WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The SmithGroup-designed building at 1331 L Street, NW, Washington, D.C., has received LEED Gold certification for Core and Shell 2.0 by the U.S. Green Building Council. The 170,000-square-foot, 10-story, Class A building is owned and occupied by the Mortgage Bankers Association. For the project, SmithGroup provided architecture, interior design, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering services under the leadership of design principal David King, FAIA, LEED AP, and Andrew Rollman, AIA, LEED AP, senior designer. DRI and Paramount developed the building, and ORR Partners served as the owner’s representative during the construction process. Sigal Construction Corporation was the general contractor. The project began as a speculative office building that SmithGroup designed for DRI/Paramount that was not originally designed to meet LEED criteria. However, prior to construction, Mortgage Bankers Association purchased the site and became committed to developing a LEED Gold building. Working closely with the project team of DRI/Paramount, ORR Partners and Sigal Construction, SmithGroup incorporated sustainable design features to enable the building to achieve LEED Gold certification. These features include generous amounts of daylight and views accessible from most floors, and the use of low emitting materials and certified wood products. Sigal was able to recycle 75% of the waste created from construction, and Mortgage Bankers Association purchased power from renewable sources for a two year term. All of this was accomplished for less than a one percent increase to the cost of purchasing the property. The Mortgage Bankers Association relocated to the building upon its completion in the summer of 2008 and currently occupies approximately 66,000 square feet. “The Mortgage Bankers Association headquarters at 1331 L Street is one of only two office buildings in our nation’s capital that have achieved LEED Gold Core and Shell 2.0,” said Russell Perry, AIA, LEED AP, managing director of SmithGroup’s Washington, D.C. office, who also heads the firm’s National Sustainability Practice. Nationally, only 18 office buildings are LEED Gold Core and Shell 2.0.
