William McDonough + Partners' new mass timber Apex Plaza project recently celebrated its completion in Charlottesville, Virginia. The 187,000-square-foot structure is now considered to be the largest such CLT project in the eastern United States.
Its completion is a major milestone for the use of the increasingly popular material in the U.S. and marks the end of a journey begun twenty years ago when the firm published a text from McDonough and EPEA International founder Michael Braungart outlining the “possibility of developing healthy and creatively interactive relationships between human settlements and the natural world.”
Construction images provided by the firm tell a narrative of its design features and the process behind McDonough's concepts of "Building like a Tree," "Design for Disassembly," and "The Five Goods." The timber products you can see below are said to be sustainably harvested and Cradle to Cradle-certified to provide carbon sequestration and expedited construction process, according to the project announcement.
The building also features a high-performance envelope made from elements like DensElement weather barrier, Thermafiber rigid insulation, a thermally-broken rainscreen structure, and rainscreen cladding. Its roof is beset with a PV canopy and solar array said to provide 364 MWh of energy annually for the building's namesake, a regional clean energy utility company. Glazing is enhanced to a high-performance standard with the incorporation of SOLARBAN 90 insulation, and mechanical systems include features like variable refrigerant flow equipment and an energy recovery ventilator.
Other features include larger, more flexible floor plates and a rooftop terrace with built-in rainwater retention capacities. The firm sees it as a "successful example of circular and cradle-to-cradle design thinking, integrating sustainable features in the building’s energy use, materials and water."
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
2 Comments
Who was the general contractor on the Apex Plaza project in Charlottesville, Va.
The contractor was Virginia-based firm Hourigan.
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.