Green Building Services

Mercy Corps’ new global headquarters in Portland, Ore. reflects the charitable organization’s mission to create more secure, productive, and just communities in a unique and tangible way. GBS was honored to partner on this LEED Platinum-certified project that embodies the interconnected core concepts of sustainability the environmental integrity, social equity and economic stability.

The headquarters are a physical reflection of the organization in multiple ways. Set in Old Town, Mercy Corps’ decision to consolidate several offices and locate in this part of the city catalyzes redevelopment momentum and revitalizes this re-emerging neighborhood. Directly adjacent to downtown, the urban locale leverages existing infrastructure, offers employees an array of alternative transportation options and concentrates development to protect agricultural and natural habitats in the outlying areas while infusing the adjacent district with long-term investment and ownership.

THA Architecture and their consultant team designed a thoughtful response to programming needs through appropriately sizing the facility for its employees and reclaiming a historic structure that comprises half of the new facility. As an organization that frequently provides services in regions where there is significant resource depletion, the building’s advanced energy and water-saving measures will prudently conserve resources for decades to come. The measures – along with durable construction materials – demonstrate a commitment to financial responsibility.

Social equity is a core competency of Mercy Corps, as the organization seeks to understand how people live, relate to and are affected by their bioclimatic region. Inspiring local participation, the teams bring tools, techniques, technology and processes to partner with on-the-ground stakeholders and help them sustain themselves. The global headquarters’ embodies these principles with passive and integrated strategies and technology that addresses and interacts with the Willamette Valley’s bioclimatic conditions to lower energy and water use. Drawing upon local and regional materials helps support community manufacturers and services and lighten climate impacts from transportation of goods. The influx of employees brings economic activity to this micro-region of the city. Within the building, daylight, views, green measures and spaces for collaboration spur human interaction and staff wellbeing with a healthy, inspiring and productive work environment.

The Action Center opens its doors to our community and invites us all to see the imperatives we face across the globe, to experience the work of Mercy Corps first hand and to engage in solutions at whatever level we can.

Mercy Corps describes the people who work for them as “activists, optimists, innovators and proud partners of the people we serve.” These qualities mirror the professionals at GBS. Clearly, it’s a large part of why this project is so important to us. We have a deep affinity for the people, mission and work of Mercy Corps as it dovetails with our values. Working with building owners across the nation and in places like China and Peru, we bring insights, tools and resources to our partners. Our hallmark is a process of collective participation to motivate stakeholders toward more environmental, economic and socially sustainable outcomes. Within the built environment, we strive to assist owners, facility managers, asset managers, tenants and occupants make choices that enhance their lives and the lives of those around them to promote integrated thriving communities. We are proud that the new Mercy Corps world headquarters achieves these objectives.

By Ralph DiNola, GBS Principal, Associate AIA, LEED Faculty

During our eco-charrette for the Oregon Sustainability Center, we took some time to examine the role that people play in buildings. Apart from the energy and resources that go into constructing a building, with no one inside, a building becomes energy neutral. But once you add the human element and begin to provide for the health, safety and welfare of building occupants, environmental impacts become substantial.

The energy and resource intake and expenditures of a building are mostly around our need to control our environment. We rarely think of occupants as being part of the building, but people are actually the building’s metabolism*. Bodies generate heat and absorb it. Ventilation, heating and cooling, the materials that come into the building and the solid waste goes out all contribute to making ourselves comfortable. Our presence and actions place demands on the entire system. As an organism within the building’s metabolism, it’s vitally important to look at our function and responsibility.

Passive buildings/active people
We have made our buildings so complex and automated them to such an extent that we have removed ourselves from the process. Occupants expect a building to provide ideal temperatures, optimal light conditions, and all the water they desire without thinking about the resources captured to maintain these benefits. Moreover, the way people do interact with these systems is unpredictable, and individual actions can have large ripple effects.

It’s time to reincorporate the human element into the building function from the earliest phases of design through operations. Rather than overly automating building systems, let’s use our automation technology to give people feedback on their actions and increase accountability. Can we break down information so that what is happening within a building is understandable at the building, organization and personal levels? Facilities personnel should be provided with real-time comprehensible information about how their equipment is performing and what the ramifications are if they alter recommended settings. Occupants could learn to consume fewer resources if they had feedback mechanisms and understand what they do. Imagine a “dashboard” at the restrooms sinks that shows how much water is used if the faucet is left running, or an energy panel in individual office areas that displays the amount of electricity it takes run your personal equipment (computer, cell phone, task light, ipod, etc.) and the impact of turning these things off before you leave your desk.

It becomes important to ask ourselves, how much control over nature do we have to exert to experience comfort? Looking at building programming in new ways could also help bring the people back into the equation of building function. What if there were no specified workstations and we no longer tried to maintain a consistent temperature in all work areas during all seasons? A space conditioning allowance for each floor would let us create areas that are warmer, cooler, brighter, and darker. With a smart monitoring system, an occupant could look up the temperature and illumination (weather) of a specific area and select where they want to be rather than being forced into a general “ideal.”

The Living Building Challenge asks a building to become part of a building, like a system in nature. As the largest component in a building’s metabolism, can we do more? Can we forgo our need to control nature and, instead, work within it to become part of the solution?

*Building Metabolism™
By Ralph DiNola, GBS Principal, Associate AIA, LEED Faculty