Etsy’s Green Headquarters Is a Showcase for Sustainable, Healthy Design
When building its new headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, digital craft shop Etsy wanted to create something that embodied more than just an artsy aesthetic.
With a commitment to sustainability and ethos to celebrate local artisans and their handmade products, the company designed its new office to meet the Living Building Challenge, a standard that promotes "resilient, living systems that are healthy, vibrant, and beautiful, but that also strengthen local economies and communities," says the company. To meet the Living Building Challenge, a building must create more energy than it consumes.
The result was the largest Petal Certified Living Building Challenge project so far, which means the building was made with sustainable, resilient, and local materials and resources "with an emphasis on inspiration from the natural world," says Etsy.
Etsy has completed four of the seven "petals" so far—Materials, Place, Health and Happiness, and Beauty—and has incorporated elements of the remaining Energy, Equity, and Water petals in its office design.
Drawing on its roots as an online platform for artists to sell their work around the world, Etsy focused on supporting small business owners of the Etsy community and filling its new space with handmade pieces and thoughtfully-sourced décor. Declare labels proudly display exactly what close to 70 maker products in the space are constructed from in an effort to bring transparency to the building materials industry.
The company sourced more than 60% of the building’s materials from within 500 kilometers of the site, and only used wood that was Forest Stewardship Council certified (FSC) or salvaged—such as the entry staircase that was transformed from the water tower that formerly sat atop the building.
"Throughout demolition and construction, we diverted more than 90% of our waste away from landfills, partnering with BIG Reuse, a local nonprofit, to donate excess materials to nearby building projects," says Etsy. "Scrap wood went directly to our on-site woodshop, where it will all eventually be repurposed for projects around the office."
Workspaces are placed near the windows to take advantage of natural light and to save building energy, which comes from a 12 kW solar power system on the roof. The building’s only non-natural lighting comes from LED bulbs, which are controlled by occupancy sensors and automatically shut off at 8 p.m.
Beyond its materials, the building incorporates natural elements wherever possible.
"We’ve filled our rooftop and terraces with 60 species of native plants which are well-adapted to our local environment, creating a healthy habitat for insects, birds, moss, and ferns," says Etsy. "Shade-tolerant grasses create a rich, green environment of soft textures, providing a tranquil and pleasant place to unwind, socialize, and relax."
The building further conserves resources with low-flow water fixtures, a 3,400 gallon cistern on the roof to collect rainwater, and an irrigation system that uses the rainwater to feed the building's interior living plant walls.
