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Greenbuild
November 12-15, 2024
Pennsylvania Convention CenterPhiladelphia, PA

GREENBUILD TOURS

Tour beautiful Washington, DC., get once-in-a-lifetime behind-the-scenes access to unique facilities and the opportunity to earn CEUs outside of the classroom!

Greenbuild offers tours that allow you to explore, learn and experience real hands-on learning. Tours are open to ALL pass types, but act fast, they're starting to sell out!
* Tours require an additional fee and all details are listed below.

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Earn CEUs with Greenbuild

Greenbuild’s 2023 tours are approved for GBCI credits listed below. To earn credits, you must provide your GBCI credential number during registration to receive credit. The Greenbuild team will report the credits on your behalf.

A Walk Through NOMA and Union Market

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

What happens when every new building in a rapidly changing neighborhood achieves LEED? Starting at Alethia Tanner Park in Eckington, we'll proceed down the Metropolitan Branch Trail to NoMa and then under the tracks to visit the new offices of Hickok Cole, tour the i5 Union Market apartments and enjoy expansive views of the city from the roof, and the diverse culinary options of the market itself.

Capitol Vista: Luxury Amenities for Affordable Housing

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

The District is in dire need of affordable housing units and this building provides 100% affordable homes in an increasingly unaffordable neighborhood. This new 12-story, 104-unit housing project is walking distance away from the Convention Center. It's an Enterprise Green Communities and Energy Star-certified multifamily building, and was brought to market by a local development and design team and serves low-income residents with a 30%-50% average median income. The development team is a joint venture of five firms and nonprofits, all with Black leadership. The ground floor features retail and office space for supportive housing case managers. The project recently won NAHB's Best in American Living Platinum award for it's collaborative vision for design equity. The designers, builder, and sustainability consultant for the project will lead the tour through luxurious common spaces, a residential unit, the roof top terrace, vegetative roof, and public art throughout.

Urban Resiliency at The District Wharf

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

The District Wharf is a remarkable, mile-long stretch of redeveloped waterfront activity, years in the making. The Southwest Waterfront is the largest planned unit development in the history of Washington D.C. Sustainability measures for improving environmental health and maintaining limited impact were central to the plan. Hundreds of community meetings yielded a plan that would be 60% publicly accessible and provide mixed-income housing.

The plan is LEED® ND-Gold v2009 certified in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development program, with individual buildings achieving or targeting Silver and above. Ten buildings that are designed to meet LEED Platinum, Gold, and Silver certifications; totals more than 3 million square feet of building area.

Join us for a tour of the recently completed Phase II development highlighting the unique design feature and sustainability achievements of the site and buildings.

Intersection of Sustainability and Human Health in Montgomery County

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 4 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

Join us for a tour of two Montgomery County campuses, showcasing design for human health and sustainability. The tour begins at the Universities at Shady Grove Biomedical Science and Engineering Education (BSE) Facility, a LEED-NC Platinum laboratory and education facility. Discover the facility's sustainable design features, including passive and active systems for energy efficiency and integrated building systems. Learn about energy reduction measures and wastewater management, while also observing how the BSE reconnects the campus to its ecological setting through wetland and watershed rehabilitation. Next, explore downtown Bethesda where the new Marriott International Headquarters campus is located. The 770,000 SF LEED Gold and Fitwel 3-star headquarters building, and flagship Marriott Hotel are collocated with an open, public space creating a walkable environment that mitigates the impact of large-scale building. The headquarters blends workplace and hospitality providing abundant amenities such as an on-site childcare center, wellness & fitness center, cafeteria & test kitchen, flexible meeting and conference spaces, and public retail.

Why The District’s first NZE Schools Also Emphasized Wellness

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 4 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) decided to get ahead of the District of Columbia’s aggressive clean energy policy, The Clean Energy Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018, and tackle the first two Net Zero Energy (NZE) buildings within their school portfolio. John Lewis Elementary and Benjamin Banneker Academic High School. DCPS plunged into NZE to understand how their process from early design through construction and operations to meet DC’s aggressive climate goals. 

The design team took these goals and identified strategies that not only delivered on the energy goals for the project, but also creating enhanced indoor environmental quality and contributed to the health and wellness, ultimately, educational outcomes. 

