Sap Americas Headquarters Expansion Achieves Leed Platinum Certification From USGBC

Aug. 25, 2010 - PRLog -- NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FXFOWLE’s headquarters expansion for SAP Americas in Newtown Square, PA, has achieved LEED Platinum Certification, the highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council. Totaling 210,000 square feet, SAP Americas is currently the largest LEED Certified Platinum building in the State of Pennsylvania. The new four-story building received the maximum LEED points in the water efficiency and innovation in design categories.

“As a global provider of business software and technology, SAP Americas asked us to design a contemporary workplace that incorporates the most advanced environmentally-sustainable practices,” said Guy Geier, FAIA, FIIDA, LEED, Managing Partner at FXFOWLE. “SAP’s new building reflects its strong global image and creates an inspirational working environment that embodies both the company’s technological leadership and environmental consciousness. The expansion employs many sustainable strategies that are familiar to FXFOWLE, but for this project we combined them in new and innovative ways.”

Located on the 110-acre campus of SAP Americas and adjacent to its existing Certified LEED building, the expansion features a floor-to-ceiling glass exterior and an open-space plan that takes maximum advantage of daylight. A triple-glazed, high-performance curtain-wall system with exterior sunshades reduces direct sun penetration and eliminates the need for perimeter heating.

Extensive and intensive green roofs, the use of native and regional vegetation species in landscaping, and the maintenance of extensive open space integrate the building with the surrounding natural environment. The new building also collects rainwater in a 50,000-gallon cistern that supplies water for landscape irrigation and the flushing of toilets in some of the building's bathrooms. By using a state-of-the-art water management system, SAP expects to save over one million gallons of water per year.

Geothermal wells, calibrated lighting systems, an ice storage system, and under floor air distribution contribute to the building’s reduced energy consumption, estimated to one third more efficient than similar buildings.

In addition to LEED Platinum Certification, SAP Americas headquarters expansion received the Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR certification, an ongoing initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which encourages architects and their clients to design and operate buildings that reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment. The expansion received a Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR rating of 92 out of 100 (a rating of 50 indicates average energy performance, while a rating of 75 or better indicates top performance and earns certification).

SAP Americas has been recognized with several design awards from prestigious cultural institutions, publications, and organizations, such as the New York State Chapter of the American Institute of Architects; The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies; Environmental Design + Construction magazine; a William H. Bates Memorial Award/Delaware County Planning Commission; and Architectural Review/MIPIM.

Members of SAP Americas headquarters expansion design team included WSP Flack + Kurtz, Severud Associates, Advanced GeoServices Corp., Wallace Roberts & Todd, YRG Sustainability, S+S Lighting Design. Gilbane Building Company was the construction manager.

About FXFOWLE Architects
Founded 32 years ago, FXFOWLE Architects is an architectural, interior design, planning, and urban design firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. The firm’s work has garnered international recognition for its design quality, technical innovation, and environmental responsibility. FXFOWLE’s current select projects include six mixed-use parcels in the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Eleven Times Square, a new 1.2 million square foot projected Certified LEED Gold commercial office tower in New York City; a comprehensive vision plan for downtown Manhattan’s Water Street in collaboration with Starr Whitehouse, and an Intermediate and High School for the Hunter’s Point South development in Queens, New York. For more information, visit http://www.fxfowle.com or http://blog.fxfowle.com.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 97,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” For more information, visit http://www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.

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FXFOWLE is an architectural, interior design, planning, and sustainability firm with offices in New York, Washington, Dubai, Abu Dhabi. The firm has garnered international recognition for its design quality, innovation, and environmental responsibility.