gb&d Issue 12: September 2011

Green Building & Design The essential guide for sustainable projects and ideas SePTEMBER 2011

gb&d GREEN BUILDING & design SEPTEMBER 2011

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contents

gb&d

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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN SEPT 2011

SNAKE-LIKE. The winding Horizontal Skyscraper in China is just one of the superstructures in our “High Design” feature (on p. 54).

Photo: Iwan Baan.

verbatim 20/

The principal of 11even talks about 3-D modeling and how to be sustainable without sacrificing aesthetics

FEATURES green museum series, part II:

air currency, p. 48

discussion board 22/

Museums are large, voluminous structures that can be difficult to heat, cool, and insulate, resulting in wasted energy. Recently, though, new technologies have helped to regulate indoor air temperature while minimizing power consumption.

ARTS & CRAFTS

How the early 20th-century style is meshing with today’s green movement

launch pad 24/

ESTUDIO VERDE

The firm builds fire-resistant homes for the flame-ravaged California hills

high design, p. 54 Skyscrapers had long been seen as overindulgent masses whose energy usage and effect on the environment were inherently an afterthought. But no longer. Here, gb&d presents three high-rises (one of them horizontal) that are changing the skyline.

JASON HOLTZMAN

details 26/

RUNWAY PROJECTS

Lynch Eisinger Design makes a name for itself with upscale retail projects

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editor’s note 11/ commodities 14/ bookshelf/agenda 15/ memo 17/ defined design

29/

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BUILDING A BETTER WAY

Peter Gluck and Partners, Architects is informed by a builder’s know-how

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32/

GREENING OKLAHOMA

LWPB Architecture proves Oklahoma City is ripe for an eco-friendly infusion

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contents

inner workings 34/

NASH-DAVIS RECREATION CENTER

solutions 78/

play/ Shopping Centers/ MV+A architects Houston Ballet Center for Dance/ Gensler

taking shape

TRI-VALLEY CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS

83/

40/

STADIUM PLACE

Greening Urban, LLC brings

sustainability to large-scale cityscapes

68/

material world 108/

weathering wyoming

Centennial Woods finds a place for old wood from Wyoming’s snow fences

Drumlin Farms Poultry House/ Maryann Thompson Architects

architect to watch 94/

heal/

111/

96/

work/

Rob Paulus Architects Weston Corporate Center/

live/

Pressley Associates

Woodland Valley House/ Barry Price Architecture

Rosewood Court/ Stream Realty Partners

Maziar Behrooz

The New York-based designer works with attention-getting materials

University Cancer Center/ SUNY Upstate Medical University

990 East Seventeenth/ One North Fifth/

spaces

WATER

Alfred University

E.L. Haynes/Carlos Rosario PCS/ Shinberg.Levinas Architectural Design

Thomas Balsley Associates tackles a waterfront park in Tampa, FL

Wichita Downtown Redevelopment Corporation reimagines the city as a pedestrian paradise

106/

Ann’s House/

Grimm + Parker ARchitects

A CITY’S CROWN JEWEL

WE’RE GOING TO WICHITA

GCA Services Group, Inc. used green materials before it was popular

The Alaire/

community

45/

CLEANING SERVICES

Washington-Lee High School/

Daniels Real Estate, LLC’s new project will overlook Seattle’s pro stadiums

43/

105/

learn/ The Plaza Building/Cairns Complex/ Brock University

MacCracken Architects’ multiuse venue could reach LEED Gold status

energy

McQuay International company recently designed a LEED Gold testing center

Minneapolis Convention Center

Laguarda.Low LLC preserves history in its latest renovation project

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103/

last look 114/

The Kinetower

Kinetura imagines a high-rise that morphs as the sun shifts

Orchid Street Cityhomes/ Building Arts Workshop The Breakers Resort/ Bruce Bierman Design Slotnik Residence/ Nathan Kipnis Architects, Inc. Arc House/ MB Architecture

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index of people & companies

#–A

5+Design, 21 Alfred University, 87 Allen-Guerra Design Build, Inc., 108 ArchitectenConsort, 17 ARCS Construction Services, 30 Arup, 60

B Balsley, Thomas, 43, 44 Barret Studio Architects, 109 Barry Price Architecture, 68, 69 Base Building Solutions, 108 Behrooz, Maziar, 77, 111, 113 Belzberg Architects, 49 Belzberg, Hagy, 49 Bierman, Bruce, 73, 74 Bolefloor, 12 Brock University, 83, 84, 85 Bruce Bierman Design, 73, 74 Building Arts Workshop, 71, 72 Buro Happold Consulting Engineers PC, 57

C Calthrope, Peter, 14 Camargo, Maurice, 24 Cantrell, John, 14 CapitaLand, 60 Carl Walker, Inc., 45 Centennial Woods, 108, 109 Chan, Yimei, 63 China Academy of Building Research, 63 China Construction Design International, 63 China United Engineering Corporation, 60 City Corporation Ltd., 15 Conco Construction, 46 Cornish, Adam, 13

D–F

Daikin Industries, Ltd., 103 Daniels Real Estate, 40, 41 Daniels, Kevin, 40, 41 Dbox, 57 Dong, Gong, 63 Dorius, John, 49 Earley, Chris, 106, 107 Eek, Piet Hein, 12 Eisinger, Simon, 26, 27, 28 El Dorado Inc., 46 Estudio Verde, 24 Fielder, John, 108 Fleser, Ryan, 104 Fluhr, Jeff, 45, 46 Form Us With Love, 11 FXFowle, 19

G

GCA Services Group, Inc., 105 Georgia Pacific, 24 GLMV Architecture, 46 Gluck, Peter, 29, 30, 31 Greening Urban, LLC, 106, 107 Grimm + Parker Architects, 88, 89

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H

P

Harrington Stanko Construction, 109 HBT Architects, 87 Hemenway, Scott, 87 Henriksen, Kyle, 108, 109 Hickok Cole Architects, 106 HM White Site Architects, 19 HOK, 21 Holl, Steven, 62, 63 Holtzman, Jason, 20, 21 Horobin, David, 24 Hu, Li, 63 Hukill, Jason, 32, 33

Patten, Scott, 108, 109 Paulus, Rob, 96, 97, 98 Pelis, Tom, 94, 95 Peter Gluck and Partners, Architects, 29, 30, 31 Piacentini, Richard, 52 Pope, John, 108, 109 Pressley Associates, 99, 100 Pressley, Bill, 99, 100 Price, Barry, 68, 69 Prose, Jeff, 71, 72 Prose, Tracy, 71, 72

I–K

R–S

IKM Inc., 52 Jenkins, Ed, 34 Johnson, Jeff, 79 Kahn, Louis, 113 Kinetura, 114 Kipnis, Nathan, 75, 76 Klee, Paul, 88, 89 Knebel, Scott, 45 Knoend, 12

L

L’Observatoire International, 63 Laguarda, Pablo, 34 Laguarda.Low LLC, 34, 35, 36 Larson, Chris, 78 Le Corbusier, 21, 113 Lee, Jason, 105 Levinas, Salo, 90, 91 Low, John, 34 Lowe, Sarah, 34, 35, 36 LWPB Architecture, 32, 33 Lynch Eisinger Design, 26, 27, 28 Lynch, Christian, 26, 28

M

MacCracken Architects, 37, 38 MacCracken, Stephen, 37, 38 Maryann Thompson Architects, 92, 93 MB Architecture, 77, 111, 112, 113 McQuay International, 103, 104 Meinhardt Façade Technology, 60 Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 29, 113 Minneapolis Convention Center, 78, 79 Moebius, Bill, 101, 102 Mongrain, Bruce, 89 Mouradian, Khatchatour, 38 Mushinsky, Allen, 80, 81 MV+A Architects, 80, 81 MVA Consultancy, 60 MVRDV, 15

N–O

Nathan Kipnis Architects, Inc., 75, 76 Neiderbach, Mike, 87 Nexus Development Group, 57 Nitze-Stagen, Co. Inc., 40 Oppenheim Architecture + Design, 56, 57 Oppenheim, Chad, 55, 57, 58

R.A. Heintges & Associates, 18 Reiser + Umemoto, 18 Renewable Choice Energy, 79 RNL Design, 16 Rob Paulus Architects, 96, 97, 98 Robinson, Daniel, 37 Shapiro, Mark, 113 Shi, Zhengrong, 16 Shinberg.Levinas Architectural Design, 90, 91 Siemens, 52 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 21 Spencer, Cliff, 13 Steven Holl Architects, 62, 63 Stream Realty Partners, 101, 102 Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., 16 SUNY Upstate Medical University, 94, 95

T–U Telias, Jaim, 13 The Lenkin Company, 106 The Tower Companies, 106 Thomas Balsley Associates, 43, 44 Thomas, Burton, 95 Thompson, Maryann, 92, 93 Transsolar, 63 Träullit, 11 UNStudio, 59, 60 Upton, Amy, 88, 89 UrbanTrans Consultants, 45

V–Z Van Berkel, Ben, 60 Veret, Jean-Louis, 21 W Architecture & Landscape Architecture, 19 Walker, Scott, 83, 84, 85 Wichita Downtown Development Corporation, 45, 46 Winter, Don, 103, 104 YAS Consulting Engineers, 57 Zimmerman/Volk Associates Inc., 46

Advertisers

AirConcepts Inc., 98 AKRF Engineering PC, 44 Alan Court & Associates, 110, 113 ARXX, 24, 25 Black Oak Builders, 70 Bryan Bowen Architects, 109 Case Window and Door, 68, 70 CCI General Contractor, 39 CCM Construction Services, 36 Chesapeake Contracting Group, Inc., 81 Cobb Engineering, 110 CTA Consulting Engineers, 81, 115 CleanZone, 3 Daniels Real Estate, LLC, 42 Gardiner & Theobald, 25 Greening Urban, LLC, 107 Gutschick, Little, & Weber, P.A., 81 HBT Architects, 86 Hess Construction + Engineering Services, 89 HGA Architects and Engineers, 104 HK Consulting Services, Inc., 76 ISS Facility Services, Inc., 102 Kittleson & Associates, Inc., 46 Lizardos Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, 95 LWPB Architecture, 33 Marvel Construction Co., 93 MCN Build, 91 M/E Engineering, P.C., 86 Power and Energy Concepts, LLC, 44 Pressley Associates, 100 Pritchard Industries, Inc., 102 Rambusch, 28 RDM Properties, 39, 41 Roof Spec, Inc., 79 Rounthwaite Dick and Hadley Architects Inc., 86 Sheet Metal Specialties, 86 Smith Lighting, 33 Sprovierie’s Custom Counters, 31 Stabilizer, 6 SteelMaster Buildings LLC, 110, 113 Temp-Art Mechanical Inc., 110 Timber Pro UV, 70 VVA Project Managers & Consultants, 39 Woolems, Inc., 116

SEPT 2011

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contributors

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editorial

research

editor-in-chief Christopher Howe

director of Strategic Partnerships

MANAGING EDITOR

George Bozonelos george@guerrerohowe.com

Kathy Kidwell kathy@guerrerohowe.com

MARKEting Manager

FEATURES EDITOR

Laura Heidenreich laura@gbdmagazine.com

Timothy Schuler tschuler@guerrerohowe.com

Copy editor Geoff George geoff@guerrerohowe.com

correspondents Thalia A-M Bruehl Matt Alderton Tricia Despres Anne Dullaghan Joyce Finn Scott Heskes Jennifer Hogeland David Hudnall Sheryl Nance-Nash Keith Loria Kelly Matlock Alan Oakes Eugenia Orr Erik Pisor Suchi Rudra Julie Schaeffer

art Creative Director

Thalia A-M Bruehl is a fiction and freelance writer. She has worked at Esquire and Playgirl and now writes about everything from babies to sustainable design. Thalia lives in Chicago with her husband and their little love, Finnegan the dog. This is her second year with gb&d; she was thrilled to have the opportunity to feature three of the world’s most impressive green skyscrapers for this issue.

editorial research managers

As a freelance writer for nearly five years Jennifer Hogeland has written on everything from green building to fashion to healthcare. She finds great joy in being able to interview people— hear their stories and understand their passions—and later retell their tales in articles all can appreciate. This issue of gb&d, Jennifer wrote about two remarkable companies, 11even and Nathan Kipnis Architects, Inc., who are both innovators in green design.

Dawn Collins Anthony D’Amico Carolyn Marx

editorial research Coordinator Adam Castillo

editorial researchers Liz Boyd Eric Crabb Gerald Mathews Bronwyn Milliken Ben Warren Scott Heskes is co-owner of CCMWEST, INC., a construction consulting firm. His career in the design and construction industry spans 35 years. Prior to CCMWEST’s inception in 2008, he was a senior vice president with AECOM. Scott has a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from San Francisco State University and is a frequent contributor to gb&d.

Karin Bolliger

senior designer Bill Werch

photo editor Samantha Hunter

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In two years of writing for gb&d, it’s become clear to Suchi Rudra that sustainable design is a many splendored thing. But whether it’s enhancing study time at Alfred University, presenting a shifting amenityscape from the Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative, MB Architecture’s confrontation with nature, or Estudio Verde’s incredibly fire-resistant homes, the essence of green design—uplifting the quality of life—remains the same. In her free time, Suchi uplifts her own quality of life by traveling around Europe, where she lives as an expat.

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editor’s note

a little ambition

M

aziar Behrooz, sophisticated founder of MB Architecture (p. 111), says his projects may be deemed experimental, but they rely on tested and even classical strategies about building performance—a statement that might be the mantra of many green-building professionals. Behrooz’s Arc House is a testament to his philosophy; check out p. 77 for a close-up.

Other strategies for efficiency are put side by side in “Air Currency,” an examination of air in museum design and part two in our Green Museums Series (p. 48). Exhibit A is the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, designed by Belzberg Architects. The subterranean structure uses the Earth itself to insulate its exhibit spaces, which also feature unique lighting strategies and ultra-efficient mechanical equipment. “The [HVAC] systems are all modulating and use blending of water temperatures to achieve consistent comfort conditions in the occupied space,” mechanical engineer John Dorius says.

In contrast, the Phipps Conservatory’s Tropical Forest building is nearly all glass and controls its air very differently—half the roof is open. “The engineers tried to dissuade us,” recalls executive director Richard Piacentini says. “We insisted they run the study. The results were dramatic. They showed the strategy would lower temperatures without the need for mechanical ventilation.” Today, the dynamic, IKM Inc.-designed Tropical Forest Conservatory is a 12,000-square-foot structure that is 100 percent passively cooled.

Like the museum, another type of building is being transformed. Today’s skyscrapers are sustainable triumphs, towers that increasingly conserve energy, preserve the surrounding environment, use less water—and reuse what little they do—and provide healthy work and living environments. In “High Design” (p. 54), three world-renowned architects talk about their towering ambitions; Chad Oppenheim details COR Tower’s beautifully functional skin, Benjamin van Berkel outlines mixed-use masterpiece Raffles City Hangzhou, and Steven Holl describes the inspiration for his Horizontal Skyscraper, which is as long as the Empire State Building is tall.

Of course other buildings are equally ambitious, regardless of height. On p. 40, take a look inside Daniels Real Estate LLC’s 1.5 million-square-foot Stadium Place in Seattle, a project that, once complete, will be the region’s largest transit-oriented development.

Across the border is Ontario’s Brock University, whose Cairns Complex, Plaza Building, and International Centre are all as scintilating as they are sustainable (p. 83).

No matter the scale or scope, gb&d continues to provide in-depth looks at groundbreaking projects, insights from top professionals, and advocacy for industry excellence.

PHOTO: Samantha Hunter.

Enjoy,

Timothy A. Schuler Features Editor

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up front 11/ COMMODITIES 14/ BOOKSHELF/AGENDA 15/ MEMO 17/ DEFINED DESIGN

FOLLOW THE GRAIN

Regardless of what new materials we discover or create, wood will retain its legacy as one of the world’s greatest gifts to building and architecture. It’s beauty and versatility are unparalleled, and that it comes from a living organism offers a mysterious, life-affirming aspect to furniture and other objects made from it. Here are a few new interior-design must-haves that draw from this legacy.

PHOTOS: Jonas Lindström.

< spatial geometry Though it was already producing wood-wool cement board—indeed it was the only manufacturer in Sweden—Träullit became part of something new when Form Us With Love, a Stockholm-based design studio, approached it with the idea for Hexagon. This titularly shaped tile, made from the composite material and well suited to multiple environments, is Earth friendly, resistant to both fire and moisture, and sound absorbent. Colors and shapes will be expanding in the future. formuswithlove.se

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up front/commodities don’t toss the leftovers Showcased alongside furniture crafted from reclaimed industrial steel tubes at the Milan Furniture Fair earlier this year, Piet Hein Eek’s one-beam benches are made from wood that would have otherwise found its way to the landfill.

Using a single beam for each bench, the Dutch designer’s method showcases an economy of means and makes each a one-of-a-kind item. pietheineek.nl

as nature intended The first industrial-scale manufactured hardwood flooring, Bolefloor eschews artificially straight lines by offering flooring that follows the wood grain.

Using wood-scanning systems, custom software, and specialized cutters, as well as process managers who track everything, these one-of-a-kind floors are better representations of the trees from which they came. Because more boards can be cut from a single tree, the flooring is environmentally conscious as well. As the company states, “Life is not a straight line.” bolefloor.com

new way to rock > Eco-design studio Knoend debuted its Bean Rocker chair at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in 2008. Since then, the fun and funky furniture piece has won awards, garnered press, and earned fans who appreciate the chair’s design, which encourages balance, ease of breathing, and changing postures.

Made of FSC-certified maple plywood, the chair also has a cushion made from organic cotton and comes in a variety of colors, depending on availability. knoend.com

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up front/commodities limber timber > Adam Cornish had backbones in mind when he created his wooden hammock. It is both modeled after the human spine and responsive to its needs; its flexible design allows the plywood segments to shift, offering the comfort of typical hammocks. The recent winner of a Herman Miller Asia Pacific competition, the piece is made from hoop-pine plywood and can be used indoors or outdoors. adamcornish.com

< all that glitters Leaves of thin wood veneer form a captivating centerpiece of light in Jaim Telias’s Alè Lamp. Their insides coated with a film of gold plastic, the lamp bursts from within, evoking images of light filtering through forest foliage as the folds and perforations reference Japanese origami. The shape of the lamp is completely malleable as well; units can be tied together to form larger, evolving shapes. jaimtelias.com

four squares > Wine oak isn’t actually a kind of tree. It’s the name California-based furniture maker Cliff Spencer bestowed upon the wine-stained white oak staves he continually reclaims from wineries. His Modular Cubes, which come in sets of four, are meant to be arranged in myriad ways—stacked four tall, arranged into a square, spread throughout a room—making the 16-inch cubes as versatile as they are unique. cliffspencer.net

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up front/bookshelf/agenda

SEPT 2011

NEW READ The heat-island effect, urban sprawl, increased industrialization—these and other phenomena of cities have always had a major impact on the environment and climate change. But architect and urban designer Peter Calthorpe’s new book, Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change, looks to offer some building and planning strategies that could steer metropolitan areas in a more sustainable direction moving ahead. Calthorpe argues that, for at least the past 50 years, urban planners have favored single-use developments connected by roads, a practice that has only increased carbon-dioxide emmissions and gobbled up valuable resources. His book thus offers a number of solutions—including walkable developments and more community-oriented spaces— that might serve as suitable alternatives moving forward.

Island Press, published December 2010, $35.00.

Recommended Reading Top architects and designers on what you should have on your list John Cantrell is an interior designer with HOK. He has more than six years of experience and has been a LEED AP since 2005. He specializes in sustainable high-performance buildings and has particpated in organized discussions on workplace design, including “The 21st Century Workplace: Creating Sustainable, High Performance Offices,” a panel for the Urban Land Institute Spring Forum and Commerce Club in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also the sustainable design advisor for the International Interior Design Association from 2007 to 2009, and he and his team have completed projects for such clients as Allsteel, Bacardi USA, and Sony Ericsson.

Photo: © 2010 MaiBri Photography.

The Nature of Design

by David Orr The Future of Life

by E.O. Wilson The Option of Urbanism

by Christopher B. Leinberger blogs sustainablecities.dk metrohippie.com greenbuildinglawupdate.com

SEPT 2011

09.21/ 09.24

EEBA’s Excellence in Building Conference & Expo/ Green

INTERCAD 2011/

Valley Ranch Resort, Las Vegas

books

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09.14/ 09.16

The 29-year-old conference offers the latest products and technologies for residential builders, connecting homebuilders with companies innovating newer, greener ways to construct and maintain homes. eeba.org/ conference

CISBAT 2011/

Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria Architects, engineers, designers, artists, and researchers from various disciplines will engage one another on the topic of enhancing quality of life through the increasing convergence of art and technology. vienna-conference.com/ intercad

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

09.27/ 09.29

This scientific conference has the theme of “Cleantech for Sustainable Buildings—From Nano to Urban Scale.”

Globally renowned speakers and researchers will offer insights on the current built environment. cisbat.epfl.ch

The Green Expo/

09.20/ 09.22

World Trade Center, Mexico City A focus on industrial processes and materials manufacturing, this conference, in its 19th year, brings together business leaders, government officials, and others in a forum to address today’s most pressing issues. thegreenexpo.com.mx

RETECH 2011/

Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC A convergence of a number of renewableenergy-technology players, this conference allows engineers to learn from and alongside government officials, executives, and financiers and to see the latest tech ideas. retech2011.com

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up front/memo

VERTICAL city India’s ever-booming population has forced the country to seek out innovative housing solutions within limited plots of land for its millions of citizens. Global architecture firm MVRDV stepped up to tackle this enormous spatial challenge, and recently City Corporation Ltd., an Indian real-estate developer, broke ground on the design firm’s ambitious Future Towers project in Pune, India.

MVRDV analyzed other housing contemporary developments going up throughout the country and found that quality was typically sacrificed in favor of efficiency— rather than aiming to keep both at a premium. The first phase of the architecture firm’s vertical city involves construction of 1,068 apartments and inviting public spaces—including a pool, a

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school, several bars and cafés, a movie theater, and a sky lounge— all of which will eventually be part of a larger-scale development that will include a total 3,500 apartments.

The majority of the living spaces include balconies and natural ventilation, and the entire structure is designed in a hexagonal grid that enhances natural lighting and diversifies the views of inhabitants.

The plan also includes space for several different gardens, some for agriculture and some for horticulture, and the structure’s hill shape, with varying peaks and valleys, will brings character to the city of Pune. The entire project gives an idea of the direction architecture might need to move in as populations grow and space becomes scarce around the world.

ABOVE: The design of the Future Towers in Pune, India, includes ample sunlit space for the cultivation of horticultural and agricultural gardens.

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up front/memo

sky-high solar farm One of the world’s leading producers of photovoltaic panels, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., announced in March plans for the development of a 10-megawatt solar installation in the mountains of Tibet, an ambitious project that will expand the mountainous region’s alternativeenergy sources and help prevent power shortages that recently have plagued the region.

