Kansas City, MO – A Kansas City-based architecture firm has been awarded a $1.2 million contract to design a new, and green, public works facility in Johnson County, Kansas. KCUR's Laura Spencer reports.
Out of a field of six finalists, 360 Architecture, Inc. was selected to design the new $14 million Johnson County Public Works facility in west Olathe, Kansas. It will replace a small, and aging, building from the 1960s.
Johnson County's Director of Facilities, Joe Waters, says the goal for the project is LEED Platinum certification, the highest rating awarded to energy-efficient and environmentally friendly buildings from the United States Green Building Council. According to Waters, LEED Gold, the second-highest rating, will be the minimum. "We are quite confident that we can achieve (LEED) Gold, but we set our standards higher."
360 Architecture also designed the Sunset Drive Office Building in Olathe, which was certified LEED Gold.
Construction on the new facility is scheduled to begin in 2010, with completion in late 2011.
Note: Johnson County's County Communications Center (CCC), in Olathe, which opened earlier this year, is awaiting confirmation about a LEED Gold certification.
