Klos Building

After 9 years of experimentation and implementation of various sustainable building practices, the design team set out to design an office that embodied all its beliefs about building responsibly and restoring historic buildings while meeting ambitious sustainability goals. In 2007, a single-story commercial building, built ca. 1893, was purchased with the vision of an architect’s office as its new function. Located on Minnesota Avenue at the edge of downtown, the Klos Building is one of the oldest structures in Billings on one of the oldest commercial blocks in town. The building had been derelict for over 20 years but was last known as the Yukon Bar; historic research produced the name of the original owner, Nicholas Klos, giving the building its new name, the Klos Building. The small homely building was a rather unlikely candidate to be a high performance green building, but it has been transformed into a day-lit work space that highlights many sustainable design strategies and technologies. Much of the renovation work involved restoring the building to its original state. The largely windowless mid-20th century brick street façade, for instance, was removed, and a storefront approximating the historic one was built. Other features of the design center on sustainability. These include rainwater collection, daylighting, natural ventilation, photovoltaics, and innovative material usage. The following pages describe in detail these systems and how they have come to complete the story of the Klos Building.