings energy use by 89 percent.

SILVER AWARD: Runberg Architecture Group, Seattle
Designer of sustainable, urban mixed-use developments, market-rate and senior housing, and other types of housing with an eye toward historic renovation and adaptive reuse.

Green Actions: The firm designed Seattles first LEED Platinum projectthe Ashworth Cottages in the Green Lake neighborhoodand the nationally renowned Denny Park Apartments, a low-income housing project in South Lake Union that was the first such project to receive funding under the national green communities initiative. Results: Runberg has become a leader in the sustainable renovation of historic buildings, including the Beardmore Building, a 1922 apartment complex in Priest River, Idaho, that is now one of the nations few Historic Landmark buildings to achieve LEED Gold certification. Its actual energy use is 66 percent less than the average U.S. office building.

More information: Green Washington Awards