Carol Coover-Clark and her platoon of architects are bringing sustainable building practices to the United States Armed Forces.

It began in a basement in 1987: one woman in Oklahoma City, hunkered down over a drafting table, designing plans for sustainable architecture a full decade before the word “green” would explode into the national lexicon. Twenty-one years later, Carol Coover-Clark’s self-financed enterprise has emerged to become Colorado’s largest female-owned architecture firm, providing an environmentally friendly approach to the construction of the country’s largest aviation and transportation building projects.

Coover-Clark and her mixed team of 28 architects, interior designers, engineers and landscapers have designed buildings on every level of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (or LEED) rating system, the common standard of measurement to define “green building.” Their work on the Colorado State University Transit Center was certified Gold, while the work her team did as associate architects on the $22.7-million National Renewable Energy Laboratory Science and Technology Facility in Golden earned the highest rating of LEED Platinum — the first federal laboratory building to achieve that status — in 2007.

The firm’s latest accolades come from an unlikely sustainable building project; the 118,000-square foot Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) at Buckley Air Force Base. The facility garnered Coover-Clark and her team one of six awards as the nation’s “Best Sustainable Facility” by the U.S. Air Force. The Denver architecture firm was the only company to be given the award for sustainable design.

The $35-million LEED Silver-certified facility in Aurora is the new home of the Colorado Army National Guard and will function as a maintenance hangar for a fleet of multi-million dollar helicopters, both the Blackhawk and the tank transport Chinook. More than 350 guardsmen will train one weekend each month. However, the facility also will serve as testament to the renewable mindset of the U.S. Armed Forces.

“When we began the project, it was a real labor of love,” says Coover-Clark. “It doesn’t look like your grandfather’s military base. When you first walk in you see the history of the Colorado National Guard. We wanted the building to not only be a tool for them to use as training and emergency response, but to give the guys a great work environment.”
The small size of her firm and its hands-on approach to architecture enabled Coover-Clark and her team to delve into specific details of the AASF — from stained concrete floors with engraved Army flight vectors to the aerodynamic appearance of the hangar roof. Terra cotta color on the exterior was used to blend the new addition to the existing buildings on the base. “People constantly ask, ‘Why do you work with the military?’” Coover-Clark explains from the conference room in her sustainable office space in LoDo. “But they let us do things that might not be traditional in their world because they’ve become so focused on sustainability.”

Through the use of manually controlled translucent wall panels and skylights, 96 percent of all occupied spaces throughout the facility have daylight access, making the use of artificial lights during the workweek practically obsolete. Every aspect of the interior — from the climate appropriate mechanical and electrical systems to the innovative heat exchange unit installed in the hanger — help save the AASF up to 40 percent more than the traditional facility. “Even the furnishings,” adds Coover-Clark, “are made from recycled products, or things that can be recycled or refurbished, so that in fifty years they’ll still be using those same tables and chairs.”

Cognizant of Colorado’s unique landscape, the firm focused its attention on the land that surrounds the AASF, home to prairie dogs and a species of ground owls that have been listed by The Colorado Division of Wildlife as a threatened species. Through proper placement of the buildings, the firm could ensure the safety of the wildlife surrounding the facility. By utilizing drought-tolerant plants and watering them through a series of cobblestone dry creek beds that channel rainwater from the roof, the AASF is tied to its natural surroundings and saves 85 percent on irrigation compared to projects similar in size.

When Coover-Clark began her work in sustainable architecture, a building the magnitude of the 35-acre AASF wouldn’t have made financial sense for the military, but, she said, times have changed. “Manufacturers have risen to the occasion,” she explains. “We look for products within a 500-mile radius and manage all the pieces along the way. New construction is certainly easier when dealing in sustainability, but we showed with Colorado State Transit Center that you can make LEED Gold without any additional funding.”

Coover-Clark and Associates have focused its attention on the upcoming renovation and expansion of Concourse C at Denver International Airport, but the AASF facility, completed in 2006, still resonates in the principal architect’s mind. “Seeing the guys come back from the war and watching them witness the facility for the first time — they’re like kids in a candy store,” Coover-Clark explains. “It’s really exhilarating.”