The solar plant will be one of the highest in the world, operating at approximately 13,000 feet

77%

75%

38%

FAVOR SOLAR

FAVOR WIND

FAVOR COAL

alternative energy poll Harris Poll, a global polling firm, recently conducted and released the results of a survey measuring the opinions and behaviors of US citizens regarding their energy usage. The numbers seem to indicate an American public that is open to the possibility of using alternative sources of energy but that perhaps hasn’t yet been fully educated about all the energy-efficiency strategies that can be implemented at home. Respectively, 75 and 77 percent of the population believe that the benefits of wind and solar power outweigh any risks. This is compared to only 64, 52, 42, and 38 percent of participants in response to similar questions regarding natural gas, geothermal, nuclear, and coal power. When asked whether renewable energy and climate change are issues that should be managed on the state rather than federal level, 36 percent said yes, 43 percent said no, and 21 percent said they were not sure.

above sea level, and at time of publication, it was scheduled for completion in the middle part of 2011. The facility is expected to generate roughly 20,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy each year, offering a steady power supply to supplement current hydroelectric energy sources, which lately have struggled to meet the region’s energy needs because of droughts and reduced water volumes resulting from shifting weather patterns.

“With intense sunlight and cool temperatures, Tibet is extremely well-suited for the utilization of advanced photovoltaic technology,” says Suntech founder, chairman, and CEO Dr. Zhengrong Shi. In the last few years, his company has built more than 50 independent solar farms for homes, schools, and community spaces across the region. With this latest project, the international company will be helping the area as a whole.

AIA COTE top 10 For the 15th year in a row, the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) declared its top 10 winners for the year in the field of green design. The committee recognized structures that most benefit their surrounding community and their inhabitants by best integrating building architecture, the natural environment, and technology. One of the more recent projects AIA COTE selected was the Department of Energy’s Research Support Facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a project conceived by RNL Design.

The 222,000-square-foot structure in Golden, Colorado, was designed to be the largest commercial net-zero building in the country. It now houses more than 800 employees, who get their energy from a grid of photovoltaic panels with an EUI of 35 kBtu per square foot per year. Numerous strategies are in place to

keep energy use within the on-site solar farm’s output levels, including ample daylighting, an elaborate thermal-heating-and-cooling system beneath the two main office wings, further heat collection via transpired solar collectors on the building’s south façade, and natural ventilation throughout. Other buildings selected by AIA COTE include the LiveStrong Foundation in Austin, Texas; Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles; and the first Unitarian Society Meeting House in Madison, Wisconsin.

In terms of energy strategies at home, a high percentage of participants answered affirmatively to turning off lights when they weren’t using them (84 percent), using fluorescent bulbs (60 percent) or low-watt bulbs (56 percent), and using Energy Star appliances (53 percent). However, a lower percentage answered affirmatively to implementing largerscale energy-efficiency strategies such as installing low-flow faucets and showerheads (29 percent), adding insulation (25 percent), or conducting a home energy audit (11 percent).

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up front/defined design

Breaking (Middle) Ground When recalling a famed city skyline, it’s the tallest buildings, the true skyscrapers, that always seem to come to people’s minds. The majority of buildings, dwarfed in size, can often stand forgotten, but many of them are no less innovative and compelling—and some of them are in fact more sustainable by virtue of their slighter frames and reduced energy usage. From those with energy-efficient shells to others carefully oriented with the sun, here are a few of the world’s more impressive yet more modest highrises.

GT Tower Seoul, South Korea The GT Tower rises 31-stories into the air in lazy waves—like a shimmer from a heat mirage. The structure was designed with a number of energyefficient design elements, including natural ventilation, ample daylighting thanks to an exterior surface that is almost entirely glass, and passive temperature management of the interior via the glass windows’ strong thermal performance capabilities. The structure also is equipped with a bank of solar cells that supply a good deal of power on-site, and when coupled with the passive design strategies, they bring the building still closer to generating as much electricity as it uses.

Currently, the building is used as a commercial office space, but the environmentally aware planners at Dutch firm ArchitectenConsort designed it with an open, universal interior, ensuring the building’s longevity by making the floors adaptable to any number of tenants and their varying spacial needs.

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architect ArchitectenConsort Team members Peter Couwenbergh, Edgar Bosman, Steven Spanjersberg Client Garak Construction Website hetconsort.nl

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up front/defined design

O-14 Dubai, UAE The web-like concrete exterior of the 21-story 0-14 tower is a dramatic visual element that helps the office building stand out along the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Business Bay esplanade. More than that, though, the holey surface is an elaborate shell that covers the actual building, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been planned out carefully to accommodate views and indirect daylighting through its many multisize openings. The space between the shell and the actual building, approximately three-and-a-quarter feet deep on all sides, also creates the chimney effect, allowing hot air to rise and keeping the surface of the glass windows behind the shell from overheating. This passive cooling technique saves a great deal of money and energy in the already warm climate of the UAE. The office complex also has more than 400 spaces for parking below ground, and the commercial and retail spaces available on the first floor will help the structure fit in with the surrounding waterfront shopping and entertainment area. Photo (bottom left): Sebastian Opitz.

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architect Reiser + Umemoto Window Wall Consultant R.A.Heintges & Associates Size 31,400 square feet website o14.ae

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up front/defined design

Parcels 4.07 & 4.08, King Abdullah Financial District Riyadh, Saudi Arabia The dual structures referred to as Parcels 4.07 and 4.08 are pieces of the larger King Abdullah Financial District project going up as a sustainable, pedestrianfriendly space for residents and international visitors.

FXFowle designed the district according the strict requirements of its Islamic clients, who wanted to make sure the area and its many structures would suit their religious practices. With Parcels 4.07 and 4.08, a pair of connected mixed-use buildings, the first three floors will be outfitted as retail and public spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with residential units in each of the two rising towers. And, the entire facility will be precisely oriented so that the each side works with the sun differently to reduce the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heat buildup while still allowing as much passive daylighting as possible. Thanks to this and other sustainable elements being incorporated, all the buildings in the financial district will achieve at least LEED certification if not LEED Gold. architect FXFOWLE Architects landscape architects HM White Site Architects, and W Architecture & Landscape Architecture Estimated Date of Completion Late 2011 / early 2012 Website fxfowle.com

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verbatim

If we are cold, we put on a sweater. We cover ourselves when caught in the rain.

Similarly, double-skin walls and super roofs are two ways designers can prepare a building for harsh conditions.

Jason Holtzman on why buildings should mirror the human body, how 3-D modeling catapulted his career, and why sustainable design doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be ugly

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Jason Holtzman

verbatim

Jason Holtzman, principal of Chicago-based design firm 11even, has been working professionally with innovative concepts of sustainable design since 1993. He spent seven years at HOK’s New York City office, where he sharpened his 3-D design talents and bioclimatic approach to projects. He’s also worked for or collaborated with Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) and 5+Design in Hollywood. Having earned national recognition with his environmental projects and his personal sustainable-design aesthetic, Holtzman now operates as a design consultant to help others with their 3-D and sustainable goals.

Projects are best developed and designed in 3-D. My experience in 3-D modeling allowed me to move up the design ladder quickly. I’d worked on projects from hospital design to airport design and tall-building design. In doing tall-building design, I began incorporating sustainability and bioclimatics—looking at the relationship between climate and life.

In 2001, I first brought the concept of sustainability and bioclimatics to the table when designing [for] the 4.5 million-square-foot FSM (Fisher Brothers, Sheldon H. Solow) East River competition. As it was not a trend yet, my boss understood the value of this approach to architecture.

I continued designing projects that pushed toward a more sustainable architectural world. Two years ago, I worked on a master-plan project in Abu Dhabi, designing concepts for a sustainable village of 800 multifamily homes, 17 midrise towers, and a retail complex.

Sustainable and bioclimatic techniques can work at any scale. Realizing this was a turning point in my design. I was able to apply the style and technology from tall buildings to that of smaller structures. Interesting things can happen when you do that. With the merger of technology and architecture, home automation was able to integrate lifestyle and to change with the inhabitants.

The first goal is to study and satisfy the needs of your clients. Architecture is about use of space. The key is to understand your client’s lifestyle and then offer them something they dream of while making it bioclimatic and sustainable. These things don’t have to be overly overt. Good design can be green without looking green.

Up Close & Personal What was your first job?

My first architectural job, at 16 years old, was a summer job my dad set me up with from an old friend of his, drafting by hand for a great unknown French architect named Jean-Louis Veret [who worked for Le Corbusier on the Palace of Assembly in Chandigarh, India (1953-1963)].

Do you have a hidden talent?

I love to play bass guitar; it’s a form of relaxation and inspiration.

Name one item on your bucket list.

I’d like to build myself a sustainable house similar to the ones I design for my clients—and host jazz parties inside where I can play my bass and gather with good friends.

What is your favorite quote?

“Never expect anything—just be pleasantly surprised, and you will be a happy man.”

—Harry Holtzman, my dad [abstract artist, 1912-1987].

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ABOVE: The Adam’s Loft in Chicago, IL, is a high-end residence Holtzman transformed to meet his client’s wishes for a home with a hotel feel.

We can use technology and aesthetics to make the environment pleasing.

The Adam’s Loft is a prime example of a simple yet luxurious space that incorporated technology and bioclimatics. The once-cold interior was transformed to have a spa-like feel. The high-end project combined two urban condo units to make one—more efficient—space. By introducing sustainable concepts typically used on larger commercial projects, I was able to satisfy my client’s wishes for a home with a hotel feel. The space was conceived to be a house within a house. Rooms were pulled away from the outside walls, allowing daylight to fill the space. The city views are seen from throughout the 10th-floor condo. A marriage of design and technology seamlessly integrates human emotions and a home. Altering the atmosphere and mood through the use of technology makes the home feel calm and soothing. The bioclimatic features become almost invisible. The home has become an extension of the homeowner—favorite music, light settings—and room temperature is customized wirelessly to match the occupant’s lifestyle and preferences.

I see myself as a multidisciplinarian. I like intrigue. I think of design as being a similar process with just a scale change. I find residential design very personal, which poses a pleasant challenge. Hospitality and restaurant design is also appealing because concepts can be made fast and clean. These clients are willing to take an avant-garde approach with ideas and material selection—they take an approach similar to fashion, seeking the hippest, trendiest styles.

To me, a house should be built similar to that of our bodies. If we are cold, we put on a sweater. We cover ourselves when out in the rain.

Double-skin walls and super roofs are just two of the ways designers can prepare a building for these conditions. Energy techniques result in a comfortable structure, but the aesthetics shouldn’t be forgotten.

—as told to Jennifer Hogeland

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discussion board

Arts & Crafts’ Green Genes The environmental worth of a traditional style has been rediscovered

This spring, along the quiet shore of Dyes Inlet, just west of Puget Sound and the city of Seattle, The Cottage Company, Inc. debuts its newest pocket neighborhood community, Chico Beach Cottages. The development is a mere seven homes gathered around a central communal garden court with pathways that lead gently down to expansive views of the inlet and a looming Mount Rainier along the grey-pebbled Chico Beach.

Like the homes of other pocket communities created by The Cottage Company, the Chico Beach residences use design references from the Arts & Crafts tradition. But unlike sprawling suburban tract-home developments where the Arts & Crafts aesthetic is reduced to a hokey pastiche, the design and planning of The Cottage Company’s homes incorporate the best of a philosophy once thought dead since the rise of more modern architectural styles. Today, many architects and designers within the green design movement are looking back at the Arts & Crafts aesthetic with fresh eyes, seeing the kinship the two architectural philosophies share.

ABOVE: William Morris developed the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain as a response to the Industrial Revolution.

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William Morris, who came from a wealthy family in Great Britain, was the founder of the Arts & Crafts movement in the latter half of the late 19th century. He studied for priestly ordination, but his love of art and the feeling that all men should be able to participate in its creation and benefits led him instead to be involved in the socialist movement that was sweeping

Great Britain at the time. He disparaged the tenements of London and the elimination of craftsmen because of the dubious efficiencies of the squalid factories of the Industrial Revolution. On New Year’s Day in 1881, he wrote, “… it may do a good turn of work toward the abasement of the rich and the raising up of the poor, which is of all things the most longed for; till people can, at last, rub out from their dictionaries altogether these dreadful words: RICH and POOR.” Morris championed the rebirth of medieval craftsman’s guilds as a way to restore dignity to the human soul and uplift it with products and design that were born of the following mantra: Utility. Simplicity. Beauty. His design practice, which produced a robust catalogue of home-décor items, from rugs to paint colors to furniture, was extremely popular up until his death in 1896. As the movement faded in popularity in Great Britain, it found a new home in the United States. Gustav Stickley became the movement’s American champion.

Born of German émigrés, Stickley worked his way up through the furniture business until he owned his own company by the late 1890s.

Stickley designed his furniture to be simple, with honest construction and a truth to the materials used. His durable yet affordable furnishings found a market in the newly forming American middle class.

Arts & Crafts architecture, with its simple, open floor plans, practical built-in shelving

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discussion board LEFT: The Red House in Bexleyheath, England, is one of the many Arts & Crafts homes designed by the movement’s founder, William Morris.

“If you take to heart the very basic tenet of green building, that it has to be climate- and regionally specific first and foremost, then you will understand why the Arts & Crafts style dovetails so well with it, much more so than other architectural styles such as the midcentury or modern styles with their box-like aesthetics. The A & C movement is one of the very

few home-grown architectural styles that truly reflects the climate of much of North America.

Its use of lumber and wood that takes advantage of the vast lumber resources here, it’s broad overhangs and relatively lowpitched roofs that protect the home from sun and rain so well, even the fact that most of these homes were laid out so that their sleeping quarters are on the second floor and the daytime living areas on the first floor. This allowed for cooler first places to live in during the heat of the day—and second-floor bedrooms having more access to the breezes and privacy.”

—Peter Pfeiffer, FAIA, Barley & Pfeiffer Architects, Austin, TX

Today’s movement to return to sustainable design and materials includes echoes of the Arts & Crafts movement of the 19th century. That movement’s principal tenant, that “ornament must be secondary to the object decorated,” rejected mass-produced industrial architecture and furnishings.

Today’s sustainable design movement seeks to make our architecture use careful thinking about the building and its context and environment. Large, ubiquitous buildings

are beginning to make way for smaller, locally grown architecture that responds to its land, users, and local materials and processes.

RIGHT: The Chico Beach development by The Cottage Company is a model for how to merge the Arts & Crafts movement with sustainability.

and storage, and its exteriors with deep overhanging roof lines and shaded porches was ideally suited to the climate and available resources of America. Permutations of the style abounded across the country in the forms of bungalows, cottages, and prairie homes.

Today at Chico Beach Cottages, we can see the elements of the Arts & Crafts philosophy comfortably intertwined with that of the green movement. These cottages have a Built Green 4-star and Energy Star rating with special attention paid to indoor air quality and responsible environmental stewardship.

Cottage Company president Linda Pruitt says, “Our homes are built using simple materials, highly crafted by human hands, in more creative and artistic ways than conventional homes would. However, our homes are also highly energy efficient and are constructed in a higher-quality method than typical. Our homes are simple and smart—with a focus on sustainability—and high performance.”

Residents of Chico Beach enjoy a more human, egalitarian lifestyle that would be sure to please William Morris. “Our first priority is to create an intimate new neighborhood that provides a compelling living experience for its home owners,” Pruitt says, “To be surrounded by beauty, connected with nature and engaged in community with fellow homeowners.” —Alan Oakes

—Tim Rhodes, AIA, Rhodes Architecture + Light, Seattle, WA

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launch pad

Beating the Heat Estudio Verde creates buildings that are both sustainable and appropriate for the area’s rampant wild fires launched 2009 location California idea Sustainable, fire-resistant homes in subdivisions and other residential areas distinction Combining early consideration for fireresistant building elements with increasing requests for sustainable features, the firm aims to design zero-energy residences that can withstand the California climate

What: Estudio Verde designs to maximize energy efficiency, and the architects also make every effort to minimize a home’s susceptibility to fire—which is one of California’s greatest natural threats.

One of the firm’s most recent projects is Horobin’s own home in Napa. The architect was determined to make his residence as fireproof as possible. He says that he succeeded, “to the point where the local fire chief told me that [he’d take shelter in] my house in case of a fire.”

Built with concrete walls, DensDeck roof boards, and other fireproof materials that take care of flying embers and ambient temperature, this Estudio Verde home is “about as fire resistant as you can get,” Horobin says.

Blending sustainable elements (Horobin’s own home avoids the use of a mechanical cooling system) with fire-resistant materials, the firm is creating symbiotic designs, which they hope to one day build into entire zeroenergy subdivisions.

Where: Estudio Verde has an office in San Jose and one in Napa, so the firm can work with clients throughout Napa Valley, Northern California, and Silicon Valley—areas where fires are known to be a constant threat. However, the firm’s technological approach to communication also enables it to serve longdistance clients.

When: Horobin himself lost a house to a fire in the Santa Cruz mountains in 1985, and he swore he’d “do something about it to save other people the heartache,” he says. Horobin first began collaborating with Camargo 30 years ago, and in 2009 the pair decided to establish their own business.

Who: Before British architect David Horobin, LRIBA, and Mexico City native Maurice Camargo, AIA, teamed up to form Estudio Verde, Horobin was a leader in the insulated concrete forms (ICF) industry in the United States. Both men have followed a green philosophy for most of their careers, and Camargo also had a good deal of experience in energy-efficient, high-end residential projects.

When the two decided to combine their expertise, they began putting together models for zero-energy, fire-resistant homes. In the past, they have won National Energy Awards for energy-efficient architecture and State of California awards for vertigal integration of innovative energy systems within their designs.

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Why: The architects point out that while most people don’t think about their houses burning down, fire resistance is a critical factor in Estudio Verde’s designs, especially in the wake of massive fires in California in the past five years. The studio is also looking to achieve what hasn’t been done yet in terms of sustainability on a community scale: to create subdivisions that are independent of the power grid or sewer system. This, Horobin says, is a matter of taking construction philosophies from single-family projects and multiplying them to work in subdivisions.

“It doesn’t have to be an additional cost,” Horobin says. “It’s an investment to make sure the community is safe and will support

families in the future.” And as the economy moves out of a recession, Camargo says, business will continue to accelerate. “[Homes are] going to be far more green than they have been,” he says. “There’s a desire here; everyone is talking about it. There’s a shift in the way multifamily and subdivision homes are being thought about, and it is market driven.”

How: From the outset, the building envelope is the team’s biggest consideration: the shadows it creates, the shape of the envelope, the materials used, the orientation, the relationship with the sun and the wind, etc. “If all that is considered up front, you take care of 95 percent of the home’s energy issues,” Horobin says.

Concrete has been critical to Estudio Verde’s designs—Horobin’s home, for example, contains a concrete mix of 40 percent flyash. Concrete is an attractive material for many reasons: energy savings, fire safety, insurance aspects, acoustic benefits, and an insulation of about R65. In Horobin’s new home, the use of ICFs provides an entire concrete structure with a minimum of four hours of fire protection in the walls. The roof and overhangs are both covered with GoldBond, a thin fire-protective fiberglass, and gypsum sheathing by Georgia Pacific.

Energy efficiency is enhanced through the use of radiant heating in both ceiling and floor (depending on the room function), skylights, and strategic window orientation.

As a result of the structural and fire-resistant aspects of his home, Horobin received the first West Coast “Fortified for Safer Living” certificate from the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), an insurance companysponsored organization from Tampa, Florida.

Last year Horobin trained to become the first West Coast IBHS inspector for the program.

—Suchi Rudra

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Runway Projects Lynch Eisinger Design is known for its work for high-fashion collections yet avoids designing itself into a corner

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Since its inception in 1997, Lynch Eisinger Design has avoided specialization. “Of course it’s been pretty difficult,” principal and cofounder Simon Eisinger says. Though the firm has made a name for itself largely thanks to retail work and showroom projects for clients such as Calvin Klein, Nike, and Herman Miller, it also has worked to be recognized for many projects outside of the retail sector.

“We’ve worked on apartment interiors and single-family houses, multiacre residential developments, restaurants, spas, hotel concepts, an art studio, a nonprofit arts center, and a pair of HIV clinics in Mombasa, Kenya,” says cofounder Christian Lynch. “We enjoy the cross-pollination which results from working on very different things at once.”

This expanded range has enabled the firm to approach retail and showroom projects with greater innovation. The firm has a green

slant, too. “We approach all projects with sustainability in mind but have worked on only a handful of LEED projects,” Eisinger says. “A lot of retail moves too fast for LEED certification.” And, because much of the company’s work is retail and showroom projects, branding often comes into play. “Brand identity requires consistency across many markets, so central sourcing, which also tends to save a lot of money, is the norm. But, perhaps most significantly, store interiors are often conceived as having a life of only 5–10 years,” Lynch says.

Sometimes the firm isn’t even looking at years; sometimes it’s months. When designing a recent installation for Nike, Lynch Eisinger Design had to keep in mind the project would only have a six-month life cycle.

The firm chose 50 percent recycled mild steel as the primary material. “At the end of the

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PHOTOS (unless noted otherwise): © Barkow Photo.

Lynch Eisinger Design

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OPPOSITE PAGE: Lynch Eisinger Design’s Herman Miller Building in Los Angeles, just one of its many projects for top US retailers.

RIGHT: Inside the showroom and in the exterior courtyard (far right), a clear distinction is made between new and restored portions of the structure.

Lynch Eisinger Design was founded in 1997, committed to remaining diverse. Today, it still works on all project types.

installation, we recycled 100 percent of it,” Eisinger says. The firm also decided to use a curved and laser-cut wall, which required no welding; the rigidity gained through folding the steel meant that the firm could use a very light-gauge material.

A few of the firm’s best-known clients include Nike, Herman Miller, and Calvin Klein.

CENTER, RIGHT: Nike’s Genealogy of Speed center in New York City includes a laserperforated and folded wall.Top Photo: ESTO/ Albert Vecerka. Bottom Photo: © LED.

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The firm’s approach to the Herman Miller showroom in Culver City, California, which was completed in 2008, was simply to expose as much of the base buildings—classic midcentury Los Angeles industrial sheds—as possible. Lynch Eisinger Design wanted to leave no doubt as to what was original and what was new. “We used rigid insulation on the exterior of the roof in order to keep the curved wood planking visible from the interior,” Eisinger says. “The new glass walls and steel-moment frames look nothing like the existing wood trusses, pipe columns, and tilt-up concrete walls.” The firm also wanted the structure to be exposed inside and out; the new construction is most apparent in the showroom’s shading systems, a combination of perforated cor-ten steel, galvanized gratings, and wooden-slat screens.

Over the years, Calvin Klein has also been a major client of Lynch Eisinger Design. Today the design firm is responsible for 12 of the

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Lynch Eisinger Design PHOTOS: © Paul Warchol Photography.

One of Lynch Eisinger Design’s major clients is Calvin Klein; it has designed 12 specialty retail stores in different major cities for the clothing company.

Though it does a great deal of retail design, Eisinger’s team designs everything from single-family residences to HIV clinics in Kenya.

RAMBUSCH Established in 1898.

clothing company’s specialty retail stores, each between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet in cities like Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit, Boston, and Denver. The firm has also designed Calvin Klein Jeans stores in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and most recently it has begun working on stores and showrooms for Calvin Klein’s Home Collection.

“When we first started working with Calvin Klein, we began by showing them photos and then diagrams of barnacles, coconuts, prehistoric settlements—all to get us all away from thinking like retail planners,” Eisinger says. “Ultimately, the material choices we made had to do with ideas of mass and lightness—shadow-casting and shadow-receiving surfaces, planes that reflect light and those that absorb it.”

