One of D.C.’s newest trophy office buildings now has the city’s biggest green wall.
17xM, a 334,000-square-foot, 11-story building at 1150 M Street, N.W., includes a two-story, 1,500-square-foot, self-watering green wall of living plants.
It’s one of several environmentally-friendly features at the building, developed by New York-based Skanska. 17xM broke ground in late-2021 and opened last fall.
Tenants include law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and UBS. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher signed their headquarters lease before the building broke ground.
The green wall includes eight flowering plant species that attract pollinators. It absorbs 50% of the sunlight and reflects 30%. Skanska said that lowers ambient temperature and cuts the urban heat island effect by as much as 37 degrees. It also helps regulate indoor temperatures.
The wall has a fully-remote irrigation system that fine tunes water temperature and usage, depending on the time of year and plant needs.
In addition to efficiency and environmental contribution, green walls are said to help reduce office worker stress and increase productivity.
The building was designed for efficiency and tenant comfort. It includes multiple terraces, including a rooftop terrace that covers about three-quarters of the roof space.
17xM, about halfway between Dupont Circle and the White House, is among the first SmartScore certified buildings in North America, and the first in the D.C. region. That certification is assigned to buildings that drive cost efficiency, meet high standards of sustainability and are “future-proof,” or built with future needs in mind.
Globally, only 44 building developments have SmartScore certification.
The building’s location is one of the last remaining ground-up construction sites in Northwest D.C. It was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox.