gb&d Issue 13: October 2011

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

gb&d GREEN BUILDING & design OCT 2011

Earthly Delights

The California Academy of Sciences is a living thing— inside and out. EARTH+WATER is the final installment of our Green MuseumS Series, p. 50

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contents

gb&d

®

GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN OCT 2011

verbatim 20/

DEREK PAYNE

The partner in charge of VCBO Architecture’s education projects on getting energy hogs to LEED Platinum

discussion board PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Visitors meet rainforest residents from Borneo, Costa Rica and the Amazon at the California Academy of Sciences (p. 50). Photo: Tim Griffith.

22/

BUCKMINSTER FULLER

How the Dymaxion House and Car exemplify ideals that became the roots of today’s green movement

launch pad 24/

BLU HOMES

The newest, greenest thing in prefab housing is a more extensive form of customer service

FEATURES green museums series, part iII: earth+water, p. 50

In the conclusion of our three-part series, we explore how Renzo Piano Building Workshop and wHY Architecture harnessed the power of the elements with two recent museum designs.

details 26/

Intexure Architects opt to do their own lighting, landscaping, and even graphics 30/

Populous has become the popular choice for domestic and international sports arenas. With Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins, the architecture firm and general contractor Mortenson Construction hit it out of the ball park.

33/

+

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

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DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Bastian Development adds real estate to its parent company’s list of services, capitalizing on decades of expertise

stadium all-stars, p. 56

8/

BEYOND THE BLUEPRINT

TRIPLE THREAT

Well-known champion of green Gerding Edlen designs a triple net-zero project for Oregon

DESIGN FOR THE PROLETARIAT

With unique language and methodologies, Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative rethinks public space

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contents

spaces

details 38/

STICK WITH THE PROGRAM

Boston Green Building is tweaking and tightening up its historic city with deepenergy retrofits

64/

Live-Work Studio/ INTEXURE ARCHITECTS Glassbury Court/ WILDER BALTER PARTNERS

3.1 PHILLIP LIM FLAGSHIP STORE

Leong Leong Architecture’s newest project is a study of materials—their possibilities and environmental impacts

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44/

BACK TO THE FUTURE

play/

Shopping Centers/ WESTFIELD GROUP

Inspired by a nearby Marcel Breuer home, this house by Hufft Projects is a case for elegant simplicity

Juvet Landscape Hotel/ JENSEN & SKODVIN

architect to watch 93/

heal/ Groot Klimmendaal Rehab Centre/ ARCHITECTENBUREAU KOEN VAN VELSEN

For a university with a rich history, Solomon Cordwell Buenz looks to the past for passive strategies 80/

WINN WITTMAN

The “rock-’n’-roll” architect discusses his design for a tranquil and mysterious house outside Austin, TX

Chettinad Health City/ MORPHOGENESIS 79/

CONVENTION CENTERS

The Greater Ft. Lauderdale / Broward County Convention Center set out to achieve LEED EBOM certification within two years—in the midst of the transformation, it’s made impressive headway

Barr Mansion/ HOMESTEAD HERITAGE

BAUHAUS

community

90/

Green Zone Pizza/ TECTONIC DESIGN

taking shape 43/

3-D PROTOTYPING

Hines + Dibrova Studio is using advanced algorithms to create vital façades and parametric skins, solutions that reduce energy use and solve lighting problems

live/ Casa Orquidea/ MATEU ARCHITECTURE

inner workings 40/

solutions 88/

material world 96/

A BRIGHTER FUTURE

The rundown on reflective roofing— types, applications, and pros and cons

learn/ Mary Hooker School/ BL COMPANIES Green Schools/ CELLI-FLYNN BRENNAN ARCHITECTS & PLANNERS Stoeckel Hall & Sterling Power Plant/ CHARNEY ARCHITECTS

last look 98/

EIGHT MILES2

Nanjing, China, asked CK Designworks for an 8-square-mile environmental urban plan

Ningbo Historic Museum/ WANG SHU

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index of people & companies

a–B

Alcoa Recycling, 58 Almeda, Frank, 51 Apokalyps Labotek,13 Architectenbureau Koen van Velsen, 79 Balter, Bill, 68, 69 Bastian Development, 30, 31 Bastian Material Handling LLC, 30, 31 Beavan, Colin, 14 Beech Aircraft Company, 22 BioHitech America, 91 BL Companies, Inc., 80, 81, 82 Blu Homes, 24, 25 Boston Green Building, 38, 39 Boutin, Marc , 37 Brennan, Bill, 83, 84 Breuer, Marcel, 43, 44 Building Science Corporation, 38 Butler, Brian, 38, 39

