Centerbrook continues to augment its leadership in energy conservation, dating back to the early 1970s, with new innovations in “green” and sustainable design. The firm strives for designs that improve the quality of life today while preserving the environment. Few, if any, architectural firms have Centerbrook’s breadth and depth of experience in sustainable design and renewable energy.
The firm is a member of the U. S. Green Building Council and has a number of LEED accredited professionals on staff. Centerbrook actively promotes the training of staff in sustainable design issues and encourages accreditation by LEED. Centerbrook has completed several LEED certified buildings and has registered several more for future certification.
However, whether LEED certified or not, the principles of sustainable design are incorporated into all of Centerbrook’s work. The firm has devoted its design skill to the innovative use of materials that are renewable and that minimize the consumption of energy in their manufacture, to the investigation into methods of construction that have a low impact on the environment, and to the design of building envelopes and systems that are durable, yet have a minimum life-cycle cost.
Centerbrook uses its own office as a laboratory for sustainable design. The building itself was recycled from a nineteenth-century mill building. Hydro power and solar power generate approximately 30% of the firm's annual electrical needs, a green roof covers a portion of the building, and a pond source geothermal heat pump heats and cools one wing of the office.
