mbi | k2m minimizes landfill contribution by preserving structure`s original features

About 75% of the original structure at 3121 Bridge Ave. in Ohio City was retained during the building`s renovation. It now is home to mbi | k2m Architecture. Photo credit: PHOTO PROVIDED

By STAN BULLARD

4:30 am, August 3, 2009

At 3121 Bridge Ave. in Ohio City, the one-time home of Cleveland Casket Co. gained new life as a green building after mbi | k2m Architecture bought it last year and renovated it as the firm`s new home.

However, the emphasis was on saving as much of the 1921 building as possible in the $1.1 million project.

“One of the biggest things was using as much of the existing space as possible to reduce the amount of materials going into the landfill,” said Marta Ralston, a staff designer at mbi | k2m`s Spectrum Design Services unit. That meant keeping most of the second-floor offices intact and using the former wide-open shop floors as open offices to minimize destruction of interior walls. The redo retained 75% of the original structure.

Another change was removing bricks that filled in windows on the West 32nd Street side of the building, said Scott C. Maloney, mki | k2m co-director. New high-efficiency windows went into those openings as well as existing windows on the second floor. Office partitions were kept low to maximize daylight. Each workstation has its own lighting controls.

The redo required cutting a new stairway into the building to reach the firm`s second-floor office, so the maple floor was retained and reused in the new stairs and other parts of the building, Ms. Ralston said. A high-efficiency natural-gas heating system on the roof, low-flow plumbing fixtures, carpets and equipment with a large percentage of recycled materials round out the project.

The firm is seeking a Silver rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system.

Mr. Maloney estimated the green aspects added no more than 10% of the cost to the project. He expects to recoup that soon, though he has not estimated savings in detail.

“We wanted a good place to work in a secure, walkable neighborhood, and this became a great place to work,” Mr. Maloney said.