“When Hines began working with its longtime partner LMN Architects—conveniently located three floors down—it expected that basics such as the carpet and doors would be replaced with brand-new materials. But LMN has been on the forefront of addressing the embodied carbon of interior design decisions. They studied the impact of their own offices after a 2013–2015 remodel and determined that over 60 years, interior renovations can generate as much embodied carbon as the construction of framing and building envelopes—even though the latter receive far more attention from industry groups, standard setters, and regulators.

“LMN suggested that Hines’s redesign process could center the impact of embodied carbon in a first-of-its-kind implementation of the firm’s research. Given Hines’s pledge to achieve net zero operational carbon by 2040 without buying offsets, and its admiration of LMN’s own office, which leans into the timeless aesthetic of Seattle’s finest International Style building, the new landlord gave the architects the design reins.”
—Gregory Scruggs

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