DENR Green Square Complex, Raleigh, N.C.
Posted
06/4/2011
Serving as a model of environmental and cost
efficiency, the complex is designed to be the state government's
first LEED Gold certified building in downtown Raleigh. The
$98-million publicprivate partnership project runs the length of
two blocks along Jones Street. Glassed-in pedestrian skyways
connect the buildings over McDowell and Salisbury.
The Green Square complex is composed of a four-story,
80,000-square-foot Nature Research Center that serves as an
extension of the Museum of Natural Sciences; a 170,000-square-foot
building housing offices for approximately 615 employees of the
state Department of Environment and Natural Resources; a
60,000-square-foot State Employees Credit Union financial services
center; and a 700-space parking deck. The complex will also house
the office of the department's secretary and its administrative
offices, as well as the offices of Environmental Education and
Natural Resource Planning and Conservation, customer service
center, information technology services, and the divisions of air
quality, parks and recreation, pollution prevention and
environmental assistance and waste management.
The office building will be attached by a walking bridge to the
Nature Research Center, a wing of the current N.C. Museum of
Natural Sciences. Scheduled to open in spring 2012, the Nature
Research Center will feature live presentations, interactive
exhibits and hands-on laboratories.
The majority of the complex will have LED lighting fixtures with
occupancy sensors and daylight dimmers so the building will rely
upon natural lighting and use far less electricity. Green Square
will also feature cisterns and stormwater detention pipes so
rainwater can be reused to flush toilets and irrigate plants.
Native and adaptive plants will be grown on the roofs and will cool
the buildings and the surrounding environment.
Hendrick Architectural Products supplied 0.190-aluminum
perforated custom sunshades and brackets for the office building,
which were fabricated and installed by Juba Aluminum Products Inc.
The sunshades were designed to match the design of a British
sunshade company that used cast aluminum outriggers. Hendrick
supplied 490 painted sunshades and assembled brackets that mount to
a standard bracket provided by the curtainwall manufacturer.
Architect: Obrien Atkins, Durham, N.C.
Fabricator/installer: Juba Aluminum Products Inc., Concord,
N.C.
Sunshades: Hendrick Architectural Products, Carbondale, Pa.,
www.hendrickarchproducts.com