Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford pushes green projects
Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford architecture firm has built quite a reputation in North Texas over the years, but these days, the company is heading in a greener direction.
Fort Worth-based Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford was commissioned to deliver energy efficient, Gold LEED-certified engineering buildings to SMU, and after delivering its first set, the firm has now been brought in at TCU for similar work – and company leaders couldn’t be happier.
“…We’ve been trying very hard to train our staff and look at the issues impacting our profession like the sustainability movement and LEED program,” said Eric Hahnfeld, president of Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford. “It’s a challenge, but we’ve got a great organization and I’ve got two great partners and we make it work.”
The company was founded in 1963 by Architect Lee Roy Hahnfeld and since has grown to 46 employees. Headquartered on Eighth Avenue in Fort Worth since 1998, Eric Hahnfeld said the company will move into larger space at 200 Bailey Ave. in June to accommodate growth.
Though Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford has worked with several types of projects, it specializes in commercial, institutional and medical buildings and has completed architectural, planning, design and project management for several projects throughout North Texas.
In recent years, the firm has carved out a niche in green building with its burgeoning portfolio of SMU buildings bearing the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard, which is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.
During its most recent SMU project – the Embrey Engineering Building – Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford saw that its waste management incorporated 76 percent of the construction site waste to recyclers and 22 percent of all materials utilized in the project were recyclable, including post-consumer and post-industrial materials.
And now the firm can add a new feather to its LEED hat.
Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford has been commissioned for TCUÂ’s Scharbauer Hall, a 74,000-square-foot academic facility
currently under construction, which
will be TCUÂ’s first LEED-certified new construction.
David Stanford, a principal at the firm, said it would be ideal to construct every project using the LEED standards, but it can add costs that owners simply canÂ’t afford.
Construction on SMUÂ’s Embrey building, for example, cost an extra 2 percent to 2.5 percent to get its gold standard, Stanford said, and that percentage goes up exponentially if an owner is aiming for the standardÂ’s highest ranking: platinum LEED certification.
Though every project canÂ’t aim for LEED certification, Hahnfeld said the firm tries to apply sustainable principals to all of his firmÂ’s projects.
“We look at the building systems and materials and prepare life cycle costs analysis to allow our clients the opportunity to make informed decisions based on best value and long-term cost benefits,” Hahnfeld said.
Under the guidelines of the International Energy Conservation Code, Stanford said the firm brings in eco-friendly designs to projects that wouldnÂ’t otherwise qualify for LEED certification because itÂ’s the right thing to do.
One such client is Tarrant County Academy of Medicine, which hired Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford to deliver a sustainable building design without actual LEED certification in Fort Worth.
“We’re also designing the Tarleton State University Southwest Regional Dairy Center right now and are careful to consider everything on the site,” said Michael Hoffer, principal at the firm. Handling rain and site runoff, he said, are paramount in designing a true sustainable building.
And capturing rain water and using it to irrigate a projectÂ’s landscaping is something with which the firm has spent much time.
At SMUÂ’s Embry building, the firm used the universityÂ’s water chillers to irrigate the land.
“Cooling towers at universities throw away millions of gallons of water each year, but now we’ve got an alternative: not send all that down to the treatment plant,” Hahnfeld said.
Though all three company leaders said sustainable building design will be something that only grows in the future, they agreed on certain challenges in shifting to sustainable builds industry-wide.
“Some of the challenges that slow things down a little bit are the legal issues with doing different types of construction delivery methods,” Hahnfeld said. “We are designing the building and the contractor is constructing the building, so how does liability stack up? … We’re dealing with the health, safety and welfare of the end user and there are a lot of lines each one of us are crossing.”
