2026 Impact Report
JE Dunn delivered one of its most ambitious sustainability efforts with the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a project designed to reflect Roosevelt’s legacy of conservation while advancing high-performance building practices.
“We’re not just preserving history here; we’re building history for someone else to preserve.”
The project is pursuing multiple leading certifications, including the Living Building Challenge (LBC) Living Certification, LEED Platinum certification, and SITES Platinum certification, each of which requires a rigorous approach to energy, water, materials, and site design. LBC sets a particularly high bar for performance. With only about 35 LBC Living-certified buildings in the world to date, it remains one of the most demanding sustainability standards globally. Projects must operate with net-positive energy, significantly reduce water use, and meet strict material transparency requirements. These standards influence decisions across design and construction, requiring close coordination between project partners and careful selection of systems and materials.
Material strategy plays a central role in meeting these goals. The project incorporates rammed earth walls, low-carbon concrete, and mass timber to reduce embodied carbon while maintaining durability and structural performance.
The exterior skin system was prefabricated in Kansas City by Form Off-Site Solutions using FSC-certified wood. Fabricating these components in a controlled environment improved precision, reduced material waste, and allowed for more efficient installation in the field.
Prefabrication also affected construction operations by reducing the number of workers required on site and creating a more predictable installation process, supporting quality control and limiting jobsite disruption.
Site and landscape strategies further contribute to the project’s overall performance. The design includes a 2-acre walkable green roof with more than 140,000 native plugs across 60 regional species, supporting biodiversity and aligning with the project’s broader environmental goals. The library’s efforts to restore the prairie which encompassed 290,000 native plants were supported by partnerships with Resource Environmental Solutions (RES) and North Dakota State University (NDSU).
Through its integration of advanced materials, prefabrication, and high-performance design standards, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library demonstrates how complex sustainability frameworks can be applied in practice. For JE Dunn, the project strengthens our ability to deliver highly technical, sustainability-driven work in collaboration with clients, designers, and trade partners on future projects.