And though Lynch Eisinger Design’s work is diverse, the firm’s showroom and retail spaces have earned the most accolades. “We love this kind of design work,” Lynch says.

“It puts us with clients who are often creative types and who understand that the quality of the design is part of the bottom line.”

—Thalia A-M Bruehl

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WHEN COST MATTERS EXPERIENCE PAYS!

ABOVE LEFT: Calvin Klein’s flagship store in Atlanta, GA, is just one of 12 that Lynch Eisinger Design has completed for the clothing company.

ABOVE RIGHT: The architecture firm has designed luxurious stores for Calvin Klein in other cities including Los Angeles, Detroit, Boston, and Denver.

Designed especially for Lynch Eisinger Architects // Nike Force HQ

Rambusch fixtures are in the permanent collections of several museums including the Metropolitan in New York City.

Edwin P. Rambusch p: 201.333.2525 f: 201.433.3355

160 Cornelison Ave. Jersey City, NJ 07304

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Building a Better Way to Build

Peter Gluck and Partners’ Pool Pavilion project is built directly into a preexisting hill.

Peter Gluck and Partners, Architects reprises its role as a pioneer as it blurs the line between architect and builder

A lot happened in the progressive movement of the 1960s. John F. Kennedy was elected president. Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Astronauts landed on the moon. And nearly half a million people descended on Woodstock, New York, for the nation’s most famous rock concert.

Also, Peter Gluck discovered architecture.

“I graduated from the Yale School of Architecture in 1965—it was a very optimistic period,” says Gluck, whose firm, New York-based Peter Gluck and Partners, Architects, is known for its design-build approach. Inspired by the ethos of his time—peace, love, and community—Gluck spent his weekends during school building houses on Long Island with his classmates. This on-the-job tradition was institutionalized by the Yale School of Architecture in 1967, when it established the mandatory First Year Building Project requiring all first-year architecture students to both design and build a structure.

ALL PHOTOS: © Paul Warchol Photography.

It was that experience that inspired Gluck to start his firm in 1972. “One of the things that helped to form my practice was the fact that in the 1960s there was a culture of getting

Peter Gluck helped initiate the design-build culture with his classmate David Sellers in the 1960s, which later inspired the Yale School of Architecture’s First Year Building Project, which requires all incoming architecture students to design and build their own projects.

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things done,” Gluck says. “We were young and enthusiastic, and we felt we would learn more by doing things than we would by working in an office.”

His hands-on approach to architecture evolved further in 1973 and 1974, when Gluck spent two years designing for a large construction firm in Japan, where the common practice is for builders to handle virtually every aspect of their projects. “Japanese construction firms both design and build,” Gluck says. “Here, the process has become completely Balkanized. There are silos of people who take care of different parts of the project, and the construction process has become a gigantic mess because of it.”

Gluck wasn’t interested in messes. A modernist, he was interested in efficiency, and in 1986 he had an epiphany. Since 1972, his firm had

designed a wealth of diverse projects, including private residences, hotels, and corporate headquarters. Its latest project, however, was an addition on a Connecticut home that was originally designed by famed German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

“We drew the designs, and the client bid it out to a contractor, but it was clear the contractor simply couldn’t build it,” Gluck says. “In order to protect myself, I actually had my people on the site doing all the construction work. Not the physical work but all the supervising. I spent all the time a contractor would spend without getting any of the rewards a contractor was paid. So I thought to myself, ‘Something’s wrong here.’”

On his next project, Gluck presented his client with an unusual proposition. “I went to the owner and said, ‘Listen, I can build this

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In 1992, Peter Gluck and Partners expanded its practice to have architects handling construction management of the firm’s designs on-site.

building,’” he says. “I said, ‘I know more about building than most of the contractors we work with. And I know much more about the building I’ve just designed than they do.

So how about I just build it?’ That was the beginning, and we’ve been building our buildings ever since.”

His commitment to design-build architecture inspired Gluck to found ARCS Construction Services in 1992. ARCS uses the same architects who design the project in the office, who then go out on-site to supervise and ensure the built results. “Because of the huge amount of litigation, architects have been told they should limit their role in the construction process,” Gluck says. “As a result, contractors have taken over, and architects have become marginalized. The contractor will hire an architect in the same way he’ll hire a plumber.

What we do is the opposite. We do designbuild projects that are architect-led. It’s the way it used to be done; there wasn’t always this distinction between those who design and those who build.”

PREVIOUS PAGE: Pool Pavilion by Peter Gluck and Partners was conceived as a rift in the landscape. Less a building than an earth form, the structure houses almost all its amenities below ground.

THIS PAGE: The Floating Box House includes one solid section hovering over a ground-floor section that is composed almost entirely of glass and offers views of the Austin, TX, skyline at night. In the yard, the skylights and outdoor pool glow, steps lead down to the sunken courtyard and art gallery, and the entire house is surrounded by a wealth of Texas live oaks.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The requisite bulk of the Cascade House, due to its many amenities (a lap pool, a spa, and a basketball court) and guest suites, is hidden beneath landscaped green-roof terraces cascading down the bluff to the lake.

Peter Gluck and Partners takes an architect-led design-build approach to architecture.

PHOTOS: ©Paul Warchol Photography.

In the spirit of the decade that launched his career, Gluck rebels against the architectural establishment. The result: his buildings are more affordable and also more sustainable. “There’s so much waste in a normal construction job, it’s unbelievable,” Gluck says. “Because we both design and build our buildings, our cost savings are 30, 40, sometimes 50 percent. It’s important to us that our clients get the most for their money. So we’re very interested in sustainability. It’s deeply embedded in our design principles.”

Peter Gluck and Partners, Architects

In fact, Gluck is committed to smart environmental designs that are appropriate to each client’s requirements and budget. Current projects include candidates for LEED Silver or Gold certification, and common strategies of Gluck’s buildings include daylighting, burying the bulk of the building mass to reduce heating and cooling loads, geothermal energy, and green roofs.

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details Many of Gluck’s buildings are socially responsible too. One of his most noted projects, for instance, is The East Harlem School in New York City, which is an independent inner-city school that provides affordable, high-quality education for low-income families. “I’m a modernist, and one of the aspects of modernism is social impact—trying to make things better for mankind,” Gluck says. “So, we do a lot of not-for-profit work in the inner city.

The design-build process allows us to do that because we can build inexpensively.”

Low-cost doesn’t mean low-quality, however.

No matter what the project, Gluck’s goal is always marrying cost-effective solutions with innovative design and careful construction. “We’re trying to push the profession to accept and recognize the power of architectled design-build,” he says. “We’re trying to improve the role of the architect and hopefully build better environments in the process.”

—Matt Alderton

All of Peter Gluck and Partners’ projects employ sustainable strategies tailored to each client’s requirements and budget, and several are current candidates for LEED Gold and Silver certification.

A good example of the firm’s sustainable work is Gluck’s Pool Pavilion project, a recreational facility that’s part of a family compound on New York’s Lake George. The structure’s built into a preexisting hill and conceals a 75-foot lap pool, a sauna, a steam room, a kitchen, and a theater below its sod-covered roof, which literally blends into the land around it, thus preserving the site and allowing the building to take advantage of latent ground heat. The building also incorporates active geothermal heating and cooling to reduce overall operating costs.

Gluck’s Cascade House project in Winnetka, Illinois, is similar. Buried within a bluff on Lake Michigan, the house was constructed on top of geothermal heat wells and features a swimming pool, a spa, and a basketball court—none of which is visible from above because most of the home’s enormous footprint unfolds below the surface on the side of the bluff, mitigating its impact on the site.

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“Specializing in Green Surfacing Products”

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Custom Counters

55 Laura Drive, Addison, IL 60101 Ph: 630-543-3400 www.sprovieris.com

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details

One of LWPB Architecture’s projects—the Bricktown Fire Station, located in the Bricktown Historical District in downtown Oklahoma City, OK—is set to be the first LEEDcertified project built by the city.

Notably, the fire station was located on an urban brownfield site (an old oil well), one of thousands of such sites remediated by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board.

Greening Oklahoma LWPB Architecture is on a mission to make Oklahoma City more eco-friendly

The Northwest Library is outfitted with a large steel superstructure, which overhangs the exterior wall, and a reflective roof—both of which help to reduce the heat-island effect and increase the building’s energy efficiency.

LWPB Architecture didn’t know the extent to which it would be a driving force in Oklahoma City’s sustainable design movement until Jason Hukill approached the firm in 2007. “The firm wasn’t looking to hire, but I had a friend who worked there, and he said they could use someone like me,” Hukill says. “When I interviewed, the firm’s principals were impressed that I was a LEED AP, which was unusual four years ago in Oklahoma. They ultimately hired me as the firm’s director of sustainability.”

LWPB Architecture soon found Hukill’s LEED credentials to be a boon. For example, one of the firm’s projects—the Bricktown Fire Station, located in the Bricktown Historical District in downtown Oklahoma City—is set to be the first LEED-certified project built by the city—much the result of LWPB Architecture’s push. “When the city hired us, it wasn’t planning to pursue LEED certification, but we suggested it do so,” Hukill says. “Many of our sister cities, such as Kansas City and Dallas,

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TOP: The Bricktown Fire Station is set to become the first LEED-certified project built by the City of Oklahoma City, OK. BOTTOM: The Northwest Library features energy-efficient lighting, among other sustainable elements, and is the city’s first branch library in 30 years.

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LWPB Architecture

Architect Jason Hukill, AIA, LEED AP, says LWPB Architecture always seeks one level of LEED certification higher than it is asked to achieve. For three projects in a row, it has succeeded.

have institutions that mandate LEED, and Oklahoma City does not—so we thought a step in that direction was warranted.”

Notably, the project was located on an urban brownfield site (an old oil well), one of thousands of such sites remediated by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board. LWPB Architecture’s plans also called for the dismantling and relocation of the 10,000-squarefoot building that was formerly located on the site. Sustainable features of the new structure include reflective paving and roofing materials and locally harvested and recycled materials.

When completed, the $3.3 million, 14,580-square-foot building will be used as a fire station and a teaching facility. “Fire stations garner a lot of tour groups, so we thought it would be nice to have signage pointing to sustainable features throughout the building,” Hukill says, anticipating LEED Silver or Gold status.

Another project, the Northwest Library, located in the Glenhurst neighborhood of northwest Oklahoma City, is scheduled for completion in 2011. The $9 million, 35,000-square-foot facility—the first branch library the Metropolitan Library System has built in more than 30 years—has a number of unique sustainable features. First, Hukill says, the building is designed to fit the landscape of oil fields and rolling prairie that’s inherent in Oklahoma. “We used iconography from Oklahoma’s oil-rich heritage, and the building is designed around the functions of a typical oil-field site,” Hukill says. He points to derrick structures and wood-clad rooms, built to resemble crates, as examples. “Oil workers turned equipment crates into living shacks, and the childrens’ program room is indicative of a pump shack,” he says.

The building is surrounded by bermed-earth structures with concrete retaining walls, and it is clad in glazing, allowing daylight to

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details

enter strategically. The library also has a steel superstructure that overhangs the exterior wall and a reflective roof—both of which help to reduce the heat-island effect and increase the building’s energy efficiency. Additionally, a geothermal system further enhances the structure’s energy efficiency by 30 percent more than the Oklahoma City code requires.

the firm is driving the greening of Oklahoma City, which has been playing catch-up with many other greener cities. “We see a need for sustainability in a state that is filled with brownfields, and we also see the benefit,” Hukill says. “Oklahoma City has become a lot more cosmopolitan in the past 10 or 15 years, and sustainable design will only help us increase the city’s urban appeal.”

LWPB Architecture also utilized an active light array that will help the building stand the test of time. “Most of the lighting is focused on the book stacks that sit on raised access flooring—and are mobile,” Hukill says.

“So the books stacks move over time to reflect new user needs or changing furniture, and the building can reinvent itself.” The library is designed to achieve LEED Silver status but may achieve Gold. “We always do one LEED step above what the client asked for and have achieved it on the last three certifications,” Hukill says. Today, sustainable design is at the core of LWPB Architecture’s practice, and

—Julie Schaeffer

A MESSAGE FROM SMITH LIGHTING Oklahoma City’s Northwest Library is a project of which we can be proud. Among the unique elements in the building are lighted oil-derrick structures and rolling prairie berms emulating Oklahoma’s rich oil history and native landscape. In addition, the stack lighting has LED fixtures to save energy and can move as the furniture rearranges over time.

www.lwpb.com

Founded in 1962, LWPB Architecture is a provider of architectural and interior design services for education, government, and healthcare clients across the country. We are a national leader in BIM technology and sustainable design.

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inner workings

NASH-DAVIS RECREATION CENTER Laguarda.Low LLC has prospered around the world, yet its latest sustainable triumph is in its backyard architect Laguarda.Low LLC project manager Sarah Lowe

Last year Laguarda.Low LLC celebrated its 10th anniversary. In its first decade the Dallas, Texas-based has executed more than 300 projects in more than 25 countries. The design firm was started by managing partners Pablo Laguarda, John Low, and Ed Jenkins, and they’ve maintained an architectural philosophy that is open and continually evolving. “To be successful in the world marketplace,” Laguarda says, “the ability to work in virtually any location at any time seamlessly and without interruption with all clients is recognized and adds to the flexible, nimble nature of the practice.”

Despite projects in Europe, Asia, and North and South America— and a new satellite office in Beijing, as well as an affiliate office in Tokyo—it’s the same team of architects in Dallas that run the show, which ultimately affords the firm a competitive edge. Laguarda says that by tightly maintaining the size of and personnel in the firm, controlling overhead, and clarifying management, the partners are able to focus on design and dedicate their time to client expectations across the globe. Yet Laguarda.Low’s latest sustainable achievement, the Mattie Nash-Myrtle Davis Recreation Center, is in the firm’s hometown.

location Dallas, TX completion 2010 size 226,000 square feet

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ALL Photos: Charles Davis Smith Photography.

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Laguarda.Low, LLC

exterior/ The Mattie Nash-Myrtle Davis Recreation Center is a showcase of green architecture. The design incorporates an existing simple brick building and a prominent new oval building with aluminum cladding. The two are pulled together visually by an 18-foot-tall butterfly canopy, which draws visual interest to the existing mosaic murals on the west façade.

water/ Completed in May of last year, the 21,000-square-foot project was designed to meet the pressing needs of the West Dallas community while saving money through a bold new sustainable design. “There is a rainwater harvesting system that’s the largest highlight of the project,” project manager Sarah Lowe says. “Irrigation water is collected from receptacles on the roof, maximizing water efficiency and reducing the burden on municipal water systems. In conjunction with low-flow fixtures, Nash-Davis achieved an exemplary 51.7 percent water-use reduction.”

energy/ The renovation of Nash-Davis increased the facility’s size by 3,379 square feet, yet energysaving techniques and fixtures reduced the center’s energy use and costs by more than 30 percent. “Energy-efficient mechanical equipment achieves a level of energy performance above the baseline standard, reducing environmental and economic impacts while increasing visitor comfort and safety,” Lowe says. “We have a 24 percent energy-use reduction and 30 percent energy-cost reduction.”

inner workings

health/ Additional new features include carbon-dioxide monitors that measure and adjust the amount of fresh air brought into the center, native Texas plants that are drought-tolerant and use less potable water than non-native and adapted species, and recycling stations available throughout the building. “We also went for an organic landscape-maintenance schedule with the city of Dallas,” Lowe says. “It controls pests and weeds without the use of toxic chemicals. This method is healthier for wildlife and keeps toxins from leaching into the water supply.”

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1/ The prominent new aluminum-clad oval structure houses the gym of the Mattie Nash-Myrtle Davis Recreation Center.

2/ The existing gym remained intact and was converted into a new multipurpose space, and the new gym, office space, fitness center, and butterfly canopy replaced the old classrooms.

3/ An early conceptual sketch shows just how little the architects deviated from their original idea.

4/ Laguarda.Low was careful to preserve historic murals on the building’s west façade.

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interior/ It was the gym that saw the biggest improvement: the firm added an NCAA regulation-size basketball court, a fitness center, and a multipurpose room with access to a full kitchen. “We kept the original gym, but it was too small to even play volleyball and wasn’t good enough for a crowd,” Lowe says. “We gutted that and turned it into multipurpose rooms and rec rooms. Now, the Nash-Davis gym floor is made of bamboo, a rapidly renewable material [harvested within a 10-year cycle]. These materials reduce the use and depletion of finite raw materials.”

5/ CO2 filters in the reception area and elsewhere maintain the freshest indoor air quality at all times.

6/ Nash-Davis’ new NCAA regulation-size gym features sustainable bamboo flooring.

certification/ “The city of Dallas is required to have all their city projects at minimum achieving [LEED] Silver certification,” Lowe says. “With Nash-Davis, we were aiming for Gold, and potentially we have achieved that.”

—Keith Loria

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taking shape

tri-valley CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS MacCracken Architects has designed multiple evolutions of the performingarts center to accommodate the venue’s ever-growing audience

architect MacCracken Architects

In 1997, MacCracken Architects was hired to design Livermore, California’s Tri-Valley Regional Theater. The program called for a 1,200-seat multiuse hall but was soon expanded to include a multipurpose black box for rehearsal and small performances by numerous local theater companies. When the original site proved to be too constrictive for both theaters to function properly, a community theater was moved across the street to a location with more space. This resulted in the new Bankhead Community Theater, which was completed in 2008 and has become a highly successful venue for local performers and smaller symphonic, dance, and music productions. “[That same year] it was decided that the Regional Theater, with its increased seating capacity—we’d gone from 1,200 to 2,000 over the years—and support program, was too much square footage for the original site,” says MacCracken Architects principal Daniel Robinson.

“Complications with back-of-house functions and lobby size were an issue, and it was clear that the theater would need to move to a new location.” Approval permits arrived for the new space in early February of 2011.

The new Regional Center for the Performing Arts will be 75,000 square feet with a construction cost of a little more than $61 million. “More than 20 different local performing groups will use it,” notes firm founder Stephen MacCracken. “It’s a multiuse theater that will host international shows, including symphonies and opera as well as spoken word and Broadway productions.” In order to host larger productions, such as Broadway’s The Lion King, the firm altered the stage’s original dimensions by five feet and expanded the proscenium opening to accommodate larger productions. The design team’s goal was to achieve LEED Silver certification, which it has since exceeded, and it is currently discussing the possibility of reaching for Gold certification with the client.

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client Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center location Livermore, CA size 75,000 square feet expected completion date June 2013 certification LEED Silver team MacCracken Architects Team: Stephen MacCracken, Khatchatour Mouradian, Daniel Robinson, Mark Damrel, William Ho; Structural Consultants: Greg Luth & Associates; MEP Consultants: Timmons Design Engineers; Theater Consultants: Landry & Bogan; Acoustic Consultants: Salter & Associates; Civil Consultants: Kier & Wright

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taking shape 1/ A night rendering of the theater shows its profile from the corner of First Street and South Livermore Avenue.

2/ The theater was planned as an adaptive reuse downtown.

3/ Extensive windowing in the lobby connects the interior and exterior.

4/ MacCracken Architects’s design directs the flow of rainwater.

MacCracken Architects location/ “We are working with a downtown site, and the property is an adaptive reuse of a previously developed site,” MacCracken says. The Regional Center for the Performing Arts is located close to public transportation as well as the ACE train, a local commuter rail. California Title 24 has also played a part in influencing the sustainability of the project because many items on the LEED scorecard have been California state requirements for years, “specifically in energy requirements,” MacCracken says.

“We intend to exceed Title 24 in areas of mechanical and lighting energy efficiency, which all help with LEED points.”

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water/ At least 50 percent of the roof drainage will be directed through a plaza in front of the building.

MacCracken Architects’ design moves the water through semipermeable pavers that make up the primary surface of the plaza.

The firm also used a combination of potable-water reduction systems that should reduce the overall water consumption of the building by 50 percent on the exterior and 30 percent in the interior. “Some of these techniques involve using indigenous plants to reduce water requirements, minimal irrigation, use of waterless urinals, and automated lavatory faucets to reduce consumption,” explains project architect Khatchatour Mouradian.

energy/ The Regional Center is designed to use about 21 percent less energy than a typical building of its size and scope. Energy-saving elements include high-efficiency units, building orientation, daylighting of occupied spaces, and an energy-efficient exterior envelope. In addition, the building’s systems include only refrigerants with minimal to no detrimental effects on the environment.

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+95'-6" T.O. PARAPET

+74'-10" T.O. PARAPET +71'-5 1/2" T.O. PARAPET

+52'-11" ROOF T.O.P. +49'-1" T.O. PARAPET +46'-3" T.O. SCREEN

AHU-2 +36'-10" T.O. PARAPET +36'-0" 3RD LEVEL T.O.S.

+36'-0" 3RD LEVEL T.O.S.

+18'-0" 2ND LEVEL T.O.S. +16'-5" T.O. PARAPET.

0'-0" (486'-9") STAGE F.F.

0'-0" 1ST LEVEL T.O.S. -2'-6" CROSS ISLE

-4'-0" FINISH GRADE BEYOND

+95'-6" T.O. PARAPET

+74'-10 1/4" T.O. PARAPET

+52'-9" T.O. PARAPET

+46'-3" T.O. SCREEN

+36'-0" 3RD LEVEL T.O.S.

+18'-0" 2ND LEVEL T.O.S.

interior/exterior/ MacCracken Architects designed the building from the inside out.

Seating is done in a series of levels called a terrace layout, which allows the hall to be wider while still maintaining quality acoustics for an array of performance types. “The glass façade at the front lobby is intended to serve as a lens from within, [looking] on the community that surrounds it—and from outside as a view of the angulated energetic form of the auditorium,” MacCracken says. All of the lobby glass is high performance, and the smaller areas of south-facing glass receive horizontal shading either through overhangs or fixed glass louvers.

rooftop/ MacCracken Architects selected a fully adhered thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) roof in order to reduce the heat-island effect. TPO roofing reflects solar radiation rather than absorbing it. The roof design was created to have large areas without penetrations or roof equipment so that in the future there will be viable space for photovoltaic panels. “Empty electrical conduits have been placed in order to connect these future arrays with the building electrical room,” Mouradian says.

—Thalia A-M Bruehl

0'-0" (486'-9") MAIN LOBBY F.F.

0'-0" (486.8') STAGE F.F. 0'-0" (486.8') STAGE F.F.

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RDM PROPERTIES A FA M I LY CO M PAN Y CO M M I T T E D TO Q UALI T Y

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taking shape

STADIUM PLACE Daniels Real Estate, LLC is creating jobs as well as homes with its North Lot Development mixed-use project 1

buyer Daniels Real Estate, LLC seller King County project North Lot Development Stadium Place location Pioneer Square, Seattle size 1.5 million square feet estimated cost $425 million expected completion date 2015 certification estimated LEED Gold or above

Daniels Real Estate, LLC, an affiliate of Nitze-Stagen, Co., Inc., has made a name for itself in the four years since its inception. The Seattle-based development team, which specializes in intricate and challenging urban commercial real-estate projects, is known for looking at investments with a long-term perspective. “We are interested in investing upfront in innovative and smart design based upon a long-term hold rather than just simply what our IRR may be,” company president Kevin Daniels says.

