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William McDonough + Partners
International Leaders in Sustainable Development
Sustainability is a design framework that requires reaching beyond ourselves towards lives that are continents and generations apart. In the day-to-day decisions, in the expression of intention through design, and in the approach to the design of buildings, neighborhoods, and regions, it requires thinking not just of the present, but of the future. William McDonough + Partners, international leaders in the field of sustainable development, have made responsible forestry a part of their materials strategies for over a decade.
"As members of the design community, we have the power to build legacy in every specification we write regarding wood products. By designing-in products originating in well-managed forests (that is, forests certified as well-managed in compliance with the principles and criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council), we offer the forest products value chain the opportunity to profit from improved management practices. In our choice of products and construction techniques, we promote appropriate utilization of the forest resource." -William McDonough
FSC-certified CollinsWood
William McDonough + Partners extensively utilized Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood from the Collins Companies, as well as other sources, on their recent award-winning and groundbreaking design of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies, Oberlin College, Ohio. This building, a model of sustainable design strategies as well as a living teaching tool for the school, uses certified wood as one of its many industry-leading strategies for sustainability. The 14,000 square foot complex consists of a two-story building for classrooms and offices, an auditorium, and a sunlight-powered wastewater recycling system. Douglas fir, purchased from The Collins Companies, was used in the glue-laminated beams and the roof deck of the roof's interior. Maple, provided by Collins' Kane Hardwood, was used for trim in most corridors, classrooms and for auditorium seat armrests and aisle side panels. Hem fir, from the Collins Almanor Forest in Chester, California, was used throughout the building and for the stage structure in the auditorium.
"In green design, it's important to pay attention to sourcing of materials. We had to have wood representative of sustainable practices, and we wanted to make sure that the project caused no ugliness, human or ecological, somewhere else or at some other time." -David Orr (Environmental Studies Chair, Oberlin College)
The work of William McDonough + Partners has incorporated concern for responsible forestry practices since before a certification process was in place. In an early, poetic expression of this concern, a 1989 Paul Stuart men's store designed by McDonough replaced the two oaks used in the furnishings by planting 1,000 oak trees.
Major Projects Highlight the Use of Certified Wood
By the early 1990s William McDonough + Partners' projects were using responsibly-harvested wood extensively. In the design of the Heinz Family Foundation offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which were completed in 1993, several types of sustainably-harvested tropical wood were used in the flooring, wall paneling, doors, trim, casework, and furniture. William McDonough + Partners' 1993 Wal-Mart store in Lawrence, Kansas, which became the store's prototype for sustainability, was built with glue-laminated trusses from wood that was sustainably harvested from the grounds of the home of James Madison in Virginia.
William McDonough + Partners has been using certified wood throughout more recent projects. On a smaller scale, private residences designed by William McDonough + Partners routinely make wide use of certified and reclaimed wood. On a larger scale, their recently-completed, 375,000 square foot Nike Europe Headquarters in Hilversum, the Netherlands, uses certified wood for flooring, exterior decking, and soffits. William McDonough + Partners' 1997, 195,000 square foot office building for Gap Inc. in San Bruno, California, SSincludes the use of FSC-certified wood in its floors, doors, and wall paneling throughout the project. "As far as I'm aware," says Jeff Wartelle of the Certified Forest Products Council, "the Gap San Bruno headquarters SSincludes the largest installation of FSC-certified hardwood flooring in North America and quite possibly the world."
Our Decisions Can Make a Difference
"If we are going to be responsible architects and builders, we must take into account the materials we use and the effects our decisions have on occupants, neighbors, future generations, and the environment," says Kevin Burke, William McDonough + Partners' project architect for both Oberlin's Lewis Center and the Gap office building. "Using certified wood is one of the ways we honor this responsibility."
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William McDonough + Partners