Wal-Mart Experimental Green SuperCenter

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This 206,000 square foot retail store was built on a 20-acre site. Along with a second Turner built store in Texas, the two stores were the first of their kind and served as a prototype for Wal-Mart. The design intent was to integrate multiple experimental green features and test their efficiency and effectiveness over time. Wal-Mart envisioned an experimental green building that could generate a substantial portion of energy from renewable sources as well as provide a healthy work and shopping environment for its associates and customers.

During an extensive preconstruction period, Turner collaborated with Wal-Mart and the design team to evaluate a variety of sustainable construction ideas. The team’s research, resulted in a sustainable design that reflects the owner’s expectations for a high-performance building. The facade is broken up by entry vestibules with 35-foot-tall clerestories that rise out of the low roof section, creating light beacons at night to lead customers to the building entries. Green screens on three sides of the garden center, and four facades give the building shade, ventilation, and a living edge. The rear of the building has a solar wall to preheat outside air. The interior of the store benefits from natural daylight from the building entry vestibules, three 450-foot-long north-facing rooftop clerestories, and skylights. Additional green features include waterless urinals, a 50kw wind turbine, porous paving, many recycled materials, PV panels, bio fuel/waste oil boilers, radiant flooring, and an absorption chiller.