Known for such projects as the restoration of Seattle’s Union Station and the rehabilitation of the global headquarters of Starbucks Coffee Company, the company now turns its attention to the North Lot Development project. Also known as Stadium Place, this will be one of the largest transit-oriented developments in the Pacific Northwest, and at completion it will encompass nearly 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use space. “The vision for the development of the North Lot started over 25 years ago with the neighborhood, city of Seattle, and King County,” Daniels says.

“The neighborhood realized that Pioneer Square, one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods, was short of market-rate housing, which has led to economic struggles and long-term viability issues. The proposed project will provide approximately 400 more [residential] units, of which 300 will be market rate and 100 will be affordable—60 percent of medium income or below.”

In 2005, King County put out a nationwide request for proposals and selected Daniels Real Estate as the lead development company. Recognizing that the development of the North Lot has been a long-standing community priority, Daniels Real Estate has attended and led numerous public meetings and neighborhood discussions in order to design a project that has community support. The project, which Daniels Real Estate committed to being a sustainable development, is following PASSIVHAUS, a voluntary, performance-based sustainability standard for residential construction developed in Germany, and is also targeting LEED Gold certification.

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Daniels Real Estate, LLC materials/ “The most sustainable approach to materials is to use local, lowimpact materials while achieving a building that is durable, flexible, and adaptable,” Daniels says.

And while the firm will use local materials and non-toxic, low-VOC options wherever available, it also will include concrete, a material the firm will make even greener through the use of recycled inputs such as fly ash and aggregate.

“We’ll use [the concrete’s] exposed surface as a finish material that adds thermal mass and reduces the need for heating and cooling,” Daniels says. Material waste will be reduced through, among other techniques, BIM software and the use of nearby modular offsite construction.

taking shape

district energy/ The North Lot Development project will most likely utilize a district energy system, which links multiple buildings together to share energy; this will create greater overall efficiencies in operations and maintenance. The project also will use a hydronic heating and cooling system, allowing thermal energy to be transferred from one location to another and permitting the sharing of waste heat within or between buildings.

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1/ A rendering of the King Street Station shows the rail and bus lines connected to the transportation hub.

2/ Stadium Place as seen from King Street shows the the extensive windowing.

3/ An aerial of the current North Lot location shows how underused it is.

4/ A night rendering shows the closenes of the two pro-sports stadiums.

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energy cogeneration/ “Trying out cutting-edge technologies has always been a focal point of our projects,” Daniels says. Currently the development team is looking at adding a cogeneration electrical plant on-site to produce all of the project’s electrical needs and to supply additional green power to its neighbors, including Qwest Field and Safeco Field, home to the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners, respectively. The project will mine wastewater and use it to fuel a hydrogen fuel cell-based system producing no carbon byproduct.

landscape/ Seattle is known for its local restaurants, farmer’s markets, and urban community gardens, and Daniels Real Estate wants to be sure to recognize the community’s interest in fresh, local, and sustainable food sources. The project’s on-site urban farm will strive to connect the residents and occupants to their food, promoting healthy heating and physical activity. “In addition, green areas of the site will minimize water use [via xeriscaping], provide habitats for birds and bees, and create pleasant microclimates, especially shade in the summer,” Daniels says. —Thalia A-M Bruehl

A MESSAGE FROM RDM PROPERTIES RDM Properties develops mixeduse and multifamily projects in strong urban cores that are poised for growth in Washington and California. The company is currently partnering with Daniels Real Estate on Stadium Place, the largest transit-oriented development on the West Coast. RDM Properties is known for cutting-edge projects in premier locations. For more information call 206-676-5600.

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SUSTAINABILITY BEGINS WITH PRESERVATION.

Our mission is to develop complex and challenging dense urban commercial real estate projects that make significant impacts on the communities they are located in.

With decades of combining community participation, advancing sustainable practices (well before it became fashionable), complex urban core transit oriented developments, and historic preservation, the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development team has earned its reputation as leaders in their industry.

2401 Utah Avenue South Suite 305 Seattle, Washington 98134 Phone: 206.224.1208

Architecture PlAnning interior Design

community

ABOVE: The bathrooms of the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, located near a playground and mist-fountain plaza, feature low-flow fixtures.

RIGHT: The fountain is a playful way of providing continual cooling and visual stimuli at the plaza’s intersection, fueling social sustainability.

A City’s Crown Jewel Through engaging, urban landscape-architecture projects, Thomas Balsley Associates continues to make a name for itself community Tampa, FL population 335,709 note The greater Tampa Bay area includes both the Tampa and Sarasota metro areas and has just more than 4 million residents. news In 2008, Tampa was rated the 5th best outdoor city by Forbes magazine. Tampa will also be hosting the 2012 Republican National Convention. need Last year in the Tampa Bay region, more than 20,000 families filed for foreclosure or lost their homes at auction. Federally backed Fannie Mae has recently opened the Fannie Mae Mortgage Help Center in Tampa to help struggling homeowners.

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Thomas Balsley Associates, with 35 years of experience, has created public spaces for people of all types and backgrounds to enjoy.

“Families, kids and seniors, mutts and purebreeds, music lovers and sports fans, dreamers and type-A athletes, pleasure boaters and yoginis, mini golfers and Frisbee players, power walkers and slackers all use our parks,” says Thomas Balsley, founder and principal of the 20-person firm. Specializing in landscape architecture, site planning, and urban design, the practice is considered a leader in the renewal of urban waterfronts and downtowns throughout the United States and abroad.

In New York City alone, Thomas Balsley Associates has designed more than 100 public spaces—large and small—including such award-winning projects as Capitol Plaza and Peggy Rockefeller Plaza. A park Balsley designed on 57th Street was even renamed Balsley Park to commemorate the architect’s contribution to the city. “As landscape architects and planners, we are dedicated to finding ways to apply creative and innovative design strategies to our broader goals of social, cultural, and environmental sustainability,” Balsley says. “Our experience has produced projects of virtually every size and type, ranging from master plans to terraces.”

Balsley and his team recently won the Magok Waterfront Competition in Korea, but the majority of their work can be enjoyed right here, from coast to coast: they designed Portland’s South Waterfront Greenway, Baltimore’s Westshore Park, and New York’s Ferry Point Waterfront Park, Riverside Park South, and Chelsea Waterside Park, where everyone from kids to dogs can spend a warm summer afternoon splashing, running, and playing with friends.

In 2005, the city of Tampa, Florida, held a competition in order to find a firm that could help revitalize the city by designing a new downtown, waterfront plaza. “Since turning its back on the Hillsborough River, on which it was built, Tampa has historically lacked a sense of place and center,” Balsley says.

“Through a public-private partnership, the city assembled the park site as its most critical development area. The long-awaited emergence of residential and arts district [spaces] downtown created a fresh opportunity for an active downtown and a park in which to host civil and cultural events.” Thomas Balsley Associates won the competition and began work on the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, an eight-acre project that took five years and cost more than $15 million.

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community

Balsley and his team have always been at the forefront of sustainable design, and their work on Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park is no exception. Beyond such green features as LED lights and bike paths, the firm implemented water systems that capture stormwater in recharge basins and detain it in below-grade basins, allowing native plantings to be irrigated with reclaimed water.

“The park also removed acres of parking garage, surface paving, and building,” Balsley says. “The standard pavers are pervious and albinous for greater heat reflectivity.

Pedestrian light poles were designed in compliance with The Dark Sky Initiative. And we also used poured-in-place concrete, precast concrete, and custom steel fabrication, which were all provided locally.” And as for the dogs, yoginis, and slackers? “Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park has tons of programs, event areas, tot lots, and urban dog runs,” Balsley says.

“There’s something for everyone.”

Meeting toMoRRow’s neeDs witH sUstAinABLe stRAtegies

AKRF is a leading environmental, planning, and engineering consulting firm that offers a full range of services, including: • Acoustics & Vibration

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New York City Office 440 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 (T) 212-696-0670 (F) 212-779-9721

New York City • New Jersey • Hudson Valley • Long Island • Baltimore/Washington • Connecticut

Making it Easy to be Green

—Thalia A-M Bruehl

A MESSAGE FROM AKRF ENGINEERING PC AKRF is proud to be providing engineering design services to Thomas Balsley Associates on the Soundview Park Master Plan, Bronx, NY. This 212-acre park, once a landfill and now revered for its athletic fields, playgrounds, fishing, and Manhattan views, has improved the quality of life of the surrounding community and day-trip visitors alike. We congratulate Thomas Balsley Associates on their vision and on the transformation of this urban landscape.

www.akrf.com

“Tampa is at the forefront of a nationwide trend to reclaim urban waterfronts,” Balsley says. “It’s a dynamic city, which has been hard hit by the recession, but is driven by a powerful commitment to create a vibrant, enjoyable, and memorable environment for those who live, work, and play there.” Balsley sees proof of the city’s resilience through its world-class museums, such as the recently renovated Tampa Museum of Art and the Salvador Dalí Museum. Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park will ultimately be the centerpiece of the Tampa Riverwalk. “The park is the crown jewel of the city’s urban parks and integrates the Riverwalk with the Glazer Children’s Museum, the Tampa Museum of Art, and downtown,” he says.

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community

LEFT: The redevelopment concept, designed by Goody Clancy, for the former Allis Hotel in Wichita, KS, is a mixeduse, residential and commercial space.

ABOVE: The city’s riverfront development concept involves ample green areas along the shoreline.

We’re Going to Wichita Wichita Downtown Development Corporation’s master plan for Wichita, Kansas will transform its Center City neighborhood community Wichita, KS population 382,368 note With multiple aircraft companies headquartered there, Wichita has been known since the early 20th century as the Air Capital of the World. news In December 2010, the city council voted unanimously to adopt a brand new master plan for the city’s downtown area. need One of largest needs of Wichita’s central district is transportation solutions that can allow daytime workers and visitors to forgo automobile use.

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The old downtown master plan for Wichita, Kansas, had been around since 1989 and had outlived its usefulness. It was all about building public space with public funds on public land, and it was right for its time: good things such as a convention center and improvements to the Arkansas riverfront and the revitalization of the Old Town district did come out of it. But on December 14, 2010, by a unanimous decision, the Wichita City Council adopted a new master plan called Project Downtown, where the city and a private developer would work together to build a marketdriven space with a sustainable mindset.

First was the parking situation: 50 percent of the downtown surface area was allotted for parking, and a 2005 study ranked Wichita near the bottom of the 50 largest American cities in terms of percentage of commuters using public transit. The second challenge was developing a plan to attract people to living downtown—thus reducing the number of commuters in the first place. To arrive at any kind of workable master plan, both of these problems had to be addressed, and Fluhr and Knebel tackled them in a number of ways.

The Wichita Downtown Development Corporation (WDDC) was launched in 2002 to revitalize and enhance the Center City neighborhood. WDDC is an independent, nonprofit agency, and its president, Jeff Fluhr, works with the WDDC board of directors, private sector partners, and the local government to stimulate new investment and interest in downtown Wichita. Scott Knebel is a city planner and works for Wichita as the downtown revitalization manager, and he is charged with preparing and implementing neighborhood revitalization plans for the city and for Sedgwick County, Kansas. Together, these men see to the business of planning and directing a comprehensive economic development program for downtown Wichita.

In June 2009, Carl Walker, Inc. and UrbanTrans Consultants were selected to complete a downtown parking and mobilitymanagement plan for downtown Wichita.

Part of the analysis suggested providing higher-density parking structures and connecting those structures with key activity centers through public transit. “Ninety-eight percent of the people that come to downtown drive their personal vehicles,” Knebel says. “We don’t anticipate that changing significantly. But the real issue is that people who drive to downtown also drive their car to different points of destination in the downtown area. So each destination has to provide parking for both commuters and those taking smaller trips within the area.

Essentially, we have to provide for twice the amount of parking in the area than we need.”

Fluhr and Knebel knew they had two big challenges in developing the new master plan.

The Q Line is a rubber-tire trolley that looks like the old San Francisco streetcars, and

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community

Wichita Downtown Development Corporation

Fluhr offered it as a solution to the problem.

The long distance between activity centers, housing, retail, employment, and the regional transit has been bridged by four Q Line circulator transit routes. Even though these lines are still ramping up service, ridership has increased from 8,000 to 45,000 passengers in the past year alone.

us is we have a pent-up demand of about 1,500 units,” Fluhr says. “The housing aspect of downtown is very strong with young professionals, retirees, and empty nesters. As a result, we have more housing developments on the way. There is a very high demand to be living in downtown.”

In addition to the Q Line, overall plans for transit include a new LEED-certified transit maintenance facility—designed by GLMV Architecture, built by Conco Construction, and opened in December 2010 to provide in-house maintenance of paratransit vans and department support vehicles. The facility features extensive use of natural lighting, high-efficiency lighting controls, reclamation of rainwater for nonpotable uses, and alternate power sources. The prognosis for downtown Wichita housing was positive in the report ‘Residential Market Potential,’ prepared by Zimmerman/Volk Associates, Inc. in January 2010. “What the plan is telling

The city’s future potential residential projects can be characterized by the The Finn Lofts, an AIA Citation Awards project for 2010 designed

by El Dorado Inc. The building, a former broom factory constructed in the 1920s, is located in the heart of what has come to be known as the Commerce Street Arts District.

The project created 27 residential units, all with natural light and ventilation. The original structure was used as a transfer point for cargo between locomotives and trucks, and its large square floor plate offered limited opportunities for daylighting from the exterior. El Dorado solved the problem by adapting, removing, and adding horizontally and vertically to the structure. —Scott Heskes

A MESSAGE FROM KITTELSON & ASSOCIATES, INC. Wichita’s goals to bring people back downtown to live, shop, and dine drove transportation solutions. Understanding streets according to their value as neighborhood connectors or as intimate living zones helped to inform the plan’s livable transportation network. Redundant streets in Wichita’s street grid will permit bicyclists to comfortably crisscross the city. Transit service will concentrate on key corridors retrofitted with pedestrian amenities. Shared-use parking will store workforce vehicles by day and diners’ cars by night. Wichita’s plan envisions a time when sidewalks teemed with shoppers and tourists— and bicyclists, cars, and transit shared its streets.

livaBle tranSPortation PraCtiCeS from one century to the next uSe MoDern tranSPortation Planning toolS to Bring the energy, vitality, anD CoMMerCe of the PaSt to your Downtown toDay.

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CirCulator & StreetCar route & ServiCe DeSign BiCyCle network BuilDing traffiC ManageMent & CalMing Parking SuPPly & aCCeSS ManageMent traffiC oPerationS for tranSit PeDeStrian Safety analySiS

Anchorage, AK Baltimore, MD kai ad.indd 2

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Tucson, AZ

Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, FL

Bend and Portland, OR

Reston, VA

Boise, ID

Brisbane, Australia 3/9/2011 3:00:29 PM

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Features

HORIZONTAL SKYSCRAPER. In Shenzhen, China, the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s floating upper structure hangs dramatically over public walking and biking paths. Photo: Iwan Baan.

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green museums series: Part II

AIR CURRENCY Museums are cavernous. The gallery spaces are open, spacious things. And every day, a steady stream of patrons whisks in and out. Heating, cooling, and insulating such structures can be a complex challenge. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s difficult to ensure perfect temperatures year round, and the problem worsens when a museum is located in an aging building with outdated mechanical systems. In recent years, however, a number of new technologies have emerged to help resolve issues of building-wide temperature control and insulation while also minimizing power consumption and waste. From geothermal systems to fuel cells, there are a variety of cost-effective ways to maintain a museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desired climate. Here, in part two of our Green Museums Series, gb&d looks at two very different museums to examine their approaches. story by Kelly Matlock 48

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Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Los Angeles

Architects and designers are getting creative when it comes to the topic of air. Hagy Belzberg and his team at Belzberg Architects began thinking about how they could leverage heat from the ground when they were commissioned to design the $15.5 million Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Their final solution: a 32,000-square-foot subterranean building carved into a hill of Pan Pacific Park. The new building, which opened in October 2010, has one of Southern California’s largest naturally formed green roofs—the Earth itself acting as insulation.

“One of the overarching visions behind the design of the museum was to place the building underground,” says Belzberg, principal of the Santa Monica, California-based architecture firm. “This allows a strong reading of the building’s intended metaphor—unearthing historical content—and the urban strategy of maintaining open space near a public park.” The choice to let the museum blend with the existing park and open space was intentional. “My decision not to use any iconographic representation on the building [was unique],” he continues. “The museum is meant to be part of the park.”

In addition to being naturally insulated, the museum has a high-efficiency HVAC system that uses chilled water for cooling and hot water for heating. “The systems are all modulating and use blending of water temperatures to achieve consistent comfort conditions in the occupied space,” explains John Dorius, the mechanical engineer on the project. “All of the heat-generating and heat-dissipating equipment used was the most efficient possible at the time of construction.” The museum is mostly built from concrete and glass, materials made with high-recycled content. Inside, its displays are all constructed with formaldehyde-free material. “The museum is designed with an interactive display system meant to teach school kids at all levels and in different languages,” Belzberg says. “In a city that speaks over 100 different languages, the interactive and digital displays are a crucial part of the overall design strategy.”

The building also features all-LED and -florescent lighting as well as windows with high-efficiency light filtration. In addition to its sustainability, the museum’s lighting sequence is allegorical, creating a sensory experience for the visitors. Patrons descend down a long ramp into the museum, the light decreasing as they go. Exhibits are chronological, and once people reach the most horrific displays, such as those with images of concentration camps, they are in an isolated room that’s extremely dim. In the most intense gallery, 18 touch screens provide information about death camps, along with video interviews with survivors. As guests move past the more disturbing exhibits, there is gradually more light, and when they exit the building, they are reconnected with the bright light and sounds of the city.

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1/ The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is well lit as patrons enter the structure, but the interior spaces get darker as visitors move toward more disturbing and graphic imagery. Photo: Benny Chan, Fotoworks.

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2/ Visitors enjoy the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s green roof.

3/ The below-ground museum is mostly hidden.

4/ A narrow entry was designed to feel confining.

5/ The use of concrete helps insulate the museum.

6/ The undulating roof reinforces the fact that visitors are underground.

7/ An efficient HVAC system is used for the cavernous space.

8/ All lighting inside is either LED or fluorescent.

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PART II: AIR CURRENCY

Phipps Conservatory Pittsburgh, PA

A living museum, Phipps Conservatory is working with air in slightly different ways. It is not underground; instead it is almost entirely glass. Recently, it contracted Pittsburghbased IKM Inc. to design its Tropical Forest Conservatory. Phipps had worked with IKM before, in 2003, when it commissioned the firm to design a new visitor center, which would be placed in front of the conservatory’s 43,500-square-foot glass house—a landmark building erected in 1893. When it opened in March 2005, the 11,000-square-foot visitor center became the first LEED Silver-certified visitor center in a public garden. “When we started our three-phase expansion project back in the late 1990s, we were focused on improving visitor amenities and support facilities,” Phipps’ executive director Richard Piacentini says. “In the process of interviewing architects, we heard about LEED. We decided that it made sense for us to build a LEED building—we care about the environment; why shouldn’t our buildings reflect our values?”

Following that success, IKM and Phipps ambitiously tackled the next phase of the expansion: the 12,000-square-foot Tropical Forest Conservatory. This structure features a radical roofventing system coupled with earth tubes, fogging, and computer-controlled thermal blankets, which make the structure 100 percent passively cooled. Initially, the project team identified two major concerns: in the summer, conservatories get incredibly hot, and in the winter, they lose a lot of that heat. After asking the engineers to run some computer-model studies to illustrate typical air movement in conservatories, Piacentini came up with the idea to open half the roof.

“The engineers tried to dissuade us, claiming we would ruin the chimney effect,” he says. “We insisted they run the study. The results were dramatic. The study showed we would significantly lower temperatures in the conservatory without the need for mechanical ventilation.”

Next, the team dove into geothermal technologies. “We heard about earth tubes from a visiting professor from Germany,” Piacentini says, explaining that since hot air would be exiting from the roof of the conservatory, they realized they could draw the replacement air through the earth tubes without using any energy. “It would be like getting free air-conditioning. So we stopped construction and had them design and install the pipes.”

Adding a fogging system also allowed the team to take advantage of evaporative cooling, and the conservatory also agreed to install a prototype of Siemens Power Generation’s new solid oxide fuel cell. Though the sustainability initiatives of the expansion incurred extra costs at the outset, they paid off exponentially—both environmentally and financially. A similarly sized conservatory would cost an average of $16,800 to heat, but heating at the Tropical Conservatory at Phipps costs less than half of that. “We built the most energy-efficient conservatory in the world,” Piacentini says. “It has virtually no cooling costs, it’s very efficient from a heating point of view, and it’s the only conservatory in the world powered by a fuel cell.”

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1/ Phipps’ LEED Silver Welcome Center is complete with a Green Restaurant-certified café and a gift shop that sells fair-trade, sustainable, and organic items.

2/ The Center for Sustainable Landscapes is under construction and set to open in April 2012. Credit: The Design Alliance Architects.

3/ Phipps’ roof-venting system eliminates the greenhouse effect in summer.

4/ Phipps’ Tropical Forest Conservatory is the most sustainable of its kind in the world.

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Photos: Alexander Denmarsh.

GREEN MUSEUMS SERIES

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Once seen as symbols of excess, skyscrapers are now grounded in sustainable practicesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; some are even reinventing the form STORY by Thalia A-M Bruehl 54

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T PHOTO: Iwan Baan.

hough some consider skyscrapers to be symbols of waste, when they are created thoughtfully, they can be as conscious of the environment as any other structure.

In particular, mixed-use buildings may be the greenest buildings yet. Consider New York, says architect Chad Oppenheim. When measured by energy use per inhabitant, Manhattan—a place dotted with skyscrapers and high-rises—is one the greenest places in America. With everything a person could desire located within walking distance—or, in the case of mixed-use developments, in one building—automobile use is nearly eliminated.

But buildings themselves too are becoming more regionally appropriate and environmentally friendly. With superior exoskeletons, creative layouts, and façades that make use of the sun’s light, today’s sustainable skyscrapers do more than conserve energy. They offer a new way to arrange our cities and our lives.

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Cor Tower miami

oppenheim architecture + design

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High Design

height 25 stories

captions 01. Wind turbines collect energy without disrupting the view from the rooftop garden.

Estimated Date of Completion Late 2011

02. The building’s skin allowed the architects to deviate from the traditional grid-pattern design of most skyscrapers.

Goal LEED Platinum

03. The rendering of the west elevation gives a better idea of the building’s intricate windowing.

Client Nexus Development Group

Q&A with chad oppenheim

04. At street level, the structure will offer retail space to the Design District of Miami.

architect Oppenheim Architecture + Design

Principal, Oppenheim Architecture + Design

Tell us a bit about COR Tower’s sustainable features.

We have building-integrated wind turbines, which aid in the generation of power for the building. On top of that, we’re reusing wastewater with these great greywater irrigation systems. We also have solar-heated water, low-flush toilets, high-efficiency appliances, and high-performance glazing.

Do you think there is such a thing as a green skyscraper?

Skyscrapers, in our minds, are very green. They take up little land, and therefore preserve land that hasn’t been developed. Urban density is probably one of the misnomers of being against green, but in fact the carbon footprint of someone who lives in New York City is a lot smaller than the resident of the countryside who has a car and is driving everywhere.

