Setting The Example.

Environmentally friendly. Sustainable. Ergonomic. Aesthetically dramatic. Today's interior products tout a number of characteristic, each of which is desirable.

The U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA's) Public Buildings Service, in coordination with Pittsburgh, PA-based Carnegie Mellon

University's Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, took a cold hard look at the market and asked: "Does there always have to be a trade-off?" The Adaptable Workplace Laboratory (AWL) became the result of the GSA's desire to create an office environment that has it all: energy efficiency, return on investment, low maintenance, flexibility for change, and individual control.

Located on the 7th floor of the historic GSA headquarters building in Washington, D.C., the AWL is an 11,000-square-foot open office environment that comprises 47 individual workstations, a spacious conference room, several team rooms, a service pub, and business center. The following goals for the space guided the renovation:

* Organizational flexibility.

* Technological adaptability.

* Environmental sustainability.

* Individual productivity and comfort.

* Replicability.

A wonderland of office space, the AWL is a desk-ridden employee's dream. The lab employs many of the best technologies - tested and proven strategies that are productivity boosters - and space plans that enable reconfiguration in a snap. What's the price tag on a project like this? A grand total of $3.1 million was dedicated to consulting and performance studies, design, demolition, construction renovation, and furniture.

"We realize that high-performance workspace costs more to construct initially," says Lois Bennett, GSA interior designer and co-project manager, AWL. The average cost of the renovation (involving removal of ceilings, asbestos, private office partitions, terra-cotta block corridor walls, and private office partitions, as well as installation of raised flooring, new air handlers, and the grids for various systems) was $107 per square foot. In contrast, the cost of a traditional renovation would have been much less -- ranging from $65 to $75 per square foot. The startling difference of approximately $47 seems significant until life-cycle cost is examined. The products and systems installed, and the ability to reduce churn costs, will enable the GSA to recover the difference in less than eight years -- or after only one or two reconfigurations.

Ready for Change, Ready for Churn

Workplace environments that are not. designed for tomorrow's changes are outdated today. The GSA understands that in order to keep pace with whatever the future brings, spaces must be adaptable -- with flexibility guiding every design, construction, and purchase decision. According to Vivian Loftness, professor and head, School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and senior researcher for the Center for Building Performance, "[AWL occupants] could go to closed offices tomorrow and all the mechanical, networking, and lighting solutions could be quickly modified for those new spaces without having to throw away a single product, or go out and buy new products."

Utilizing redeployable infrastructures and products and systems that are modular in nature result in increased accessibility, a philosophy developed by CMU and adopted by the AWL project team planners. Embedded utilities are limiting and reduce flexibility. "The instant that you embed things in a ceiling plenum or in a drywall wall, they become inaccessible and very expensive to change. That is why we have virtually no drywall. We have no ceiling plenum. Whatever is embedded is beneath an access floor," Bennett explains.

AWL occupants and GSA team members are singing the praises of access flooring and "plug and play" components. Paul Chistolini, PBS deputy commissioner, GSA, talks about the ease of moves, adds, and changes with access flooring. "You can simply lift up the section of the floor, unplug the computer wiring, move it in a couple of minutes to another location, lift up the floor, and plug it in," he explains. Space planning changes; access to power, voice, and data cables, as well as the ventilation system; and updates or modifications to technology have been simplified and prepare the space for future transformations. "The features dealing with raised floor are very important. They have proven that the little additional cost has a very quick payback when it comes time to move people around," Chistolini states.

Hands On

Benefits of the lighting and HVAC systems chosen and installed in the AWL are two-fold. Both systems offer end-users a certain degree of control (and, consequently, comfort) and provide maximum energy savings.

A high-efficiency air handler that uses both heat pipes and a desiccant dehumidifier to capture energy savings provides the laboratory's ventilation. "All the air comes in under the floor, up across the workstations, and then exhausts at the roof. By separating the fresh air from the ventilating air you don't use as much energy because you don't always have the air you need for heating and cooling mixing with a sufficient amount of fresh air," explains Kevin Kampschroer, GSA director of research.

Operable windows along the perimeter of the wing provide natural ventilation. Thermal conditioning for the AWL has been the biggest challenge and is provided by wall-mounted heat pumps located under the windows. Easily relocated, the heat pumps can be moved or removed as new technologies emerge, and are individually controlled, providing workstations with the temperatures occupants prefer. Individual controls ensure that only occupied space is being conditioned, further saving energy and reducing expenses.

