Creating a green building begins on the drawing board. That’s where plans are first made for everything from the use of recyclable materials to water-efficient landscaping to energy-saving lighting.

When the initial plans were created for downtown San Francisco’s new 33-story, 555 Mission Street office tower, they were not predicated upon seeking LEED certification. Even without green elements, the 555 Mission building received a lot of attention during the early construction phases. The interest was largely due to the fact that the project was the first Class A office building to be built in the city in four years. The building’s façade attracted interest because of its exceptional design of floor-to-ceiling glass panels, accented with glass and metal fins that capture and reflect light. The all-glass building is now one of the city’s signature towers.

All major material specifications were re-evaluated in order to meet LEED requirements at 555 Mission Street. Photo courtesy of Turner Construction Company.

The Project

In May 2007 — seven months after the general contractor, Turner Construction, broke ground on 555 Mission Street — developer Tishman Speyer decided to go back to the drawing board. The company decided to modify its plans and incorporate a multitude of green techniques and standards focused on enhancing energy efficiency and minimizing the project’s overall impact on the environment. As a result of the modifications, the project became eligible to seek LEED certification.

Once the commitment to go green had been made, Turner and the consultant team met to re-evaluate and revise all major material specifications to meet LEED requirements. The 555 Mission Street building is San Francisco’s first LEED Silver-certified speculative high-rise development.

Turner, a long-time proponent of green building, has extensive experience with LEED projects (the company has even created a detailed databank of cost-effective green materials, processes and suppliers). Based on its green building experience (71 LEED certified projects and many more underway), Turner reports that costs associated with green projects can be contained to a level comparable to traditionally constructed buildings.

With the green building plan changes to the 555 Mission Street building, costs were barely altered. Dave Steffens, Turner’s project executive, says, “Adding green elements to the building did not affect the construction schedule and amounted to less than a 1 percent increase to the project’s value. The project remained within budget, even with the addition of significant green elements to the plans.”

Green Elements

With the decision to go green, all major material specifications were re-evaluated in order to meet LEED requirements. Green elements included a recycled water distribution system that was put in place for landscape irrigation and will be implemented once the city of San Francisco implements its recycled water program.

To enhance energy efficiency and to reduce heat load on the building, the roof includes a reflective cap sheet. In addition, the landscaping is water-efficient and there are low-flow toilet fixtures and fittings.

To reduce the project’s overall impact on the environment, more than 25 percent of products specified in the project are from recycled content including items ranging from structural steel, wood and concrete, to nails and studs used for framing, plus ceramic tile, wood paneling and most finishes.

Additionally, the environmental impact was reduced by diverting 80 percent of waste that was generated during the building process to recycling and take-back centers. Unused concrete was returned to the concrete plant to be used as aggregate. Wood that was returned will be chipped and used as ground cover. Steel and metal were sent to recycling centers.

Building Features

The 670,000-square-foot office tower has approximately 550,000 rentable square feet, including 3,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and two levels of underground parking.

Visitors to the building are greeted by an attractive public plaza that flows seamlessly into the lobby area. Together, the plaza and lobby will create an organic connection between outside social space and the interior environment. A 25-foot-high by 140-feet-long cable-net-supported wall encloses the lobby. An 11,000-square-foot street level plaza features a Jonathan Borofsky sculpture. The building is designed through a collaboration between the architectural firms of Kohn Pederson Fox and Heller Manus Architects.