What was the biggest lesson that you learned from this project?

We learned that it’s important to conceive of a green strategy in the beginning, as opposed to retrofitting an existing design strategy. You don’t design a building and then say, “I want to make it green.” It needs to be a priority from the get-go.

project team Chad Oppenheim, Carlos Ramos, Juan López, Carolina Jaimes, Juan Calvo, Hugo Mijares, Jessica Santaniello Barrera, Rodrigo Londoño, and Camilo Orozco

05. The tower is also outfitted with greywater irrigation systems, solar-heated water, low-flush toilets, high-efficiency appliances, and highperformance glazing.

Structural Design YAS Consulting Engineers Energy Consultant Buro Happold Consulting Engineers PC Renderings Dbox

02

Tell me about the building’s exoskeleton shell. It functions as the support structure for the building, right?

We were brainstorming strategies that would allow us to remove columns from the building—this would allow us to create more efficient spaces inside. Eventually we talked about making the “skin” the structure, as that would allow us to free ourselves from the walls and columns that normally break up a building. That was really the genesis of it. The exoskeleton actually holds 30 wind turbines as well.

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“Skyscrapers, in our minds, are very green.

They take up little land and therefore preserve land that hasn’t been developed.”

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Raffles City hangzhou

Hangzou, China

UNStudio

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High Design

height 60 stories (2 towers) Estimated Date of Completion Mid 2012 Client CapitaLand

Q&A with Ben van Berkel

captions 01. A rendering of the two towers in Raffles City Hangzou showcases their dramatic curves.

02. Models for urban living of the future, the towers will be mixed-use structures people can live, shop, and socialize in without ever getting in a car.

architect UNStudio

03. Test panelling for the courtyard façade was, like the rest of the building, inspired by the surrounding landscape of China.

Goal Built to LEED requirements

04. A small-scale model gives a full idea of the structure’s distinctive, flowing shape.

Concept Design and Schematic Design Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos, and Astrid Piber— with Hannes Pfau and Markus van Aalderen

05. Top-view models indicate the intricate design descending into the building’s interior.

Principal, UNStudio

What are the key sustainable elements of Raffles City?

The most important thing is how we chose to orientate sun loads and heat loads on the façade. Also, we structured the project so it could generate and reflect the light quality where we did not have the open façade, in an effort to bring more daylight into the interior.

What was your inspiration for it?

I was inspired by the landscape of the city, the beautiful lakes and wonderful mountains. I think it’s a very unusual city, to me, a very un-Chinese city. The first time I was there, the qualities of the landscape and the city were such an inspiration to me.

The design is very landscape oriented. And we designed for the views—the urban views as well as the more natural ones.

project Team Juliane Maier, Marc Salemink, Shu Yan Chan, Andreas Bogenschuetz, Marina Bozukova, Brendon Carlin, Miklos Deri, Gary Freedman, Juergen Heinzel, Alexander Hugo, Abhijit Kapade, Marcin Koltunski, Fernie Lai, James Leng, Tom Minderhoud, Peter Moerland, Rudi Nieveen, Hans-Peter Nuenning, Hyunil Oh, Yi Cheng Pan, Steffen Riegas, Rikjan Scholten, Ioana Sulea, Christian Veddeler, Luming Wang, Zhenfei Wang, Rein Werkhoven, and Georg Willheim

Do you believe there’s such a thing as a green skyscraper?

Is your building one?

Sure, but I’m always very careful when I use that phrase. I often see that green is only connected to the “at-home” elements rather than being totally integrated into the design. The green needs to be at an intelligent level, sustainable as well as obtainable.

Combined with all the aspects of the interior, the safe-powered elevators, and more, the environmental qualities are high.

Advisor China United Engineering Corporation

You’ve mentioned the project as a “one-stop shop.”

What do you mean by that?

The project is a mixed-use development with office, retail, residential, and hotel space. People could stay for, like, a week and never leave. That’s the thing that’s most interesting about the latest sustainable planning; it’s important because it allows people not to need to travel to too many new locations. It is an opportunity in this type of urban planning, to be sustainable.

And then there is less need for a car, obviously.

Transport consultants MVA Consultancy

Mechanical Engineering Arup Façade Meinhardt Façade Technology

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Can you describe the towers in three words?

Cosmopolitan, functional, complex.

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Steven Holl Architects

What are some of the building’s green features?

It utilizes greywater recycling, rainwater harvesting, green roofs, dynamically controlled operable louvers, and high-performing glass. The 1,400 square meters of photovoltaic panels on the roof provide 12.5 percent of the total electric energy demand for Vanke Headquarters, the building’s main tenant. Renewable materials are used throughout the Vanke Headquarters for doors, floors, and furniture.

Principal, Steven Holl Architects

What is most unique about this building?

The Horizontal Skyscraper is an innovative example of the large-scale, hybrid-use building that challenges the usual developer typologies. Also, because the building hovers above the landscape, we’ve been able to get 75,000 square meters of green space on the 60,000-square-meter site. The building leaves the landscape free, and the green roof adds even more green space. In terms of structure, this building is groundbreaking in its use of cable-stay bridge technology merged with a high-strength concrete frame. The first structure of its type, it has tension cables carrying a record load of 3,280 tons.

Has Steven Holl Architects worked on many green skyscrapers?

Is the firm known for work in this niche?

Not specifically, no. I believe that architecture needs to be completely anchored in its program and site. The meaning must be so deeply rooted in the conditions of its inception that it’s unfazed by fashion.

What did you gain working on this project?

I have always been concerned with certain issues and ideas, including new urban form and the density of the city, public open space, renewable-energy strategies, qualities of light material and detail. I am amazed to be able to address these concerns directly—and to realize a work as large as the Horizontal Skyscraper in good detail is a joy.

horizontal skyscraper

Shenzhen, China

Q&A with steven holl

What was your inspiration for the Horizontal Skyscraper?

Our idea was to have part of the structure underground and part of it floating above. This way, everyone gets an ocean view, and all of the landscape becomes public space.

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Height Less than 115 feet, but its length is equivalent to 102 stories Goal LEED Platinum Date of Completion 2009 Architects Steven Holl and Li Hu Project Managers Yimei Chan and Gong Dong Project Architects Garrick Ambrose, Maren Koehler, Jay Siebenmorge, Christopher Brokaw, Rodolfo Dia, and Eric Li Project Team Jason Anderson, Guanlan Cao, Clemence Eliard, Forrest Fulton, Nick Gelpi, M. Emran Hossain, Kelvin Jia, Seung Hyun Kang, JongSeo Lee, Wan-Jen Lin, Richard Liu, Jackie Luk, Chris McVoy, Enrique Moya-Angeler, Roberto Requejo, Michael Rusch, Jiangtao Shen, Filipe Taboada, and Manta Weihermann

Project Team (Competition Phase) Steven Holl, Li Hu, Gong Dong, Justin Allen, Garrick Ambrose, Johnna Brazier, Kefei Cai, Yenling Chen, Hideki Hirahara, Eric Li, and Filipe Taboa

captions 01. Floating one large structure right under the 35-meter height limit saves the greatest possible amount of green space on the ground level.

Associate Architect China Construction Design International (CCDI)

02. Each of the building’s 26 faces has been calculated based on solar heat gain, and louvers are fine-tuned to solar orientation.

Climate Engineer Transsolar

03. The Horizontal Skyscraper’s length is equivalent to the height of the Empire State Building.

Structural Engineers China Academy of Building Research (CABR) and CCDI

04. Sections and elevations show the extent of the floating section’s cantilevered pose.

Lighting Consultant L’Observatoire International

05. At another point, the floating section hangs over a small pond.

Mechanical Engineer CCDI

06. Perforated blinds temper solar heat gain while still allowing a significant amount of light.

Landscape Architects Steven Holl Architects and CCDI

07. The elevator lobby of the Vanke Headquarters includes wall patterns modeled after building plans.

08. Vanke Headquarters’ “untied bowtie” social space is complexly and dramatically angled.

09. The building’s outdoor public space is designed to accommodate both pedestrians and bikers. photo credits 01, 05/ Iwan Baan 02, 06, 07, 08/ Shu Hu 09/ Steven Holl Architects

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ARC HOUSE. MB Architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parabolic house design plays with space and material to achieve sustainability with dramatic flair.

Photo: Matthew Carbone.

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Woodland Valley House/ BARRY PRICE ARCHITECTURE

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Orchid Street Cityhomes/ BUILDING ARTS WORKSHOP

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Minneapolis Convention Center

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Ann’s House/ ALFRED UNIVERSITY

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E.L. Haynes/Carlos Rosario PCS/ SHINBERG.LEVINAS ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

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Drumlin Farms Poultry House/ MARYANN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS

The Plaza Building/Cairns Complex/ BROCK UNIVERSITY

University Cancer Center/ SUNY Upstate Medical University

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990 East Seventeenth/One North Fifth/ ROB PAULUS ARCHITECTS

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Weston Corporate Center/ PRESSLEY ASSOCIATES

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Rosewood Court/ STREAM REALTY PARTNERS

Houston Ballet Center for Dance/ GENSLER

Slotnik Residence/ NATHAN KIPINIS ARCHITECTS, INC.

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woodland valley house

adhering to the principles A recent Barry Price Architecture residence illustrates why a simple approach is best when pursuing sustainability

by Sheryl Nance-Nash

What architect Barry Price wanted was to own a small practice and work from his home in the rural yet sophisticated community of Bearsville, New York. With that in mind, in 1994, Price started Barry Price Architecture, a residential and commercial architectural firm that specializes in new construction, renovations, and additions.

Price is big on sustainability, but he’s also an advocate of simplicity. “While the use of recycled and reclaimed building materials, mechanical systems utilizing renewable-energy resources, [and] high-performance thermal-envelope systems all contribute to the realization of sustainable buildings, the process of designing sustainable architecture begins with basic planning principles that embrace limiting building size, giving consideration to solar orientation/exposure, and efficient building configuration,” Price says. “It is not until these basic planning principles have been addressed that the appropriate and disciplined selection of building materials and systems can be pursued as an extension of the fundamental architectural strategy.”

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Though Price is interested in modern architecture, he also embraces regionalism. “A building should feel like the place it is to be located,” he says. Price sees an inherent conflict in disturbing an undeveloped landscape with a new building. His love of the landscape of upstate New York keeps him focused on environmental preservation.

“Sustainable design has forced me to think differently about architectural form, about how to integrate all the elements required to make a building really work,” he says. Price says that most of the products specified by the firm are checked against the database on buildinggreen. com to see what passes muster, and he attempts to source materials locally as much as possible. “If you cut a healthy tree down, there should be a good reason for doing so,” Price says, “and it is the obligation of the architect to provide for its utilization in something intended to last for a long time.”

Among the examples of his firm’s integration of style and performance is the Woodland Valley House in Phoenicia, New York. The home, which was completed in the spring of 2010, has asymmetrical gables that control the amount of natural light allowed into the interiors, reducing the need for air-conditioning during the summer months. “It’s rustic in feeling but modern in detailing, utilizing textures like live-edge siding that reference the local character of the valley,” Price says. The house is well insulated, heated with a radiating wood stove, but it also includes second-stage open-loop (no wells) geothermal heating and cooling, significantly reducing and offsetting the reliance of the house on fossil-fuel utilities.

Right now, a big challenge for the firm is staying busy.

“I’ve been concerned about the residential market and how we can increase our footprint,” says Price, who’s trying to enter the institutional market. “There are a couple of colleges in the area, and we are currently engaged in several projects with one of them. Institutions provide the opportunity to establish a relationship with repeat clients.”

What wisdom can Price share from almost 20 years in business? “Always be ready to have people surprise you,” he says. “Many of our best jobs come from seemingly unlikely inquiries, like a cryptic e-mail that introduced the most ambitious house project we have engaged to date.

You never know where the work is going to come from, so don’t prejudge.” Most important, it’s about keeping people happy. “This is a referral business. You have to develop a reputation for quality and integrity,” he says. “It’s the little things, like returning phone calls promptly and attending meetings both prepared and on time. Do that, and you’re on your way.” gb&d

A MESSAGE FROM CASE WINDOW AND DOOR Located in upstate New York, Case Window and Door is a manufacturer of classic European and contemporary windows and doors made from any appropriate wood species, wood with aluminum or bronze cladding, and thermally broken steel and stainless steel. We are dedicated to making the highest quality windows and doors available anywhere. Our work is project-based. We take pride in solving technically challenging designs. Our customer service is the best in the industry.

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PHOTOS: Joshua Sheldon.

Barry Price Architecture

“Sustainable design has forced me to think differently about architectural form—about how to integrate all the elements required to make a building really work.“ —Barry Price, Owner

OPPOSITE PAGE: Woodland Valley House isn’t heated by a fireplace alone; it’s outfitted with a geothermal system.

ABOVE: Extensive windowing provides ample daylighting.

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RIGHT: Models and plans helped Barry Price maximize energy use, and the rustic yet modern home’s liveedge siding evokes the surrounding New York forest.

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ALL PHOTOS: Bob Zaikoski.

spaces/live

LEFT: The kitchens of the Orchid Street Cityhomes consist of locally sourced and manufactured materials in the cabinets, countertops, and stairsteps.

BELOW: The residences were built to fit a dramatic, sloping terrain.

Orchid STreet Cityhomes

live-in architects The founders of Building Arts Workshop lived for a time in one of their projects, allowing them a tenant’s view and first-hand look at sustainability

by Sheryl Nash

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In 2008, Portland, Oregon-based design-build outfit Building Arts Workshop won first place in the Portland Spaces Root Awards for its Orchid Street Cityhomes, two LEED Platinum-certified row houses completed that year. The homes also taught the builders something. “We lived in one of the Orchid Street rowhouses for a couple of years,” says Tracy Prose, who cofounded Building Arts Workshop with her husband Jeff in 2006. “We saw the kind of difference you achieve through our utility bills.”

Sustainable features included in the award-winning Orchid Street Cityhomes project were a solar hot-water system with a timed element backup, a rainwater-harvest system, radiant-heated concrete floors, no-VOC paint and natural finishes, and locally sourced materials.

The success of this project was in part due to the couple’s mantra: “Design comes first,” Tracy exlains. Both Jeff and Tracy are architects and Jeff is a general contractor. It’s a one-two punch that has given them an edge over competitors. “We are architect-led where some other design-build firms are contractor-led,” says Tracy, whose 20-plus years of experience in institutional and commercial projects complements Jeff’s expertise in residential work. “Because Jeff has a background in both, we are able to bring a wealth of information to the table at the beginning of a project.”

By combining roles, projects advance under guidance of design, constructability, and budget. For many clients, the design-build process beautifully replaces the timeand cost-intensive aspects of design-bid-build. “When we explain our services, it gives clients reassurance that we will have a good handle on the scope and the budget of the project,” Jeff says. “They value that they won’t have to go back and forth between architect and contractor. We are a one-stop shop.” Fundamentally, their work is guided by the principals of sustainability and designed for modern

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Building Arts Workshop

RIGHT: Double-height windows bring in more daylight, and white walls reflect it to illuminate every corner.

BELOW: Sustainably harvested bamboo is used for cabinets and wall paneling, evoking a spa-like feel.

“It’s our job to educate our clients on the importance of incorporating green measures and persuade them to include them whenever we can.”

—Tracy Prose, Co-Owner

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life. “Green design is a leading factor in our business model, and we are stewards for change,” Tracy says. “It’s our job to educate our clients on the importance of incorporating green measures and persuade them to include them whenever we can. Quite frankly too, when it comes to building performance, sustainable practices make a better building.”

Jeff explains their passion: “We live on a planet with finite resources, and that’s not changing. Each person must do what they do with that in mind. In whatever you do, you must be respectful of other people. You can’t be selfish; you have to share resources.”

The firm is now working on a single-family residence in Vancouver, Washington, that has geothermal heating using the existing water well, a domestic solar hot-water pre-heat system, an advanced insulation system including a spray-foam polar blanket, in-floor radiant heat, cedar siding with rainscreening, no-VOC paint, and advanced framing that minimizes material use.

Five years into their entrepreneurial venture, there have been some growing pains. “Every project has pleasant and unpleasant surprises,” Jeff says of the couple’s decision to go into business for themselves. “There are things you just don’t know until you jump in. You realize how many hats it takes to run the business. Despite that fact, there are no regrets.”

“The days admittedly are longer, and the weekends shorter,” Tracy says, “but the gratification is tenfold.”

The couple works on client projects, including one for an architect owner, as well as their own development projects. Their approach is deliberate. Every project, new or remodel, residential or commercial, must reflect purpose, place and client. gb&d

gbdmagazine.com

spaces/live The Breakers Resort

break it up New York-based Bruce Bierman Design creates flexible spaces and uses sustainable planning for clients whose needs evolve and change over time

by Scott Heskes

BELOW: Many of the rooms of The Breakers Resort condo can be converted to temporary bedrooms thanks to convertible sofas and soundproof doors between spaces.

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The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, Florida, is the site of a 4,100-square-foot gut renovation for a New York City family who bought and renovated a penthouse with the idea of using it as a second home. Choosing Bruce Bierman Design, the family was able to work into the space a longrange plan for sustainable living, the result being a home flexible enough to fit the nuclear family plus any guests or extended family members—all without a reduction in the unit’s future salability.

One of the first things Bruce Bierman does with a new project is to ask his clients to think about how they move through and use their home. He did that with the New York couple when they approached him to design their condominium in Palm Beach. With grown children, the clients bought the property for use during half the year.

“The last second home they had had a number of extra bedrooms for the children that were never used,” Bierman says. “Actually, they said their children never came to visit them at all.” Bierman suspected intuitively that the old second home was something that just didn’t work for the family. How many days, he asked, would the clients be having guests in the new home? About seven was the answer. Bierman thus offered to design the space for the other 180 days the clients wouldn’t be using it, and this made a lot of sense to them.

“In this project, many of the rooms serve as dualpurpose spaces,” Bierman says. The study becomes a guest bedroom with a full-size day bed and en suite bathroom.

The library has an en suite bathroom and dressing room, and the library sofa converts to a bed. Both rooms are adjacent to the master bedroom and have entrances to the master bedroom that can remain closed off and soundproof. “If the children stayed, they would have privacy,” Bierman says. “I like to design for everyday use rather than for occasion-driven events, which almost never happen.

The client called me the other day, and she said, ‘Now we

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Bruce Bierman Design

“Architects and designers often stop at what they see as a finished product, as if the pictures you have of the project are the end result. To me sustainable design is not just doing it to the point of design.”

—Bruce Bierman, Founder

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TOP LEFT: The Breakers Resort’s kitchen countertops are made of dense stone pietra cardoza.

BOTTOM LEFT: Living area walls were constructed of sustainable bamboo veneer.

RIGHT: One of the three and a half bathrooms in the (technically) onebedroom condo.

don’t have a defined room for my daughter and her husband or my single son; they visit all the time.’”

Bierman jokingly refers to the flexibly designed condo as a “4,100-square-foot one bedroom with three-and-ahalf baths.” The client requested a Caribbean beach-house look, so Bierman worked tropical elements into the design and chose mostly locally made materials with low off-gassing. He also made a point of reusing much of the furniture, reupholstering it and moving pieces into different rooms to give the appearance of something new. He used bamboo veneer on the walls in the living room and kitchen, and he brought in durable dense-stone pietra cardoza for the countertops. “We chose things for durability, cost, and not a lot of upkeep,” Bierman says.

Sometimes Bierman points out that manufactured items, because they may last longer, might in the long run be more sustainable. In fact, overall, he believes his industry needs to look beyond the pragmatic implementation of methods and materials toward a long-term plan for a space. “Architects and designers often stop at what they see as a finished product, as if the pictures you have of the project are the end result,” he says. “For me, sustainable design is not just doing it to the point of design. Does the design give the family flexibility to grow and not have to make changes in the future? If sold, would someone else have to make a number of changes? This is what sustainable design means to me.” gb&d

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spaces/live RIGHT: The Slotnik Residence’s green systems include photovoltaic panels on the lower, sloped roof, solar thermal panels on the steeper roof, and a green roof located in the middle.

BELOW: The home is set to be one of the first LEED Platinum residences in the state of Illinois.

slotnik residence

ultimate exposure Nathan Kipnis Architects split a LEED Platinumtargeting Illinois home down the middle for better solar orientation

by Jennifer Hogeland

It wasn’t until he started his own firm that Nathan Kipnis could really push green practices, and the architect quickly earned a reputation for integrating sustainability with design excellence. Kipnis even trademarked a name for his concept: “High Design, Low Carbon.”

Interest in green design has become a hot topic among the Chicago- and Great Lakes-area clients of Nathan Kipnis Architects, Inc. Kipnis says he is approached with all types of wild ideas, but most clients are still budget conscious. If his firm is able to identify one green idea to accomplish two or more things, that tends to be the way to get that element actually integrated into the design.

While many shy away from LEED certification, one of his clients was determined to push all the way for Platinum, and the client’s Slotnik Residence in Glencoe, Illinois, is now on track to be one of the first LEED Platinum homes in the state.

“This site was challenging because it didn’t have a great southern exposure,” Kipnis says. “Given its orientation, we decided to split the house in half so it had two separate

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Nathan Kipnis Architects, Inc. of its business in 2010. “That entailed some retail, some restaurant work, and a whole lot of planning work for O’Hare’s Terminal 5—something unusual for a firm of our size,” Kipnis says. “We really have few limitations.”

Kipnis knew he wanted to be an architect at the age of six. His interest in energy-efficient building design was spurred by the 1973 oil embargo. In 1979 he went to the University of Colorado–Boulder because it had a solid solar architecture program. Later he went on to get a master’s in architecture—with an emphasis in energyconscious design—from Arizona State. “I had a full energy-design degree in 1985,” he says, “and nothing to do with it.” Things are a little different now. gb&d

“Given its orientation, we decided to split the house in half so it had two separate squares.”

—Nathan Kipnis, President

squares.” A usable green roof was placed in the middle of the house above the first floor—the master bedroom looks out on the green roof, and guests can enjoy the view walking up the stairs.

The home’s roof combines solar photovoltaics, solar thermal panels, and water collection. Varying roof slopes and solar-panel angles allow the home to get more winter sun and less summer sun. “On the backside of the roof, it is long and sloping, which is the angle of the low winter sun,” Kipnis says. “The low winter sun follows the roof angle down and goes right into the master bedroom. On the south side, right under the solar-thermal panels, the windows all get direct solar gain.” By contrast, the overhang shades the high sun in summer.

Green materials also were incorporated in the home.

The roof itself is made from recycled materials—it is asymmetrically angled to maximize water collection rain barrels—and the home’s exterior is cement siding board.

Inside, countertops were made from recycled glass and concrete, the cabinets are eco-friendly, and all finishes and adhesives are low- or no-VOC. In addition, the walls are insulated with closed-cell foam. The home also contains an energy-recover ventilation system, zoned radiant floors on the first floor and in the basement, a two-stage forced-air system on the second floor, and a highly efficient fireplace system. Transoms over the bedroom doors permit air to flow through the house. The combined elements show just how far Kipnis can take the sustainability of his designs. “Every single sustainable thing that made sense, we did,” he says.

“When going for Platinum, that’s the name of the game.”

