In 2014, HARC’s board and leadership made the decision to move forward with the design and construction of a new building that strongly reflected HARC’s sustainability mission. From the earliest conceptions, HARC, in partnership with the Gensler-led design team, set out to create a Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified green building capable of supporting HARC’s mission of sustainability.
HARC received LEED® Platinum certification in 2018 and in addition, was certified as net-zero by the Living Future Institute in March 2020. In January 2023, HARC’s Living Lab was recognized as the first LEED® Zero Energy certified commercial building in the state of Texas.
Because of HARC’s work to optimize energy and water use and continually monitor data generated by the building’s systems, HARC’s Living Lab exceeds its design and modeled performance targets. Everyday our carbon footprint reduces, and since opening, we’ve offset the same amount of carbon as 20 heavily forested acres.
And our partnership with Gensler continues. Please watch this video produced by the award-winning architecture firm, capturing the design process of our building, the many elements of energy efficient design, and the real-life application of these practices on our campus.
