On Monday, the U.S. Green Building Council announced that Q2 Stadium, home of Austin FC, had earned the Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, recognizing the commitment to sustainability undertaken in the stadium’s construction and design.
“From the beginning, we wanted to create a sustainable community asset that Austin could be proud of,” said Austin FC President Andy Loughnane. “We’ve very grateful to our partners at Gensler, Austin Commercial, and the City of Austin helping bring the vision of sustainability to life.”
Q2 Stadium, recently named a 2021 VenuesNow All-Star facility, was designed and built by global architecture and design firm Gensler. Q2 Stadium opened in June 2021 and is the official home of Austin FC, Austin’s first and only major league team.
“Sustainability was a core part of our design approach for Q2 Stadium, centering on strategies to reduce indoor water use, maximize energy efficiency throughout the venue and site, as well as support public transit and walkability,” said Jonathan Emmett, Principal and Design Director at Gensler. “It is an honor to receive LEED Gold, which couldn’t have been accomplished without the commitment and partnership with Austin FC and the City of Austin.”
Q2 Stadium was the first Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium to use Whole Building Life Cycle Analysis (WBLCA) to environmentally optimize its structure and enclosure and reduce embodied carbon. The stadium complies with the COA Dark Skies initiative to reduce light pollution and reduce both outdoor and indoor water consumption from its calculated baseline by 55 percent and 32 percent, respectively.
