Impact by Design 2017 Sustainable Performance, Environmental Impact, Design Innovation Gensler’s diverse community of professionals commitment. As we seek a more sustainable and is united by a common purpose—a drive to resilient built environment, we also recognize create a better world through the power of the power of collective impact as an industry and design. We believe every Gensler project is an community. We stand alongside the voices of our opportunity to make a contribution to our world peers and partners in this pursuit and continue by enhancing people’s experience in the places, our commitments to the Paris Pledge for Action, spaces, and communities we design; and by the Architecture 2030 Challenge, and Climate having a positive impact on the environment. Week NYC. To be a successful purpose-driven firm, we need We are proud of the positive impact of our work. to measure our impact in order to understand As you will see in this report, the sustainable how to improve it. That’s why we put together performance of Gensler’s project work last year this annual document, Impact by Design 2017. alone is poised to keep nearly 11 million metric Our goal is to have a transparent discussion tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere every year. about our projects and how we are affecting That’s huge—more than any other design firm on energy usage and CO2 emissions, construction the planet. and materials waste, water and air quality, and human health and well-being. But we also know that we can do much more. The sustainable performance of As we look to the future, we are focused on With this report, we hope to inspire and inform capturing better data from our projects to more positive change to improve the performance effectively track our work. And we are increasing Gensler’s project work last year of the built environment. Our goal is to help our use of post-occupancy reviews to understand designers, clients, real estate professionals, and the actual energy impact of our work. alone is poised to keep nearly policymakers leverage design and technology solutions to improve sustainable performance This document is for our clients, our people, regardless of project scale or type. and our communities. In addition to our metrics, 11 million metric tons of CO2 out we include project examples, varying in size As a leader in the design and architecture and type, to demonstrate ideas and concepts of the atmosphere every year. profession, we see it as our responsibility to stay that can be used to achieve sustainable design. at the forefront of these conversations. Our work We are also excited to share our “Guide to speaks for us and its impact demonstrates our Making an Impact,” a roadmap to help navigate all the different ways a building or space can make a difference. We are thrilled to share this information and invite you to join this important dialogue. Together, we will create a better, more sustainable world through the power of design. A 2014 renovation of the 140-acre Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, includes reservoirs, low-flow plumbing fixtures, site irrigation, and a cooling tower. Gensler served as executive architect and sustainability consultant for a series of projects in collaboration with Tadao Ando Architect & Associates (design architect for the Clark Center and Stone Hill Center), Selldorf Diane Hoskins FAIA, IIDA, Co-CEO Architects (renovation architect for the Museum and Manton buildings), Reed Hilderbrand (landscape), and Cooper, Robertson & Partners (master planning). Andy Cohen FAIA, IIDA, Co-CEO Introduction: Designing for Impact Impact by Design 2017 is In “Sustainability in Action,” Gensler’s second annual we spotlight recently completed When selecting materials, it is important to evaluate where they come from and to seek it is important from When selecting they come materials, where to evaluate that would otherwise been sent to landfills,costs while also adding character. that have saving City’s Hudson Yards, materials made from salvaged/recycled content reuse waste products waste reuse content salvaged/recycled made from materials Hudson Yards, City’s publication analyzing the Gensler projects that exemplify in New York Group Boston Consulting solutions. At environmentally preferable innovative, sustainable performance of sustainable design in action. our work. Here, we provide a Our goal is to promote transparent look at the energy broader awareness about the performance and the carbon environmental impact that impact of our projects. buildings have on the world, and to contribute to conversations In addition to an analysis of about the leadership role that our work throughout calendar the architecture, engineering, year 2016, the report includes and construction industries a broad analysis of how can play in global efforts to new innovations in design, answer the challenges posed by engineering, and technology climate change. are improving the sustainable footprint of the global built environment. Interviews with How Buildings Impact the global leaders in engineering p.06 Environment and sustainable design formed the basis for our review of 1. Measuring Our Impact current and future sustainable p.12 design strategies. An analysis of the energy performance of Gensler’s 2016 project portfolio p.20 2. Sustainability in Action Gensler projects that push the boundaries of sustainable performance p.50 3. Guide to Making an Impact Strategies shaping the future of sustainable design p.62 Appendix 4 A call for How Buildings Impact the Environment Non-residential energy use How Buildings transparency, (BTUs) by building type 1400 better data SOURCE: US Energy Information Administration, 2012 Impact the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, May 2016 Designing Impact for 1200 The first step, we believe, is more towers. As designed, we estimate the Environment transparency: a lack of energy operations and maintenance of these 1000 performance data on building projects buildings will contribute 50 percent from around the globe has inhibited the less CO2 into the atmosphere per year 800 industry, and researchers more broadly, than a similar portfolio of projects from quantifying the aggregate impact would have emitted in 2009, when made by sustainable buildings. Gensler signed on to the AIA 2030 600 Commitment. This is a net reduction The spaces that we So we’re starting with ourselves. Gensler of roughly 11 million metric tons of 400 designed nearly a billion square feet of CO2 annually. space in 2016, from workplace interiors design and build to sports stadiums and mixed-use We want to do better; we need to 200 move faster. And while there is no today will create silver bullet, single technology, or engineering innovation that will make a better environment the difference, the myriad innovations office retail in design, construction, and technology education tomorrow. that present themselves today provide healthcare promise for significant impact. lodging food service public assembly Given the scale of the built environment warehouse and storage and current projections for urban other development in the future, the service food sales opportunity for positive change is religious worship immense. The construction, operation, public order and safety Impact by Design and maintenance of buildings is vacant responsible for over one-third of Cities leading global energy use. Building materials Energy consumption by sector themselves also carry a significant the way Buildings are a major end-use in global energy carbon impact—a building’s embodied markets and need to be a strong component of energy is roughly equivalent to the first any country’s plan to save energy. 30 years of operational energy, and Cities around the globe are where Based on our experience as a global Viewed holistically, the growth of concrete alone accounts for as much as the action is. Urban areas currently firm working in major cities around the global cities presents businesses, civil 8.6 percent of global CO2 emissions. contribute over 70 percent of global globe, we know that forward-looking society organizations, governments, CO2 emissions and over 80 percent building codes drive new innovations in and communities with significant To truly lessen the impact of the built of global GDP and economic output, opportunities to experiment with environment, we must constantly search 30% while taking up only 2 percent of Urban areas currently forward-looking solutions that promote Transportation for new and more efficient solutions global landmass. As existing and new contribute over 70 percent of sustainable economic growth and to the design, construction, and 4% cities prepare to accommodate more everyday urban resilience. Other sectors global CO2 emissions and maintenance of our buildings and cities. than one billion new urban dwellers The opportunity is huge, but so is the 31% by 2030 (and another billion by 2045), over 80 percent of global GDP Recent trends suggest cause for Industry challenge. It is estimated that we need 35% municipal leaders must continue to find and economic output, while optimism—the IEA found that global to reduce these greenhouse gas (GHG) Buildingss innovative planning and design solutions taking up only 2 percent of greenhouse gas emissions have fallen emissions by more than 80 percent to ensure that they can meet the or stayed flat during three consecutive by 2050 to keep global temperatures basic water, energy, food, and services global landmass. years of economic growth. This is the from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius (the requirements that make cities livable. first time in modern history when internationally agreed upon upper sustainability and energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions have not threshold for temperature rise). This and that massive opportunities exist risen during a time of economic is a lofty but achievable goal, one that to continue pushing the envelope expansion, suggesting that the world can be realized through cooperation in this area.