The Metropolis Next Generation® Design Competition was created in 2003 to promote environmental activism, social involvement, and entrepreneurship in young designers. Metropolis saw the need for a new type of competition, one that went beyond the usual beauty pageants for finished projects, a competition that would generate and reward ideas. Metropolis celebrates the next generation by rewarding imaginative young designers, be they employed by large companies, those striving with their own young firms or on their own, as well as students.

The Next Generation® winners and runners-up are a testament to the success of this mission. Each project recognized has embodied the core values of good design—incorporating systems thinking, sustainability, accessibility, materials exploration, historic relevance, and technology—while forwarding our thinking on what designers can accomplish. The breadth of proposals has been stunning: building projects, urban planning and community building schemes, responsive interior environments, population pressure issues, new materials, ergonomics, product design, social and housing solutions, environmental management, water purity, and waste disposal in crisis situations and so on. The prize of $10,000 and the publicity have helped winners’ and runners-ups’ projects leap from the drawing board to implementation and production.

For 2011 we are asking for a Zero Environmental Footprint for a GSA building. We challenge you to think about how we work, what we use, how we get where we need to go, hidden costs to our pocketbooks and the environment, across the whole design spectrum. Focus on one area that needs fixing—products, interiors, buildings, landscape, communication systems, or anything else you can imagine—and develop your idea fully, or develop a whole system of fixes.

Existing Conditions

• • Freestanding structure occupied by a
• range of federal agencies including the IRS,
• US Bankruptcy Court, the US Attorneys
•  
•   
• • Steel-frame construction with an exterior
• curtain wall cladding, not considered historic
• at this time; the building is representative
• of similar ones that were constructed by
• the federal government during the 1960s
•  
• • Concrete panels have an exterior
• surface comprised of (2” diameter +/-)
• large stone pebbles
•  
• • Building occupies 4.4 acres and is part of
• a larger, 8.8 acre site, which is occupied by
• other federal buildings
• 2011
• (continued on next page)
•  
• • Floorplate is essentially 100,000 sq. ft. per floor.
• The outside dimensions of a standard floor are
• roughly 226’ x 506’. The ground floor footprint
• is 196’ x476’ with a perimeter arcade. The
• standard column bay is 28’ x 28’. Interior
• corridors on the office floors have a double
• H-shaped configuration with the core in the
• center. Average distance from the exterior
• wall to the internal corridor is 76’. Interior
• corridors have no access to natural light.
• See floor plan on next page
•  
• • Average enclosed office size is 1,100 sq. ft.,
• although most of the building is open office
• space with systems furniture. Space layouts
• vary by tenant
•  
• • GSA considers this an important location,
• so the building is likely to remain a federal
• property for many years to come
•  
• • No figures exist on annual BTU consumption,
• though the GSA tracks energy performance
• for most of its facilities. Central plant for this
• building and the Roybal Building, another
• federal property next door, is shared
•  
• • Designed as an 8-floor (2 below grade), air
• conditioned office space, with dual ducts, some
• AHU’s are constant volume, some variable
• volume, digital CAV/VAV box controllers
•   
• • Existing roof: some solar panels were installed
• as part of a mechanical renovation; green
• roof is possible with structural modifications
•  
• • The building is generally in good condition, has
• had a number of minor repairs and alterations
• over the years. Exterior materials are original.
• Interior finishes are replaced as tenant
• agencies move or materials wear out
•  
• • There have been no efforts, so far, to focus
• on environmentally friendly materials
•  
• • Windows are not operable
•  
• • All asbestos has been encapsulated or removed
•  
• • Limited use of recycled carpet
• For more information on the federal office
• buildings of 1960s America, link to
• http://www.gsa.gov/federalmodernism 
• or download our PROJECT BRIEF (pdf  7.7mb)