Farnsworth Group Earns 7 Green Building of America Awards

October 19, 2009

October 14, 2009...Farnsworth Group, Inc., a national full-service engineering, architecture and survey firm, has had 7 of their projects recognized with Green Building of America Awards.

From more than 2,500 nominated projects, seven of Farnsworth Group's projects have been selected as Green Building of America Award-winning projects and will be featured in the upcoming special Real Estate & Construction Review Green Success Stories 2009/2010 editions. Each Green Building of America Success Story project is highlighted in a case study that intertwines the words of the project's owner/developer, consultants, architects and contractors to explain how the teams worked together to design and build one of the region's most important, innovative or unique new or renovated sustainable facilities.  Only projects with completion dates from June 2008 to January 2010 were eligible to be submitted for these editions.

The following are brief summaries of Farnsworth Group's seven award winning projects.

Glen Oak's Birth-8^th Grade Community Learning Center:  The Farnsworth Group teamed with Fanning Howey to provide full architectural and engineering services for this new state-of-the-art, 126,000 SF school. The new Glen Oak Birth - 8th Grade Community Learning Center will support 21st century knowledge and skill development with integrated technology and classrooms designed for in-depth collaborative learning. It has been designed as a community learning center where adults can take classes and participate in leisure activities after school hours.  The 12-acre site will continue the Health and Wellness and Community Center focus with recreational opportunities including open spaces for learning, walking trails, park benches, and sports fields.  This entire development is designed to be a "Neighbor Center" which will be a key component in transforming this East Bluff neighborhood.

RailSplitter Wind Farm Operations and Maintenance Facility:  Farnsworth Group is providing surveying, transportation engineering, architecture, site design MEP engineering, LEED^® and commissioning services for the 100 MW Rail Splitter Wind Farm.  The wind farm will consist of 67 turbines, 11 miles of transmission line, and 17 miles of County and Township roadway improvements in addition to a new operations and maintenance facility to serve the farm. The new 4900 SF operations and maintenance facility is located at the corner of a major intersection with the exterior of the building designed to match the existing urban environment.  The building will include storage areas for turbine parts and tools, crew room, break room, and offices for Horizon Wind Energy operations and turbine maintenance staff. Site improvements include parking, circulation and other site improvements.  This is intended to be the first LEED^® Certified, new construction project for Horizon.  Morton Buildings, Inc. provided the building shell and general contracting.

Marseilles Medical Office Building: Farnsworth Group is the architect/engineer for a project to build a community outreach medical office building by Ottawa Regional Hospital and Healthcare Center.  This new facility will be located in the nearby community of Marseilles.  Farnsworth Group provided civil engineering, architecture, structural engineering, interior design, and plumbing, mechanical, and electrical engineering, as well as LEED services and commissioning.  The design intent is to create a standard "off campus" building type, that ties into outlying communities.  The 4,600 SF building has set a goal of LEED Certified and will accommodate 2 single physician practices.  Each physician suite includes a waiting room, reception, nurse station, patient toilet, 3 to 4 exam rooms, and a personal physician's office.  A shared common space for both suites includes two staff toilets, a procedure room, recycle room, janitor's closet, a break room, and a mechanical room.  There is also a covered outdoor space adjacent to the break room.

Cedar Ridge Wind Farm Maintenance Center: The Cedar Ridge Wind Farm is Wisconsin Power & Light's (WPL) first fully owned and operated wind farm site, consisting of 41 turbines, producing approximately 68 megawatts of electricity which is enough to supply electricity to 17,000 houses.  The new Maintenance Service Center will serve to educate visitors and operate the wind turbines that are currently in construction.  Farnsworth Group provided the Commissioning and LEED Consulting for the Cedar Ridge Wind Farm. 

Farnsworth Group's Colorado Springs Sustainable Office Showcase:  Farnsworth Group, Inc. renovated an 8,700-square-foot mixed-use facility to serve as a showcase for its green services. The office houses their Colorado Springs staff, which focuses on providing sustainable design, building commissioning, LEED consultation, and energy-related services. The in-house team provided LEED® consultation, retro-commissioning, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering to the existing building to create an environmentally friendly workspace. The office includes open work stations, offices, two conference rooms, and a training/charrette center. The project was designed to achieve LEED certification at the Gold level, so the building features recycled and environmentally friendly materials throughout.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Denver District Office, General Services Administration, Centennial, CO:   Farnsworth was contracted by Scannell Properties to provide Architecture/Engineering design, LEED consulting services, and LEED required commissioning for the new three-story, 45,885 SF LEED-NC rated office building. The new facility will house CIS' Denver District office. The project represents Farnsworth Group's ability to provide full-service capabilities on a project, including architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, civil, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering as well as energy modeling, commissioning and LEED consultation on the project. The CIS building's sustainable features include a high performance building envelope and glazing system, energy efficient ground-coupled heat pump system for heating and cooling, over 20% of building materials have recycled content and were found within 500 miles of the project, and over 75% of construction waste was recycled. The project is pursuing LEED Silver certification.  

Fort Macon Coastal Interpretation and Visitors' Center, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina: Farnsworth Group teamed with Hobbs Architects of Pittsboro, NC, to provide commissioning and consulting services for the LEED certification for the new approximately 20,000 SF Fort Macon State Park Visitors Center.  The project is targeting a minimum certification level of Silver under the LEED for New Construction version 2.2.  Originally completed in 1834 after an eight-year construction period, Fort Macon replaced Fort Dobbs, a wooden structure built in 1756, which was strategically located to protect Beaufort Inlet from pirate raids and powerful European Navies.  The new visitor's center will provide exhibit space for historical displays, a book store, and classrooms and will be designed to be sustainable but reflect the historical nature of the site. This building is targeting LEED Gold.

Regional editions, both in print and online, provide inside information about the most referred and qualified firms, team members and products that are being utilized for the most important sustainable projects within a specific area of the country. Combined with in-depth case studies, "how-to" editorial from leading consultants and glossy top-notch photography, each edition is packed with all the essentials and is therefore a "must read" for any owner, architect, general contractor, consultant or project team member thinking about building green.

There will be five regional 2009-2010 Green Success Story editions of the Real Estate & Construction Review including Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, Southwest and Midwest. Farnsworth Group will have 4 of their projects featured in the Midwest edition, 2 projects in the Southwest edition and one in the Southeast edition.  Each edition will also be available in flip book format online at www.constructionreviews.com.

Latest News