American Geophysical Union Headquarters

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is an international non-profit scientific association with 60,000 members in 137 countries. The purpose of the American Geophysical Union is to promote discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. In 2015, Interface Engineering was awarded the opportunity to convert the existing American Geophysical Union Headquarters into a world-class, Net-Zero Energy facility. The full-building renovation will transform the 5-story, 83,000 gross square foot space into a state of the art work environment that facilitates internal collaboration and showcases AGU’s contributions to Earth and space sciences. The modernization design includes a mixture of modern workspaces and cutting edge meeting/conference facilities that incorporate the most advanced technology and sustainable features.

Our team evaluated thirty-five independent Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs), in an effort to reach AGU’s goal of becoming the first, existing commercial building in Washington, DC to achieve “net zero”. Ultimately, a bundle of roughly fifteen strategies were recommended to be included in the project’s Schematic Design, based on each strategy’s anticipated contribution to energy and water savings, waste, and carbon reduction, human comfort, and employee health and well-being.

Some of the more innovative solutions considered for the project include municipal waste heat recovery, concentrated photovoltaic (PV) array, radiant ceiling systems, DC current ceiling grids, solar concentrators, and hydroponic phytoremediation air filtration and treatment.

For more information, please visit building.agu.org.