Similarly, occupancy sensors control ambient lighting at the laboratory, providing light where needed, and ensuring that energy is not wasted in unoccupied areas. Daylighting is an important component of the lighting system at the AWL. "We've learned how important daylighting is, and with the proper use of sensors to turn lights on and off, it can be very cost effective. Everyone benefits from seeing the sky, sunshine, and daylight," says Chistolini. Translucent, mesh shades reduce glare and heat gain without prohibiting views to the outdoors. Ambient, task, and natural lighting combine to provide occupants with the best environment for safety and visibility at the laboratory. According to Loftness, "Both the ability to open windows and the ability to use daylight is a tremendous blessing."

Adapt Ability

The AWL project team's request for a "kit of parts" may have seemed like a tall order to the furniture industry, but five manufacturers rose to the challenge. "At the very beginning of the design process, we held a seminar where we invited all the manufacturers to come and present their latest and greatest. What we were looking at was not necessarily state-of-the-art, but what we called 'state-of-the-shelf.' We wanted product that was in manufacturing already," recalls Bennett. In order to maximize space, quick and easy reconfigurations, and minimize storage of furniture components, the GSA and CMU team approached furniture manufacturers with a request for a "kit of parts" that could build open workstations, mobile workstations, traditional cubes, freeform workstations, and enclosed offices using a minimal number, and same set, of parts. Another prerequisite: The systems had to be user-friendly and easily reconfigurable.

The AWL space was arranged into three neighborhoods, each sporting the furniture of different manufacturers (the primary vendors being Herman Miller, Transwall/Haworth, and Steelcase). All workstations share the following characteristics:

* Workstation surfaces absorb sound and reflect light.

* Each workstation provides occupants with 72 to 90 square feet of space, with 13 linear feet of worksurface, 10 feet of storage, and 10 linear feet of display/tack space.

* Workstation components include stackable panels from 42 inches to 96 inches that are capable of supporting doors.

* Storage is provided on wheels where possible.

Questionnaires are helping the GSA determine how well these furniture systems are functioning. According to Sheldon Kravitz, senior realty specialist, Office of Portfolio Management, PBS, GSA, and occupant of the AWL, "Although the walls defining my workstation are fixed, everything else within it is movable." The mobility and flexibility of systems furniture components has allowed occupants to arrange workstations in a manner that is conducive to their productivity and personal preference.

Under Scrutiny

Occupied for the last year by the PBS Office of Portfolio Management, the AWL will undergo a series of tests throughout the next two years. "We're looking at over a three-year period, how people use the space, what's effective, what's not, and how they perceive it has improved or not improved their ability to get their jobs done," explains Chistolini. The research collected will help generate new guidelines for future construction and renovation projects for the GSA, the world's largest landlord.

Additionally, the experiences, lessons learned, and information collected will provide the GSA with an understanding of next-generation office environments, systems, and products. The expertise generated from the AWL will enable the GSA to use its market share to partner with manufacturers in the development of new generations of office systems and products.

Jana J. Madsen (jana-madsen@buildings.com) is senior associate editor at Buildings magazine.

Products. Services. Solutions.

The systems that make the AWL just what its name implies--adaptable:

HVAC Products/Services

Heat Pumps: McQuay

Air Handlers: Des Champs

Personal Environmental Module/Metasys HVAC controls: Johnson Controls

Personal Airflow System: Argon

Floor Vents: Titus Grill

Lighting and Associated Products/Services

Ceiling Tiles: Armstrong

Ambient Light Fixtures: Lightolier and Zumtobel

Occupancy Sensors: Wattstopper

Istabus Power Control: Siemens

Connectivity Products/Services

Electrical Wiring System and Raised Access Floor: Tate Access Floors

Cable Trays and Wire Baskets: Husky

Modular Voice and Data Patch Panel Boxes: Orthonix

Fiber-Optic Cabling: Siecor

Freestanding Power, Data, and Voice Termination Cabinets: B-line

Power Metering and Monitoring System: Siemens

Space and Furniture Products/Services

Unlimited Boundaries/Ethospace Panels, Ceilings, and Doors/Aeron and Equa Chairs/Kiva "Levity" Computer Tables: Herman Miller

Seque, Secant, and Conjunction Panels, Workstation Pieces, and Space-Defining Pieces/Criterion and Sensor Chairs: Steelcase

Reasons Stackable Panels: Transwall

Crossings Mobile Furniture/Tas Ergonomic Chairs: Haworth

Conference Training Furniture: Bretford

Lifespace Walls/Chinook Ceiling and Doors/Kyo Tables and Chairs/Modular Kitchen: SMED

Extreme Chairs: Kimball

(*.) List is not all-inclusive