A winner of National DBIA awards for Best in Engineering Design and Best in Use of BIM/VDC, this new headquarters building for the California Air Resources Board is the largest Zero-Net Energy building in the United States. The facility comprises 408,000 SF and achieved LEED Platinum and CALGreen Tier 2 awards upon completion. This massive project spanned 19 acres and required an innovative structural design that integrated the goals and values of the California Department of General Services. To meet these goals, Buehler approached the building material and framing selection from a holistic standpoint, designing high-caliber structural systems while also uniting the project’s sustainability goals, life-cycle costs, and seismic performance needs. While still connected from an architectural and user standpoint, the project consisted of seven seismically and thermally separated buildings, thereby allowing the specific framing systems to be optimized for the unique programmatic requirements of each department and building. Other features include a cutting-edge vehicle testing facility and administrative space for approximately 460 employees. Overall, the facility contains seven light/medium duty test cells, as well as three test cells large enough to accommodate the largest heavy-duty trucks and buses.
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