HOK Office
LEED Gold rating begins with space efficiency
The office shows a sense of visual and physical economy that is emerging as the hallmarks of sustainable interior design.
by Jim Taggart .It is reassuring to those who live in fear of a global architectural monoculture that one of the world’s largest firms chooses to build its design philosophy around literary quotations that celebrate the individual and the idiosyncratic.
Hovering behind the reception desk in HOK’s new office in downtown Toronto hang translucent fabric banners on which are scrawled the words of William Shakespeare; ‘Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent”, and those of Joseph Chilton Pearce; “The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth.”
Beneath the banners, the design of the 2000 square metre space falls somewhere between prose and poetry - a rigorously efficient rectilinear layout enlivened by a restrained yet highly effective palette of materials and colours. The result successfully communicates the company’s longstanding emphasis on quality, yet at the same time conveys the sense of visual and physical economy that are emerging as the hallmarks of sustainable interior design. In January 2006, the project became one of the first commercial interiors in Canada to be accorded Gold status under the LEED CI program.
HOK office is located on the fifth floor of a ten storey concrete frame building that was once a clothing repository. Inside, the office and studio space was designed to take advantage of the attributes of the base building - sealed concrete floors, open ceilings, and exposed columns and ductwork. White with minor accents of red, grey, taupe, ice blue and stainless steel complement the simplicity of the structure.
Among the strategies that earned the project its LEED-CI Gold status are effective harvesting of natural daylight, careful attention to indoor environmental quality, high levels of local and recycled materials, over 30% reduction in energy consumption, and the supply of 75% of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind and biomass.
The rectangular space is divided into zones by two longitudinal circulation aisles. The studio area faces north, benefiting from even and glare-free natural light, while the lunch room and kitchen face south. Both sides of the building have been fitted with operable windows that improve thermal performance and provide occupant controlled natural ventilation. However, HOK did not receive a LEED point for this, as the area of operable windows is one category in which LEED CI measures and rewards the performance of the building as a whole, rather than the individual efforts of a tenant.
Daylight sensors in perimeter areas, and occupancy sensors throughout the space together with the widespread use of translucent and transparent glass partitions, contribute to a lighting power density that is 30% below the current ASHRAE standard.
The effectiveness of natural ventilation is maximized through open planning, the elimination of suspended ceilings except where required for sound attenuation, and the use of a partitioning system that stops well short of the ceiling.
Almost 50% of the furniture and furnishings were reused from the firm’s previous office, and much of what is new contains a high level of recycled content. Similarly, almost 50% of materials and products used were obtained locally, and specified to meet the applicable standards for VOC content. Composite wood and agrifibre millwork products contain no added urea formaldehyde and all carpeting meets or exceeds the industry’s Green Label standard.
As well as being a prototype for LEED CI, the project has been a prototype for HOK’s sustainable design initiative. “As a design firm striving to integrate sustainable design principles into all our projects, we recognized that our commitment had to begin in our own offices,” says Richard Williams, VP - Practice Leader Architecture/Sustainability, HOK. “Our space demonstrates that healthy and uplifting workplaces can be enhanced by principles of environmental sustainability. In fact, return on investment in terms of energy savings and reduction of employee absenteeism is significant in the long term.”
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Credits
- Architecture / Interior Design: HOK, Toronto
- Electrical and Communications Engineering: Mulvey and Banani, Toronto
- Mechanical Engineering: TMP Consulting Engineers , Willowdale
- Commissioning Agent: Seawood Solutions, Toronto
- Construction Manager / Contractor: Rae Brothers, Toronto
- Landlord: Redcliff Realty Management Inc., Toronto
- Project Manager: IDAC Management, Toronto
- Photos: Richard Johnston Photograpy Inc., Toronto
Materials
- Concrete floor finished with low-VOC epoxy sealer and acrylic top coat with zero-VOC by Niagara Protective Coating, carpet tile by Interface, ceiling tile by Hunter Douglas, low-VOC interior paint on drywall, Wilsonart millwork, lighting by Metalumen; Litemor, Teknion, Knoll, Herman Miller and Steelcase furniture.