Project Spotlight: NASA JSC- LEED Office Facility for Transition

The LEED Office Facility for Transition (LOFT) is a three-story, 83,000 square foot building located at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. The LOFT was the first new building at JSC in more than 17 years; it is also the largest construction project undertaken by NASA during the same period.  

LOFT supports 520 NASA administrative and headquarters personnel. The facilities include an entrance lobby, vestibule, offices, administrative areas, classrooms, and conference rooms along with storage space, and restrooms equipped with showers and lockers. Additionally, it houses a commander’s suite, commander’s office, and commander’s conference room. LOFT features a demountable interior partition system enabling maintenance staff to easily move walls and reconfigure office space.  

The project began as a LEED Gold endeavor. However, because of S&P’s extensive LEED experience, S&P identified many additional LEED credits for NASA and achieved LEED Platinum. As an example, more than 96 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills and into a recycling facility. The LOFT was the first LEED-certified building at JSC and the first NASA building to achieve Platinum status.  

A unique challenge for project planning and scheduling centered on space shuttle missions. Excavation, pier drilling, and similar activities that would disturb the soil at the space center were not allowed during missions. Launch delays and Hurricane Ike complicated these work shutdowns even further and required revision of project schedules. Although schedules had to be revised several times to accommodate launches and delays, the S&P team successfully navigated through these issues to maintain the overall timeline. 

 S&P had also worked with NASA on a pilot program to permit foreign nationals to work onsite for the first time in the agency’s history, while still maintaining their high-level security protocols. The cooperation and teamwork displayed by S&P, NASA, the architect, and subcontractors were exemplary. The project was finished prior to the required completion date. The building earned numerous awards, including the ABC Excellence in Construction Award, AGC Texas Building Branch Outstanding Construction Award, AGC APEX Award, Texas Construction Judges Award and Texas Construction Best Green Building Award of Excellence. 

May 16, 2024