Environmental Charity Turns Old Factory Into Green Headquarters

By Nicole Wallace

Staying true to its mission as an environmental organization, the Center for Neighborhood Technology has recycled an old textile factory on Chicago’s northwest side as its headquarters. And it embarked on the renovation with the goal of making the building as environmentally friendly as possible.

The organization felt it was particularly important to show that green-building practices aren’t just for new construction, says Sharon Feigon, the staff member who managed the $1.2-million renovation: “There are a lot more existing buildings than there are ever going to be new buildings.”

The project was designed with a wide range of features to reduce the toll the building exacts on the environment.

The center created a checkerboard carpeting pattern out of recyclable remnants that had been headed to the landfill. If one area becomes worn, the organization will be able to pop that piece out and put another one in, rather than recarpeting the whole area. Ample bicycle racks and a shower in the building encourage employees to bike to work.

An underground tank filled with more than 10,000 plastic globes the size of softballs, which are filled with water, provide the building’s air conditioning. The water balls, which float in a solution of glycol, are frozen at night — when electricity usage is lowest and least expensive. During the day, the glycol transfers the chill to the building’s cooling system.

In December the center’s efforts paid off when its headquarters received platinum certification — the highest possible — from the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system, run by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit group in Washington.

During the renovation, the center learned it was one thing to plan and design a green building and quite another to carry it out. For instance, when a subcontractor ran out of the nontoxic paint that the center had chosen, Ms. Feigon said, it was tempting to run to a store and buy a can of regular paint. Several times, she says, the organization had to stop construction to reiterate to the builders the specifications that had to be followed.

But, says Ms. Feigon, the Center for Neighborhood Technology had a built-in advantage while overseeing the project: “Having a building full of environmentalists really helped because there were a lot of people spotting things.”