The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at Georgia Tech

Introducing The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, a living, learning laboratory for all located on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. Developed to be the first Living Building of its scale in the Southeastern United States, the Kendeda Building is setting a new standard for regenerative design and showing what’s possible in a region known for temperature extremes and humidity.

The project’s goal is to advance green building and innovation in the Southeast, transforming the built environment. The Kendeda Building will use one-third the energy of a comparable building, will generate more energy than it uses from solar panels on its roof, and will capture and treat rainwater for all purposes, including drinking. The building uses materials that avoid the most hazardous chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), halogenated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which have been shown to harm human and environmental health and are common in other buildings.

The 46,800-square-foot building sits on a 1.35-acre site at the corner of Ferst Drive and State Street (422 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30313). It includes classrooms, laboratories, offices, an auditorium, a student commons, and a roof garden with an apiary. The project offers unique learning opportunities for designers, builders, and building operators, such as how to tackle the region’s humidity and potential droughts.

Funded by a $30 million grant to Georgia Tech from the Kendeda Fund, the project is designed to be a living, learning laboratory, showing what’s possible in the Southeast in order to catalyze even more ambitious green buildings across the region. Learn more at www.livingbuilding.kendedafund.org.