Lance Armstrong Livestrong Foundation Finds A Home In An Old Paper Warehouse

The <a href="http://www.livestrong.org/" target="_blank">Lance Armstrong Foundation</a> for many years had been working out of a corporate office building in Austin, Texas, but needed to break out and find a home of their own that matched their ideals of community and the environment. The non profit found its home in the 1950's Gulf Coast Paper Co warehouse in East Austin and completely <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/green-renovation" target="_blank">renovated</a> the building into a beautifully day lit office space, reusing most of the original materials and landing themselves a LEED Gold certification for renovations. LAF's headquarter renovation was accomplished by San Antonio-based <a href="http://www.lakeflato.com/projects/lance-armstrong-foundation/" target="_blank">Lake|Flato Architects</a> in collaboration with <a href="http://www.bommaritogroup.com/" target="_blank">The Bommarito Group</a>.

As you might expect from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, biking is a central facet of the work culture in the non-profit, and bike storage and showers for employees played a central role in the design of the new office headquarters.

Biking to work is highly encouraged as are, we're sure, lunch break bike rides. There is still a parking lot though, but high fuel efficiency vehicles get preferential spots.

The renovated warehouse cum office, also includes meeting rooms, dining facilities, an in-house gymnasium, and an open-air courtyard.

As part of the LEED Gold renovation, a large percentage of the original building was retained or reused and many materials found inside the warehouse were repurposed.

For instance, the roof decking was taken down and re-milled to build the office "boxes", which serve as individual offices and meeting spaces creating a dynamic space within.

The old roof was exchanged for a series of gorgeous skylights the pull in lots of natural daylight into the space, reducing the need for artificial lighting.

Existing glulam beams and concrete floors were repurposed into architectural elements, walls, and garden pathways.

Water and energy efficiency, material reuse, healthy interiors and air quality and waste management were also very important aspects of the renovation.

The LAF's new headquarters were completed in March of 2009 and was awarded with its LEED certification later that year.

Since then, the Foundation's new space has helped breath a new life into the neighborhood in the process of revitalization.

The project received a 2010 Austin Constructor Annual Award for Outstanding Construction and a 2010 Texas Society of Architects AIA Design Award.

The foundation also hopes to add a community-based cancer-support program to provide direct services to uninsured and underinsured East Austin residents.

The Gulf Coast Paper Co warehouse before the renovation into the Lance Armstrong Foundation Headquarters.