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California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Headquarters Complex

General Information

• Building Name: California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Headquarters Complex
• Building Location:
  • City: Sacramento
  • State: California
  • Country: USA
• Project Size (ft², m²): 1.1 million gross square feet
• Building Type(s): Mixed-use office building composed of 2 U-shaped buildings of 4 and 6 floors that form a public courtyard
• Project Type: New Construction
• Delivery Method: Design / Bid / Build
• Total Building Costs: Construction cost–$192M; Project budget–$265M
• Cost/ft² or Cost/m²: Because the project was divided into multiple bid packages, it was not possible to track costs per square foot.
• Owner: California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS)
• Building Architect/Project Team:
  
  

  Design Architect Pickard Chilton 980 Chapel Street New Haven, CT 06510 Associate Architect Kendall/Heaton Associates, Inc. 3050 Post Oak Boulevard. Suite 1000 Houston, TX 77056 Structural Engineer CYS Structural Engineers Inc. 1760 Creekside Oaks Dr, #280 Sacramento, CA 95833 MEP, Façade & Entry Pavilion Structure Concept Engineer Arup 901 Market Street, Suite 260 San Francisco, CA 94103

  Landscape Architect Hart / Howerton One Union Street, 3rd floor San Francisco, CA 94111 Interior Design Interior Architects, Inc. 350 California Street, Suite 1500 San Francisco, CA 94104 Sustainable Design Simon & Associates, Inc. 200 Brannan Street #204 San Francisco, CA 94107 General Contractor Hensel Phelps Construction Company 1718 3rd Street, Suite 201 Sacramento, CA 95814

• Project Contact Person: Anthony Markese, AIA, LEED-AP & Pickard Chilton, 203.786.8609

Description

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Headquarters Complex is a mixed-use development integrating corporate office space, retail space and below-grade parking. The site comprises two contiguous blocks located in Sacramento's downtown adjacent to their existing headquarters. The building's design is a response to both Sacramento's urban fabric and to CalPERS' sustainable design goals.

The Complex is composed of 2 U-shaped buildings of 4 and 6 floors that form a public courtyard. The structures are linked by exterior walkways and bisected by a public plaza and a mews for pedestrians and vehicles. A grand trellis-covered veranda embraces a 6-story sculptured glass Entry Pavilion, the Complex's iconic centerpiece and its new main entry.

The design for CalPERS' new headquarters is cohesive and integrated in its architecture and high-quality work environment. Spaces encourage easy orientation and movement and an open exchange among employees and members.

Exemplifying a fully integrated approach to sustainability, this complex achieved a LEED New Construction (NC) Gold rating in 2005. The exterior skin incorporates sunshades, light shelves, and planters, helping the building exceed California's aggressive energy efficiency requirements. The clear glass curtain wall integrates canopies and trellises to effectively blend interior and exterior space. In addition, the building's fenestration changes from street to street in response to sun orientation, internal program requirements, and neighborhood adjacencies. Underground rather than the required surface parking reduces the project's urban heat island effect and minimized its footprint. A central courtyard offers both employees and the public a sheltered urban retreat, while a dramatic multi-story glass atrium brings light into the core of the building.

Overall Project Goal/Philosophy

Pickard Chilton was commissioned to design CalPERS' new headquarters and was tasked to create a complex that would:

• be a building of enduring beauty;
• be a recognizable symbol for CalPERS;
• serve as a model for sustainable design;
• complement and enhance Lincoln Plaza, and
• be an integral and meaningful part of the city.

Secure/Safe Goal

The safety and security of CalPERS' employees, members and neighbors figured prominently throughout all aspects of the design and construction of the headquarters. Since it is located in a dense urban area, the project also complies with construction standards set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in respect to floodplains and wetlands. The public plaza and mews for pedestrians and vehicles was carefully designed for maximum enjoyment but for security as well.

Sustainable Goal

Early in the process, the entire team participated in a green building workshop to prioritize the green strategies necessary to achieve the client's goals of setting a new standard of environmental sustainability for a large-scale headquarters building. The building's orientation, massing and façade maximize daylight while minimizing solar gain. The façade features shading projections, light shelves, floor-to-ceiling clear glass, and integrated planters. Multiple outdoor terraces offer occupants easy direct access to sunlight, fresh air and native plantings.