This tour will involve representatives from the full design team. Focusing on how two buildings were able to achieve all their high-performance goals while becoming two of the simplest buildings to maintain for DCPS.

Designing a Sustainable Future: Net Zero Energy Renovations for Existing Buildings *SOLD OUT*

SOLD OUT

Tuesday, September 26, 2023 

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 2 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

In 2015, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) identified the need for a major headquarters renovation and systems had reached the end of their useful life. AGU sought to communicate its dedication to scientific advancement and reduce the facility’s carbon footprint, while actively engaging and educating the public. The result is Washington, DC’s first-ever net zero office renovation – a 62,000-SF landmark that reflects AGU’s mission and serves as a reminder of the built environment’s impact on the planet. 

Being in a historic urban district and the site’s limited footprint, achieving AGU’s net zero energy goals proved highly complicated and involved close coordination across team members from inception. The final product combines a custom mix of ten core sustainable solutions addressing four goals – reduce, reclaim, absorb, and generate – while delivering a modern workplace that supports employees, AGU’s members, and the community. 

Hear about the highly collaborative and complex process behind transforming an aging building in a major U.S. city to achieve this monumental feat.

Walking tour on the National Mall

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

Take a walk down National Mall to see two prime projects that exemplify sustainability that are not your common commercial building. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial is LEED Gold certified and focuses including rainwater reuse, materials selection, walkable project site credits, and landscape design were the main focuses while in construction. Working to honor and collaborate with multiple planning partners. The newly Renovated Air & Space Museum and how the team addressed the building's failing exterior envelope and aging systems. Updating the Smithsonian Institution's iconic 687,000-square-foot building, as an energy-efficient, high-performance environment. The project is on track to achieve LEED BD+C v4 Gold certification. The tour will cover completed sections of the museum and a sneak peak at the Phase 2 construction zone.

80 M Street Mass Timber in the Nation's Capital

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 2 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

80 M Street is the first-ever mass timber renovation of a commercial office building in Washington, DC. Located in the city’s Navy Yard district, the project adds 106,000-SF or three-floors of overbuild–constructed primarily of mass timber and glass curtain wall–to the existing seven-story, 289,299-SF concrete building. The resulting design takes a multidisciplinary approach and combines several construction types to achieve the desired project objectives and deliver a truly one-of-a kind experience. The overbuild consists of two new trophy office levels with exposed natural wood, 16-foot-tall slab-to-slab heights, and an unparalleled access to natural light as well as a third penthouse offering a combination of private offices and shared amenities, including a rooftop terrace. 

This tour will go through the three-story addition, showcasing the use of mass timber and addressing the technical challenges, code approach, and steps required to ensure a project's feasibility, safety, and success.

Net Zero in the Arlington Community

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 4.5 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

Curious about how zero-energy design is playing out in the DMV? See how multiple projects of Arlington County. Participants will have the opportunity to tour zero-energy Discovery Elementary and Fleet Elementary, and Lubber Run Community Center, the latter a 2023 AIA Architecture Award winner. The projects range in density (from a 2-story addition to a four-story school with underground parking); in envelope construction (from ICF to mineral wool to ThermoMass™); in scope (new construction verses renovation); in renewables procurement (PPA to direct purchase); and in grid interoperability (demand response to battery backup)—but they all are operating below 25 EUI (before renewables). Tour guides will reveal what is unique and transferrable across each facility while also calling out how diverse and tailored the design and construction of each project was to meet specific site, program, and community needs.

Libraries: Then & Now

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 2 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

Tour the newly-constructed replacement of the Southwest Library and then visit the recently-renovated Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Memorial Library with DCPL. The tour will take you behind the scenes of the highly sustainable, LEED Platinum Southwest Library, the first public building in Washington, DC built using dowel laminated mass timber, significantly reducing the impact on the global warming potential and fossil fuel depletion. The MLK Library’s renovation was a years-long effort to revitalize the landmark structure originally designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and transform a 1970s aging building to a socially sustainable engine that is a center for community learning. The tour will unpack various building and site strategies along with other sustainability measures that support these libraries’ tremendous environmental and community impact.

