 Established in 1935 by Larry Perkins and Philip Will, Perkins+Will quickly gained national and international recognition for client service and design accomplishments in education and healthcare. Expansion was fast paced. Now, EnviroCitizen.org has found that the firm is being recognized for its advances in environmentally focused architecture. For years, Perkins+Will has successfully designed structures that demonstrated the company's founding principles of sustainability, integrity and design excellence.
Sustainable design has never been more important than it is today. Larry Perkins understood the value of the environment at a young age. According to the company website, when he was 12 years old, Larry looked on as his father acquired and dedicated the first ever parcel of the Forest Preserve System in what is now known as Deer Grove in Cook County, Illinois. Larry defined his father’s vision as one of achieving spaces "of green intervals and people enjoying it." The founder’s idea has carried through the firm to today. Larry Perkins and Phil Will made a commitment to the advancement of design in 1935 with the founding of Perkins+Will. In addition to helping clients realize sustainable facilities, Perkins+Will is making sure their own facilities are environmentally friendly. The firm has adopted a "Green Operations Plan" to establish guidelines for each of the offices in day-to-day operations. They stated, “We envision having the plan substantially implemented by the end of 2006. In 2007 we realized that we had accomplished many of those goals and needed to do more. The 2007-2010 Plan takes a broader, more determined approach to making a positive impact on our environment."
In 2009, Perkins+Will won the American Institute of Architects Award for a Green Project in their role in designing Great River Energy Headquarters in Maple Grove, Minnesota. GRE envisioned its new headquarters office building as a model of electric efficient building solutions that could be adopted by electric co-op members across the state. Their principal goal was to reduce the demand for large, coal-fired generating plants and to meet new demand with wind power or other renewable energy sources. A variety of building design strategies emerged from the architects involved, including creating quality space rather than quantity of space, optimizing collaborative work areas, daylighting all work zones, reducing the carbon footprint of the concrete and demonstrating leading-edge applications of simple technologies. A couple examples include using a remanufactured, commercial-scale, urban wind turbine and combining a water-source heat pump with low-velocity under-floor thermal displacement ventilation. The combination of energy-efficiency with on-site renewable energy and modest amounts of grid-supplied green power reduces GRE's fossil fuel use by 75 percent and cuts carbon emissions by 60 percent.EnviroCitizen.org believes that this project achieved these goals while providing abundant daylight and views to the exterior, exceptional indoor air quality and a quality work environment within a reasonable budget—demonstrating that green design can be efficient, affordable, comfortable and healthy.
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