Southwest Energy Company Renovation/Repurpose

When the economic downturn scrapped a ground-up project, Gensler’s design team had a new directive: repurpose an 80,000-square-foot, 40-year-old building, incorporating elements of the original design, but on a dramatically reduced budget. Targeting LEED® Silver certification, the new facility consolidates a command center, dispatch and customer service group under one roof. In addition to extensive use of daylighting for occupants, the design is a model of sustainability and cost-conscious adaptive reuse and features stormwater retention, highly efficient mechanical equipment (including three 350-ton magnetic bearing chillers), solar energy for hot water and a photovoltaic system to generate power.