Project Location: Boise, Idaho
Architect/Design Firm: Gensler
Design/Construction Team: Gensler/Swinerton
Completion Date: August 2024

Project Overview

The Micron Early Learning Center is a new 19,350-square-foot mass timber building adjacent to Micron’s headquarters in Boise. This state-of-the-art facility provides affordable, accessible and reliable high-quality early education and care for the children of Micron team members. With children as the design’s focal point, the Early Learning Center has a capacity for 124 children and aims to create a safe and inspiring environment for all children to learn and grow.

Sustainability is at the forefront of this project. Thinking of today and future generations, they reduced the embodied carbon of the project by using a mass timber structural system combined with low-carbon steel and concrete. All electric, highly efficient and renewable electricity-powered systems offer safe, clean and climate-smart operations. The building is seeking LEED Gold Certification and has instituted strategies that address all fields for sustainable design, from water conservation and indoor air quality to sustainable landscape strategies and healthy materials.

The design seeks to drive environmental efficiencies and improve the experiences of children and staff. The one-story, L-shape form with a central entry point from the south and north-facing clerestory windows along the roof ridge provides natural daylight deep into the building, reducing lighting loads. To mitigate solar heat gain and reduce cooling loads, glazing was minimized on the south/southwestern exposures. Where glazing is needed on those elevations, they are protected with overhangs and vertical shading fins integral to the building’s design.

Outdoor play areas with age-appropriate play structures to encourage active play and exploration use carefully selected materials for longevity to increase the equipment’s lifespan. The landscape design reduces water use by incorporating more native, drought‑tolerant plants and improves on-site water retention with permeable paving. Shading of outdoor play areas is achieved with fixed shade structures to support year-round outdoor play.

Sustainability Features

The Micron Early Learning Center was designed with sustainability in mind from the start. Micron identified LEED Gold Certification as its target for this project during the pre-design phase. The project includes the following sustainability features:

Energy Performance

The Micron Early Learning Center is an all-electric building with a thermally insulated roof, walls, and slab and double pane glazing throughout. A 30% reduction in energy costs compared to ASHRAE baselines was achieved by incorporating the following:

• The use of exhaust energy recovery to temper the supply of air.
• The use of a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system as compared to a standard heat pump.
• Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) and indoor VRF units that significantly reduce fan energy needs.
• Reduced lighting power densities by 36% as compared to ASHRAE 90.1-2010.

Electrification and Decarbonization

Since the Micron Early Learning Center is an all-electric building, it eliminates fossil fuels and reduces building carbon emissions for the life of the building. In addition, Micron plans to supply 60% of the building’s electrical usage for at least 10 years with renewable energy through its virtual power purchase agreement with Idaho Power for solar-generated power in alignment with LEED v4.1 BD+C Renewable Energy credit requirements.

Water Efficiency

The project utilized low-flow fixtures throughout achieving a 25% indoor water use reduction. Native and adaptative vegetation reduces outdoor water use by 50%, and rainwater management was achieved for the 98th percentile of local rainfall with an on-site biofiltration swale.

Sustainable Materials

Following LEED’s Building Product Disclosure and Optimization credits, the project uses over 20 products with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) as well as over 20 products with ingredient disclosure. Additionally, responsibly sourced materials are used throughout.

Indoor Environmental Quality

The following approaches were used to improve the indoor environmental quality for children and staff:

• Daylighting 75% of regularly occupied floor areas.
• Designed to ASHRAE 55-2010 comfort standards.
• Low emitting materials are used throughout.

LEED Certification

The Micron Early Learning Center is in the process of seeking LEED Certification with the goal of achieving Gold Certification. The GCBI design review has been completed and construction review submission was anticipated in December 2024. The project is registered under LEED v4/v4.1 BD+C: NC, project number 1000167101.