green spaces are learning spaces
SHW designers knew that good design is sustainable design long before LEED® certification. We understand that Green spaces are learning laboratories and foster a respect for the environment with even our earliest learners. While LEED is a yardstick, clients have many ways to meet sustainable goals. Green design is an integrated approach to solve the challenges that every project brings in an environmentally respectful way.

For example, 10 years ago before LEED was introduced, SHW designed a sustainable elementary school that was a catalyst for a Green community. Today, McKinney, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is home of the U.S.’s first Green car dealership, an international retailer’s experimental Green store, and countless other Green projects.

If it’s LEED you’re after, we have a growing team of LEED APs —accredited professionals that help guide the certification process. And that’s just one of our internal commitments to sustainability. When we moved our North Texas office and headquarters in the fall of 2007, we invested heavily in sustainability. All appliances in the new work space are Energy Star-certified, and the floors and cabinetry are covered in rapidly renewable cork and bamboo. Daylight and window visibility reaches 90 percent of team members, and showers and bike racks encourage non-motorized commuting. Set to be certified LEED-CI (commercial interiors), the North Texas team designed the space to transform the culture and create an entirely new way of conducting business.