Not Just Winging It: Sustainable Strategies at the Smithsonian’s Bird House

Friday, September 29, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

Come along to tour the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institutes’ renovated and renewed Bird House! You will be transported away from the hustle and bustle of the city, as you walk the path of a migratory bird. You will visit the Delaware Bay seashore, prairie potholes of the Upper Midwest and a coffee farm in Central America. This project is registered with the certification goal of LEED Gold. Focused on exemplifying bird friendly building and site design to glazing selection - putting bird safety first. 

According to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute and Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center: 
“Now more than ever, raising awareness about the plight of migratory birds is key to their survival. Since 1970, bird populations in the U.S. and Canada have declined by 29%, or almost 3 billion birds, signaling a widespread ecological crisis….The Smithsonian is dedicated to understanding, conserving, and championing the grand phenomenon of bird migration.”

City Ridge: An Urban Neighborhood Brings Sustainability at Scale

Friday, September 29, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits. 

Tour Description

City Ridge is a new large mixed-use development that integrates 690 residential apartments, a Wegmans grocery store, and varying retail and office uses in a new urban neighborhood. Get a behind-the-scenes look at its design and construction process from the Owner, Architect, General Contractor, and Sustainability Consultant. A tour of the site will illuminate how the location’s history was preserved and the innovative practices employed throughout the site planning and buildings. Learn how the first LEED v4 Neighborhood Development Gold certification in the DC metro area was used as a framework for sustainable performance verification. 

The tour features the seamless application of LEED at scale. Individual building LEED applications were aligned through a master site documentation approach to leverage efficiencies and streamline certification. Through an integrative planning, design, and construction approach, working together under the guidance of ownership to create a unique urban neighborhood with character and connection.

American University Sustainability Tour

Friday, September 29, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

American University was the first university in the country to announce it achieved carbon neutrality in 2018. AU’s holistic approach to sustainability includes our outreach efforts, faculty research, landscaping, transportation programs, zero waste initiative, and the buildings. The university’s ten LEED buildings have played a major role in our sustainability journey. We will visit the School of International Service (SIS) which was AU’s first LEED building, earning LEED Gold, reinforces the school's commitments to advancing ecological stewardship, preserving transparency and human dignity, and working for social justice. The Hall of Science, LEED Gold, was designed to support collaborative work and provide plenty of space for students to gather throughout the building to encourage interdisciplinary interaction and spur partnerships and is the newest building on campus. We will share how our approach to green buildings has evolved and provide insight into what we anticipate for our next project.

Building on Progress at Amazon's HQ2 Metropolitan Park *SOLD OUT*

SOLD OUT

Friday, September 29, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 4 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

The first phase of Amazon’s second headquarters, Metropolitan Park, was designed with sustainability at its core using a range of carbon reduction solutions and energy efficiencies and enhancements that can help propel the industry forward. Met Park consists of 2.1 million square feet of office space across two, 22-floor office towers, 50,000 square feet of local small business retail, and a 2.5-acre public park featuring a dog run, children’s playground, a central green and even more for the community to enjoy. Amazon’s Arlington’s headquarters at Metropolitan Park is expected to be one of the highest performing projects in both Arlington County and the greater DC Metro Area. The project, which is designed to meet LEED Platinum certification under the more rigorous v4.0 standard, will serve as a model for future sustainable development for all.

Innovation on the Anacostia: DC Water Headquarters

Friday, September 29, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 2 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

The new LEED Platinum headquarters for DC Water, demonstrates that modern civic architecture can be both beautiful and functional in its pursuit of sustainability. The project reimagines an entirely paved, urban location and an operational water and sewage treatment facility, while returning the landscape to a functioning ecosystem. 

Highlighting the transformation of the project site, designed with present and future climate conditions. Learn how the innovative wastewater thermal recovery system. The system reduces energy use for heating and cooling by 48%. Development of the building’s curved form and layered curtain wall to optimize views, daylighting, energy, and the site. See the bioretention plantings and green roof that absorbs and filters stormwater before it flows to a 40,000-gallon cistern that collects rainwater for irrigation and 100% of toilet flushing.

Commercial Interiors: Transparency, Carbon & the Post-Pandemic Office Experience

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 4 GBCI ID+C CE Credits.