Other sustainable elements include indigenous landscape materials, an evaporative cooling system and landscaped terraces. The project incorporates plantings and an 87-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) array on the roof surface, and water is heated with recovered waste heat. Green materials include bamboo flooring, recycled-content and regionally manufactured materials and FSC-certified woods. More than 90% of construction waste was recycled and the project implemented nearly all of the LEED Indoor Environmental Quality strategies.

The building was designed to use 38% less energy than a comparable building designed in minimal compliance with ASHRAE 90.1-1999 and Title 24-1998 requirements. The LEED-NC Gold project realizes energy savings of approximately 38% beyond state requirements and has reduced water consumption for irrigation by 50%.

Functional Goal

One of project programming's primary goals was to optimally distribute CalPERS' various business groups between the two buildings. Three core competencies (operations, customer service, and executive/strategic management) were defined and were distributed both horizontally, so that people from all of these groups would go in both buildings, and vertically, putting customer service employees on the ground floor, operations people in the middle floors, and the executive strategic management and traders on top. The building's large open floor plates allow for flexible work environments and easy workspace reconfigurations.

Accessible Goal

The architects were sensitive to accessibility and to how people would interact and circulate within the building and the Complex as a whole. Spaces encourage easy orientation and movement and an open exchange among employees, members and visitors. They also carefully considered how people would approach the building from the surrounding streets.

In addition to the large central courtyard, the facility also features other landscaping gestures in a series of indoor and outdoor spaces, including an outdoor play area for employees' children, as well as quieter, more contemplative gardens. The park-like setting of the grounds and the buildings was designed to embrace the community and feel very permeable.

Aesthetic Goal

The Complex's design is cohesive and integrated in its architecture and high-quality work environment. The building's fenestration is modulated in response to sun orientation, internal program and neighborhood adjacencies. A central courtyard offers a sheltered urban oasis, while a dramatic multi-story glass atrium floods the core of the west building with daylight. A six-story entry pavilion serves as an iconic centerpiece of the campus and signals CalPERS new main entrance. Its tree-like shape was inspired by the idea that Sacramento has historically been called "The City of Trees."

To make the buildings pedestrian-friendly and reduce their overall mass, keeping them in scale with other buildings in the neighborhood, on-site parking was submerged below ground. The two structures are bisected by a public plaza and a mews for pedestrians and vehicles.

Cost-Effective Goal

As a State of California project with a pre-determined budget, cost maintenance and control were carefully and monitored throughout the design and construction of the project. Team-wide charrettes at the onset of the project outlined and defined cost strategies that were implemented during the design and construction, thus minimizing unanticipated costs. Additionally, CalPERS took advantage of available incentives in an effort to minimize the cost impact of green features such as the photovoltaic panels on the project budget. The selection of "green" and durable materials supported the effort to create a building that would last and increase in value. The resulting project is a very efficient and durable building that will serve CalPERS' employees and members for at least the next decade.

Historic Preservation Goal

The design of the Headquarters Complex was inspired by and respects to CalPERS's existing home, Lincoln Plaza North, which was completed in 1986. Featuring raised floors, extensive daylighting, and roof terraces, Lincoln Plaza confirmed for CalPERS the potential value of green design. To create a seamless transition from one building to the other, characteristics of the original structure were interpreted in new ways. Additionally, the look and feel of the new interiors were designed to harmonize with those of the existing building. The idea was to create a building that would be equal in quality and character to the original, yet be of its time architecturally and technologically.

Productive Goal

CalPERS's has a demonstrated history of providing a healthy and attractive work environment for its personnel. The new Headquarters Complex provides a humane, healthy, daylight and fresh air-filled work environment and even further enhances employees' quality of life with expanded on-site day care and a fully equipped fitness center.

