Dansko's Green Headquarters

Why build green?
Here are a few reasons ...

"In the United States alone, buildings account for:
• 70% of electricity consumption,
• 39% of energy use,
• 39% of all carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions,
• 40% of raw materials use,
• 30% of waste output (136 million tons annually), and
• 12% of potable water consumption."
(U.S. Green Building Council - www.usgbc.org)

So reducing all of these statistics makes perfect sense, but few really understand the true impact that a green building can make on one's day-to-day life. Fortunately, I was able to get a glimpse at the new corporate headquarters for Dansko shoes, which is just outside of Philadelphia. It is a LEED certified Gold building (second highest). What does a sustainable building look like? What are the systems that make it sustainable? What is it make of? What are the implications for a workplace environment that decides to put the employees' health first?

This is the front door for the corporate entrance for Dansko. Notice the large windows and solar shades towards the top of the windows on the left. These shades keep sunlight out during the summer and invite it in during the winter. The glass also has glazing on the lower portion to reduce heat gain during the day.

This is one of the largest living walls in the Philadelphia area. It spans the entire length of the walls and two stories high. A living wall is constructed with an air filtration system and a water system behind it to keep the plants healthy. The plants are basically grown hydroponicly. A foam of sorts keeps the plants in their place on the wall. Solar lights are programmed to turn on for a few hours in the early morning to give the plants their daily sunbath. Oh, and the big dog in the photo belongs to Dansko founder Peter Kjellerup. He had another big ole pooch wandering around as well. You gotta love a successful businessman with two huge dogs and a conscience.

Here's a closeup so you can see how the plants were installed.


This is the outlet retail space portion of the building. Multiple sources of direct and indirect light are not only green, they're profitable - just ask Wal Mart. You know if they're doing it, it's profitable. This room utilizes radiant heating, which keeps the customers' feet warm as well as reducing energy costs because the room doesn't have to be heated as much. See that sock looking thing in the ceiling? That's a fabric HVAC duct. The curved roof of this room aids in water collection and reflects the light back into the atmosphere, avoiding the occurrence of a heat island effect.

This is the office portion of the building, where the shoe design magic happens. Notice that the lights in the center of the room are bright, while the ones near the windows almost look like they're off. The use of dimmable ballasts allows for there to be a constant level of footcandles from one end of the room to the other because the lights dim on their own by measuring the footcandles entering from the windows. No strain on the eyes anywhere in the room. No waste of energy by leaving the lights on high in the daytime. Also notice the vents and carpet tiles in the floor. This building is unique because it is utilizing a new trend in design by putting the plenum (the about three feet of space used for electrical, HVAC, etc.) below the floor. The huge advantage of doing this is that the designer can leave the ceiling high and exposed and reduce the use of material for ceiling tiles. It also allows the space to be completely flexible and customizable. The vents and carpet tiles are easy to pull up by maintenance crews, so if the use of the space changes or you add a new desk, the HVAC system can change accordingly. If you don't like a lot of air conditioning blowing on you, you can turn off the vent at your feet. No fighting with office mates. Plus, heating and cooling from the floor means that the temperature is being brought in for primary use up to the height of a normal human being as heat drifts to the ceiling. No blowing in air conditioning at high intensity from a ceiling point.

My favorite part of the building is the giant green roof that is accessible by the employees to enjoy. All the rooftops on this building are either on angles or green roofs. The normal green roof uses only three inches of soil. This one is much deeper so they could use a variety of plants. Green roofs reduce the heat island effect, collect water, eliminate the stormwater runoff that would normally occur with any building, naturally and efficiently insulate, and reduce the need for maintenance of the structure. There are some green roofs in Europe that are 60 years old and still haven't needed more maintenance than some regular trimming.

So, to wrap up some of the other cool features of this building ... They have a major parking lot that uses pavers that allow grass to grow through, so, permeable surface, no runoff. The other portion has stormwater ponds, which run all the water off into a vegetative area that is capable of handling it.

If your company is so green, then one would have to think about the quality of the workplace, too, right? This building, for 40 employees, will have a childcare facility, a full commercial kitchen for catering, a lunch room, and yoga and fitness room. Every workplace should have something like this, or at least a neighborhood spot that your company pays for you to use. I'm sounding like a socialist right now, aren't I? Damn right.

The thing that I took away from this building the most was the air and light quality. They had just painted the day before I visited. No paint smell, no VOCs (volatile organic compounds found in everything from carpet glue to clothing). No new building smell. Just clean, healthy air. No glaring fluorescents either, just a calm level of consistent lighting. This is a beautiful place to work. Hopefully, we will all have a quality workplace environment to spend our days. It makes perfect dollar sense - less sick days, more productive staff, lower energy costs.

For more on the Dansko story (it's a good one) and their building efforts, check out http://www.dansko.com/flash.aspx#innersole