Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design

Winner of an AIA COTE Top Ten Award, the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design is the first certified Living Building in Georgia and the 28th in the world.

Designed by Lord Aeck Sargent in collaboration with The Miller Hull Partnership, the 37,000 sq. ft. building includes classrooms, labs, support areas, offices, maker space, and student breakout spaces. A 2021 AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award winner, the project is the first certified Living Building in Georgia and the 28th in the world. The Living Building Challenge is the world’s most stringent sustainability standard for the built environment.

As a key member of the design team, and to support the project’s Water Petal and Net Positive Water goals, Biohabitats performed water balance modeling and developed and directed the strategy for water harvesting, sizing, and treatment and reuse approaches. Tactics included rainwater and greywater harvesting and reuse, composting toilets, and condensate and irrigation reuse. Greywater is treated through constructed wetlands and a recharge system. Condensate and rainwater reuse systems provide 100% of the water for green roof and site irrigation. Rainwater is harvested from the photovoltaic panels and filtered to meet potable needs. The Kendeda Building will have the first rainwater-to-potable water approved system in Georgia for a non-single family residence.

The building is aptly located within the EcoCommons, an integrated, ecologically-based landscape and open space system designed to unify the campus, enhance sustainability, and enrich its living, working, and learning environment. The project supports ecological performance goals established in the EcoCommons master plan related to carbon sequestration, stormwater retention, and the enhancement of biodiversity and tree growth.

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• Analysis+Planning