J–K

S

Jaworski, Joe, 75, 76 JC Construction Innovations, 14 Jensen & Skodvin, 77 Jim Leonard, 96, 97 Johnson, Julia, 90 Johnson, Philip, 23 Kim, Wook, 41, 42 Knight, Jonathan, 61 Kostigen, Thomas M., 14 Krausche, Jonathan, 75, 76 Kundalini, 11 Kwok, Alison, 14

Sacks, Jeffrey , 14 Sculpture Forge, 73 Shu, Wang, 87 SMG, 90 Smith, Kevin, 57 Socolean, Dennis, 14 Solomon Cordwell Buenz, 47, 48 Spear, Jeff, 57, 58 Sustainable Options, LLC, 90 Sweco, 16

L–M

California Academy of Sciences, 51, 52, 53 Carroll, Mark, 51 Celli-Flynn Brennan Architects & Planners, 83, 84 Celli, Tom, 83, 84 Charney Architects LLC, 85, 86 Charney, Rich, 85, 86 Charney, Rob, 85, 86 CK Designworks, 98 Collins, Lance, 30, 31 Davies, Kate, 51 Delegation for Sustainable Cities, 16 Dibrova, Oliver, 88, 89

Leogn, Chris, 40, 41, 42 Leong Leong Architecture, 40, 41, 42 Leong, Dominic, 40, 41, 42 Lim, Phillip, 40, 41, 42 Loyola University Chicago, 47 Make Studios, 43, 44 MATEU Architecture, 64, 65, 66 Mateu Carreno Rizo & Partners, 66 Mateu, Roney, 64, 66 McAfee, Melanie, 73 McCarthy, Maura, 24, 25 McIntyre, Collin, 73 Minnesota Twins, 57, 58, 59 Mischer’Traxler, 12 Mod-Fab LLC, 26, 27 Molo Design, 12 Morphogenesis, 78 Mortenson Construction, 56, 58, 61 Muhlbauer, Rainer, 80, 81, 82

E–G

N–P

C–D

Edlen, Mark, 33, 35 Ford, Henry, 23 Foster, Norman, 23 Fuller, Buckminster, 22, 23 Gately, Mark , 90, 91 Gerding Edlen, 33, 34, 35 Gerding, Bob, 33 Grand Rapids Art Museum, 54, 55 Green Museum Initiatives, 51 Grondzik, Walter, 14

H–I Haney, Bill, 24 Hines + Dibrova Studio, 88, 89 Hines, Zach, 88, 89 Homestead Heritage, 73 Hruska, Rame, 26, 27, 28, 67 Hruska, Russell, 26, 27, 28, 67 Hubert, Benjamin, 13 Hufft Projects, 43 Hufft, Matthew Edwin, 43, 44, 45 Intexure Architects, 26, 27, 28, 67

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Neill, Brodie, 11 Nelson, Matt , 61 OWPP, 83 Patterson, Devon, 47, 48 Payne, Derek , 20, 21 Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, 18 Pentair, 58 Phillip Lim, 40, 41, 42 Plantagon International AB, 16 Populous, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61 Pythagoras Solar, 16

T

Tectonic Design, 71, 72 The Greater Ft. Lauderdale / Broward County Convention Center, 90, 91 The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative Inc., 37 The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 16 The Pittsburgh Penguins, 58 Tigerman, Stanley, 43 TKWA Inc., 19 Tom Dixon, 12 Tonino Vicari, 71, 72 Tschumi, Bernard, 43 Turner, Sarah, 13

V–Z

VCBO Architecture, 20, 21 Viñoly, Rafael, 17 Westfield Group, 75, 76 wHY Architecture, 54 Wilder Balter Partners, 68, 69 Winn Wittman Architecture, 95 Wittman, Winn, 93, 94, 95 Yantrasast, Kulapat, 54

