Catholic Relief Services World Headquarters
LEED® Gold Existing Building, Baltimore, MD
The Stewart's Building, part of Baltimore's historic West Side district, and the first historic building in the state of Maryland, to achieve LEED Certification, offered unique qualities and features that helped retain Catholic Relief Services in downtown Baltimore, when they outgrew their previous facility. In addition to the LEED Certification, and the available district cooling system, the opportunity to demolish a column in the middle of the building, and create a new central atrium, proved to be the key to this successful project. The new atrium added much needed daylight to the large floor plates, and equally important, a sense of place for the entire staff of the agency.
Features of the project include an open-space design of the workspaces, specialized training, assembly, exercise, chapel and dining spaces, and state-of-art audio/visual, IT, video production, telecommunication and video conferencing systems. International artwork is displayed throughout.
CRS' Green Office Task Force is taking many steps to reduce energy use and waste, including a ban on Styrofoam products and the creation of an employee car pool database.