In 2005, Boston-based Digitas, a consultant in customer relationship management, sought to create a new work environment to inspire and attract talented employees.

No more windowless offices like those in the current space — the new office environment should be filled with light and informal working spaces. It should promote communications among employees. It should have an energetic feel and help stimulate creativity.

In considering Digitas’ aspirations, it struck the designers that an office space with green or sustainable features would satisfy all of their client’s criteria. In short, a productive office building and environment is a sustainable office building and environment.

If that sounds like a stretch, it isn’t. A number of studies have shown a connection between sustainable design and productive workers.

The classic study of the subject was completed in 1994 and revised in 1998. Called “Greening The Building And The Bottom Line: Increasing Productivity Through Energy-Efficient Design,” the study was conducted by the Rocky Mountain Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy.

The authors concluded that improvements made to a building’s lighting, heating and cooling systems generally make workers more comfortable and productive. In addition, says the study, a 1 percent increase in productivity will return a year’s worth of utility expenses. The study presented a number of examples. Here are two:

A Pennsylvania Power & Light upgrade of the lighting system in a drafting facility; the effort cut energy costs by 69 percent, increased productivity by 13 percent, and slashed absenteeism by 25 percent.

When Lockheed Martin renovated its engineering and design facility, the company saved nearly $500,000 per year on energy bills, improved productivity by 15 percent, and cut 15 percent out of the absentee rate.

The architects working with Digitas began the search for new space by finding an appropriate building. They advised Digitas to select a building with shallow floor plates and large windows, noting that natural daylighting helps to infuse a space with energy. Of course, large windows also provide healthy natural daylight that reduces artificial lighting expenses.

Open workstations along the exterior window wall and glass-front interior offices allow natural daylight to all workspaces. In addition, sensors automatically dim artificial lighting during daylight hours. >> Photo by Robert Benson.

The project team also considered a downtown location close to public transportation and within easy walking distance of restaurants, shops, and for-sale and for-rent residences. Such “24/7” locations project energy, while reducing gasoline use since many employees choose to live nearby or to commute to work on mass transit.

A place in the city also offers lunch and dinner spots within walking instead of driving distance. Ditto shopping: employees can buy clothing for work nearby the office. They can participate in the city’s nightlife by walking to cultural and social venues such as nightclubs and theaters. They can also entertain themselves and their clients nearby.

After evaluating a number of buildings, the Digitas facilities department settled on 200,000 square feet of space on nine floors in a new high-rise office tower in downtown Boston. It’s large windows offered the benefit of pursuing a daylighting strategy.

The design and build-out of the space relied on a number of sustainable concepts that also double as productivity-boosting techniques. These included lighting, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC), and low-emitting materials.

Lighting and Daylighting Design

The large windows in the Digitas building provide plenty of natural daylight throughout the working day. To gain a cost benefit from the natural light, the designers created a system of daylight dimming or harvesting. Sensors measure the level of available daylight near the windows, and adjust the artificial lighting levels to match.

The daylight dimming technology raised construction costs for the project, but the designers approached the local utility provider and negotiated a rebate that paid down the additional construction costs: The rebate made the system acceptable to Digitas.

To ensure that employees benefited from the natural light, the designers recommended reducing the number of enclosed offices to 20 percent of employees, down from 65 percent. Open workstations are located along the window walls, while corridors and private offices set in the interior of the space have glass fronts that allow daylight to reach into the offices.

Healthy workspaces include natural daylight and low-emitting construction materials. >> Photo by Robert Benson.

Indoor Air Quality

In most buildings, the thermostat turns the HVAC system on and off, adjusting the temperature of the space and bringing in fresh air. During the winter, however, open office plans like that used by Digitas fill entire floors with people, who consume a lot of oxygen. On occasion, this can cause a build-up of carbon dioxide. Because the windows in the building remain cold, the temperature does not rise, despite the number of people in the conference room. Since the temperature does not rise, the HVAC system does not respond. Like most HVAC systems in office buildings, this one was designed to maintain a certain temperature.

In designs like this, the carbon dioxide can build up and degrade the indoor air quality, causing people to grow drowsy and less productive. To solve the problem, the designers placed carbon dioxide sensors on each of the floors and connected them to the HVAC system, giving it the ability to respond to both temperature and carbon dioxide build up.

The Declining Cost of Sustainable Design

Construction materials in the build out include quite a bit of recycled content. Today, ceiling tiles, carpet, countertops and many other products come with high percentages of recycled materials.

Better yet, products with recycled materials no longer carry a large cost premium.

Nor do paints and other products produced with low-volatile organic compound (VOC) content. In fact, when it comes to paint, low-VOC paints can increase the productivity of construction workers. With low-VOC paint, multiple paint and construction crews can work in the same area, increasing productivity.

How much more does a sustainable office cost than a conventional one? What is the premium for being environmentally friendly? There is generally a premium. But, as demand for sustainable design and products has grown, competitive vendors have driven costs down.

According to two studies, one by the State of California and another by the U.S. General Services Administration, the premium for sustainable design and construction today totals about 2 percent.

While project teams generally accept 2 percent as the premium for sustainable construction, they qualify the number by noting that the state and federal studies that have been done looked at a relatively small numbers of projects. In addition, architects wonder about the benchmark that a premium should be measured against. If a project owner aims to construct a building or an office interior as inexpensively as possible, then the premium for sustainable work will rise much higher. If the benchmark is high-quality building systems and materials, the premium for sustainability might disappear altogether.

Ultimately, it isn’t the financial cost of sustainable design that matters. It is the value of the productivity increases that come with the energy generated by natural daylight; the client satisfaction produced by a comfortable office space; the less expensive employee recruiting campaigns; the reduced number of sick days taken by employees due to exposure to poor indoor air quality; and the hundred other productive benefits that flow from sustainable designs.

Facility Overview

Site: Digitas Building

Location: Boston

Size: 200,000 square feet

Materials & Resources

Daylight dimming technology

Carbon dioxide sensors connected to HVAC system, provide ability to respond to both temperature and carbon dioxide build up low-emitting building materials

Low-VOC paints + materials

Open workstations located along the window walls; corridors and private offices set in the interior of the space have glass fronts, which allow daylight to reach into the offices