Advertisers

AWP Industries, Inc. / American Wire Products, 31, 32 B&R Construction Services, 74, 76 Biehle Electric, Inc., 31 Big-D Construction, 21 BL Companies, Inc, 82 Boling Roofs, 74 Carpet Giant, 70 Celli-Flynn Brennan Architects & Planners, 84 Chandos Construction Ltd., 36 Controlco Sustainable Solutions Groups, 74 EcoShield Window Systems, 39 Ed Hines Company, 45 Elara Engineering, 48 Greater Ft. Lauderdale / Broward County Convention Center, 91 Holtzman Design, 92 Howard S. Wright, 32 Lanco and Harris, 99 Mainland Construction, Inc., 29 Martifer Solar, 76 Maryann Thompson Architects, 92 MSB, Inc., 45 pinta acoustic, inc., 39 Premium Electric Corp., 2 ProBuild, 70 Pure Electric, L.C., 92 RealFoundations Inc., 76, 100 Robert Darvas Associates, 70, 72 SmithGroup, 92 Spiegel Zamecnik & Shah Inc., 86 Steele Solutions Incorporated, 29 Sustainable Options, LLC, 91 Unarco, 32 Werley Associates, 84

R

R&Sie(n), 15 Rafael Viñoly Architects, 17 Reflective Roof Coatings Institute, 96, 97 Renzo Piano Building Workshop, 51 Robert Darvis Associates, 72 Roche, François, 15 Rogers, Elizabeth, 14 Roof, Chris, 81 Rotondi, Michael, 43

OCT 2011

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NEW AMERICAN LUXURY A comprehensive look at the North American luxury marketplace.

November/December 2011 Check out our coverage of the luxury marketplace and sign up for your FREE subscription at

NEWAMERICANLUXURY.COM 6

OCT 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

ASSOCIATE editor Geoff George geoff@guerrerohowe.com

correspondents Thalia A-M Bruehl Erica Archer Zach Baliva Laura M. Browning Anne Dullaghan Peter Fretty Russ Klettke Kelly Matlock Alan Oakes Eugenia Orr Mark Pechenik Erik Pisor Suchi Rudra Lynn Russo Whylly Julie Schaeffer Kaleena Thompson Tina Vasquez Laura Williams-Tracy

art Creative Director Karin Bolliger

Julie Schaeffer, who for this issue penned the profiles of Intexure Architects and MATEU Architecture, owns orangeMOSAIC LLC (www. orange-mosaic.com), which provides business-writing services to corporations and publications. She lives in an orange condo in Chicago with her two orange devon rex cats. As you might guess, her favorite color is orange.

editorial research managers

Zach Baliva is a writer and media producer originally from Springfield, IL. He worked at Warner Brothers for the producers of ER before leaving in 2007 to produce the award-winning independent film My Name is Jerry, starring Doug Jones. He has written for Guerrero Howe since 2008. This month for gb&d, he profiled Hines + Dibrova Studio and wrote the feature story “Stadium All-Stars.”

Dawn Collins Anthony D’Amico Carolyn Marx

editorial research assistant Adam Castillo

Researchers: Eric Crabb Shaan Haque Gerald Mathews

As a highly experienced freelance journalist, Peter Fretty has written thousands of feature articles and cover stories for an assortment of trade journals, business publications, and consumer magazines. His work has appeared in Advanced Manufacturing, Continental, and CIO Magazine.

Peter holds a bachelor’s degree in business leadership and an MBA in marketing and communications. In this issue of gb&d, he writes about the fresh approach Blu Homes is taking to provide budget-friendly, sustainablemanufactured housing solutions.

senior designer Bill Werch

photo editor Samantha Hunter

gbdmagazine.com

A freelancer for gb&d for a little more than a year, Kelly Matlock also serves as a content developer for Cognitive Arts, an e-training company based in Evanston, IL, writing content for corporate trainings and web-based courses for Fortune 500 companies such as Bank of America, Kraft, and Allstate. When she’s not writing, Kelly enjoys dining at new restaurants around Chicago, traveling, going to concerts, running, and hanging out with her husband and her dog, a twoyear-old black lab named Stella. For this issue, Kelly enjoyed again delving into the world of museum design, especially Belzberg Architects’ Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

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editor’s note

living rooms

B

uildings as living rooms. It’s an idea that pops up throughout this issue of gb&d, first in Derek Payne’s thoughtful insights surrounding VCBO Architecture’s educational designs, then again in the travels of erudite architect Marc Boutin. On p. 20, Payne describes his goal for the Sorensen Unity Center to become “the living room to bring together an ethnically diverse community.” Later, Boutin recounts his time in Rome as a professor at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture (p. 37). “Take for example the marketplace, where our participation in that space is ephemeral and engaging,” he says.

“These experiences are shifting over time ... an evolution that allows these spaces to become the living rooms for the citizens of Rome.”