Founded in 1993, Nathan Kipnis Architects has earned a reputation for integrating sustainability with quality design. Kipnis started the architectural firm at the depth of the recession in the early 1990s, and he had no idea he’d spend the next 15 years of going upward. “I couldn’t have timed that any better,” he says. While the recent recession has had an impact on Kipnis’s business, focusing on green design and diversifying its offerings has allowed the firm to fare rather well.

Last year the firm worked on a little more than 25 projects, which varied widely in size and scope. Although the firm has often specialized in residential projects, commercial work accounted for approximately 40 percent

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A MESSAGE FROM HK consulting services, inc.

We are proud to be associated with Nathan Kipnis Architects as a core business partner, and we congratulate the firm on all the success over the years. HK Consulting Services, Inc. has been providing civil engineering design services for many years.

The clients consist of municipalities, architects, and developers who are looking for individualized, quality engineering services. Having more than 40 years of experience in the civil engineering field, HK Consulting provides personalized service and is always accessible and reachable to its clients. We are involved in many projects, including LEED certification, green design, and stormwater best management practices projects.

CIVIL ENGINEERING LEED-GREEN DESIGN STORM WATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

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CONSULTING SERVICES, INC. HARRY KRAJCER, PE 3010 WARBLER PLACE HIGHLAND PARK, IL. 60035 PH.: 847-748-8677 FAX: 847-926-0227 EMAIL: krajcer@COMCAST.NET

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project spotlight

ahead of the curve Cutting across the sky in a gentle curve, New York-based MB Architectureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Arc House includes an open living, dining, and kitchen area bounded by a distincitve parabolic ceiling. Bedrooms were built in a flat structure connected by walkway to the arc, giving the ownersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a coupleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the option to expand the sleeping quarters in the future should their family ever grow. A stone pathway outdoors leads down a hill to a lower level containing an office, a sitting room, a workout area, and a garage, and the lower exterior yard is patterned with hundreds of individual stepping stones set into the grass. Thanks to the arc shape and its riveted reflective-metal material, energy usage in the home is just 80 percent of the average. An interview with architect Maziar Behrooz appears on p.

111. Photos (bottom, top right): Matthew Carbone.

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/play Minneapolis Convention Center

green gatherings The Minneapolis Convention Center offers a glimpse into the management of an increasingly sustainable event space

by David Hudnall

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The Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC) has a fairly strict indoor temperature policty, and it’s indicative of the comprehensive approach the stewards of the structure are taking as they undergo the process of making their building more sustainable. “As a whole, Minneapolis is one of the more progressively green cities in the Midwest,” says Chris Larson, the facilities director at the convention center. “In 2009, the city implemented an energy policy for heating and cooling in all municipal buildings, and it’s from that plan that we adopted the policy for our building.

Generally speaking, we keep the spaces at 68 degrees or lower in the winter and 76 degrees or higher in the summer.” Though the 20-year-old structure was not designed to meet LEED criteria, it is gradually resembling, in look and in process, its formally certified peers.

Take its recently installed solar-panel system, featuring 2,613 solar panels. Fully operational since November 2010, the 600-kilowatt system is set to produce 750,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity in 2011. The MCC partnered with the City of Minneapolis on the project,

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Minneapolis Convention Center

“It’s about creating situations where resources are used in the most responsible way.”

—Jeff Johnson, Executive Director

PHOTOS: Meet Minneapolis.

and the city is locked into a long-term contract with a fixed-energy cost as a hedge against future energy-price increases, a move that is expected to stabilize annual budget fluctuations over the life of the system.

“It’s the largest solar-electricity array in the upper Midwest and the largest purchased power agreement in the state of Minnesota,” says MCC’s executive director Jeff Johnson. “It’s projected to provide between two and five percent of the building’s energy annually.”

The system is bolstered by a corollary sustainable undertaking atop the building. After 20 years, the MCC recently decided to spend $3 million to replace all 425,000 square feet of its rubber membrane roof and install PVC reflective roofing. “It will reduce the urban heat-island effect as well as the cooling load during hot summer months,” Larson says. “And we recycled all of the old rubber membrane.”

Recycling is another point of green pride for the MCC. Its multistream program nets 2.2 tons of recycled goods per month. “Recycling is a good example of how we’re trying to create a larger sustainable culture here that goes beyond building and design,” Johnson says. “It’s integrated into the day-to-day operations, whether that’s through our relationships with environmentally responsible vendors and suppliers or our cleaning process, which requires no chemicals.”

Or through its partnership with Renewable Choice Energy, a Boulder, Colorado-based company that assists businesses and organizations in understanding and reducing their environmental impact. By teaming with the company, MCC became the first convention center in the United States to offer “Green Your Event” packages, which offer planners of conventions the chance to offset the impact of their events with renewable energy credits. “We go beyond the marketing to where it’s an actual philosophy,” Johnson says. “It’s about creating situations where resources are used in the most responsible way.” gb&d

OPPOSITE PAGE: The MCC offers “Green Event Packages” that offer planners the opportunity to balance their conventions with renewable energy credits.

ABOVE: The MCC’s roof has been outfitted with 2,613 solar panels to keep outside energy needs low.

A MESSAGE FROM ROOF SPEC, INC. Established in 1986, RSI is an independent engineering firm.

Our staff of professional engineers, registered roof consultants, registered roof observers, and registered waterproofing consultants provides building envelope services including condition assessment, moisture/air/thermal investigation, material testing, design and construction documents, construction administration/observation, historic preservation, and litigation consulting.

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spaces/play RENDERINGS: Interface Multimedia.

SHOPPING CENTERS

good neighbors Ensuring that its retail and shopping centers are good, green elements of the community, MV+A Architects earns itself high-profile clients such as Whole Foods

by Thalia A-M Bruehl ABOVE LEFT: Part of the North Gate at the Falls Church mixed-use project includes three- and four-story apartments.

ABOVE RIGHT: A perspective rendering looking along Washington Street showcases the extensive retail space on North Gate’s ground floor.

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In 2007, a long-standing client of MV+A Architects approached the firm to inquire about creating a better, more efficient retail project, specifically a LEED-certified retail project. The Burtonsville Town Center, which was recently completed, is reaching for LEED Gold and includes a 55,000-square-foot Giant Food store, a 15,000-square-foot CVS pharmacy, and 42,000 square feet of retail space along with several future pad sites.

“The developer, our client, became very active in the LEED process,” notes MV+A president Allen Mushinsky. “We

incorporated building materials with recycled content as well as used daylighting and views to our benefit.” The firm also included such sustainable features as reflective roofs, water-efficient fixtures, regional materials including brick, bioretention throughout the parking areas, and the latest in storm-water technology. But thinking green is nothing new for the 32-year-old firm.

“We have always used energy-conscious practices whenever possible,” Mushinsky says. “The recent surge in interest, as well as jurisdictional requirements, has helped us better educate our clients. The increased awareness by our clients has helped us better integrate new ideas, products, and techniques into our designs.” MV+A works on an average of 50–75 projects per year, ranging from small retail-center renovations and tenant fit-ups, to multimillion-dollar mixed-use projects located in urban settings. “Of the 10 to 20 larger projects we’ll do this year, five of them are currently LEED or scheduled to be LEED projects,” Mushinsky says. “The percentage of LEED projects increases every year.”

The Maryland-based firm currently has an 18-person team, and of the 15 people who make up the architectural staff, eight are LEED APs. “We are well established yet young in spirit,” Mushinsky says. “Our firm ventures into a fourth decade with clients who choose us, trust us, and get our absolute dedication.” And those clients include high-profile names such as Whole Foods Market, JBG Companies, JBG Rosenfeld, and BMC Properties.

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“We get great joy from our retail work because our projects are always different due to size, location, economic demand, and site conditions.”

GLW G

UTSCHICK, LITTLE, & WEBER, P.A.

CIVIL ENGINEERS, LAND SURVEYORS, LAND PLANNERS, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

—Allen Mushinsky, President

MV+A has recently been working to extend its retail designs beyond shopping centers and into more diverse mixed-use projects. In its North Gate at Falls Church project, the firm was able to do just that, combining a talent for retail with a desire to create a more contemporary, sustainable structure.

The North Gate site, which proved ideal for the intended project, held an old funeral home and an adjacent parking lot and is located within a half mile of a metro station, which will provide easier access to and from other parts of the region through the Washington DC Metro System.

But the project wasn’t exactly as simple as paving over a parking lot. “It took over four and a half years to process through the local jurisdiction,” Mushinsky says of the politically charged site. A city council, The Planning Commission, and the Architectural Advisory Board (AAB) all wanted a say in what would be built there.

The firm also struggled with loading, service, and parking requirements, which are typically a challenge for shopping centers and mixed-use projects set in urban environments such as North Gate. “Typically, the service and loading have to be hidden and yet available for frequent accessibility,” Mushinsky says. MV+A’s vision for North Gate worked in harmony with an adjacent historic neighborhood by locating parking on-site and adding two additional levels of underground parking beneath landscaped plazas, retail space, and three- and four-story apartment buildings. The project features a green roof as well. “The street entrance leads to the rear of the retail space, which was adjacent to a very upscale residential neighborhood,” Mushinsky says. “We designed the belowgrade parking and landscaped plazas to soften the rear edge of the project, making North Gate a good neighbor.”

MV+A Architects is currently working on a number of other shopping-center renovations and retail projects throughout Maryland and Virginia, and the firm’s spirits seem unflagging. “We get great joy from our retail work because our projects are always different due to size, location, economic demand, and site conditions,” Mushinsky says. “And since a significant amount of our current work is urban in nature, the challenges are much greater, requiring new design solutions and great thought.” gb&d

A MESSAGE FROM CTA Consulting Engineers CTA Consulting Engineers in Rockville, MD, would like to congratulate MV+A Architects on being recognized for its notable achievements in the sustainable retail sector.

Throughout our 20-plus year collaboration, we have witnessed firsthand the dedication, attention to detail, and commitment to quality that has distinguished MV+A from its peers. We wish the firm continued success as the industry continues to embrace a more sustainable future.

gbdmagazine.com

Land Planning Landscape Architecture Civil Engineering Land Surveying Through our knowledge, experience and reputation for service we are an integral part of your development team.

From conceptual planning, to surveys and design development, through permit acquisition, Gutschick, Little and Weber, P.A. welcomes the challenge.

For a complete list of our services, please visit our website.

3909 National Drive, Suite 250 | Burtonsville, MD 20866 Phone: 301-421-4024 | Fax: 301-421-4186 | www.glwpa.com

Chesapeake Contracting Group, Inc. (CCG) is a privatelyheld, award-winning commercial general contractor operating in the Mid-Atlantic region since 1979. In 2010, we completed the first LEED Gold building on the Johns Hopkins campus. Our expertise encompasses:

• lifestyle centers • retail projects • mixed-use structures • restaurants & hospitality

• office & medical buildings • flex-space & warehouses • automotive dealerships • tenant fit-outs

For more information, call (410) 526-7797 or visit us online at www.chesapeakecontracting.com

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project spotlight

perfect form Built in the heart of the Texas cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive art district, the new 115,000-square-foot Houston Ballet Center for Dance, designed by Gensler, puts on a show for passersby 24 hours a day. Its dramatic glass façades not only allow ample daylighting into the expansive practice spaces; they also advertise to the public by offering an unobstructed glimpse of the dancers and their moves.

Each of the dance studios is built from reclaimed walnut that offers atmospheric warmth, and light fixtures there and throughout the building adjust to the strength of the sunlight streaming in, keeping rooms consistently lit while saving significantly on energy costs. The building also includes high-efficiency air-conditioning and plumbing, ensuring further energy and water savings despite the large number of students and teachers using the facility.

Photos: Nic Lehoux.

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gbdmagazine.com

/learn the plaza building / cairns complex

a hard study in sustainability At Brock University, progressive but pragmatic campus planners carve out a healthful environment for students and faculty

by David Hudnall

gbdmagazine.com

Describing Brock University’s approach to LEED initiatives, Scott Walker, the school’s director of campus planning design and construction, is refreshingly direct. Rather than recite a list of the campus’s sustainable credentials, he speaks frankly about how he—and by extension, Brock University—views the practice of green building. “We pursue sustainable initiatives to the extent that they make sense to the university,” he says. “The objectives underpinning LEED strategies are woven throughout the university’s Guide to the Planning, Design, and Architecture of the Natural and Built Environments. But we won’t do something just to get a LEED point if it isn’t practical from a functional and operating point of view.”

Nevertheless, the St. Catharine’s, Ontario-based university already boasts one LEED Silver building, and two additional campus buildings also are on track for LEED Silver certification. The Plaza Building, an 86,000-squarefoot structure located off the campus quadrangle, was

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Brock University PHOTOS: Steven Evans.

PREVIOUS PAGE: The glass façade of the Plaza Building joins the interior and exterior.

TOP LEFT: The groundfloor study area of the Plaza Building is daylit.

TOP RIGHT: The wireless study area on the fourth floor incorporates precast hollow-core floor slabs used for air distribution.

BOTTOM: On its other side, the Plaza Building’s copper-clad exterior has integrated sun shading.

completed in 2008. (It was the second Ontario university building to be LEED certified by the Canadian Green Building Council.) It features many of the usual sustainable elements—such as highly insulated walls, daylighting, and locally obtained materials. In addition, the building is outfitted with uniquely integrated structural and HVAC systems. Hot and cool air isn’t distributed through ductwork—it’s pumped through the building via Termodeck hollow-core precast concrete slabs, which are supported by the building’s steel frame.

“Fresh air runs through the floors, through these hollow cores, and is then directed into individual rooms in the building,” Walker says. “Plus, the thermal mass of the concrete floor helps to even out peak heating and cooling demands. We’ve noticed significant energy savings. There aren’t many buildings in Canada with this system.”

In June 2010, faculty and staff at Brock University formally moved into the International Center, a three-story building that houses the international services, English

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“We want to create an environment where students and staff can study and work in a daylit room constructed from healthy building materials.”

—Scott Walker, Director of Campus Planning Design and Construction

gbdmagazine.com

spaces/learn TOP: The Cairns Complex was a particular challenge because all laboratory space had to be eco-friendly as well. Rendering: Alliance.

BOTTOM: The recently completed International Centre is awaiting LEED Silver certification. Rendering: Young + Wright/IBI Group Architects.

as a second language (ESL), and classics departments. As Walker and the university await LEED Silver certification for that building, they’ve turned their attention to greening a new structure, the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex. Scheduled to open in 2012 and on track for LEED Silver certification, the 176,000-square-foot structure will function primarily as a research building, and as such it includes a large number of wet labs to be used by chemists and other scientists.

Walker says that it’s difficult to reduce energy costs on a structure such as the Cairns Complex “because of the high air-exchange rate.” But the university is currently projecting savings of about 30 percent due to a variety of factors, including 89 percent-efficient condensing boilers, variable speed pumps and fan motors, and high glazing and exterior-wall thermal performance. The construction process, too, has been a success. “I was in a meeting last week reviewing the progress of the building, and the contractor reported that they’ve diverted 98 percent of construction waste for recycling,” Walker says.

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The location of the Cairns Complex is also critical.

Despite the fact that Brock University’s enrollment is growing substantially, the building is slated to replace a portion of an existing parking lot. An area that was once paved by asphalt will now feature a building plus additional green space. “Effectively, we’re reducing the amount of parking on campus by about 250 spaces,” Walker says.

“The university debated whether that was the right move but ultimately decided that it didn’t need more parking, primarily due to the fact that all students receive a discounted transit pass with their enrollment.” Today, more students than ever are riding public transit to school.

Walker views the decision through a pragmatic lens.

“These are our own buildings, and we have a lot invested in them being robust structures with quality materials and low operating costs,” he says. “In times of limited funding, energy-saving measures are extremely valuable. And, of course, we want to create a healthy environment for our staff and students where they can appreciate studying and working in a daylit room constructed from healthy building materials. It’s the right thing to do all around.” gb&d

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rdh

architects inc.

rounthwaite dick & hadley architects 201-225 richmond st w toronto ontario M6K 1R5 416 204 1399 www.rdharch.com

Congratulations Alfred University on your commitment to green building & design.

HBT Architects is proud to have been the architect for the LEED® Gold Ann's House at Alfred University.

16 S. Main Street | Pittsford, NY 14534 | 585.586.0490 ph. | 585.586.1299 fax | hbtarchitects.com

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spaces/learn ann’s house

little school that could Pint-sized Alfred University engages architects and builders on a new dormitory that impresses even green-building veterans

by Suchi Rudra

With a student population of less than 3,000, Alfred University may be one of the smaller universities in the country. Regardless of its size, the rural New York institution has grand plans for a sustainable campus. Take the school’s newest dormitory, Ann’s House, completed in 2009. The structure received LEED Gold certification, even though it was originally designed to achieve only LEED Silver—a mark of the institution’s commitment to excellence.

Scott Hemenway of Pittsford, New York-based HBT Architects was one of the lead architects on Ann’s House.

He says that the dorm was an exciting project for the firm. “What made this building interesting was that the university embraced the LEED concept so wholeheartedly,” he says. “They were 110 percent behind making this as green as they could and gave us a lot of leeway in choosing products and materials that were regional, even at an additional cost.”

The three-story, 15,000-square-foot dormitory contains 48 beds and is the university’s first LEED-certified building. But Mike Neiderbach, executive director of capital projects and legal affairs at the university, predicts that two or three more LEED-certified buildings will be constructed in the next 10 years, including a new health and wellness center and new facilities for the university’s renewable-energy engineering program. “We sought a fairly high level of certification for Ann’s House, so ... we might spend roughly 10 percent of the project cost on seeking LEED certifications in the future,” Neiderbach says.

“Sustainable construction is an excellent approach that really forces you to think about what you are doing and the impact that it will have.” He adds that the university will likely pursue LEED certification for its existing buildings “someday in the not-too-distant future.”

Sustainable features for Ann’s House include a concrete parking lot in lieu of asphalt to minimize the heat-island effect, LED (rather than fluorescent) lighting throughout the building, 15 kilowatts of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels, and an on-site water-retention system controlling the quantity and quality of captured rain. The structure also uses regional and recycled materials wherever possible, including Johnsonite linoleum flooring made from renewable content, walls framed with recycled content and locally sourced metal studs, metal decking made of local materials, windows made from recycled glass and

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BELOW: Ann’s House, Alfred University’s 48-bed residence hall, achieved LEED Gold certification in 2010. Photo: John Griebsch.

FSC-certified wood, and solid-core wood doors made of 100 percent FSC-certified wood.

Aside from boosting the project’s LEED credits from Silver to Gold, Hemenway undertook the challenge of building on a steep, wooded hillside location. He explains that the design, which had to remain sensitive to the surrounding trees, fit the building into the slope, allowing for pedestrian entrances to the building at two different levels.

“The initial goal behind the Ann’s House project was to become a LEED-certified building and to develop a new housing model that would be attractive to students yet environmentally responsible,” Neiderbach says. The Student Life organization was involved early in the process, giving feedback on the firm’s early sketches, a step that Hemenway believes was critical to the dorm’s success.

He adds that Ann’s House creates a more independent living situation by featuring clusters of suites that allow students to be more independent even though the building as a whole still functions as a typical dorm. “This was a direction the university hadn’t gone in before,” he says.

With other LEED projects on the way, the university is currently focusing on a reduction in energy consumption to continue making a big impact in the short term, a strategy that includes increased use of LED lighting and occupancy sensors throughout campus and a boilerreplacement program. This program has already seen strong results in Tefft Hall, a residence hall where energy savings and carbon-emission reductions are about 45 percent less than those of an adjacent identical building still using its original boiler.

“Our plans in the next three to five years include upgrading boiler systems to high-efficiency models in about 20 percent of our facilities,” Neiderbach says. And over the long term, the university will reduce its reliance altogether on the central heating plant, “which by its very nature—steam lines—has heat-distribution losses,” he adds. The university also is looking into expanding its renewable-energy-generation portfolio, but this measure, as with all the others, is likely not the final step for a university that continually goes the extra mile. gb&d

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spaces/learn washington-lee high school / the alaire

setting a fast pace Grimm + Parker Architects sets its sights on numerous LEED-certified schools and mixed-use projects, aiming to draw people together

by Erik Pisor

As one of the largest design firms in the Washington, DC, and Maryland regions, Grimm + Parker Architects has built a reputation for designing local, LEED-rated K-12, collegiate, residential/mixed-use, and public buildings.

“We create spaces that give back to the community,” says Amy Upton, senior associate and director of environmental design for the firm. “We focus on designing spaces and structures where people congregate.”

Currently the firm has eight LEED-certified projects to its name, with 30 other projects currently in various stages of the LEED approval process. Washington-Lee High School, located in Arlington, Virginia, was the firm’s first LEED Gold-certified high school and only the second LEED-certified school in Virginia. The $85 million, 362,000-square-foot project involved a complete replacement of Arlington’s oldest high school—a job that required a collaborative design process and phased construction.

Because the original school had a rich history within the community and many proud alumni, Grimm + Parker led a two-year community design process that included 60 public meetings with the school board and committees—who represented more than 25 stake-holder groups.

At these meetings site selection, schematic design development, construction phasing, and parking issues were discussed and debated. “We discussed meaningful ideas that we included in the project,” says project manager and principal Paul Klee.

TOP: Washington-Lee High School’s LEED Gold design includes a green roof. Photo: Paul Burke Photography.

BOTTOM: WashingtonLee was built on the site of an older school but with a smaller footprint, providing extra space for additional facilities.

Photo: Ken Wyner Photography.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The Alaire is phase IA of the Twinbrook Station project. Rendering: Grimm + Parker Architects.

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Grimm + Parker Architects

says Bruce Mongrain, a project architect and associate with the firm. “We’ve set the pace.”

Green features of the Alaire include a 25-yard saline swimming pool, a solar-powered trash compactor, and a 2,000-square-foot green roof that uses recycled soda bottles as a foundation for plantings. The Alaire was constructed in a podium design, which involved the use of concrete slabs up to the second floor of both buildings.

Beyond the second floor, all-wood frame construction was used. According to Mongrain, this construction method saved money because it equates to a lower price per square foot—just one reason podium design construction is becoming more widely used.

The entire Twinbrook Station development project— slated for completion in 2025—features 325,000 square feet of office space, 220,000 square feet of ground floor retail, and 1,595 multifamily residential units. As per usual for most of the firm’s projects, the structure will serve as an ideal, comfortable gathering place for thousands. gb&d

“We create spaces that give back to the community ... spaces and structures where people congregate.”

—Amy Upton, Director of Environmental Design

During most of the construction, 1,600 students continued to occupy the original school; a phased construction plan minimized the need to relocate anyone. “It was a threeyear construction period, broken down into three phases,” Klee says. Ultimately, students shifted buildings only once.

While the new school was built with greater square footage, it also was designed with a reduced footprint, allowing for extra elements such as a new soccer field. Additionally, because a portion of the school bordered residential properties, the architects chose to scale the building from four stories to three.

Twinbrook Station, located in Rockville, Maryland, was the firm’s first project in the DC area to receive Gold certification under the USGBC’s LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot program. The Alaire project is the first phase of completed development within the Twinbrook Station community. A 26-acre, joint development project, which will transform a transit station’s parking area into 10 residential and commercial buildings and parks, Twinbrook Station was selected to be featured in a USGBC project profile series that highlights developments embodying principles of sustainable smart growth.

