Sustainable Design
With more practical hands-on green design experience than any architecture firm in Kentucky, we recognize that buildings do not exist within a vacuum. Our natural environment is just as important as the man-made one and therefore necessitates the same sensitivity when making design decisions.
Penned "Sustainable Design," our goal is to proactively create a more energy conscious, earth-friendly built environment. Since 2004, when we designed the first LEED building in Kentucky, Lincoln Hall at Berea College, EOP has been an active voice in the green design community, presenting at various conferences, assisting in the drafting of high-performance building standards for the Commonwealth, and pursuing other LEED and sustainable building projects throughout the region.
Benefits of a sustainable or LEED facility include:
- Higher overall property value--as much as a $10.00 / square foot increase versus a non-LEED competitor
- Higher occupancy rate--as much as 4%
- Lower long-term maintenance costs of building systems
- Improved worker retention and productivity
- Lower health costs for employees
- Improved conservation of natural resouces through thoughtful site selection
- Lowered heating & cooling cost by orienting the building to take advantage of natural daylighting
- Lowered wastewater management costs through water collection and treatment strategies
- Reduced utility bills with water-efficient plumbing fixtures and energy-efficient lighting fixtures
- Improved public image for the owner by reducing pollution levels and raising the awareness of the community
Sustainable Design will continue to shape the design profession, though it is not a formula, or a specific "form" of architecture. Rather, it's an attitude, a mindset, and belief that what we are making today establishes the groundwork for a better tomorrow. As architects, we see it as a step in the right direction, one building at a time.