Sorg Architects is an international design firm offering architectural design services along with other services like interior design, urban planning, historic preservation, and construction management. The firm was founded in 1986 by Suman Sorg, FAIA, and a branch office in New Delhi, India was established in 2010.
Sorg Architects has designed and executed projects in more than 30 countries including North America, South America, Eastern, and Western Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Recognized with numerous honors, the firm’s work has received more than 60 awards from regional, national, and international associations and clients.
The firm’s portfolio covers a vast range of typologies that include commercial, educational, institutional, civic, private, and multi-family residential projects. Sorg Architects’ work commits to design-excellence, sustainability, research, and pro bono work which ranks them among the best US architecture firms.
Here are 10 sustainable projects by Sorg Architects.
1. The Grand Arch, Gurgaon, India
The Grand Arch is a mixed-use development with almost 900 residential units accommodated in structures ranging from 8 to 30 stories. The Grand Arch aims to be sustainable development, from the unit to the community level. Residential units are designed with double-glazed windows to prevent heat gain and loss, along with energy conserving systems.
The 300-acre township located outside New Delhi, India, also includes solar water heating and lighting systems, and sun-shading throughout. Water conservation strategies include efficient and low-flow plumbing systems and rainwater collection and reuse. Waste and sewage disposal is taken care of by a dedicated wastewater treatment plant that utilizes state-of-the-art efficient membrane technology for purification and recycling.
2. United States Consulate, Surabaya, Indonesia
The Consulate building is one of the six buildings of the Consulate complex designed by Sorg Architects. It’s a 59,500 Sq.ft structure sitting on a 6-acre site. The project meets LEED Silver standards and sustainable features include native plant species for landscaping to reduce water consumption and heat island effects, light shelves to allow daylight into 75 percent of interior spaces, and a complex stormwater management system specifically designed for this flood-prone region.
3. Solea Condominiums, Washington, DC
This 62-unit mixed-use development located on the 14th Street corridor of Washington, DC, is built on a sloping site at the intersection of two major arterial roads in the district. This urban infill development includes double levels of underground parking and shopping complexes at the street level, topped with four floors of residential units.
Solea is LEED Gold certified under the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program. The project succeeded in achieving both-cost consciousness and innovation and served as a catalyst for sustainable development that strengthens and supports commercial and residential uses in the contextual neighborhood.
4. United States Embassy, Bridgetown, Barbados
The 86,00 Sq.ft Embassy, sitting on a 3.2-acre site, demanded the adaptive reuse of an existing 5-story office building shell as well as a new addition of a similar scale. Vernacular and climate responsive design elements like bright colors to differentiate scale and volume, as well as deep shading devices to protect against the tropical sun, are used throughout the campus to enable a welcoming and graceful American diplomatic presence.
The facility is LEED Silver certified and sustainable features include adaptive reuse of the existing building, solar control measures, use of indigenous plant species in landscape design, and interior finishes with high recycled content. Additionally, the new building facility takes advantage of the site’s quarry walls, which reflect light inside the building for adequate interior daylighting.
5. La Esfera, Miami, FL
La Esfera is the resultant of a need for an iconic architectural landmark in the city of Miami. It was designed to serve as a place that elicits an energetic feeling of constant movement, corresponded by its light, air, and water. By night, La Esfera is lit by its kinetic energy, awash in varying colors and intensity based upon the degree of use.
By day, a cloud of mist fills the interiors, providing a cooling mist to nearby park users. With a vision for the future, La Esfera is entirely sustainable. This is achieved by the incorporation of design features such as creating its own energy to power lights and motors through the movement of the gondolas. Principles of gravity are used on the downward turn of the gondolas to minimize the need for energy.
6. Cresthaven Elementary School, Silver Spring, MD
The primary design challenge for this project was to accommodate the client’s brief for a new 500-student facility on a steeply sloping, irregularly shaped, 10-acre site. The site plan was designed to simultaneously maximize site utilization, program efficiency, and sustainable design goals and provide a dramatically improved learning environment without letting the difficult topography to the west of the site become a barrier.
This doesn’t just address the environmental impact of the building but also on creating a healthy and sound environment for learning through maximizing natural lighting of interior spaces. The Elementary School is the first LEED Gold Elementary School constructed in Montgomery County, Maryland.
7. Anacostia High School, Washington, DC
This project is a 2,00,000 Sq.ft facility housing 1200 students. The original but covered over or severely damaged architectural features of this school included fine architectural detail work, high ceilings, large windows, as well as terrazzo and wood flooring.
The renovated Anacostia High School has vegetated green roofs designed for all flat roof areas, among other sustainable features throughout the building. This school building is LEED Gold certified.
8. Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex, Fort Washington, MD
Materials were selected for considerations of budget, durability, ease of maintenance, and sustainability.
The base agenda for this 37,000 Sq.ft complex was to create an open and welcoming space that promotes inclusiveness and enables intergenerational interaction. The multifunctionality of spaces devised the final brief for the project. The complex houses a gymnasium, suspended indoor track, climbing wall, workout facilities, group exercise areas, multipurpose room, recording studio, kitchen, and classrooms.
Material selection was based on budget considerations, easy maintenance, and a sustainable approach. The outcome is a high performance, innovative facility that aims to adapt to the needs of the community it serves in the due course of time.
9. The Beauregard, Washington, DC
The 49,000 Sq.ft housing project is designed to serve the urban young workforce. Open plan strategies used to design the units bring light and air into the interiors with large glazed windows in every apartment, and the affordable interior finishes keep the units within the budget range of the targeted user demographic. The site setbacks are utilized as courtyard gardens that provide a view for every unit.
10. Skyon, Gurgaon, India
Skyon is a 22-acre sustainable residential development housing five 9- to 13-story buildings and one 40-story iconic tower, all designed around a central green space. Balconies are used as an elevational feature to create an undulating origami that creates a sense of visual interest and movement to the facade and acts as an optimal sun-shading.
The balconies designed in such a way that they rhythmically shift from floor to floor creates a dynamic visual foundation upon which the contrasting forms of the slender tower and clubhouse are enhanced.
