In 2007, San Diego Office Interiors created their new corporate office and showroom. What was different about this building was the vision of Vincent Mudd, President and CEO. In building this elegant and smart building, thoughts of how the construction of SDOI would impact the environment were given heavy consideration.

Mudd explains, “Any decision to move, expand or renovate our interiors must abide by the following principles: LEED design, lean construction, green construction, Life Cycle Valuation methods, ergonomically superior solutions, and open door management.”

SDOI has lived these principles and met their goal to create a high-end office space both environmentally and employee friendly.

As I entered SDOI, I was immediately struck with the elegance of the entrance, from the cork and bamboo flooring to the spectacular dome ceiling. The front of the building kept the original construction while adding sustainable features.

Energy-efficient kitchen has a dishwasher to support their policy of using re-usable glasses and plates – no disposable plastic or paper. Recycling stations are built into the far counter.

When you enter the back of the building, you would not know you are on a raised floor with all modular features. The raised floor allows air distribution under the floor, easy access to power and data cables, and flexibility in desk layout.

As Sales Manager Steve Michna enthusiastically explained, “nothing is permanent.” Should they need to relocate a desk or change the layout of the room, it is possible to do so within a couple of hours without buying new furniture or hiring an electrician.

A design and construction admin process based on Japanese “lean manufacturing principles” which is designed to promote efficiency and eliminate waste.

Who wouldn’t want to work in an environment that is beautiful, healthy and smart? Gone are the days of dark workstations. Here the workstations all have of their cubicle panels running perpendicular to the exterior windows so that every employee has access to natural light. Silver-backed roller shades on the exterior windows allow light to come through and provide outside visibility, while reducing heat entering the workspace. They also utilize compact fluorescent and LED lighting for energy savings.

The kitchen is friendly, open and inviting. The appliances are energy efficient and allow employees to eat and cook in the facility. They have installed a dishwasher and use only re-usable glasses, plates and utensils instead of paper or plastic. Water is heated using insta-hot, on-demand technology at each location. The kitchen walls and ceiling lights were reused from the old building.

Green renovation is a mind-set: do what you can do, all the small things along with the big ones. If you adopt all the small things, you will have a large impact faster. In the end, SDOI moved into a building that was 1,000 sq. ft. smaller but got 10% more space. They committed to LEED Gold, but are going to achieve LEED Platinum. Once you start thinking in sustainable terms, you learn and discover more and more. You don’t have to bite off everything, but bite off something to do a better job of taking care of our planet.

Projects are always stopped when the first question is, “how much is it going to cost?” In the end, going sustainable was cost neutral, along with all the other benefits.