The Alaire, phase 1A of the development, was completed in March 2010 and is a $53 million mixed-use development that features a pair of four-story buildings that comprise 279 luxury apartments on 6.3 acres. The project also features 16,500 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a six-story, 335-space parking garage. “This is one of the first transit-oriented projects in Montgomery County,”

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spaces/learn E.L. Haynes / carlos Rosario pcs

head of the class Shinberg.Levinas Architectural Design leads the Maryland area in charter-school design with a focus on adaptive reuse

by Joyce Finn

The award-winning team of Shinberg.Levinas Architectural Design, based in Bethesda, Maryland, has an international reach and reputation—from the renovation of the oldest synagogue in Buenos Aires to a yoga retreat under construction in Costa Rica. The firm seems to have earned such an impressive resume largely by impressing its clients and never settling. “In 1998, we were selected to design one of the earliest charter schools in DC,” principal Salo Levinas says. “Today we are one of the leaders in charter-school design. We also design religious buildings and add large educational components.” The architectural team is nationally renowned for its high-end residential and institutional designs. Shinberg.Levinas completes approximately 25 projects annually with 70 percent of its workload in institutional and commercial design. “We can

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RIGHT: Shinberg.Levinas is converting the original Haynes Charter School from a K-8 facility to one for all grades through the end of high school. Photo: Michael Mackenzie.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The school is aiming for LEED Silver certification, and its façade is composed of sustainable materials such as bamboo, insulated aluminum panels, and ceramic tile.

do better schools because we do the residential work, and we do better residential because we do the commercial work,” Levinas says. “With schools, there is always that need to make something beautiful, but there is also a challenge. We need to work out how to make the best while spending the least possible—and at the same time create the best environment for the children. When we open a school and see the kids playing, it is the most rewarding thing you can have.”

The firm’s current projects include the adaptive reuse of the 1950s E.L. Haynes Public Charter School (PCS).

The E.L. Haynes PCS serves 600 students in preschool through 8th grade, and with the new additions it will serve students all the way to grade 12. Phase 1, completed in 2009 at a cost of $3.5 million, added 60,000 square feet of space; phase II, at a cost of $5 million, is scheduled to start in mid-2011. This 35,000-square-foot, two-story addition will house a gym and high school. Along with a roof garden over the gym, accessible to the students, there will be another garden on-site for students to grow plants through the various seasons. Insulated metal panels on the exterior walls will enhance the building envelope. “One of the things so important for us is to avoid problems at the beginning so that we don’t have to solve them later,” Levinas says. “For us, we work very hard to prevent infiltration of exterior air—that’s crucial for us.

The air that is then brought in can be better controlled.”

When completed, the new structure will apply for LEED Silver certification.

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Shinberg.Levinas Architectural Design

“With schools, there is always that need to make something beautiful, but there is also a challenge. We need to work out how to make the best while spending the least—and at the same time create the best environment for the children.”

—Salo Levinas, Principal

Another current project is the Carlos Rosario International PCS. The building is used for adult educational courses and caters to a diverse immigration population. Shinberg.

Levinas is converting the formerly unusable 8,000-squarefoot attic space into a third floor for an additional seven classrooms and a kitchen area. Once completed, the building will apply for LEED Silver or Gold certification.

“They train people who have no means and give them a trade so when they walk out they can get a job, whether it’s as a chef or computer expert or nurse,” Levinas says.

“We also renovated their cafeteria for them. The culinary students learn to cook and then serve the whole school in the cafeteria. We help them implement a better and more efficient way to run the school.”

Religious buildings are another area of expertise for the firm. Kol Shalom in Maryland, currently under construction, has already been certified LEED Gold. “It’s a big achievement that we are the architects for [one of the] first green, conservative synagogues on the East Coast,” Levinas says. “From the beginning, one of the most important principles was the integration of the building and nature.

In 2007, Shinberg.Levinas was awarded the AIA DC Chapter Award for Excellence in Interior Architecture. In 2008, the firm won the Washington Spaces Design Competition for its Watergate residence, and it also earned the AIA DC Chapter Award for Distinctive Residential Architecture. Considering the quality of its current projects, the firm likely hasn’t delivered its last thank-you speech. gb&d

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MCN Build - UPM team at the solar decathlon

As we look towards the future,

MCN Build is delighted with its past and present collaboration with the Shinberg Levinas team.

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drumlin farms poultry house

sunny-side south Harnessing the power of the sun is the key to Maryann Thompson Architects’ work at a Massachusetts wildlife sanctuary—and everywhere else

by Erik Pisor

ABOVE: The Drumlin Farms poultry house could become the first LEED Platinum project for Maryann Thompson.

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Incorporating passive-solar design into New England-area structures has been the architectural focus of Maryann Thompson and her self-named firm for the past 20 years.

By creating a good siting strategy and orienting buildings to the south, she has reduced the lighting needs of a number of Northeastern structures—often without her client’s knowledge. “[In the past] it wasn’t popular from a client standpoint.

People would look at you sideways if you brought up passive-solar or sustainable [architecture],” Thompson says.

“Then there was a cultural shift.” Since that shift, Thompson, who has a degree in architecture and landscape art, has served as principal of Cambridge, Massachusettsbased Maryann Thompson Architects—a regional design

firm that brings passive-solar design to institutional and residential structures.

“A lot of the work we do is about revealing the quality of a landscape via architecture,” Thompson says. The firm recently worked within the rolling-hill landscape of Lincoln, Massachusetts, which is home to Drumlin Farms Wildlife Sanctuary, a Mass Audubon working farm and public sanctuary. The first portion of the Drumlin Farms project involved a large poultry house that Maryann Thompson Architects renovated through the use of spiderweb-like trusses, which brought light into the house from above. The focal point of the project, however, was the farm’s two-classroom building.

Like all the firm’s structures, the classroom was sited to the south so it would receive the most daylight. The building also opens toward the farmyard and features attached overhangs that block the harsh summer sun while still admitting enough warm light in winter. “If you don’t orient [a building] towards the sun it doesn’t make sense,” Thompson says. “It reduces the energy load [of a building].” Daylighting and natural heating of the building is further improved through the implementation of skylights and the use of triple-glazed windows in specific areas. “To keep the [building’s] heating costs down, there is a formula where the windows don’t go to the ground,” Thompson says. “You can only do a third of the building in windows because otherwise there is too much heat loss.”

She says the classroom windows are different that those of typical projects—being smaller and triple-glazed rather than two paned. The ceiling of the classroom features a

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Maryann Thompson Architects

“A lot of the work we do is about revealing the quality of a landscape via architecture.”

—Maryann Thompson, Principal

vaulted, curved roof that is reminiscent of the many roof barns throughout New England while also being superinsulated. Its wood was harvested and salvaged from trees on-site.

The building features a heating system, but it is “very small,” according to Thompson. This is because the structure’s south-facing orientation, seasonal overhangs, skylights, triple-glazed windows, and vaulted, curved roof provide nearly all the heating and insulation needed. “[The heating system] has the horsepower of a hair dryer,” Thompson says. “It’s cool to be able to do a building that can have such a small load.” The classroom is currently seeking LEED Platinum certification. If awarded this rating, it would be the first Platinum project for Maryann Thompson Architects.

With the Drumlin Farms project completed, the firm is currently underway on the adaptive reuse of an existing 150,000-square-foot warehouse and the conversion of an existing 7,200-square-foot mechanical building—both of which are part of Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City. The warehouse, known as Pier 2, features a number of recreational courts and equipment that is suspended between the continuous pier-deck surface and an existing skin, which was partially excavated and replaced with translucent panels. The surface also features a series of full-height, stainless-steel screens that provide light and shadow.

The majority of the mechanical building, dubbed the warming hut, will remain intact—with the interior of the building featuring expansive views of lower Manhattan. The second story of the structure is currently being removed—with that space being transformed into an observation roof terrace. A densely spaced wooden screen that was salvaged and reused from the site will veil the terrace.

Looking beyond the Brooklyn project, Thompson has few plans to expand her business too far, mostly because she feels doing so would go against the sustainable lifestyle she’s cultivated. However, she still plans to continue bringing passive-solar design to a host of New England structures, extending her 20-year run far into the future and keeping buildings daylit wherever and however she can. gb&d

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/heal

university cancer center

patients and the planet SUNY Upstate Medical University brings a healthcare provider’s mindset to the practice of sustainability

by Eugenia Orr

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ABOVE: SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Cancer Center has a green roof and gardens for visual healing.

At the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, health and sustainability are inextricably linked. The university and teaching hospital are on a mission to improve health for the communities they serve, and they have initiated a Sustainability Program that seeks to change how the university designs buildings and to combine health, wellness, and sustainability into one cohesive concept. “The Sustainability Program, in its global sense, [aims] to create a culture change for employees, students, and the community by personalizing the everyday tasks performed without thought, such as energy conservation and recycling,” says Tom Pelis, the medical center’s assistant vice president for facilities and planning .

Upstate Medical University has discovered that sustainability practices not only save the university money but are also healthier for patients and the students and healthcare professionals treating the patients. The university’s recent East Tower vertical

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spaces/heal

SUNY Upstate Medical University

“The Sustainability Program, in its global sense, [aims] to create a culture change for employees, students, and the community by personalizing everyday tasks performed without thought, such as energy conservation and recycling.”

materials are stored,” Pelis says. “Instead of individual wrappings, we now use hard, recyclable containers, which is saving us over $100,000 annually. Several instruments that at one time were single-use—we are now working with manufacturers to sterilize and repurpose them, to provide additional cost savings and waste reduction for the hospital.”

Upstate Medical University is on a mission to train individuals in order to benefit entire regions and serve as many people as possible. Its holistic approach to sustainability mirrors its larger commitment to create healthcare professionals who will propel the future of their industry.

With both goals, the aim is to promote wellness and prevention rather than mere treatment—of the Earth itself and its inhabitants. As Thomas says, “You can’t be committed to health and wellness and not be committed to sustainability.” gb&d

—Tom Pelis, Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Planning

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expansion utilizes low-VOC paints, low-voltage lighting, and linoleum. “Linoleum minimizes impact noises and is part of an acoustic strategy that contributes to a more healing environment, helping to improve patients’ recovery,” explains Burton Thomas, director of facility design services.

Windows are also carefully considered in the design and construction of all the projects the university is planning. For the newly designed Cancer Center, less glazing is used on the north façade than the south, and the windows on the west side recognize differences in solar orientation.

For patients and healthcare professionals, the windows provide a view of the green roof and the healing gardens.

These green spaces not only reduce building heat gain but provide a pleasant view for patients and staff. “Caregivers are happier where they work, and therefore the level of care is better,” Pelis says.

Inside, the university ditched drab wall and floor colorings in favor of soothing hues and patterns and subtle planar shifts that offer patients visual relief. The treatment areas of the Cancer Center are located on the south side of the building and overlook the healing garden. “We are creating a year-round visual distraction for patients,” Thomas says. “These kinds of techniques, in combination with the right sustainable materials, reduce length of stay and improve the outcomes of patients at all levels of acuity.” The university’s Sustainability Program also incorporates a water filtration system to encourage use of the water fountains in lieu of purchasing bottled water.

And there is a community garden maintained by staff and students. The garden shows how easy it is to grow vegetables, and the produce is used by the medical students to teach nutrition to youths living in Syracuse. Together, these programs promote sustainable and healthy lifestyles to employees, students, and the communities that Upstate Medical University serves.

The university has a campus-wide recycling program that includes a waste-minimization component that has been very successful. “We are changing the way that sterile

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LEFT, ABOVE, AND OPPOSITE PAGE: In 2008, Rob Paulus Architects completed the 990 East Seventeenth building, which now serves as the firm’s LEED-certified home.

Photos (this page): Liam Frederick.

990 EAST SEVENTEENTH / one north fifth

work/life balance Inspired by the complexity of Arizona’s harsh climate Rob Paulus Architects transforms a repair shop into its modern offices

by Tricia Despres

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Living in Arizona gives architect Rob Paulus unlimited inspiration every day of the week. “I’m one of those people who can get inspired simply by looking at a big, blue sky,” says Paulus, the founding principal of Rob Paulus Architects Ltd. in Tucson. “I worked in Los Angeles after college, and the lack of a varying climate created an ambiguity towards design. I’m inspired by the complexities and harsh climate of the desert and how we respond to those complexities.”

Founded in October of 1995, Rob Paulus Architects prides itself on being a full-service commercial, industrial, mixed-use, and residential architectural design firm with a strong focus on sustainability. In fact, the company works out of one of their very own LEED buildings, 990 East Seventeenth. “It’s all about walking the walk,” says Paulus, who got his first job at an architecture firm just two days after graduating from high school. “We talk a lot about responsible density, so it only made sense to live those ideals in our own lives. It’s been a wonderful little laboratory to walk our clients through. Plus, it’s a huge

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Rob Paulus Architects Ltd.

“We talk a lot about responsible density, so it only made sense to live those ideals in our own lives. It’s been a wonderful little laboratory to walk our clients through.”

PHOTOS (this page): Bradley Wheeler, ItaliaFocus.com.

—Rob Paulus, Principal

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Rob Paulus Architects Ltd. really inspired a move into the city from a wide range of people, from young professionals to older executives,” Paulus says. “It was one of those times when we went in there and carved away portions of the existing building to achieve something bigger than ever before.”

Currently, Paulus says he is quite excited about a new project in the government sector, something the firm has not embarked on before. The project will have a number of sustainable elements, including an 80-kilowatt solar array that will handle 40 percent of the energy needs of the building and 30,000 gallons of rainwater catchment for all of the landscape-irrigation needs.

“Our firm is intentionally smaller in size to provide greater personalized service,” says Paulus, who currently oversees five employees. “We think we can provide more options to our clients than ever before and are excited as to where this will lead us in the future.” gb&d

ABOVE: One North Fifth, completed in 2009, saved a structure originally built in the late 1960s. Photo: Liam Frederick.

LEFT: Rob Paulus and his family live in the Ice House Lofts, which the architect also designed.

Photo: Bradley Wheeler, ItaliaFocus.com

advantage for us to be able to show clients what is possible on a tight budget and demonstrate to them how everything works.”

Completed in 2008, the 990 East Seventeenth building is an adaptive-reuse structure, a former repair shop transformed into a sleek, modern multitenant office building.

Spanning over 4,000 square feet, the building features a cool-roof system, aluminum rain-screen panels on the exterior, and rainwater harvesting. Close by are two more Rob Paulus Architects projects, the nine-unit Barrio Metalico and the Ice House Lofts where Rob and his family currently live.

“I think the tide is really turning in Tucson,” says Paulus, who graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in architecture. “We are all about using things in a new way, paring down and achieving more with less. Our philosophy has always been to build a model, shake it, and whatever falls off is the stuff you didn’t need in the first place. Money saved in paring down the projects can then be spent on some unique landscaping or a beautiful piece of art.”

One North Fifth is another adaptive-reuse structure.

Completed in 2009, the mixed-use project enabled the firm to essentially save a building that had been built in 1969 from almost certain demolition. With over 57,000 square feet of residential space and 9,000 square feet of commercial and retail, it’s now playing a strong part in the revitalization of the downtown Tucson area. “It’s

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weston corporate center

landscape counsel Specializing in sustainable landscapes for corporate clients, Pressley Associates’ LEED Platinum project is a tantalizing transformation

by Kelly Matlock BELOW: Pressley Associates designs sustainable corporate campuses, including the LEED Platinum-certified Weston Corporate Center. Photo: Lynn Damianos.

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In addition to its expertise in overall sustainable landscape design and planning, Pressley Associates, Inc. has become an industry leader in green-rooftop design. As many of its assignments are corporate, medical, and educational campuses, the design firm, with offices in Massachusetts and California, create roofs that promote socialization and serve as enjoyable meeting places. “We, as an office, tend to do more ‘intensive green roofs,’” President Bill Pressley says, explaining that intensive green roofs have a growing medium with a minimum of six to eight inches of soil.

This provides an insulating layer that keeps heat in the building during the winter and moderates temperatures in the summer. Additionally, a rooftop landscape of lush plantings and lawn reduces storm-water runoff.

As it has with the entire sustainable design movement, the company has seen green roofs become more commonplace in a noticeably short time. In addition to having larger budgets for green roofs, an advantage of corporate work is that each sustainable feature or green roof benefits a greater portion of the population.

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Pressley Associates

“Corporate, educational, and medical clients offer us an opportunity to impart a positive upgrade that is experienced by a significantly larger number of people.”

—Bill Pressley, President

“Corporate, educational, and medical clients offer us an opportunity to impart a positive upgrade that is experienced by a significantly larger number of people,” Pressley says.

One of the company’s recent corporate assignments, Weston Corporate Center (WCC), involved helping to turn a quarry into a corporate headquarters along Massachusetts Route 128, America’s Technology Highway. Completed in fall 2010, the project attained LEED Platinum certification.

Although it was a difficult site, the company was excited to tackle its transformation from the get-go. “The Weston site was everything a landscape architect dreams of,” Pressley says. “A broken-stone quarry and asphalt plant.

It looked like an absolute wasteland. The owners and team, including architects, engineers, and contractors, all joined to embrace the positive features of the quarry site. The barren ground plane was revegetated, the quarrypond banks were stabilized and planted, walking trails were developed, and the perimeter of the site became a buffer. The 400-foot-deep quarry ponds provide dramatic attractions for the site as well as the resource for a heatexchange system that controls building temperature.”

Pressley Associates has found its niche specializing in the design of sustainable campuses for corporate clients. The firm, founded in 1977, has collaborated on many award-winning corporate developments that have achieved LEED certification.

Although the company always aims to incorporate green design elements that will help lower utility costs and reduce a building’s impact on the environment, the firm’s chief focus is creating landscapes and public places that are practical and aesthetically appealing. “[Our] approach to sustainable design relies heavily on the use of green strategies to visually enhance a site,” Pressley says.

“While we work to achieve green goals, we never lose sight of the quest for an attractive landscape.”

Another project for a longtime corporate client is an office campus—which achieved LEED Silver—built amid woodlands in Rhode Island. In addition to water harvesting, use of native material, and more meadowland than manicured lawn space, Pressley Associates incorporated parking garages rather than surface parking lots. “Here is a corporate client who firmly believes that they should provide employees and visitors with lighted, secure garage

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parking,” Pressley says. “[Also], by providing this benefit, rural campuses protect acres of wooded buffer that further contribute to the delightful setting.”

From what they’ve seen recently, Pressley Associates has reason to hope that the green-building industry will gain an even sturdier foothold in the coming years. “Ten years ago we were talking with a green roof-component manufacturer about a prototype to demonstrate the advantages,” Pressley says. “Today a high percentage of our clients ask for green roofs, some the entire roof and some a partial roof. We anticipate and look forward to numerous opportunities to provide increasingly dramatic solutions for our clients.” gb&d

p

pressley

Pressley Associates Landscape Architects Cambridge, MA

West Podium Roof Garden Seaport District, Boston, MA www.pressleyinc.com

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spaces/work

rosewood court

expert environment Stream Realty Partners pursues LEED EBOM Gold certification for its high-end, Class A office building and says the future is in healthier spaces

by Scott Heskes

ABOVE: Stream Realty Partners manages roughly 70 million square feet of property, including Rosewood Court, a 19-story office tower in Dallas’s Uptown district that recently achieved LEED EBOM Gold certification.

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The Dallas market has changed dramatically in the past few years, says Bill Moebius, director of sustainability for Stream Realty Partners. “When Rosewood Court was first contemplated, LEED was not as common as it is now,” he says. “It took a couple of years after Rosewood Court started for LEED New Construction certification to really take hold.” The high-end, multitenant office-building development in the upscale area north of downtown Dallas was completed in 2008, and Stream Realty Partners began the process of qualifying the building for LEED for Existing Building Operations & Maintenance (EBOM) certification once it had achieved 50 percent occupancy for the minimum period of one year. Currently at 95

percent occupancy, Rosewood Court, now one of the best addresses in the city, is soon to get better with the pending distinction of LEED EBOM Gold certification.

“It’s interesting to see how LEED has grown in recent years,” Moebius says. “We are seeing most of the ‘Class A’ buildings pursuing LEED EBOM. It’s a testament to an ownership committed to an energy-efficient building— and the tenant demand for it. It’s also just the right thing to do.” One thing that was particularly interesting in the process for Moebius was working with the tenants on the purchase of electronics. While building systems can be improved to create better efficiencies for energy consumption, connected loads at the outlets can still be a problem if tenants are not using Energy Star appliances and electronics. Stream Realty Partners’ process included interviewing the tenants and working with them on programs to buy and properly dispose of equipment.

The Stream Realty portfolio of managed properties is extensive, covering 70 million square feet in diverse geographical regions throughout the Southwestern and Southeastern United States. The properties include office, retail, and industrial properties. Stream Realty also has a group that specializes in data centers. In his role as director of sustainability, Moebius focuses his efforts on energy efficiency and operations but also directs the portfolio for benchmarking Energy Star ratings and LEED certification. While the portfolio’s percentage of LEED-certified buildings is still relatively small, the

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Stream Realty Partners

“It’s interesting to see how LEED has grown in recent years. … It’s a testament to an ownership committed to an energyefficient building—and the tenant demand for it. It’s also just the right thing to do.”

—Bill Moebius, Director of Sustainability

numbers are growing, and Energy Star rating for much of the Stream Realty portfolio is now standard operating procedure. However, for industrial projects with triple-net lease structures where tenants pay their own utility bills, the benchmarking is challenging to bring into the fold, Moebius says.

Stream Realty has in recent years seen its data center portfolio grow not just from developing new buildings but also by converting existing ones. This data center development, Moebius says, his firm did with LEED standards in mind. He cites an example in Richardson,

Texas, as the kind of project Stream Realty is doing. “We bought a 20,000-square-foot empty shell in a business park on the north side of Dallas, just four walls and a roof,” he says. “It’s in a high-growth technology corridor.

We brought in additional power, which is something you typically do for data centers. It recently leased. It is registered with LEED, and we are working on completing the certification.” Other major projects for Stream Realty also are slated for LEED certification, including the Bay Area Business Park, an industrial complex in Pasadena, Texas, that is LEED-certified Core & Shell.

Moebius believes the demand for sustainable buildings will only increase but thinks the focus may shift from energy efficiency and waste management to the healthfulness of the building. “It’s a key element of sustainability that hasn’t received as much attention,” he says. “There are several studies that have been done that point to reduced absenteeism in the workplace with sustainable buildings. It makes sense, really: with better filtration and more air changes, you have less allergens and improved environmental quality. Savvy tenants are going to want that because they pay a lot more for their personnel costs than their real estate costs.” gb&d

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102 SEPT 2011

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solutions

LEFT: BIM renderings are used by McQuay International during the design process to determine equipment placement and clearances.

EXPERIENCING Energy Efficiency With its parent company, Daikin Industries, Ltd., McQuay International is the second largest heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning company in the world.

It offers a range of commercial and industrial products that are among the most efficient on the market. But the company makes sustainable practices part of its culture. Case in point: the Daikin McQuay Applied Development Center (ADC) at McQuay International’s world headquarters in Plymouth, Minnesota. The 49,000-square-foot research center, one of the world’s most advanced facilities for HVAC research and development, received LEED Gold by the USGBC.

backgrounder/ “We make a lot of chillers, which are devices that make cold water in large buildings,” says Don Winter, vice president of marketing for McQuay. “Continuing to design the leading chillers in the marketplace is a core part of our business strategy.” According to Winter, McQuay International’s customers use the company’s chillers throughout the year, not just in the summer. “Even in Chicago in the middle of January, many commercial buildings are cooled as well as heated,” he says.

