National Public Radio officials thought they had a solid plan. Over a decade ago, they began to create new offices in the NoMa neighborhood of Washington, D.C., to consolidate 800 employees in three buildings. The $201 million adaptive reuse of an old warehouse plus a new seven-story tower opened in 2013 with soaring ceilings, a 24-hour wellness center, a gourmet café staffed by a resident chef, and dozens of bike racks to encourage cycling. There’s only one problem: hardly anyone works there now.

At least three-quarters of densely packed cubicles that dominate entire building floors sat eerily unoccupied during a tour for the American Institute of Architects annual convention, held in June, and it wasn’t because reporters were out covering stories. Due to work-at-home policies, few writers and editors take advantage of the building’s $44 million in top-shelf audio and multimedia equipment, 14 studios, and six recording booths.

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Developers often make it sound as though their latest LEED platinum office building will single-handedly reverse climate change. The unfortunate reality is that they could spend a lifetime designing and building all of their work to meet the highest environmental standards, but it wouldn’t fix the problem. The planet will grow hotter, the seas will rise, and storms will intensify. A century of burning fossil fuels has baked global warming into the atmosphere for our lifetime.

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