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Haworth Aims for LEED-CI Approval

The furniture company hopes its redesigned Chicago showroom will be first to nab the new rating.

Dave Platter -- Interior Design, 6/2/2004 12:00:00 AM

Since news broke earlier this spring about the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) new Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) certification, (related story) designers have been angling to be among the first to incorporate the standards into their projects.

Haworth, the Holland, Michigan-based office furniture company, may soon score a few points in this informal competition. On June 14, at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago, the company will unveil its new Merchandise Mart showroom. The showroom's design intention is to meet LEED-CI Gold certification standards, the highest rating a project can categorically receive. Though USGBC has not publically announced the new LEED-CI standards (it will do so at NeoCon this summer) it has anounced that factors such as energy and water usage, reuse of existing buildings, usage of eco-friendly products and indoor air qaulity will all be criteria for certification.

After NeoCon, the LEED-CI program will enter into a period of public comment, after which final approval by USGBC will take place, most likely by September.

"To our knowledge there are no other showrooms that are going through the LEED-CI process like Haworth is," said Mark Falanga, vice president at Merchandise Mart Properties. Falanga said other showrooms in the Chicago complex have incorporated green elements, such as recycled materials and energy efficient lighting, but that Haworth has gone a step further.

Architecture and interior design firm Perkins & Will created the showroom for Haworth along with London-based environmental consultancy Battle McCarthy Consulting Engineers. The space is constructed mainly of architectural interior products from Haworth, such as raised access floors, moveable walls and modular wiring.

To improve the showroom's potential LEED-CI rating, Haworth reused many existing materials, including floor tiles and glass, and new, energy-efficient lighting requires only half the power of the previous lights. Furthermore, many materials were sourced locally, keeping energy consumption costs associated with transportation to a minimum.

But Haworth's efficiency of design also extends far beyond the built confines of the showroom itself. For example, the company has even declined to have any reserved parking spaces at the Mart in an effort to encourage visitors to use public transportation.

Falanga said Merchandise Mart Properties is excited about the new showroom. "We think it will be a terrific groundbreaking event for them to open that showroom and perhaps create a new standard for construction done in this building," he said.

The Chicago Merchandise Mart has 180 contract showrooms and 820 other showrooms, as well as several other office tenants.

Haworth's opening reception will take place on June 14, 5:30-7 p.m.