LEED Gold Certified:
- Fully daylit interior with integrated photovoltaic controlled lighting systems
- Enhanced envelope and HVAC systems achieving greater than 17.5% energy efficiency over baseline code
- Water efficient landscape
- Maximization of open space on site
- Low flow fixture design for enhanced water efficiency
- Views to exterior for 90% of all regularly occupied spaces designed
- 100% of exterior surfaces roof and non roof surfaces designed to reduce heat island effect
-High recycled content for materials specified
- Low Emitting materials specified
- Fully daylit interior with integrated photovoltaic controlled lighting systems
- Enhanced envelope and HVAC systems achieving greater than 17.5% energy efficiency over baseline code
- Water efficient landscape
- Maximization of open space on site
- Low flow fixture design for enhanced water efficiency
- Views to exterior for 90% of all regularly occupied spaces designed
- 100% of exterior surfaces roof and non roof surfaces designed to reduce heat island effect
-High recycled content for materials specified
- Low Emitting materials specified
This Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) facility has the stature and presence of a United States government building and at the same time is approachable without being imposing to those pursuing immigration and citizenship services. The CIS's core values of integrity, respect and ingenuity are conveyed throughout the design. To achieve this, our design focuses on a concept of perception and experience, the individual and the community - the Citizen and the Country. These dualities manifest themselves in the design in a variety of ways - inside and outside, solid mass and dramatic openness. These dualities are defined architecturally to celebrate the experience of becoming an American Citizen.
The experience of coming to the building serves as a metaphor of the experience of coming to America for many immigrants. While an immigrant's perception of the United States is one thing prior to arriving in the country, it is often different than the experience once here. In the same way, the CIS facility is perceived from the highway as a simple box, but as one gets closer and finally enters the building, the details of the design are revealed. The walls of the building are slightly tilted away from each other in areas to break the mass of the simple box. This subtlety creates a sophisticated reading of the building that changes as one approaches from different directions. The simple box's shadows create depth where it is not expected from distant vantage points. The light seen through the glass of the Ceremony Room acts as a beacon from the highway and surrounding areas.