Miller Hull

The Georgia Institute of Technology has selected the team of Lord Aeck Sargent and The Miller Hull Partnership to design the Institute’s Living Building Challenge 3.0 project. The final team was selected after three teams participated in an ideas competition to explore all the possibilities and challenges of designing this certified project, set to be constructed on the Georgia Tech campus beginning in 2017.

The Living Building at Georgia Tech is a partnership between The Kendeda Fund (http://kendedafund.org) and Georgia Tech to build what is expected to become the most environmentally advanced education and research building ever constructed in the Southeast.

“We are extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with these accomplished and talented teams as part of the selection process,” said Howard Wertheimer, director of Capital Planning and Space Management at Georgia Tech. “They all demonstrated great capacity and passion in this relatively emerging field of designing and constructing buildings that are restorative in nature.”

According to Wertheimer, the Living Building Challenge (http://living-future.org/lbc) project will require a great deal of collaboration and the ability to embrace the process all the way through occupation and certification.

The three teams participating in the ideas competition since the shortlist was announced last December were:
• Collins Cooper Carusi/Eskew + Dumez + Ripple/Hellmuth + Bicknese,
• Perkins + Will, and
• Lord Aeck Sargent/Miller Hull.

Each of the three competing teams combined professionals from multiple disciplines including architecture and landscape architecture; mechanical, electrical, plumbing, civil and structural engineering; hydrology; sustainability; and other specialists and advisors.
“Georgia Tech is where I first learned to love architecture as an undergraduate student, so the opportunity to be involved with a project as transformative as this is really an honor,” said Joseph Greco, president of Lord Aeck Sargent. “We’ve always prioritized sustainable design, but the opportunity to help design and construct a Living Building Challenge 3.0 certified building takes our firm’s abilities to do regenerative design to a new level – one that is grounded in the Southeast but also influential around the world.”
“Our team is honored to work with Georgia Tech and The Kendeda Fund to realize the first Living Building in the southeastern United States,” said Brian Court, partner, The Miller Hull Partnership. “We are excited to join Lord Aeck Sargent and other project partners to leverage Georgia Tech’s research and academic resources in developing a transformative building that models a way toward a more balanced and sustainable built environment.”
The Institute conducted an ideas competition to select the team to design the Living Building at Georgia Tech. The concept of an ideas competition is new for Georgia Tech and quite appropriate, given the enormous task of planning a facility that not only performs to the highest of environmental standards but also addresses the needs of the occupants both in terms of health and their connection with each other and the natural surroundings. This initial discovery promotes community engagement and a learning process that accounts for climate, site evaluations, materials, cost to build and operate, accessibility and replicability for future generations.

“The ideas completion was a fascinating process that set the perfect tone for this important project, and we could not be happier with the outcome,” said Barry Berlin, a long time advisor to The Kendeda Fund. “Lord Aeck Sargent’s deep knowledge of the Southeast coupled with Miller Hull’s experience designing one of the most iconic commercial living buildings in the world make this an optimal partnership for all involved.”

Over the course of the next few months, teams from Georgia Tech, Lord Aeck Sargent and Miller Hull – as well as representatives from The Kendeda Fund – will meet to analyze and discuss site evaluations, design considerations and technologies needed to achieve Living Building Challenge 3.0 certification. For more information, visit www.livingbuilding.gatech.edu.

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About Lord Aeck Sargent
Lord Aeck Sargent is an award-winning architectural and urban planning firm serving clients in academic, historic preservation, science and technology, interiors, arts and cultural, multi-family housing and mixed-use, and urban design and planning markets. The firm has successfully certified more than 60 LEED projects and is currently designing two projects pursuing Living Building Challenge certification. In 2007, Lord Aeck Sargent was one of the first architecture firms to adopt The 2030 Challenge, an initiative whose ultimate goal is the design of carbon-neutral buildings, or buildings that use no fossil-fuel greenhouse gas-emitting energy to operate, by the year 2030. Lord Aeck Sargent is also calling for increased transparency in the building products industry by urging manufacturers to disclose the chemical components of their products. For more information, visit the firm at www.lordaecksargent.com.

About The Miller Hull Partnership
Founded in 1977, The Miller Hull Partnership is an award-winning firm specializing in performance-based design for buildings that actively engage their communities through simple, innovative and authentic designs. Capabilities include architecture, master planning, interior design and space planning for public buildings, educational and cultural environments, and private residences. Recently completed projects include the Bullitt Center, the first commercial Living Building, and the LEED Platinum San Ysidro Land Port of Entry. The Miller Hull Partnership is a recipient of the National Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects. http://www.millerhull.com.

About The Kendeda Fund
The Kendeda Fund is one of the leading philanthropic investors in civic and environmental programs in the Atlanta area, and is committed to providing solutions to social and ecological challenges at the local and national levels. The Fund accomplishes its mission by advancing green building design, community-design and public interest architecture; championing community wealth building and sustainability strategies; and leveraging innovation of cities to advance equity and sustainability. Previously, The Kendeda Fund provided $300,000 in funding for Georgia Tech’s Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business. Learn more at www.kendedafund.org.
About the Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, is one of the nation’s leading research universities, providing a focused, technologically based education to more than 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Georgia Tech has many nationally recognized programs, all top-ranked by peers and publications alike, and is ranked in the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News and World Report. It offers degrees through the Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Sciences, the Scheller College of Business, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech has more than 100 centers focused on interdisciplinary research that consistently contribute vital research and innovation to American government, industry and business.