The Complex's central courtyard offers a sheltered urban oasis, while a dramatic multi-story glass atrium floods the core of the west building with daylight. A series of canopies and trellises blends interior with exterior space. Multiple outdoor terraces distributed throughout the complex offer occupants easy direct access to sunlight, fresh air, and lush planting. Interior finishes provide a uniform degree of warmth, light and comfort throughout. State of the art lighting, patterned glass office fronts, centrally located conference and break rooms, and clearly defined circulation serve to encourage employee collaboration and productivity.

Other Significant Aspects of the Project

Some of the significant aspects of the CalPERS project included the adoption of the R Street Corridor Plan; and extensive community outreach and involvement throughout the design process. Additionally, drawing on California's rich history of combining craft and building, CalPERS' art program features an impressive collection by three of California's foremost artists: painter Nathan Oliveira and sculptors Mark di Suvero and Maria Porges.

Process

Overview of Process

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is the nation's largest public pension fund with assets over $244 billion. Based in Sacramento, CalPERS provides benefits to more than 1.5 million public employees, retirees and their families. As one of the largest investors in high performance buildings, CalPERS is a proponent of the value of good design and affirms that, as an investment, good sustainable design results in buildings that last and increase in value.

In 1998, with their existing headquarters Lincoln Plaza at capacity, CalPERS bought an adjacent parallel site for their expansion. The design of their new headquarters presented CalPERS with the opportunity to create a new standard and national model for environmental sustainability and energy efficiency for large-scale headquarter buildings. In 1999, after a national search, Pickard Chilton was commissioned to design CalPERS' new headquarters and was tasked to create a complex that would:

• be a building of enduring beauty;
• be a recognizable symbol for CalPERS;
• serve as a model for sustainable design;
• complement and enhance Lincoln Plaza, and
• be an integral and meaningful part of the city.

Pre-Design/Planning Activities

At the start of the project, Pickard Chilton embarked on an intensive design and community engagement process, working for 18 months in close collaboration with a geographically diverse design team within a politically complicated city and community environment. We worked with neighborhood leaders, community activists, the city, the R Street Subcommittee and CalPERS employees who lived and worked in the area. This collaboration yielded the thoughtful and well coordinated strategies, both architectural and sustainable, necessary to realize CalPERS' expectations and vision.

The project team's resounding success with effective community and city engagement was recognized by state and local leaders as the benchmark all projects were encouraged to follow.

Design Activities

In response to the project's sheer size, the design team divided the project into two U-shaped buildings that face one another. This decision not only allowed daylight to reach further into the buildings' interiors, but also accommodated an existing street bisecting the site and provided for a public courtyard. The design responded to how people would interact and circulate within the building and the Complex as a whole. The project's interiors were designed to maximize daylighting throughout.

Unique to the design process was the early inclusion of CalPERS' Building Operations Team in all project meetings. Both the CalPERS Chief of Plant Operations and the project's green building consultant were embedded in the design process from the beginning. This involvement helped the team maintain "a consciousness of operations and maintenance" throughout the design and construction process.

Construction Activities

The construction phase of the project began in November 2000 with the decontamination and demolition of the buildings on the existing site. This included the removal and disposal of asbestos-containing materials, loose and peeling lead-based paint, refrigerant-containing air conditioning units, hydraulic lifts, and other potentially hazardous material. This work was completed in March 2001.

The site clearing and soil remediation began in April 2001 and was completed in October 2001 allowing for new construction to begin.

Groundbreaking for the new CalPERS Headquarters Complex took place on October 15, 2001. Members of CalPERS Board of Administration and executive staff were joined by Sacramento City staff, community officials, and neighbors to officially kick-off the construction phase.

Mass excavation and construction of the slurry wall started in October 2001 was completed May 2002. A permanent site barrier eliminating the parking and sidewalks around the entire two blocks was installed. Contract work also included the removal of existing concrete slabs, loading docks, foundations, hydraulic lifts, pavement, railroad tracks, and excavation and disposal of contaminated soil.

The project posed many construction challenges, most notably the two-level basement, the first ever constructed in Sacramento because of its high groundwater table. Prior to foundation work, the two-square-block site was covered with a cement bentonite cut-off wall to protect the project from the underground water flow from a branch of the Sacramento River.

