Sota Construction Corporate Offices

Architect:
Studio D'Arc

Developer:
Green Development, Inc.

Owner:
Green Development, Inc.

Sota Construction Services, Inc.'s 7,500 s.f. home office building is a registered LEED NC project,  earning a level of Platinum. It is Western Pennsylvania's first LEED Platinum NC project as well as the greenest building in State of Pennsylvania.

The building combines state-of-the-art structural, mechanical, and electrical systems with a super-efficient thermal envelope using natural building materials (including straw bale and interior walls using clay straw infill) in a unique way to not only provide a thermal mass but also a hygric mass to control humidity in the building.

The Sota Construction office building also incorporates a biophillic space to provide a supplemental heat source during the winter months, as well as exterior exhaust/fresh air intake for the building's environment.

This work builds on the work of the internationally renowned ARUP's Chris Twinn along with Boston-based Building Science Corporation and Iams Consulting based in Pittsburgh. The goal for this project is to make it a net-zero energy building through low energy, consumption-grid tied roof mounted photovoltaic, geothermal heat pumps, radiant heating and cooling, and micro hydro from an adjacent stream.

The Sota Construction Office Building embodies a new view of civilization for the 21st century as expressed by Soichiro Fukutake, president of the Benesse Corporation: 'Use what exists to create what is to be.'