Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Center for Sustainable Landscapes

Phipps Conservatory boasts the title of “most energy efficient conservatory in the world”, and their ongoing commitment to sustainability is evidenced by their most recent project, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL). By utilizing an integrative design approach, this education, research and administration facility maximized efficiency and sustainability earning it “living” status under the Living Building Challenge (LBC), LEED NC v2.2 Platinum certification, WELL Building Platinum certification, and four stars under the SITES^TM 2009 landscape rating system. In addition to being the first and only project to meet these four highest green certifications, CSL has been named by AIA COTE as a Top Ten Green Project of 2016 among other awards.

7group facilitated several integrative design charrettes involving a wide-range of project team and owner representatives (lower left image) to develop the site and building design. Using the ATHENA^® Impact Estimator for Buildings, 7group prepared models to assess different options for all major building assemblies and optimized materials choices. Energy modeling, daylighting analysis, and measurement and verification are technical services employed in 7group’s efforts towards making CSL one of the greenest buildings in the world.

To learn more about the strategies and technologies engaged at CSL, the centerpiece of Phipps Conservatory’s expansion project, visit the CSL webpage. This project and its design process are also highlighted in several videos by 7group partner Tom Keiter, including Performance by Design, Phipps Conservatory: Sustainable Building and The Evolving Green Story of Phipps: A Living Building Takes Shape, which can be found at the link above and in 7group’s video resources.

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• The project team and staff at Phipps collaborated throughout the entire design and planning process of the CSL project. Comprehensive evaluations of architectural and engineering systems, site, functionality and the operational needs of the building were addressed by every member of the project team during a series of design charrettes.
• Taking an “Outside-In, Passive First” strategy, the project team utilized extensive daylighting analysis and planning to reach high performance targets in heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting for the facility. (Image courtesy of Paul G. Wiegman)
• Planning to expand and enhance the Conservatory’s educational programs, classrooms geared for instruction for primary and secondary school students are located near extensive outdoor gardens and constructed wetlands to provide hands on learning. (Image courtesy of Paul G. Wiegman.)

Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Project Owner
Phipps Conservatory and
Botanical Gardens

Architect
The Design Alliance Architects

Building Size
24,000 sf

Completed
January 2013

Cost
$20,000,000

LEED^® Status
LEED Platinum (NCv2.2)
Certified

Living Building
Challenge Status
Net Zero Energy Building
Certified Living Building
(v1.3 & v2.0 substitutions)