AAA Michigan Branch Office Building | Birmingham, MI
The Birmingham AAA Branch was designed to be the first AAA office in the Great Lakes Region to pursue LEED Certification. Prominently located along Woodward Avenue with a signature entry rotunda, this office provided an opportunity to design a landmark building for the area.
As the project proceeded, design demanded careful balance between LEED considerations and budget constraints. The mechanical HVAC design proved especially challenging because the budget limited the system choice to packaged rooftop equipment. Working closely with the architect, an efficient building envelope was achieved using low-e insulating glass, and a reflective roof and overhangs to deflect solar loads, reducing the total energy consumption of the HVAC equipment. Each mechanical rooftop unit is individually metered to measure energy use and compare actual usage with the building energy models to verify that systems are working properly.
Computer modeling estimates energy cost savings of 18% per year, compared to an ordinary building, and 3 LEED points for optimizing energy performance.
The AAA Michigan branch is LEED Certified.
