expertise > Architecture > Sustainable Building Design
The Wellness Center at the The ExxonMobil Office Complex in Houston, Texas.
ATCO Commercial Centre in Calgary, Alberta
River Point in Chicago, Illinois
1144 Fifteenth in Denver, Colorado

Sustainable Building Design

Designing high-performance buildings and sustainable workplaces is at the core of Pickard Chilton’s design process. Our commitment to environmental stewardship not only creates built environments that are livable and workplaces that are healthy but also results in innovative and elegant architecture of long-term value. Further demonstrating our leadership in sustainability, for the last ten years, Pickard Chilton’s studio has been entirely powered by clean, renewable, wind energy. Pickard Chilton’s architectural achievements in sustainable design have been recognized with over three dozen awards.

3,500,000
SQUARE FEET OF MASS TIMBER IN DESIGN OR CONSTRUCTION
80,000,000
SQUARE FEET TARGETED LEED GOLD OR PLATINUM SINCE 2008
100%
Pickard Chilton’s studio is entirely powered by clean, renewable wind energy.
40%
OF PICKARD CHILTON STAFF ARE LEED ACCREDITED PROFESSIONALS
BG GROUP PLACE
FIRST LEED-CS PLATINUM HIGH RISE IN TEXAS
AKAMAI HEADQUARTERS
Largest WELL certified building in the Northeast and fourth largest in the US.
2012
YEAR PICKARD CHILTON JOINED THE AIA 2030 CHALLENGE
DEVON ENERGY CENTER
Top 10 largest LEED-NC Gold projects IN US
1180 PEACHTREE
1st high-rise office building in the world to be pre-certified LEED-CS Silver, ultimately certified LEED-CS Platinum

Pickard Chilton is a signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment program and its goal of realizing carbon-neutral buildings by the year 2030. We continually explore sustainable innovations and investigate strategies to achieve net zero energy, water, and reduced-carbon buildings. The firm is an active member of the Connecticut Chapter of the US Green Building Council and an inaugural member of the Connecticut Chapter of the Living Future Institute.

Since 2006, projects totaling over 80 million square feet have been designated or targeted LEED Gold or Platinum, representing corporate, commercial, residential, and institutional buildings in design, under construction, or completed – one of the highest amounts in the United States.

Pickard Chilton has long incorporated into our design approach those qualities and attributes at the core of the WELL Standard for building performance. Nearly 40% of the Pickard Chilton design staff are LEED Accredited Professionals and includes four WELL Accredited Professionals.

Related Work

CTBUH 2024 International Conference featuring a talk on balancing context, scale, and placemaking by Pickard Chilton, highlighting sustainable approaches to tall buildings in Asia.

Excited to announce that Pickard Chilton Principal, William D. Chilton, will be presenting at the 2024 CTBUH International Conference in London! Join him and fellow panelists from UNStudio, Turner Construction, and Zaha Hadid Architects in discussing "A Sustainable Approach to Tall Buildings in Asia." Don’t miss his insights on balancing context, scale, and placemaking at 2pm Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

Read more at CTBUH 2-24 International Conference 

Sustainability has become a cornerstone of modern architecture, reflecting a global shift towards environmental responsibility. As we move through 2024, innovative practices and technologies are transforming how we design and construct buildings. At Pickard Chilton, our architect and designers are at the forefront of this movement, exploring new ways to create spaces that are not only functional and aesthetically pleasing but also environmentally sustainable. In this article, emerging trends in sustainable architecture are explored, showcasing our commitment to creating a more environmentally friendly future. 

3D rendering of the CoStar Group Corporate Campus showcases an impressive architectural design featuring expansive glass facades and modern aesthetics. The video provides aerial views, detailed explorations around and within the campus, highlighting both day and night scenes. The design emphasizes openness and transparency, creating a visually stunning and functional corporate environment. The renderings capture the sleek, contemporary look of the buildings, integrated with green spaces and innovative structural elements that enhance the overall appeal of the corporate campus.

 

Animation by Steelblue

For the past three years, Pickard Chilton has been attending Grace Farm's Design for Freedom Summit. This is a growing movement in the architectural community and beyond to eliminate forced labor and increase transparency and sustainability in the supply chain.

Below Pickard Chilton associate, Deep Chaniara, shares his thoughts on this year's summit.

The Architectural Ceramic Assemblies Workshop (ACAW), now in its eighth consecutive year, has reached a newfound level of complexity and interdisciplinary collaboration. Hosted by Buffalo-based manufacturer Boston Valley Terra Cotta, the Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture, and the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, the weeklong event offers participating architecture and engineering firms, as well as students, an opportunity to hear from several speakers and to get their hands dirty designing and putting together terra-cotta facades and other architectural elements under the watchful eyes of the specialists.

Read more at Architectural Record 

Terracotta, a natural material deeply rooted in history, has found a lasting place in contemporary architecture, seamlessly blending heritage with innovation. Derived from the Italian words "terra" (earth) and "cotta" (cooked), terracotta embodies the transformation of natural clay into a versatile architectural medium, a tradition dating back to Mesopotamian and Roman civilizations. As a low cost, fire-resistant alternative to stone, it enjoyed notable resurgence in the early skyscrapers of Chicago in the late 19th century.

Read more...

Design proposal for a six-story mass timber office building in Denver, Colorado with a variety of amenity spaces and an exclusive deck.

A new office complex made out of wood is predicted to become one of Denver’s “most environmentally friendly” buildings.

Construction on River North Art District’s T3 RiNo — a six-story building made of black spruce, a heavy timber — is set to finish later this year. Using wood for construction is cited as one way to cut carbon.

The timber structure serves as “a prime example of our commitment to embedding sustainability into every aspect of our projects as we work to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040,” said John Rosato, executive vice president of capital projects and development at Canadian real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge. It’s acting as a co-developer on the project, alongside real estate companies Hines and McCaffery.

T3 RiNo, 3500 Blake St., is “slated to be one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable developments in Denver,” according to a Monday update on the project.

Read more at Denver Post 

Downtown Milwaukee is getting a $500 million upgrade. Northwestern Mutual is closing its office space in Franklin and redeveloping its North Office Building on E. Mason Street in downtown Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE - Downtown Milwaukee is getting a $500 million upgrade. Northwestern Mutual is closing its office space in Franklin and redeveloping its North Office Building on E. Mason Street in downtown Milwaukee. 

Company leaders said this investment will transform the company and downtown.

Read more at Fox 6 Now 

Street view of the PG&E historic complex

Encompassing a full city block in downtown San Francisco between Market and Mission Street, the PG&E site comprises development components that include the 200 Mission office tower redevelopment, historic complex renovation and new 1.25-acre park to complete Hines’ vision. Upon completion, the reimagined projects will breathe new life into the entire transit-oriented block.

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