Design at Big Green Building

Design

The Urban Green Partnership’s LEED certified Big Green Building will be the greenest urban building in Philadelphia and in the world. To be completed by 2009, Big Green Building will be located at the intersection of South and Broad Street overlooking the existing community maintained garden.Big Green building is an 80,000 square foot, 8-story building with underground parking, retail and office space, residential units, and research lab. The entire building is self-sustaining and will regularly produce excess energy back to be redistributed back into the local power grid. This building will also function as a ‘living lab’ that will purify rainwater for drinking, harvest geothermal energy, compost waste on a roof that incorporates solar panels, vegetation and wind turbines.

Big Green will automatically monitor energy consumption inside the building on a 24/7 basis. This data will be available on Eco-Nexus, UGP’s integrated online database that will allow all internet users including business owners, homeowners, and policy makers to make better eco decisions for themselves, their businesses, and their families. No other real-time database of this scope currently exists. Eco-Nexus will be another first for Philadelphia and for the state of Pennsylvania.Consumers want to know which eco-products work best, which eco-services are available, and where to find service providers. Thus the Urban Green Partnership’s independent testing lab will accept no manufacturers’ support, similar to Consumer Reports. UGP will facilitate green certification for tradesmen and contractors so they can meet the new standards of eco-building requirements, thus increasing their commercial marketability.

Big Green will be a first in a city of firsts: a building of unprecedented size, scope and foresight that will generate 200 green-collar jobs, and show city residents how they can collectively save $2.8 billion in energy costs within 10 years. It will have parking for at least 50 cars and include the Philly Car Share program. It will overlook an existing community maintained garden that will be preserved as a result of this project. A fiber optic system will provide a superior lighting system that will be more natural, and will reduce the need for overhead light bulbs by 90%. The system will require little electricity and almost no ongoing maintenance (i.e. the changing of light bulbs).