Metropolitan Park, Amazon’s second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, features two 22-story office buildings, including 65,000 square feet of street-level retail and almost four acres of new and renovated public spaces.
Amazon sought to provide a superior experience for both employees working inside the building and community members who enjoy the park and local small business retail space at the site. Part of this effort included adding 20 terraces from levels three to 22 of the office buildings.
Ruppert Landscape undertook this massive landscape contracting project over the course of a year, which includes a dog run, community farms and spaces for events and collaboration. Their innovative solutions and collective effort earned Ruppert Landscape 2024’s prestigious Judges’ Award, which is selected from the highest-scoring Gold Award winners of the Awards of Excellence.
“Being named a Judges’ Award winner is a tremendous honor, especially among so many other beautiful and deserving award-winning projects,” says Lou Labonte, Ruppert’s branch manager of Virginia landscape installation. “This recognition reflects the hard work, skill, and dedication of our entire team, who each contributed their unique talents to bring this project to life.”
Challenges Overcome
Half of the terraces were adjacent to spaces that were already occupied so the crews could work no earlier than 8 a.m. and no later than 5 p.m. to minimize disturbance for residents of other high-rises.
Soil, drainage and grade changes were critical as 95% of this project was over-structure. Ruppert installed 18,375 drainage cells, 36,000 square feet of geosynthetic products, 6,300 cubic feet of polystyrene, 231 linear feet of drainage pipe, 228 cubic yards of lightweight aggregate and 1,300 cubic yards of intensive green roof soil.
Ruppert utilized a tower crane, mobile cranes, elevators and hoists to get materials to the terraces. This required close coordination between the crane operator, radio technician, receiver, personnel offloading material and the general contractor.
“Some terraces were challenging to access, demanding the expertise of skilled operators to complete the installation precisely and safely,” Labonte says. “In addition, the soil design was highly specialized, requiring close collaboration with Amazon, Clark Construction, and their soil scientists to develop and approve the ideal lightweight soil.”
As the schedule became compressed, the Ruppert team worked overtime and weekends to complete the project on time and on budget, while coordinating with other trades trying to access the same space.
When electrical delays prevented the irrigation system from coming online, the Ruppert team spent hundreds of hours hand-watering the 74,000 perennials, 600 shrubs, and 26 trees.
Achieving LEED Platinum
Met Park recently became the largest project ever certified Platinum under LEED v4 for Building Design and Construction.
To create a more sustainable landscape, special focus was given to preserving water via drip irrigation and approximately 70% of the trees, grasses, plants and wildflowers used were native varieties.
Ruppert’s purchasers worked closely with the landscape architect and owner to procure plant material in the correct sizes and varieties. This required several contract grows, tagging specimen trees and ensuring just-in-time deliveries to minimize moving material more than once.
Soil scientists continuously analyzed to ensure that the particle percentages were sufficiently permeable in certain areas and in other areas, retain enough moisture to support healthy vegetation.
These new green spaces also aid in heat island reduction and contribute to community health and wellness, encouraging outside use and recreation.
Ruppert supplied and installed 60 fiberglass planters and a special soil mix to enable Amazon employees to create their own gardens. A variety of herbs and vegetables were planted to provide employees with a space to relax and destress.
“The feedback we received indicated their excitement about seeing the project come to life,” Labonte says. “They expressed pride in witnessing years of design and planning culminate in such a beautiful, sustainable outcome. They specifically mentioned our high-quality work and noted that various pollinators quickly appeared, even as high as the 22nd floor, soon after installation.”
This article was published in the November/December issue of the magazine. To read more stories from The Edge magazine, click here to subscribe to the digital edition.
