Its signature feature, a gull-wing roof, not only keeps the sun at bay, it collects rainwater—an integrated solution that resulted from a collaborative and tightly managed design and construction process.

Winrock's president, Frank Tugwell, was familiar with green building. Winrock's board established two key goals for the project: that it would achieve a LEED® Silver rating and that it would do that without costing any more than a comparable conventional building in Little Rock. The board set the budgetary constraint not only because of the organization's tight funds, but because they were determined to set an example for the local real estate market. "We wanted to be able to tell people who come in and are impressed, that it is something they can afford," says Tugwell.

By showing examples of their previous work, Principal-in-Charge Bill Odell and his team from HOK convinced the board that they could produce a high-performance green building on a conventional budget. As soon as the architect and contractor had been selected, all the consultants participated with the client in a design charrette to develop the concept design.

After working through a series of shading studies, the team's solution to the less-than-optimal orientation was an oversize roof, which shades the building through most of its occupied hours. Some large trees were preserved nearby, helping to shade the building when the sun is low in the sky. The narrow plan that was dictated by the site's constraints helps with daylighting, nearly all of the regularly occupied spaces are fully lit during the day, so the lights don't need to be on.

Winrock's new headquarters has generated a lot of excitement in the community. Together with two other LEED buildings, the Clinton Presidential Library and the headquarters for Heifer Project International, this project has put Little Rock on the map as a green building tour destination. Tugwell and others frequently find themselves giving impromptu tours to visitors.

In the end, the most important test of a facility is whether the occupants like it. In this case, says Tugwell, there is no doubt that they do. "I think that they stay at work longer," he says. "They hang around because it is a pleasant place."

Source: "Mission Accomplished at Winrock International's Global Headquarters," Greensource.construction.com, June 2006, by Nadav Malin. Read the story.