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Gateway West Sustainable I

   Two years ago, Paul Oswald began looking for a larger scale space for his growing company, Environmental Systems Inc. After exhausting six months’ time looking for the perfect location, he decided to invest in building a headquarters that lives up to ESI’s green energy mission. With shared vision to create a building certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program, Hunzinger Construction Co. in Brookfield, along with Stephen Perry Smith Architects Inc., Waukesha, and ESI worked together to design and complete the Gateway West Sustainable I project, said Oswald, ESI’s president.  

   The team’s cooperate attitude contributed to the building’s well-executed construction. The duration from when Hunzinger broke ground to the day ESI moved to its new 34,000-square-foot facility, located in Brookfield, lasted only seven months, Oswald said. The move possibly impacted ESI’s 61 employees through its open, airy work environment, and the design fostered open communication through the sheer arrangement of space, he said. The team coined the phrase, “practical sustainable design,” to describe its collaborative goal to implement only environmentally sustainable ideas, said Jim Hunzinger, executive vice president of Hunzinger Construction Co.

Matt Mano, architect at Stephen Perry Smith and the project’s lead designer, said the initial design plans called for significantly more hard walls and partial clings but since these elements provided little sustainable benefit, the team disregarded the idea. The building’s design included water-conscious landscaping and energy-efficient lighting, heat recovery, metering and video surveillance, Hunzinger said. With drought-tolerant plants that don’t require irrigation and grass that doesn’t need to be mowed, the property naturally reuses water. Workstation LED task lights allow individuals to-tailor the lighting to their needs. “This building will perform, from an energy-consumption standpoint, 35 percent better than a building that is designed and built in concurrence with the current mode,” he said.

   The team not only designed practically, but it also designed durably, utilizing architectural elements that perform well and have a long life-cycle. Initial costs of incorporating durable faucets, lights and other office building basics are slightly higher than the norm, but the functionality and dependability will pay off in the years to come, Hunzinger said. Building visitors will have a clear understanding of the sustainable energy management, automation systems, lighting controls and security systems ESI designs and installs from the minute they set foot inside ESI’s office, Mano said. Through ESI’s mechanical and electrical system integrations, the building has become a teaching tool for not only potential clients but also the community.

   ESI wanted to create a space that served the community as a living teaching tool, Oswald said. Grade school students can tour the building, older students may have the opportunity to intern with ESI and local businesses can come learn how to become more environmentally sustainable in their own practices.  The model for an integrated design approach between architecture, construction and mechanical design showcases that small business owners can create, build and live in high-performance buildings that save money and energy from day one, Mano said.

-Brooke McEwen

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