Wilcox Center at 190
Wilcox Center, located at State Highway 190 and Independence Parkway in Plano, Texas, is a three-story, 185,000 sfcommercial office building, that has been planned and designed following the LEED Core and Shell Guidelines, Version 2.0. It is the first building in the city of Plano to become a LEED certified facility. The site is a perimeter parcel of a major, corporate landholding, which includes the corporation’s headquarters campus. It is located at the intersection of an eight lane tollway, President George Bush Turnpike (State Highway 190), and Independence Parkway, a major arterial roadway in Plano. The corporation decided to sell some of the perimeter tracts for development by others. These perimeter parcels had been maintained in a token agricultural function for tax purposes. As a result, two original “fence rows”, lined with mature trees remained intact on the property. These fence rows were identified by the design team as a major existing, natural asset, and became the primary organizer for the site plan of the project.
In addition to organizing placement of the building on the site to take advantage of these rows of trees, the parking fields were organized with vegetated swales between the rows of cars, oriented perpendicular to the flow of surface drainage. The open areas beneath the tree rows, the vegetated swales in the parking area, and a perimeter system of swales around the site’s perimeter all work in concert to slow and clean site runoff, and to return considerably more water into the soil compared to a more conventional design. They also work together to achieve exemplary performance for Sustainable Sites Credit 5.2, Site Development – Maximize Open Space.
The heat island effect of the development is not only mitigated by the high percentage of open space and stands of mature trees, but in addition, 100% of the site paving is concrete with a solar reflectance index of 35. Also the building’s roof has a solar reflectance index of 93, further reducing the heat island effect of the project.
The main building structure includes a perimeter wall system of site-cast concrete panels and an interior structural frame of 100% recycled steel, fabricated within 40 miles of the site. The majority of the building materials for the structure, building envelope, and interior walls are regionally extracted and fabricated. The project specifications require that all adhesives, sealants, paints, coatings, carpet systems, and composite wood and agrifiber be low-emitting materials, to maintain a high Indoor Environmental Quality.
The building is efficient in terms of water and energy consumption. Through the use of water efficient fixtures, including waterless urinals, the project achieves a 30% savings over the water use baseline calculated for the building, and through the use of water efficient landscaping and irrigation, potable water consumption for irrigation is reduced by 50% from a calculated mid-summer baseline case. Whole building energy simulation indicates that the project will utilize 10% less energy than the baseline building performance rating per ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004.
This project was the first experience developing to LEED guidelines for owner/developer, Wilcox Development Services, and the first LEED office building in the City of Plano, a rapidly urbanizing part of the Dallas metropolitan area. When the owner and design team first met to define the project requirements the LEED goal was set at basic certification. As the integrated design process progressed, understanding of, and enthusiasm for the process brought new aspirations for Silver Certification, however, the project achieved Gold Certification. As a result of this experience, Wilcox has committed that all of their future projects will be LEED buildings. This project was designed within the budget parameters of a speculative office building, with no additional costs for LEED design, other than LEED administrative fees.
In addition to organizing placement of the building on the site to take advantage of these rows of trees, the parking fields were organized with vegetated swales between the rows of cars, oriented perpendicular to the flow of surface drainage. The open areas beneath the tree rows, the vegetated swales in the parking area, and a perimeter system of swales around the site’s perimeter all work in concert to slow and clean site runoff, and to return considerably more water into the soil compared to a more conventional design. They also work together to achieve exemplary performance for Sustainable Sites Credit 5.2, Site Development – Maximize Open Space.
The heat island effect of the development is not only mitigated by the high percentage of open space and stands of mature trees, but in addition, 100% of the site paving is concrete with a solar reflectance index of 35. Also the building’s roof has a solar reflectance index of 93, further reducing the heat island effect of the project.
The main building structure includes a perimeter wall system of site-cast concrete panels and an interior structural frame of 100% recycled steel, fabricated within 40 miles of the site. The majority of the building materials for the structure, building envelope, and interior walls are regionally extracted and fabricated. The project specifications require that all adhesives, sealants, paints, coatings, carpet systems, and composite wood and agrifiber be low-emitting materials, to maintain a high Indoor Environmental Quality.
The building is efficient in terms of water and energy consumption. Through the use of water efficient fixtures, including waterless urinals, the project achieves a 30% savings over the water use baseline calculated for the building, and through the use of water efficient landscaping and irrigation, potable water consumption for irrigation is reduced by 50% from a calculated mid-summer baseline case. Whole building energy simulation indicates that the project will utilize 10% less energy than the baseline building performance rating per ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004.
This project was the first experience developing to LEED guidelines for owner/developer, Wilcox Development Services, and the first LEED office building in the City of Plano, a rapidly urbanizing part of the Dallas metropolitan area. When the owner and design team first met to define the project requirements the LEED goal was set at basic certification. As the integrated design process progressed, understanding of, and enthusiasm for the process brought new aspirations for Silver Certification, however, the project achieved Gold Certification. As a result of this experience, Wilcox has committed that all of their future projects will be LEED buildings. This project was designed within the budget parameters of a speculative office building, with no additional costs for LEED design, other than LEED administrative fees.