Volume 13, Issue 3  •  Fall 2005

An Environmental Design for the Maryland Department of the Environment

In September of 2002, the Montgomery Park building became the new home of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). The former Montgomery Wards building in Baltimore City, built between 1925 and 1927, was reused and transformed into a modern environmentally friendly building, also known as a "green building."

The tar and asphalt roof on part of the building was replaced with a "green roof," which employs waterproof liners, insulation, and layers of gravel, soil and plants. This design reduces the roof temperature by as much as 60 degrees in the summer, which lowers cooling costs, and provides additional insulation in the winter, reducing heating costs. This roof also decreases noise and absorbs water, helping to control storm water run-off.

The 70,000 double pane, argon-filled windows insulate against the cold while the low-E coating on the windows decreases the amount of heat entering the building in the summer and reduces heat loss from the building in the winter. The use of perforated aluminum blinds also helps to block heat while still allowing light to enter. The lights in the building automatically change intensity according to how much natural light enters the room. These "smart lights" also turn on and off automatically as workers come and go.

An ice storage tank, located on the roof, utilizes an energy-efficient freeze and thaw system to cool the building. Another key component of the ventilation system is a unit that can bring in fresh air rather than use only artificially cooled air. This economizer system also helps purge the building of excess carbon dioxide.

The bathrooms consist of urinals that run without water, toilets that use stored gray water (collected and filtered storm water from the Montgomery Park property), recycled ceramic tile, sinks made from recycled concrete, and stalls made from recycled plastic.

Some areas of the building have floors composed of recycled carpet, other areas have Marmoleum floors (a type of linoleum made from renewable plant-based materials), and still other areas use natural bamboo floors. Even the high-speed glass-backed elevators throughout the building are designed to run on one-third the energy of a standard elevator.

A whopping 80% of the materials removed from the original Montgomery Wards building were recycled. That included nearly 3 million pounds of metal, 5,700 cubic yards of wood, and 24,900 pounds of copper. A portion of the parking lot is paved with "glassphalt" that was made from the glass panes (150 cubic yards) that were removed from the building.

These green-building features and many more earned Montgomery Park the Environment Protection Agency's (EPA) coveted Phoenix award in 2003 (for Excellence in Brownfield Redevelopment).

For more information regarding these and other energy saving design features incorporated into the Montgomery Park site, visit:

http://www.mde.state.md.us/AboutMDE/mp_special.ASP

http://www.mde.state.md.us/AboutMDE/MP_greenroofs.asp

http://www.montgomerypark.com