Gensler has recently completed the design of a new office for LPL Financial located in San Diego, California.

“We approached LPL’s San Diego tower as an opportunity to usher in a new era of workplace innovation that enhanced the user experience while reinforcing the firm’s commitment to wellness and sustainability,” said Shawn Davidson Dixon, design director at Gensler, the interior architect for the building. “Our design strategy centered on creating an agile, adaptable work environment that sets the standard in San Diego for performance, wellbeing and efficiency.”

The design strategies were shaped from early consulting work, which included metrics pulled from seat sensor studies, surveys and focus group workshops with employees at all levels, according to Dixon. Typical floors within the 13-story 415,000-square-foot office reflect the commitment to wellness and sustainability by providing an abundance of natural light, sit-to-stand workstations and individual thermal controls at each workspace. In addition, the building includes a health clinic, fitness center, cafeteria and outdoor amenities, some of which are branded to share health and sustainability facts that promote healthy choices. In addition, employees champion a sustainable workplace through employee education on recycling, onsite composting and carpooling.

The San Diego office building is believed to be the largest net-zero energy commercial office building in the country.
Highlights from the LEED scorecard include:

• 39.04% reduction in potable water use
• 100% and 71.82% reductions in site landscaping and irrigation systems potable water usage for irrigation and total water usage for irrigation, respectively
• 52.46% reduction in lighting power density from that allowed by code
• 87.25% of the project’s connected lighting load installed with occupancy sensors
• 77.68% of the on-site generated construction waste diverted from landfill
• 19.41% of the total building materials content, by value, that has been manufactured using recycled materials
• 67.62% of the wood-based building materials that are certified in accordance with the principles and criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• 94.55% of occupants with lighting controls enabled to be able to make adjustments to suit individual task needs and preferences
• 99.56% of the tenant occupants with enabled thermal controls to be able to make adjustments to suit individual needs and preferences
• 94.83% of all regularly occupied spaces with direct line of sight views to the outdoors

Design: Gensler
Photography: Courtesy of Gensler

via Office Snapshots