(D08) The Largest On-site Net-zero Energy Facility of Its Type in the World: How to Design an Energy Intensive Building as NZE

The newly completed California Air Resources Board (CARB) Southern California Headquarters is the largest, most advanced vehicle emissions testing and research facility in the world, presenting a landmark example of California’s climate policies in action. While California’s current building sector climate policies and ambitions are among the most progressive in the United States, architects across the country can expect to be faced with similar high-performance mandates in the future. This will require architects and engineers to up the ante on sustainable design innovation in order to deliver on programmatic needs across building typologies, while reaching carbon neutral targets. CARB’s new vehicle emissions testing and research facility will be used as a case study in this presentation to show how net-zero energy (NZE) and net-zero carbon are achievable, even when presented with complex programmatic requirements and intensive operational energy demands.

Not only does CARB’s new 403,306 SF headquarters serve as an instructive example of the challenges and considerations for NZE buildings when scaling up size and programmatic complexity, it also demonstrates a broad, deep commitment to the environment, occupants, and surrounding community by targeting LEED v4 Platinum and CalGreen Tier 2. As a facility designed not just for people, but for motorized vehicles and equipment of all sizes—from motorcycles to semi-trailer trucks—the scale of this project is more expansive than the average research workplace. Coupled with the energy requirements needed to power the vehicular testing equipment and the chemistry and hydrogen labs, reaching the state mandated performance targets was a challenge of gargantuan proportion that required the design-build team comprised of the architectural, construction, and MEP engineering teams to cross-pollinate their expertise to reach client goals.

The design-build process is inherently about collaboration, intended to engage the various design and construction stakeholders early in the process to increase value for the owner. This includes reduced cost risk, integrated design and construction, improved schedule, reduced errors and omissions, and ideally optimizes their investment. In the case of NZE projects, particularly those of scale, design-build via a competition-based procurement process is the preferred pathway for public institutions. Achieving zero energy, zero carbon, and other sustainability goals is part of the value the process is expected to yield. How to do this on a state project budget, how to maintain the integrity and mission of the project from outset through fruition, and how to deliver the facility CARB needs to continue their innovative, forward-thinking research practices for decades to come were the challenges that shaped the project approach, from RFP through project completion. The audience can expect to leave this session with the key strategies that led to the successful completion of the largest net-zero energy facility of its type in the world and the lessons learned that can be applied to future projects of this type.