Tour Description

Learn from three amazing projects in how the Commercial Interiors and retrofitting of these projects successfully achieved LEED. The Walter P. Moor office achieved LEED v4.1 Gold for Commercial Interiors, focused heavily on the location and transportation, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality credit areas. The Perkins&Will office converted from a former U.S. Secret Service garage became a LEED-certified office that reduces embodied carbon by 56% compared to a typical office space. George Washington University’s Corcoran Hall, the first building on its Foggy Bottom campus, comprehensive renovation.
All the project focused on materials, waste management and reduction, adding to flexibility of the space, and addressing the new needs in a post-pandemic setting.

Nature-based Solutions and Sustainable SITES Certification

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 4 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

As we prepare for the effects of climate change, increasing population, and rapid urbanization, we have an opportunity to think and invest differently in urban infrastructure to create healthy human and wildlife habitats. The pursuit of certifications like LEED, WELL, and SITES provides a sustainability framework to inform decision-making and measure a project's success against design goals.

Careful design and planning requires a multi-disciplinary approach, calling on the expertise of architects, landscape architects, engineers, ecologists, social scientists, and more. This tour explores how a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces throughout Washington, DC, serve as essential infrastructure to create habitat, provide flood control, clean and cool the air, improve public health, and foster resilience.  

Creative Spaces Unveiled: Exploring Co/Lab and Capitol One Hall

Friday, September 29, 2023

Half Day: 12:30 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

This tour is approved for 3.5 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

See two premiere LEED certified projects that explore creativity through art and through technology. 
The Capital One Hall is a LEED Gold performance venue that celebrates the arts and the community visitor experience with flexible performance spaces for events and public parks and amenities on the rooftop. The serrated design of the atrium ceiling both echoes the building façade and provides deep areas suited to tree planting for the rooftop garden. 
The Co|Lab is a living laboratory, the process of designing and constructing the building was a learning process to be shared, pushing the boundaries of energy efficiency in our industry. It was the first mass timber building in Virginia and was the first LEED v4 Platinum BD&C building in the DMV area. The innovative approach and functionality of the building as a research facility supports carbon reduction methods in construction. 

Capital Transit: Exploring WMATA HQ & Potomac Yard / VT Metrorail Station

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

This tour is approved for 3 GBCI General CE Credits.

Tour Description

Join us in a compelling and informative tour experience of WMATA’s LEED Platinum headquarters in Washington DC. WMATA’s representatives will lead a discussion about their big sustainability and GHG reduction goals. Following the tour you will have the opportunity to experience the transit system in action with a quick ride to the Potomac Yard-VT Metro Station, a LEED for Transit project certified to Gold in Alexandria, VA. A team member of the National Landing BID will discuss the way transit has supported the site selection for Amazon HQ and in turn, spurred business development. 

Sustainable and Equitable Redevelopment at St. Elizabeth's Campus

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Half Day: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT

Tour Description

The complex history of St. Elizabeth’s started in 1855 when the first federally operated psychiatric hospital opened. Today, this registered historic site provides unprecedented opportunity to transform the 183-acre campus into a center of economic and community development through job creation, education and training, and the diversification of the financial base in the surrounding Congress Heights neighborhood. Tour goers will walk the site to learn how the past is informing the future. The tour features two remarkable project: Whitman-Walkers Max Robinson Center and Sycamore & Oak Retail Village. The new LEED v4 BD+C Gold certified Max Robinson Center provides primary, behavioral, and dental care; a pharmacy; public benefits and insurance navigation services; and research, policy advocacy, education, and training around LGBTQ health, HIV care, and other areas of Whitman-Walker’s experience and expertise.  The tour culminates at the Sycamore and Oak Retail Village, an interim structure which opened in Spring 2023 as the largest, free-standing mass timber structure in the DC region. Beyond sustainability and beauty, this project reflects deep community engagement, innovative technology, and critical investments in small, local, and Black owned businesses. Sycamore and Oak features a mix of Ward 8 lifestyle retail, job training, restaurant, and event space bringing emerging chefs, vibrant shops, entertainment, and community events. The development was designed through engagement with hundreds of residents in Ward 8. Attendees will have time to tour the facility and even shop in the unique stores before heading back to the Convention Center via DC Metro.

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