Case Study: 1315 Peachtree Street

By Asad Syrkett

When Perkins+Will purchased the building at 1315 Peachtree Street that would come to house its Atlanta branch's new office, it was "all post-tension concrete, which is gorgeous. And we loved it," effuses Paula Vaughan, codirector of sustainability at the firm's Atlanta arm. But large swaths of the building were left unused: the main, western facade stepped down toward the street in four clunky tiers, eating up precious office space. "So we fully reglazed this entire facade," Vaughan explains, gesturing toward the newly transparent frontage of the renovated building, which rises on busy Peachtree Street, a main thoroughfare and a cultural destination in the city (Richard Meier's High Museum of Art is just across the way). But the overhaul went beyond a simple face-lift: the team at Perkins+Will decided to make its building a test case for the sustainable-design practices it touts to its clientele, in addition to providing additional workspace for its growing staff and fostering collaboration. "We wanted the building to be a teaching tool for us," Vaughan explains. "Now we can point to a chilled beam and say, 'Hey, that's a chilled beam.'"