Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design

Nominating company: Kawneer Co.
Location: Kendeda, Georgia

Winning Team

• Glazing contractor: Crown Corr Inc. 
• Architectural aluminum systems manufacturer: Kawneer Co. 
• Architects: Lord Aeck Sargent; The Miller Hull Partnership 
• Photo credit: Jonathan Hillyer

This year’s winning project for Best Green Category embodies the spirit of the award by its aspirational achievements. The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology was created to set the sustainable standard for buildings in the surrounding area, and became Georgia’s first building to receive the Living Building Challenge certification.

The project team took a comprehensive, holistic approach to sustainability, considering embodied energy, operational performance and occupant well-being in constructing this new building. 

Kawneer contributed several of its thermal and ultra-thermal building products to the project, including its AA 250 thermal entrances, thermal windows, as well as its Versoleil sunshades. All products used have environmental product declarations, underscoring material transparency. In addition to receiving Living Building Challenge certification, the new structure is LEED Platinum certified.

Beyond sustainability, Kawneer’s products helped maintain an ideal interior temperature, allowing “students to work productively and de-stress, as well as minimize the distraction of outside noise,” according to a company representative.

“The Kendeda building is remarkable in the scope of its environmental achievement. The integration of solar, mass timber and materials selected for their environmental footprint sets a high bar, including the Living Building Challenge certification,” says Glass Magazine Awards judge John R. Stephenson, senior architect, BRPH.