Sgt. 1st Class Dave Cardenas

Thousands of nonnative trees are razed to make way for the new DISA headquarters building, but they will be replaced by native trees.

Fort Meade

Green Design of Defense Information System Agency (DISA) Headquarters

The new 1.1 million-square-foot, multi-floor campus for the Defense Information System Agency headquarters (DISA) will consolidate operations now located in multiple buildings in Arlington, Virginia. The new DISA headquarters design incorporates multiple environmentally friendly features to lessen the facility's environmental impact and save money. Spread beneath the facility's nearly 3,000 planned parking spots will be underground water basins designed to reduce and contain storm-water runoff. The facility's roof will be painted a light color to reflect light and reduce the amount of heat the building absorbs, hopefully lowering the cost to cool the facility. Eventually landscaping at the site should also reduce the facility's environmental footprint.

While construction has cleared approximately 2,500 trees on the 95-acre site, plans call for more than 1,700 replacement trees to be planted. Fourteen acres of the land that was formerly part of the installation's golf course should be undisturbed, and roughly 28 percent of the area's mature oak and hickory climax forest will be retained, according to a summary of work produced by RTKL Associates Inc., which is the architectural and engineering firm for the project.

All of the environmental efforts should put the facility on track to the mid-level Silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.

• Mission The new multi-floor campus for the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) headquarters will consolidate operations now located in multiple buildings in Arlington, Virginia. The leadership of DISA sees having an environmentally friendly facility as both a retention incentive and a recruitment incentive.
• Community Beyond any energy savings for the facility, DISA leaders hope the finished building will provide an attractive place for employees to work. "Today's worker is increasingly more sensitive to environmental concerns," DISA spokesman James Campbell said.
• Environment The new DISA headquarters design incorporates multiple environmentally friendly features to lessen the facility's environmental impact resulting in water conservation, high energy efficiencies and less green house gas emissions.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public Affairs Office, (410) 962-7536