designLAB architects presented the new World Headquarters for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a 54,000 SF, sustainable home for IFAW, an influential and dynamic global organization devoted to protecting wildlife worldwide. The building, striving for LEED Gold certification, maximizes the organization's global advocacy, strategic planning and communications, consolidating their 165 local employees into one centralized location on Cape Cod. The Headquarters were designed to facilitate open communication, collaboration and interaction, while promoting IFAW's global mission "to provide a better world for animals and people". The building epitomizes the notion of minimizing the negative impact of the built environment on the natural one, thereby vividly demonstrating IFAW's environmental priorities through their very own architecture.
The World Headquarters integrates landscape and built form. Three simple, clean volumes are arranged around a reclaimed, brown field site, establishing a central gathering space reminiscent of a coastal drumlin or rural Cape Cod meadow. For nearly 30 years, IFAW's international headquarters have been based on the Old King's Highway, the "largest, contiguous historic district in the United States," in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. The region has a strong, distinct, architectural character that is visible in the historic homes and structures along the Highway, spanning four centuries of settlement. The World Headquarters pays homage to this vernacular architecture by utilizing iconic elements of the simple, unadorned barns that thrive in this rural area; incorporating two-story, barn-like structures, white clapboard, and even a coastal meadow in the design to recreate the natural beauty of the Cape Cod landscape.
Creating a new home for a unique organization such as IFAW required thinking about a different kind of workplace. Because of IFAW's commitment to the environment, incorporating water conservation, habitat restoration and energy efficiency into the workplace was as important as efficiency, value and other typical office design concerns. The building is remarkable for its particular approach to environmentally sound design, as demonstrated by its siting, use of natural light & renewable materials, and its location. Sustainable features include the reconstruction & clean up of a contaminated site; the restoration of habitat with native shrubs, trees, and grasses; rainwater treatment through the use of bio-swales and rain gardens that absorb rainwater runoff, and the on-site treatment of all wastewater produced in the building through a state-of-the-art septic system. Other sustainable initiatives include utilizing energy efficient mechanical systems, materials with high-recycled content, and certified wood from managed forests. In addition, passive solar technology is utilized on the wrap-around glass curtain-wall to maximize the benefits of daylighting while minimizing the need for heating & cooling. The World Headquarters reflects IFAW's commitment to environmentalism, not only in its sustainable, LEED-certified design, but also in the attitude manifested in carrying out the project: to always do the best thing for the natural environment.