i.d.o., Incorporated - Corporate Office

The Situation
With an ever expanding clientele, id.o., Incorporated realized the time was right to relocate its business. Relocation would not only provide the firm with more space but would position them to better serve their clients. Ultimately, i.d.o. secured a building in downtown Indianapolis in the heart of the city’s Life Sciences Corridor.

As it prepared to move, i.d.o. intentionally set out to design a space that was not only innovative in appearance and functionality but also eligible to meet LEED-CI standards. Established by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED-CI stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” for Commercial Interiors. It consists of a demanding system of requirements that promote environmentally responsible design and construction to develop high-performance, sustainable buildings and interiors.

Meeting these goals on its own project would equip i.d.o. with practical experience to do the same for clients wanting to incorporate green applications into their spaces.

The Challenge
To set a precedent successfully carrying out this visible “green” commitment required solving a number of difficult practical issues:

• What approach would produce the kind of new processes needed to fulfill LEED-CI standards?
• What would be the best way to bring together the kind of special expertise the project required?
• How much extra cost and time would LEED-CI standards add to the overall budget and schedule? Would they prove to be very practical?

The Solution
From the beginning, i.d.o. recognized that the solution to the LEED-CI project depended upon two essentials. The first was assembling a team of professional experts willing to learn and innovate together. The second was bringing this team together into a new integrated design process within a tight timeline.

The team engaged to join i.d.o. in the journey of discovery consisted of:

• Drew Augustine: Olympia Partners – Commercial Real Estate Broker
• Nick Davis and Andy Schawae: Browning, Day, Mullins & Dierdorf – Architect
• Tommy Hutsell, Dan Smith and Mark Cerk: Shiel Sexton – Construction Managers
• Bill Stacey and Brian Abel: Vector Consulting – MEP Engineers

Working in an integrated process, the team players moved from being “experts” to being “co-learners,” explained i.d.o. president Jill Mendoza. “It became evident,” she continued, “that to change how our industry in general delivers buildings and interior environments, we as industry experts had to rethink how we work together. We collectively established goals and arrived at very specific strategies to achieve them.”

To accomplish one strategy, for example, team member Shiel Sexton diverted the LEED-CI-required fifty to seventy-five percent of waste construction materials away from landfills. In all, this part of the effort saw more than 18 tons of drywall, asphalt, steel, WTE, wire, concrete, cardboard, wood, and carpet trucked off for alternative uses.
Other strategies included putting task lights at workstations to minimize overhead lighting demands; applying natural, recycled and sustainable finish materials; and using regionally manufactured and produced products and materials.

The Results
Currently, the new i.d.o building, at 601 North Capitol Avenue, has been awarded LEED (CI) – Silver Certification.

Yet, despite beginning concerns about time and money, direct construction expenses associated with “ Green Building” aspects totaled less than two percent of the project’s total cost and did not delay its completion.

Meanwhile, the overall process provided a roadmap for future efforts, building up a transferable knowledge base to help i.d.o. assist clients with their own projects.