by Brian Berg, P.E., LEED AP and Richard Holzer, P.E., LEED AP

On March 1, 2010, the Glumac Irvine office moved into their spectacular new space in an Irvine Towers location in downtown Irvine.  The office, designed by Gensler, has a clean and well detailed architectural design combined with innovative MEP systems.  It is seeking a LEED-CI 2009 Platinum certification.

The office space is on the ground floor of an existing high rise building and has an expansive open office area.  Large concrete columns reach up to the 21 foot structure reminiscent of an urban loft space.  To preserve the soaring volume in an uncluttered aesthetic and to put the light directly where it is needed, Glumac electrical engineer Jennifer Berg, P.E. and Glumac lighting designer Carlos Inclan designed the space with furniture mounted lighting.  The results integrate seamlessly with the furniture system while providing a light level of 50 footcandles at the work surfaces and operating at 0.3 watts per square foot – a 70% improvement over the California Title 24 state energy code. 

In addition to the furniture mounted fixtures, recessed LED lights are utilized above the few workstations with a ceiling and for all of the undercabinet lights in the space.

All lighting fixtures throughout the office are controlled by occupancy sensors with most lights also controlled with daylight harvesting controls to dim the lights when outdoor ambient light is sufficient for illumination. 

The occupancy sensors and daylight harvesting controls use wireless and powerless devices.  These sensors and controls are powered by ambient light, vibrations, and fluctuations in local temperature and pressure in the space.  Information received from the occupancy and daylight devices is sent wirelessly to receivers located at the workstations to control the furniture mounted lighting.

The lighting power and receptacle power usage are each being submetered separately to determine actual power consumption in the space.  These meters will allow us to monitor the daylight harvesting system as well as the power usage of the office equipment.  This will enable us to troubleshoot potential lighting control problems and create an historical log of the performance of the lighting, HVAC and control systems. 

With the state of the art lighting and electrical controls, we had to follow suit with the HVAC design.  Temperature sensors in the open office are using the same wireless and powerless technology to control the VAV boxes.  This allowed locating the temperature sensors on the dramatic concrete columns while keeping them conduit free.

All offices and conference rooms have carbon dioxide devices that modulate the VAV boxes depending on occupancy to save energy at the building level.  Boxes are also being modulated using the wireless lighting occupancy sensors.

The Irvine Towers building housing the Glumac office has direct digital controls (DDC) for the central plant and air handlers, but the VAV boxes serving the tenant spaces are controlled with pneumatic controls.  As part of the Glumac office construction we installed a stand-alone DDC control system to serve our space.  The DDC system controls integrate the lighting system and temperature controls onto a common networked system.  In addition to control of the HVAC and lighting systems, the power consumption of the lighting and receptacles is also being monitored. 

As is often the case with modern electronic building controls systems, the lighting, HVAC, and metering systems all speak different language protocols.  Thru clever design, these have all been integrated into one common system that allows the sub-systems to communicate with each other.  This has been done to show our clients as well as the building design, operations, and construction community what is truly possible with the latest technologies.

Other notable design features include low flow plumbing fixtures, the purchase of renewable energy certificates that offset 100% of the energy used in the space with renewable energy, and millwork made from stunning bamboo plywood and rapidly renewable wheatboard.

A large conference room is directly adjacent to an open teaming area and includes a 24 foot wide glass garage door allowing both spaces to be opened up for all-staff meetings and Glumac University sessions.

Glumac Irvine Managing Principal Richard Holzer says of the architecture, “We wanted a spectacular space that is reflective of our core values.” 

Gensler Newport Beach Design Director and lead design architect for the project, David Loyola, paid attention to our vision:  “The goal of the project was to reflect the brand of Glumac as a forward thinking MEP engineering firm who is truly a leader in sustainable design.  The space is a “celebration” of the MEP systems that are usually hidden in most projects and is conceived as a series of buildings within a building.  Glumac leadership wanted a “loft type” creative space for the new office. The 21 feet ceilings and exposed concrete floors help create this environment in a high-rise office building. As Richard said in our first meeting, it should be clear ‘this is not your father’s engineering office.’  Hopefully, the space reflects these goals.” 

Loyola also added, “I am very excited about the overall space. This project is about doing more with less…using less energy and natural resources. It is designed as a backdrop to showcase Glumac’s great work, and hopefully, inspire more creative ‘Thinking Inside the Building’.”

The space has been up and operational for just a few weeks now but Southern California Edison has already granted us Office of the Future recognition because of the innovative MEP design and energy saving features.  

The Office of the Future program, administered by the New Buildings Institute, is a program Southern California Edison participates in with seven other public utilities around the country to experiment with and study new technologies, create energy efficient office spaces, and promote these technologies to other clients.  The new Glumac Orange County office has been recognized as the very first such space in the country to be in the program because of the state of the art lighting, lighting controls, HVAC controls and monitoring capabilities.  Glumac is demonstrating these technologies to our clients and community to showcase practical and cost effective means to improve energy efficiency in office spaces on a local and national level. 

Feel free to stop by at any time and we’ll be glad to give you a tour of our Office of the Future!