“That’s because people and computers and lighting generate a lot of heat.”

As a result, McQuay International needs to test its chillers in cold temperatures and warm temperatures, something that’s difficult given the size of the devices (30,000 cubic feet is not unusual, Winter says). challenge/ Winter explains: “We needed a research and development center where we could, as we were designing new products, test those products [in] all kinds of conditions.” solution/ The Daikin McQuay ADC, completed in May of 2009, features a number of chiller testing chambers, which are, essentially, large rooms where chillers can be placed and tested under varying environmental conditions and voltage requirements.

“Having a facility like this lets us develop products that meet our customers’ requirements at all locations around the world,” Winter says.

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McQuay International

“Not only is the ADC designed to build and test energy-efficient products, but it is an efficient building itself.”

—Ryan Fleser, Corporate Environmental Systems Manger

One such requirement is energy efficiency, which has been one of McQuay International’s core principles since its founding, and it gained steam when Daikin Industries acquired the company in 2006. “There are minimum standards for energy efficiency that vary by state, but as a company we have always offered many options that are much more efficient than required,” Winter says. “This is a decades-long initiative.”

RIGHT: McQuay’s geothermal watersource heat pumps add and reject heat from a continuous loop using geoexchange from natural sources such as the ground, a pond, or a well. Each unit responds only to the heating or cooling load of the individual zone it serves, providing greater comfort and control and lower operating costs.

Just like McQuay International’s products, its efforts in making facilities sustainable have been in existence for decades.

“We seek to increase the efficiency of our operations; reduce the use of energy, water, and waste; and increase recycling,” says corporate environmental systems manger Ryan Fleser. “To that end, in 2008 we created an environmental department to help focus the company’s environmental efforts and measure improvements in a more consistent manner than had been done in the past.”

The ADC is a good example of the company’s environmental efforts. “LEED Gold certification was just an example of taking the sustainability of the building to the next level,” Fleser says. “We first established what a normal building of that size would draw in energy usage then sought to beat that to whatever extent possible.”

The ADC’s testing chambers also feature a heat-recovery system. “As we’re running all of these tests, the chillers create heated water, which normally has to be expelled, so instead of expelling it outside the building, we developed systems to use it in our testing process,” he says.

“Recycling heat, recycling water, reducing electricity—all of that was taken into the concept of the building,” Fleser says. “So not only is the ADC designed to build and test energy-efficient products, but it is an efficient building itself.” —Julie Schaeffer

104 SEPT 2011

Creating responsive, innovative and sustainable design for our Clients and their Communities. hGa arChiteCts and enGineers 701 Washington avenue north, minneapolis, mn 612.758.4000 | hga.com

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solutions/cleaning services

GREEN AND CLEAN GCA Services Group, Inc.—which provides janitorial/custodial and facilitymaintenance services—is using green products and holistic processes to clean sustainably.

BELOW: In addition to contract custodial services, GCA Services Group performs various facility operations and maintenance functions for its customers.

backgrounder/ Founded in 2003 by a group of entrepreneurs and private investors, GCA Services Group, Inc. grew through the acquisition of numerous small- to midsize facility-services companies, and today it serves organizations in numerous industries, including education, manufacturing, nuclear power, pharmaceuticals, and the corporate world.

Its clients make up 34 percent of Fortune 100 companies. challenge/ In September 1998, President Clinton signed Executive Order 13101, which required federal agencies to take a number of steps to preserve the environment, including the use of environmentally suitable products and services. Jason Lee, director of sustainability and business development for GCA Services Group, says the commercial and educational markets weren’t asking for environmentally friendly cleaning products or processes at that time, but the company decided to get ahead of the curve. solution/ In 2004 GCA Services Group implemented a proprietary green cleaning program, and in 2007 it started benchmarking this proprietary green cleaning program against the USGBC’s LEED for Existing Buildings standard. “We discovered that we could provide an elevated level of service from a quality perspective while offering the more holistic benefits of sustainable cleaning processes, therefore providing improved indoor air quality, protecting occupant health, and conserving natural resources— all while offering economic savings for our customers,” Lee says.

That move proved prescient because in January 2008 LEED made green cleaning a prerequisite. “With a holistic approach and the proprietary policies and procedure in place to support it, we were able to meet or exceed various third-party standards, such as LEED certification criteria,” Lee says. GCA Services Group’s proprietary green cleaning program, which has been touted as the most comprehensive cleaning program in the industry, starts with the supply chain. “We have a network of

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carefully selected national vendors that provide green cleaning products that meet or exceed the same minimum-quality standards that conventional products would,” Lee says. “We also partner with carefully selected regional distributors that provide local resources to our field operators, greatly reducing delivery times and the company’s carbon footprint, which we track annually.”

The next step in the company’s program is employee training and continuous education, which Lee says differentiates GCA Services Group from other green cleaning companies. “Everyone uses the same green product, so how you use it is what matters from a sustainability standpoint,” he says.

“We have proprietary procedures to ensure water and energy conservation, reduce sewage, and decrease waste to landfills.

Those costs are relevant to the customer because we use those resources at the customer’s facility on a daily basis—and they result in a real return on investment. As vested partners servicing those facilities, it’s important that we not contribute strain to the local aquifers or energy supply.”

Lee says he thinks technology will bring even better green products to market within the next few years, and meanwhile GCA Services Group is doing its own part by implementing a number of new initiatives.

One is the company’s sustainability council, an internal team of 18 associates representing all the company’s divisions.

“Some of the initiatives include working with product vendors to beta test new products, sharing best practices, and paying close attention to market trends and state or government mandates,” Lee says.

Another is the company’s sustainability scorecard, which is a self-evaluation operators use to determine how to be more sustainable for continuous improvement.

“By receiving up to 100 points in nine categories, our operators can easily see where they are most efficient, develop a gap analysis, and implement an action plan to move forward,” Lee says. “It’s quantifiable, and our customers embrace the credibility and validity it offers.”

—Julie Schaeffer

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solutions/water

backgrounder/ Greening Urban develops and implements achievable sustainability solutions for projects ranging from single buildings to large master plans. The company’s expertise is sustainable civil engineering, including environmentally sensitive site design (ESD), low-impact development (LID), storm-water management, water reuse, green infrastructure, and LEED ND (Neighborhood Development) certification support and training, among other services.

PERSEVERING TO CREATE SOLUTIONS Greening Urban, LLC founder and principal Chris Earley, LEED AP, is a visionary at the dynamic intersection of sustainable development, green civil engineering, and urban revitalization. “We’re always looking for innovative ways to address the issues related to sustainable building and neighborhood design,” he says. “With every project, we’re pushing the boundaries— while meeting budget and code—to be better stewards of the environment.” Since July 2007, Greening Urban has provided a high level of expertise on a wide range of issues related to sustainable building infrastructure, environmentally sensitive land use, and neighborhood design—with a strong focus on helping integrate sustainability into projects.

solution/ As project manager, Earley integrated sustainable civil engineering and landscape architecture by combining rain gardens, two types of green roofs, and multiple water-reuse strategies. A team approach became important as Earley coordinated with the mechanical and structural engineers to realize his full sustainable vision.

A primary focus of the project included ensuring the design of the streetscape bioretention (the rain gardens) and water feature integrated with the sustainability features of the building—which would help achieve the goal of LEED Gold certification for the project. The broader focus was on low-impact development storm-water management, rainwater reuse strategies, smart irrigation, and greywater catchment to reduce potable water requirements and associated costs.

challenge/ The building at 1050 K Street NW in Washington, DC, is a LEED Gold-certified, 136,000-square-foot building that combines 11 stories of architectural design with customized art galleries, elements from the natural environment, and two levels of vegetated roofs—including a rooftop garden—to create a distinctive AA office building in the capital’s downtown district.

The heart of the project, therefore, is a design that reuses all storm water and excess mechanical system condensate—in conjunction with a smart irrigation system that meets DC storm-water requirements and LEED NC (New Construction) storm-water credits. All storm water from both green roof levels and the streetscape

Earley worked with developers The Tower Companies and The Lenkin Company and with Hickok Cole Architects to incorporate innovative water and storm-water reuse strategies into the building’s structure and landscaping—all in a dense urban setting.

Diagram of water capture and recirculation from green roof, to cistern, to bioretention planters and back.

1 A

A/ UPPER GREEN ROOF B/ LOWER GREEN ROOF & TERRACE C/ FILTER FOR IRRIGATION & WATER FEATURE D/ PLAZA WATER FEATURE E/ CISTERN F/ BIORETENTION PLANTERS G/ STORM SEWER

B

2

1

3

D

F

1/ RAIN WATER 2/ IRRIGATION FOR ROOF 3/ WATER FROM CHILLERS 4/ IRRIGATION FOR PLAZA

F

F

4

E C

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solutions/water

Greening Urban, LLC

area, along with excess condensate, goes to a cistern between the footings under the underground parking. One pump in the cistern takes water to the bioretention planters and both green roof levels while a separate pump runs a water feature for two hours a day. Excess condensate and storm water is reused on-site, resulting in essentially a zero-runoff building. During large storm events the overflow goes to the public combined sewer system.

“We were told by many folks that we can’t do that kind of storm-water remediation in an urban environment—compacted soils, aesthetics etc.,” Earley says. “We first wanted to put a cistern outside, but the city didn’t allow storm-water cisterns in the right of way. The solution was to situate it in the parking garage to be accessible. However, that would impact the revenue gained from leasing parking spaces. The workable solution was to fit the cistern between the building’s fittings. The point is not to believe stereotypical reasons for not being sustainable—you can find a solution.” issues to overcome/ Because Washington, DC, sits atop a high water table, many of the below-ground parking decks are underwater and sealed.

During construction, while digging out the footings for the building, the contractor discovered that the crew had to start pumping out a lot of ground water on a daily basis.

This water goes to the combined sewer for eventual treatment. “Unfortunately, the health department wouldn’t allow us to reuse the ground water for the building’s water feature that pumps for two hours a day,” Earley says. “This is an example of one issue that DC is working on addressing as water and sustainability move to the forefront. Another related issue is that we were required to use drip irrigation because of regulations that disallow spray irrigation with captured rainwater—again an issue being worked on by the district.”

Another challenge was meeting USGBC and Washington, DC, code compliances at the same time, and working through the various regulatory agencies and attaining permits was an eye-opening process for Earley. “Some of their code requirements were in conflict for what is required for LEED certification,” he says. “For the LEED storm-water credits, the streetscape bioretention (rain gardens) were needed; but for DC storm-water requirements, they

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Greening Urban, LLC worked with developers and designers on the building at 1050 K Street NW in Washington, DC. The structure is now LEED Goldcertified with 11 stories and 136,000 square feet of space.

could not count as storm water—they were considered streetscape components. We worked through these issues, and DC is a forward-thinking city that is working on addressing them long term, and now they probably have more green buildings going up than anywhere else in the country.”

For Earley—aside from his passion for realizing integrated, sophisticated green design—another real driver in creating Greening Urban was to better address the socioeconomic issues surrounding water. “Eighty percent of people in the world don’t have clean water,” he says.

“With this project, we’re saving significant amounts of water a year by capturing and reusing run off while making the building and its surroundings beautiful.”

—Anne Dullaghan

growing greener solutions About Greening Urban LLC Greening Urban LLC helps clients find the ideal balance incorporating sustainability into their projects by developing and implementing achievable sustainability solutions for projects ranging from single buildings to large master plans. We provide expertise on a wide range of evolving challenges; from Sustainable Civil Engineering, LID (low impact development) stormwater management, water reuse, and green infrastructure to LEED‐ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development) certification support. We serve a wide range of stake‐ holders including developers, architects, land planners, engineers and landscape architects, as well as municipalities and educational insti‐ tutions. We succeed by helping our clients strike the ideal balance between where they are and where they want to be.

www.greeningurban.com 1421 Lombardy Alley, 1st Floor, Richmond, VA 23219 804‐217‐7436 Sustainable Civil Engineering • Innovative Low Impact Development Stor m w a t e r M a n a g e m e n t • Water Reuse Strategies • Integrating Sustainable Development Strategies into Master Plans • LEED® for N e i g h b o r h o o d D e v e l o p m e n t • G r e e n I n f r a s t r u c t u r e • G r e e n R o o f s • Green Infrastructure Technical Support for Munici‐ palities • Integrating Sustainability into Zoning R e g u l a t i o n s a n d B u i l d i n g C o d e s

SEPT 2011 107

material world

Weathering Wyoming Wood may be one of the most established materials in the building industry, but more important than novelty is use. And one Wyoming entrepreneur has discovered a goldmine.

FIELDER RESIDENCE Builder/ Base Building Solutions ARCHITECT/ Allen-Guerra Design Build, Inc. As a young man, John Fielder worked as a prospector for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

While there, he developed an appreciation for the state’s mining heritage. When he was ready to build his mountain home, he felt that an 1890s mine replica would serve him well, in both form and function. Photo: John Fielder.

In 1999, the Wyoming Department of Transportation awarded John Pope, a local sustainability-focused entrepreneur, with a contract to maintain the state’s snow fencing.

As part of that contract, Pope was tasked with disposing of the fencing he replaced.

Instead of sending the wood to a landfill, though, Pope found a unique use for it. Today, Centennial Woods—of which Pope is president and CEO—has sold 5 million linear feet of reclaimed snow fence to architects, builders, and homeowners. history/ Due to heavy snow and high winds, Wyoming’s highways are difficult—if not impossible—to pass in the winter months. In the 1970s, the state came up with a solution: snow fences. These structures stand 9–13 feet tall and mimic the shape of a mountain face. As the snow-laden air passes over and through the snow fence, its flow is slowed and turbulence is created, which causes snow to drop out of the air before it reaches the road. aesthetics/ Pope’s idea for selling the discarded snow fence materials was ahead of its time, given that sustainable design had not yet become mainstream. Who, one might ask, would want to buy old wood for more than the price of new wood? Pope’s intentions from the beginning were to reclaim wood based on his sustainable ideology. However, initially, many of Centennial Woods’ sales were based on the wood’s aesthetic appeal. “A lot of people in the western mountain towns, such as Vail, Aspen, and Boulder, were building second homes and wanted the unique look of weathered wood,” says Centennial Woods sales and marketing manager Kyle Henriksen. benefits/ Scott Patten, COO of the company, says the wood is even unique in the reclaimed-wood market because it’s never been painted or treated, unlike most of the reclaimed wood harvested from barns, factories, and schools.

“The fact that buyers didn’t have to worry about lead paint or other toxic finishes on the wood helped us,” he says. “It fills a niche that’s tough to fill, and it’s a wood that tells a better story than anything you’ll ever see.”

108 SEPT 2011

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material world

“This stuff was considered garbage 10 years ago, and now it’s going into $5 million houses.”

—Scott Patten, COO

SOUTH BOULDER RESIDENCE BUILDER/ Harrington Stanko Construction ARCHITECT/ Barrett Studio Architects

customers/ Henriksen says he’s proud that the company sells its product to such a variety of customers.

“On one end of the spectrum, we had a customer on a budget, so we spent six months trying to find a way to make flooring cheap enough for him to afford it, ultimately salvaging odd-sized wood from the snow-fence frame,” he says. “On the other end of the spectrum, our wood is in the corporate lobby of America Online and many Bass Pro shops. It’s been a ride finding new ways to get this product to different markets.” —Julie Schaeffer

Located in South Boulder, CO, with stunning panoramic views of the Flatirons and Hogback, this residence comprises a main house, a guest house, a studio, and barns with a riding arena.

The buildings are a blend of rich craftsmanship, luxurious furnishings, raw and rustic materials, and modern detailing. Photo: Michael Shopenn.

certification/ Now the company has begun to benefit from the sustainability movement. “The business has taken off since sustainability became mainstream,” Patten says. “Utilizing recycled content earns points, and sourcing within a 500-mile radius—where a huge percentage of our customers are located—scores even more. A lot of people tell us how excited they are to get double LEED points, even when they aren’t pursuing LEED certification. It’s amazing to me that this stuff was considered garbage 10 years ago, and now it’s going in $5 million houses.”

bryanbowen bryan bowen architects is a multidisciplinary design collaborative that explores how we may live and work more lightly upon our earth in beautiful, healthy environments. www.bryanbowenarchitects.com 303.443.3629

uses/ Going from selling on the basis of aesthetics to selling on the basis of sustainability isn’t the company’s only transition—Patten says it’s also expanding its product line. In 1999, Centennial Woods offered only 1-inch by 6-inch boards for siding. But the housing market and the green movement increased demand, and today Centennial Woods sells 2-inch by 6-inch boards and 9/16 interior panel boards, all from reclaimed snow fence. “Our wood is used for exterior and interior work,” Henriksen says.

“Siding, soffits, walls, decking, and floors.”

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SEPT 2011 109

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architect to watch

Maziar Behrooz On experimental vs. classical design and his inevitable confrontation with nature

by Suchi Rudra

In 1991, after completing graduate school at Cornell University, Maziar Behrooz, AIA, took a leap of faith and rented an office space, hoping the work would comeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and it did. Today, his East Hampton, New York-based firm, MB Architecture, is known for its experimental approach toward modern, sustainable designâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and for making use of distinctive materials such as structural insulated panels (SIPs), steel roofs, cement-board siding, resin floors, polycarbonate surfaces, cor-ten steel, and plant screens and roofs. Behrooz spoke with gb&d about early passions, proper use of traditional building strategies, and architecture as a societal influence. >

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architect to watch

Maziar Behrooz

A

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112 SEPT 2011

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architect to watch What did you dream about doing when you were growing up?

The thought of building—cities, neighborhoods, buildings. Creating space was always in the forefront of my dreams, sometimes to make living conditions better for people and other times as a fantasy about the future.

What influences have shaped your architectural style?

My father, who is an engineer, and my mother, who was a fashion designer, exerted a natural influence. However, besides them, my teachers opened my eyes to architecture’s constant mutations throughout history and its dialogue with art, progress, society, and philosophy. My college professor, Mark Shapiro, gave me a lot to chew on; we used to talk about Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn. I studied them carefully and understood the connection between their architecture and social change— architecture as a utopian endeavor.

“My projects may be deemed experimental, but I see them as relying on tested and even classical ideas about building performance.”

A/ Arc House. The shape of this distinctive residential space actually enhances energy efficiency (see p. 77 for more info). Photo: Matthew Carbone.

B/ Art Studio. The client needed an art studio space of about 700 square feet done on a stringent budget. Photos: Francine Fleishcer.

C/ Montauk House. The eye-catching home is built with an upper level extending out over its lower level. Photo (right): Francine Fleishcer.

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Tell me about your green design philosophy and how you apply innovative materials to this end.

My projects may be deemed experimental, but I see them as relying on tested and even classical strategies about building performance.

In regards to their shape and form, I let the process take over and tell me what is best and weave that with my construction experience and the energies of the site. In case of the Arc House, for example, we created courtyards and sunken spaces at the cellar level, allowing cool air to come naturally into the house and rise up to the top of the arched roof. Superhigh thermal windows in the arch itself help maintain an even temperature. With our [Angle House] in Wainscott [in New York], besides using high-efficiency mechanical systems and thermal barriers, we used continuous planters around the house to create natural shading during the summer months.

Can you tell us more about the Arc House?

What makes it unique?

The Arc House takes a technology used to build airplane hangars and hay-storage barns and uses it to enclose a large, columnless space of a house. It is a far simpler way to create shelter than the usual stick-build option.

The shape reduces the surface area of the building and, through natural convection, helps create an even temperature in the house. At the same time, it evokes forms that we associate with rural Long Island barns and hangars in potato fields. We also used SIPs, geothermal wells, bermed spaces, and super-high thermal windows to lower energy usage; and so far, the last electric bill for three months of winter was less than $300.

What about the Angle House? What challenges did it pose?

The Angle House presented the challenge of adding to an already existing barn-like house that has a disciplined geometry. I thought the addition should be a counterpart to that and be built as an organic background to this rigorous building. I devised a series of layered roof terraces and a linear planter system that act like hanging gardens framing the existing house. The angularity of the addition sits in contrast to the order of the existing house.

At the same time, we used roof overhangs and elaborate insulation details to create a strong thermal envelope. We calculated that after our addition, the property would end up with more green surface area than prior to it; this was a feat.

Your website describes the work you do as “buildings that explore modernity, sustainability, and integration with nature.”

How do you go about such broad explorations?

Yes, those are pretty hefty goals. Let me respond by contradicting myself. Architecture is essentially a confrontation with nature. The simple act of inserting a man-made object in a natural landscape is a confrontational act. Starting with that premise, we go on to explore the nature of this relationship. I want to see an exchange, whether calm or violent, between the building and its surroundings. So I look at architecture not only as a continuum of types and methods but as a way of guiding the energies of a site or location. The resulting forms emerge more out of an analysis of the site than a mimicking of historic styles.

What are your future goals for yourself as an architect and for your firm?

I am exploring prefabricated, low-cost construction as well as urban interventions and larger-scale projects.

What do you feel you accomplish with your work?

If, at the end of each project, I have helped in envisioning the architecture of a peaceful society, I feel I have accomplished something.

A MESSAGE FROM ALAN COURT & ASSOCIATES The Arc House was a great project for Alan Court & Associates. Our clients chose innovative materials for this amazing home designed

by MB Architecture. We are always looking for new tiles, especially those made from recycled materials. Coming Soon: glass tile made exclusively from recycled computer screens. How cool is that?

A MESSAGE FROM STEELMASTER BUILDINGS SteelMaster Buildings is the global leader in arched steel structures. Utilized by respected architects and engineers worldwide, SteelMaster steel buildings and roofing systems offer a rare blend of strength, style, and simplicity. Our clear-span, Energy Star-rated steel structures are versatile and durable, offering a unique industrial aesthetic. Made from 100 percent-recyclable, heavy-gauge, corrosion-resistant steel, SteelMaster can provide critical points toward your next LEED-certified project. Contact us to speak to a design specialist.

SEPT 2011 113

last look

The Kinetower Belgian company Kinetura is a high-concept design firm that believes strongly in the idea of “metamorphism,” a term the firm uses to describe the transformation of objects and structures to fit a particular use at any given time. Kinetura sees a future in designs that are fluid and adaptable to the possibility of varying conditions—this rather than structures carrying on the staid, static architecture that, in many respects, in the modern era, has reached about as far as it can go. Among Kinetura’s concepts for this architectural movement of motion and flexibility is the Kinetower, which the firm has imagined, essentially, as a highrise designed to move and respond to the day’s level of sunlight. A double-skin façade covers the building with flexible slats that expand and contract to control the amount of daylighting throughout the structure while at the same time harnessing the reflected sun rays as stored solar energy. In this way, the structure works as both an energy regulator and generator. The technology is still a few years away to make the structure a reality—the firm concedes that certain smart materials and components might be necessary to achieve the kind and extent of building movement it has in mind. However, when that day comes, Kinetura is sure to be ahead of the curve.

114 SEPT 2011

gbdmagazine.com

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