Erection of structural steel began in September 2003 and the construction of the foundation and parking garage was completed in November 2003.

During the construction phase, the design team conducted extensive reviews and evaluations of locally-sourced and recycled-content materials.

All design and construction work was completed in Fall 2005.

Operations/Maintenance Activities

The CalPERS project required extensive building commissioning services. These required the close coordination between CalPERS' Building Operations Team, the sustainable design consultant and the contractor.

Post-Occupancy Evaluation Activities

The owner coordinated a series of reviews with the new occupants. Additionally, CalPERS increased its community outreach efforts through tours, educational programs and public events in order to welcome community members and residents.

Information and Tools

The Design Team used AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Lightscape to design, draft, model, and analyze the project. Oasys VENT and Oasys ROOM, Arup's proprietary software, were used for numerous advanced mechanical systems studies. EQuest was used for creating the DoE Building Energy Model which the design team used extensively in simulating and refining the exterior enclosure system.

Products and Systems

The CalPERS Headquarters Complex exemplifies a fully integrated approach to sustainable design. The following materials, systems and products were incorporated to achieve CalPERS aesthetic and sustainable goals for the project: FSC-certified woods; low-e glass; an evaporative cooling system in the Entry Pavilion; an 87-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) array on the roof obtained through SMUD grant; reduced irrigation water consumption by 50%; raised floor systems.

Indoor Environment

Indoor Environment Approach

The quality of the indoor environment was considered throughout the design and construction process. The project included multiple outdoor terraces distributed throughout the complex to offer occupants easy direct access to sunlight and fresh air. Nearly all of the LEED Indoor Environmental Quality strategies were implemented, including the use of low-emitting materials, views to the outside, construction IAQ management, thermal comfort controls, and increased ventilation effectiveness through under-floor air distribution.

Project Results

A. Lessons Learned

Having a LEED professional as a fully integrated and active member of the design team at the onset of the project allowed the design team to achieve the client's sustainable design goals by evaluating sustainable technologies and materials and making appropriate decisions from the very beginning. It also ensured that LEED documentation was prepared during construction.

Additionally, having CalPERS' Chief of Plant Operations participate as a member of the project team from the beginning of design provided invaluable insight and advice, in particular with regards to long-term building maintenance and management. The collaborative efforts of the entire team greatly enhanced the project's overall design process and promoted LEED efforts while also meeting CalPERS' needs. Although the commissioning agent was brought on during construction, for improved performance in future projects, we would suggest that an agent be brought on during the design phase.

B. Ratings

This complex achieved a LEED New Construction (NC) Gold rating in 2005. It is anticipated that it will receive a LEED-EB rating in 2009.

C. Awards

• Beyond Green Award, Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, 2009
• Award of Honor, Savings by Design Energy Efficiency Integration Awards, 2007
• Green Honor Award, AIA Central Valley, 2006
• Pollution Prevention Award, Sacramento County, 2006
• Environmental Recognition Award, Sacramento Environmental Commission, 2006
• Best Overall Award, Flex Your Power, 2006
• Institutional/Industrial Award, Cemex Building Awards, 2006

D. Publishing

• Boehland, Jessica. "Close to Home." GreenSource (April 2007): 9, 78-83.
• Celaschi, Robert. "Spaces of equal quality." Sacramento Business Journal (May 26 2006): cover, S10-15.
• Linn, Charles et al, eds. "Emerald Architecture: case studies in green building." New York: GreenSource, 2008: 65, 72-77.
• Fedrizz, S. Richard. "Traffic Jam on the Frontier." Urban Land Green (Spring 2007): 99.
• "In the news." college of architecture and landscape architecture umn (Winter 2002): 5.
• Malin, Nadav. "High Style in a Green Package." GreenSource (April 2007): 9, 59.
• Pickard, Jon and William Chilton. "Five Cities, Five Strategies for Regeneration." Urban Land (July 2007): 50-58.
• Turmelle, Luther. "City architects draw on Calif." The New Haven Register (November 27 2001): C1.
• Walter, Bob. "CalPERS sees dream home." The Sacramento Bee (December 9 2000): D1, D2.