One of the first LEED Platinum buildings in the nation and only the third U.S. building designed to LEED standards, the Chicago Center for Green Technology has been educating the public and AEC professionals alike about green buildings and sustainable design since it opened in May 2002.
Located on the site of a former construction and demolition debris scrap yard, CCGT is housed in a 55-year-old industrial/office building that has been transformed into a living model for resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly technologies and design and construction practices. Environmental features of the 40,000-sf building and 17-acre site include solar panels (rooftop, building-integrated, and solar berm), rainwater collection for irrigation, recycled building materials, smart lighting, a vegetated roof, and a geothermal exchange system.
CCGT offers green building seminars at no cost to the public two to three times a week, and the building and campus are open six days a week for guided and self-guided tours. A small library allows visitors to sample green products and read about sustainable design and technologies.
Designed by Chicago-based Farr Associates Architecture and Urban Design, the facility also houses tenants that are committed to green, including WRD Environmental, an urban landscape company, and Greencorps Chicago, the city's community gardening and job training program.
The city's Department of Environment invested more than $9 million and 18 months to clean up the site when it took it over in 1996. The property's former owner, Sacramento Crushing Corp., had illegally stored more than 600,000 cubic yards of C&D waste on the site; some piles of rubble reached 70 feet in height and were so dense they sank 15 feet into the ground.
For more, visit http://egov.cityofchicago.org.
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