San Mateo County Office Building 3

The design, with LEED Gold, low carbon footprint and net zero energy aspirations, will set a new standard for a sustainable, generational, civic building beyond the Bay Area.

Building massing features a narrow floor plate to take advantage of natural lighting, natural ventilation, and night flush opportunities including:

• Balanced facade design with sufficient glazing to provide quality natural light and views without over-burdening HVAC systems with large heating and cooling loads
• Operable windows that provide natural ventilation during mild weather, increasing ventilation and minimizing cooling energy; during warmer weather, the operable windows are used in a night flush mode where they are automatically opened at night to pre-cool the thermal mass of the building, minimizing cooling needs on hot days; this provides the added benefit of reducing the building's peak demand on the electricity grid at critical times