The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design
Located on the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Atlanta campus, the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design (Kendeda) is projected to become the first Living Building Challenge 3.1 certified facility of its size and function in the Southeast. The Kendeda Building was designed and constructed to function as a net positive facility, meaning it will harness more energy and water than it consumes. As a true living laboratory, the Kendeda Building will educate future generations on how to create a more sustainable built environment.
Sustainability fun facts
- The Kendeda Building houses a 50,000-gallon cistern in the basement which allows it to harvest 460,000 gallons of rainwater a year.
- The building’s exterior features 917 photovoltaic panels which are expected to generate more than 455,000 kWh a year.
- The interior features 489 ceiling panels of nail-laminated timber (NLT), built using 25,000 linear feet of locally salvaged two-by-fours.
- 140 year-old Tech Tower provided heart pine joists that serve as treads for the Kendeda Building’s monumental staircase.
- The building’s roof features a 1,000 square-foot roof deck and a 4,300 square-foot rooftop garden with a honeybee apiary, pollinator garden and blueberry orchard.
- This project was featured in BBC’s “StoryWorks” series.
Awards and certifications
- Currently pursuing the Living Building Challenge 3.1 certification—the world’s most ambitious building performance standard
- Curbed Atlanta’s most important new buildings of the 2010s
- Autodesk 2020 Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Excellence Awards – Sustainability Innovation award
- Autodesk University’s True Stories of Connected Construction
- 2020 Atlanta E3 Award
- 2019 Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Development of Excellence Award
- Engineering News-Record (ENR) Southeast 2020: Best Green Project