As you approach Uptown Charlotte via Interstate 77, a skyline full of daunting skyscrapers and pristine trees immediately fill your mind with euphoric and positive thoughts about the Queen City. Then, the snarling drivers and jammed highways completely reverse those thoughts and bring back the humdrum of the workweek.

 

Well, anyone who dares to take a drive down 6th Street in Uptown on a Saturday afternoon will find one of the most visually appealing buildings in town, excluding the musical Seventh Street Station. ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center is the first public building in Uptown Charlotte to achieve LEED Silver certification. According to the moniker, Joe and Joan Martin first envisioned the concept in 1997. As time and planning progress and money and people arrived, ImaginOn first opened its doors to much fanfare and children's laughter.

 

Now as Charlotte embraces its own green building boom, ImaginOn already wears the bright gleaming crown on this matter. During demolition, 100 percent of the waste was recycled and 82 percent of the construction was recycled at local receptacles. In terms of every day, ImaginOn utilizes energy-efficient lighting products and schemes, sustainable materials and effective environmental education opportunities. The building's construction implements LEED practices and beliefs of sustainable building. The rubber flooring has low volatile organic compound (VOC) content and is 100 percent recyclable. The concrete used contains recycled fly ash, which strengthens the concrete columns and is a cheaper alternative to traditional cement.

 

ImaginOn symbolizes the future of public building construction and the excellent benefits of green construction. As for the Queen City, sustainability continues to echo throughout the iconic skyscrapers and streets of the cityscape. New green initiatives are being announced almost daily and more and more new buildings cling to new LEED standards.