SAP America headquarters expansion

Pennsylvania complex achieves LEED Platinum through use of sustainable strategies.

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Located just outside of Philadelphia, the first corporate-owned U.S. Green Building Council LEED Platinum building in the mid-Atlantic region is a 218,000 sq-ft complex in Newtown Square, Pa. FXFOWLE was the winner of an invited competition to design the new corporate headquarters for SAP America, the world’s third largest independent software provider. The $1.03 million building, completed in 2010, provides additional office, meeting, conference, and amenity spaces for the company’s 950 employees.

The building's form will assist with the application and integration of calibrated, sustainable strategies. Other sustainable features that will be included in the overall design include: geothermal wells, an ice storage plant, green roofs, under-floor air distribution systems, and daylight sensors.

The building incorporates numerous innovative features to reduce water use. The green roofs of the buildings are planted with grass and other native plantings, and are designed to funnel runoff rainwater from the roof into a 50,000-gallon cistern, which supplies water for landscape irrigation and the flushing of toilets in some of the building’s bathrooms.

A hybrid air conditioning system in SAP's Newtown Square building produces ice in large storage tanks during the overnight hours when energy demands and electric rates are lowest, with the chilled water from the melting ice used to cool the building during the heat of the day.