Leading U.S. Renewable Energy Company Selects William McDonough + Partners as Architects for New Headquarters

Globally recognized architects chosen to design delightful, intelligent and environmentally sustainable headquarters for Apex Clean Energy

Apex Clean Energy, one of the United States’ most dynamic and fast-growing clean energy companies, has unveiled plans for its new corporate headquarters including the selection of William McDonough + Partners as designers of the much-anticipated project. The architecture firm, founded by globally recognized architect, designer, thought leader, and author William McDonough, is excited to add Apex Clean Energy to its long list of important corporate clients.

The firm will apply its positive, principled design philosophy which takes its cues from living systems and processes and expands on enduring standards of design quality. This approach was inspired by Mr. McDonough who was characterized in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio as “the mastermind of sustainable design.”

McDonough has a long history of leadership in design thinking, green buildings, and Circular Economy. Notably, the firm designed the United States’ precedent-setting net-zero energy building – Oberlin College’s Lewis Center. McDonough is famous for co-authoring the book Cradle to Cradle and the philosophy is now applied globally to certified products, buildings, and cities.

“It is exciting that the preeminent wind energy company in the United States is about to have a new solar-powered workplace,” said McDonough. “We are honored to be the architects of this project and look forward to the process of realizing it together.”

Apex Clean Energy is leading the way in the development, construction, and operation of utility-scale wind and solar power facilities across North America. The Apex office will be wood structure, optimized in its carbon footprint, and bring the company’s more than 200 renewable energy experts into one building designed for collaboration, health, and wellbeing. McDonough presented his core design philosophy of creating “a building like a tree” and his architectural concepts at the company’s all-staff quarterly meeting earlier this month.

“The design of the building required an imaginative and creatively challenging process,” said John Bahouth, Apex’s senior vice president of administration. “Our direction was clear: to achieve financial efficiencies that met, or even reduced, our current obligations while setting a new benchmark in terms of sustainability. Fortunately, our process led to a partnership with world-renowned architect Bill McDonough, who literally wrote the book on sustainable design.”

Apex Clean Energy’s selection of William McDonough + Partners reinforces the architecture firm’s stature among major companies as the first choice for place-specific, high performance, and cost-effective designs. Other recent corporate building projects include 333 Brannan, Dropbox’s headquarters in San Francisco, and Plantronics’ European headquarters in The Netherlands.

Among the architects’ diverse corporate achievements are notable landmark buildings in the sustainability movement including Ford’s River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan; Herman Miller’s GreenHouse factory and offices in Holland, Michigan; Hero MotoCorp’s Garden Factory in Neemrana, India; Nike’s European headquarters in Hilversum, The Netherlands; and the Gap’s corporate campus at 901 Cherry in San Bruno, California – now YouTube’s headquarters.