High Performance Building (Website Version)

High Performance Building Design

Building for the Future

Let's talk about your next project.

Listen. Solve. Deliver.

Paul McKeever

Associate Principal

pmckeever@tvsdesign.com

Listen. Solve. Deliver.

Sustainable design made easy.

As climate and legislation change, we know that high performance building design is a crucial part of your project’s design process if it’s going to stand the test of time. At TVS, we use data-driven design to reduce carbon emissions, implement sustainable design solutions such as green roofs, and integrate cost-saving solutions into our work.

What if you could future-proof your projects?

We know that remarkable design strikes a balance between the art and science of architecture. Creating a high performance environment extends beyond the beauty of the design, and into the comfort of its occupants, its material composition and the harmony between the environments we create and the community. Whether our clients have aggressive carbon emissions reduction targets or third-party environmental certification goals, we meet the needs of the project and guide our clients through design decisions that impact performance through building science and data-driven design.

An interative, data-driven design approach is crucial when looking to the future of your project.

Many countries, states and municipalities are at various stages of adopting carbon emissions legislation to stop the worst effects of climate change and limit global warming. The environments we create today for our clients may be subject to evolving laws and regulations many years into the future. Benchmarking sustainability and performance goals early with our clients enables us to make programming and design decisions that will help our clients meet carbon emissions targets efficiently and effectively over the years.

Reducing Carbon

+1 (404) 946-6752

operational energy use

Carbon Legislation

The energy used for space and water heating, space cooling, lighting and running equipment can account for up to 15% of a building’s business expenses. But with the right design strategy, you can potentially eliminate your electric bill altogether.

Operational energy use

Communities across the globe are passing legislation that aims to reduce carbon emissions in their environment. TVS has expertise in meeting these codes and regulations and creating designs that can adapt to future changes in legislature. For example, when New York introduced their Local Law 97 that requires buildings over 25,000 SF to meet energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions limits by 2024, clients sought out our expertise to do studies on their buildings. We have performed detailed investigations of the cost and benefit of dramatic repositionings and possible additions to existing buildings, while also proposing solutions to meet the Local Law 97 criteria.

Carbon Legislation

By repurposing old buildings and materials, you can reduce carbon emissions while also cutting the cost of materials. TVS has experience using embodied carbon reduction in multiple ways for clients:

Embodied Carbon Reduction

Embodied carbon reduction

Reducing operational energy use takes place at every step of the process and is prioritized:

Reduce energy use by 50% through design strategy alone by creating optimal shading for the building, controlling the use of natural light and other low-maintenance, carbon-free solutions.

Reduce Demand

Reduce energy use by 15% by incorporating renewables into the design. Once energy use is reduced as much as possible through the exterior skin design and building systems, the remaining energy needs can be met through renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

Incorporate Renewables

Reduce energy by 35% by increasing the efficiency of the building’s systems.

Increase Efficiency

Adaptive Reuse

Building Repositioning

Timber Construction

Taking an existing building and adapting it for a new purpose. Reusing existing materials cuts back on waste and carbon emissions.

Reviving an existing building and giving it new life. By incorporating the old with the new, items can be upcycled and given a new life.

Using mass timber as the frame for a building. Long-lived wood products lock in and require significantly less carbon to manufacture in comparison to concrete and steel.

See it in action

TVS transformed the 1960's vintage Cobo Arena into a modern conference center to meet changing market demands. This adaptive reuse project opened the building up to the city and the waterfront and was a game changer for our Client's business. The three year, three phase project ran concurrent with a full events calendar and resulted in a competitive and profitable building. Huntington Place has since recieved numerous awards for environmental sustainability.

TVS is revitalizing the Promenade II building in Midtown Atlanta, keeping the facility relevant amongst a new construction boom in the area. Initially built in 1989, the building was designed with its attorney anchor tenant in mind with closed off common spaces and a strong, dark design. To bring in new tenants and speak to the growing desire for collaboration and openness, we redesigned the lobby, amenities, conference center and outdoor areas to be bright and inviting. The brightness of the spaces and building materials also meant not as much artificial light was needed, and the building uses 50% less lighting energy than current code.

TVS incorporated mass timber construction in our design of Waldo’s, a mixed-used building in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. The 200,000 SF project will include a bold new hotel concept, townhomes and office programming. Not only is mass timber eco-friendly, but it has also been proven to be structurally strong, meeting the same performance standards as concrete and steel construction. The warmth of wood framing allows the structure to be left exposed and celebrated, further reducing the need for costly ceiling finishes.

Urban structures absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat more than natural landscapes, creating what is often referred to as the “heat island effect.” Green roofs combat this effect by providing shade and removing heat from the air through the process called "evapotranspiration". Incorporating green roofs into our clients’ designs can also help reduce operational energy use and lessen HVAC loads by shading buildings in the summer and insulating them in the winter.

Designing Green Roofs

Holistic Design

Roof to Table

TVS designed a green roof for the Music City Center in Nashville that was holistically integrated into the design. Designed to emulate the rolling hills of Tennessee, the four-acre green roof is covered in native vegetation that provides a natural habitat for wildlife in an urban landscape. Also, the waterproofing membrane extends the life of the roof by protecting it from UV rays, wind, and stormwater runoff. What's more, the Music City Center green roof is also home to half a million honeybees that produce more than 100 pounds of honey each year, giving the culinary team plenty of fresh honey.

Holistic Design

The “roof-to-table” experience is a fantastic way to lower your electricity bill while providing your guests with fresh fruits, vegetables and honey. When TVS was enlisted to work on the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center expansion, we were excited to bring this experience to the heart of Manhattan. Their one-acre roof-top farm produces up to 40,000 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables annually. Javits Center is also home to one of the world’s largest rooftop orchards with 32 apple and 6 pear trees. Their on-site kitchens and processing facility lowers their overall carbon footprint by reducing their packaging and transportation needs.

Roof to Table

Utilizing Solar Panels

If you’re looking to lower your electricity bill and reduce your carbon footprint, incorporating solar panels into your project’s design could be the answer. The sun is the Earth’s most abundant energy source, producing the equivalent amount of energy as all of the Earth’s coal, oil and natural gas combined in just 20 days. We help clients make the most of this readily available resource by using our expertise to make informed decisions about quantity, placement and voltage of solar panels.

Nashville’s Music City Center also decided to turn the energy generated by its 845 solar panels into an amenity for their guests. With as much as 343,000 kilowatt hours of energy produced annually, we helped them incorporate electric vehicle charging stations on each level of the facility’s three-level parking garage. With this one design move, the Music City Center demonstrated their commitment to lowering not only their own carbon footprint, but their guests’ as well.

Las Vegas has an average of 354 sunny days a year, making it the fourth most sunny city in the US. When we began working on the when we began working on the Las Vegas Convention Center phase two expansion, we knew that we needed to incorporate solar power into the design. With a 600,000 SF grid of panels that generate more than 8 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, about 30-40% of the facility’s energy usage comes directly from its roof.

“As professionals, it is our job to solve design challenges for our clients, for building users and for the planet. High performance building design is fundamental to my process.”

At TVS, we know that each project has its own unique challenges and opportunities. So, to make sure we find the right solution for our clients’ needs, we take an iterative approach to our high performance building design. We look at every possible design scheme to analyze the financial, functional and environmental factors to help our clients find the design that meets all their needs.

Applying Iterative Design