3-29-13

A — March 29 - April 11, 2013 — Green Buildings — Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal

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G reen B uildings Repurposing 110,000s/f CENTRA at Metropark office bldg. Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates obtain Nat’l. AIA Design Award

SELIN, NJ — KohnPed- ersen Fox Associates (KPF) has been awarded a National Honor Award by the American Institute of Ar- chitects (AIA) , the Institute’s highest honor, for its repurpos- ing of the five-story, 110,000 s/f CENTRA at Metropark office building located in Iselin. The AIA is a leading profes- sional membership association for licensed architects, emerg- ing professionals and allied partners. Its Design Awards program recognizes works that exemplify excellence in archi- tecture, interior architecture

and urban design. CENTRA at Metropark was one of 28 re- cipients selected from over 700 total submissions from around the world. The awards will be conferred at the AIA 2013 Na- tional Convention and Design Exposition, which will be held in Denver, Colo., in June. Instead of tearing down the existing structure, which was in bad condition and func- tioning below standards, the architect advised their cli- ent, Hampshire Real Estate Companies , to salvage valu- able components and recycle the structure to work for pro-

spective tenants. Among their many consider- ations was to make CENTRAas sustainable as possible, and for it to fit in with the natural sur- roundings of the 19-acre site. The building was redesigned to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and has achieved a LEED Gold level. CENTRA is located near the Garden State Pkwy.,in the heart of MetroPark Station. The station, which straddles the border between Edison, and the Iselin portion of Wood- bridge Twp., is the busiest New Jersey transit train station apart from the city terminals, with over 7,000 daily commut- ers. It also serves Amtrak. “The impact that this build- ing has on the Parkway has resulted in improvements of neighboring structures, proving that design can have a ripple effect in an otherwise mundane context,” said the design jury. The existing building has been made over completely, except for the overall original shape, which has become the structural support for an ex- tended fourth floor. The original floor slabs and steel structure were retained and enclosed within a new tinted class cur- tain wall. The new L-shaped fourth floor projects to create, in effect, an outside lobby that spans an area appearing to ex- ceed the square footage of each of the interior levels. “At center stage, the power- ful iconic column lifts the new addition 35 feet into the air, creating a grand canopy over the entry plaza,” said Hugh Trumbull , a design principal at KPF. “It is in this new urban place, where people meet and greet one another, that nature is most present. The building frames and reframes the land- scape; its skin captures the lush green environment and reflects natural light at every turn.” The jury also recognized the building as “an excellent ex- ample of the value of creatively reusing existing buildings and their embodied energy in lieu of tearing down and building new.” A desire to curb both cost and waste inspired the retrofit, said Trumbull. “It’s a much less expensive option, and it’s also the option that makes the most sense for a client who wants to create an environmentally responsible building.” n

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