In both cases, the living room symbolizes a place for natural, incidental contact, made possible by the flexible nature of the space in question. Essentially, these are spaces that foster community. Portland, OR’s Gerding Edlen (p. 33)—behind cutting-edge projects such as 12 West and the Oregon Sustainability Center—has made these types of spaces a priority. The same goes for Wilder Balter Partners (p. 68), who with Glassbury Court is providing an active adult-community that offers the best amenities with the greatest efficiency.

Of course, there will always remain buildings whose purpose is highly specific.

Museums are such structures, and as we conclude our three-part series on museum design, we explore two final elements. “Earth+Water” (p. 50) details Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences—which features 1.7 million plants on a spectacular, undulating green roof—and wHY Architecture’s Grand Rapids Art Museum, whose water-recapture strategy is both an aesthetic addition to the museum and part of a three-tiered reuse system.

Sports stadiums are another group of highly particular structures, but stadium-design allstar Populous is changing the game (p. 56). The new home of the Minnesota Twins, Target Field, was built to LEED Silver specs and is helping fans arrive in more eco-friendly ways—through innovative siting and design, visitor use of public transportation has nearly tripled. Also, be sure to check out our rundown of some of Populous’ stunning international sports projects, which includes South Africa’s FNB Stadium and the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.

Going back to Marc Boutin’s thoughts on Rome’s marketplaces, we’re seeing retail and shopping center projects change as well. Developers such as the Westfield Group are undertaking massive energy audits on their shopping centers and, in the case of Westfield Culver City, seeing up to $200,000 in energy-cost savings. It’s just one more example of the economic payback that accompanies green building’s environmental mission. As if we needed another.

PHOTO: Samantha Hunter.

Regards,

Timothy A. Schuler Features Editor

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OCT 2011

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

OUR LUMINOUS FUTURE The obvious theme in the following light pieces is an acceptance of the future—in which we need energy-saving fixtures and better technology—but there’s also a refusal to just forget the past.

Through designs that try to recapture the beauty of the incandescent bulb or very obviously highlight the changes over the past century, these lamps illuminate the way forward without sacrificing centuries of knowledge, design, and innovation.

three leaves’ luck Drawing inspiration from the form of its namesake, Brodie Neill’s Clover merges the ephemeral world of plants and flowers and the sleek substance of modern design. With the bulb at the center of the “leaves,” the new lamp from Kundalini diffuses light in an innovative way. Used in conjunction, they form a field of giant, ethereal clovers overhead, a heavenly bed under which to rest. brodieneill.com

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up front/commodities lively old bones The textbook definition of reuse, Mischer’Traxler’s Relumine takes two outdated lamps and combines them in a new statement of energy efficiency and lighting design. The discarded lamps are disassembled, sanded, freshly painted, and joined with a partner via a T5 fluorescent bulb, creating a lamp unlike any other. The new piece uses less energy than either of the original lamps in their previous lives. mischertraxler.com

reclaiming incandescence Most would agree that the phase-out of incandescent bulbs is regrettable aesthetically. Tom Dixon wants to do something about that. Using a unique, quick-start T5 light source within an oversized bulb, the designer has created a response to the unsightly appearance of many of today’s energy-efficient lighting options. Bulb, as it’s called, uses a standard thread and can be used individually or as part of a chandelier concept that aesthetically bridges yesterday and tomorrow. tomdixon.net

hobos of high design A “piece of pragmatic poetry” is what Vancouver-based molo design calls its Hobo Lantern, a lamp that can be worn as a normal shoulder bag or installed as a stationary lantern and used as a distinctive accent in interior or exterior spaces. Inspired by urban nightlife, energy-efficient LEDs light glow through the natural felted wool of the bag, designed too to be hung from molo’s Cork Peg, which uses a magnetic mounting system to accommodate almost five pounds. molodesign.com

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up front/commodities

< new weave Benjamin Hubert’s Loom collection is a series of pendant lamps that use organic textiles, referencing traditional Chinese lanterns. Polyester is stretched over threedimensional forms, with light emitting through the fibers and from a polymer lens at the bottom. The lamps are offered via Zero, a family-owned Swedish lighting company. benjaminhubert.co.uk

light crystal > Innovation isn’t always evident at first. This lamp’s untidy shade is actually made of salt crystals. Produced by the natural crystallization of a saline solution in a bucket without the use of electricity or labor, Crystal is a design solution by Apokalyps Labotek that uses local chemical byproduct to form a functional light that, at the end of its life, can also biodegrade. apocalypselab.net

bottoms up Made from used, sandblasted plastic soda and juice bottles, Sarah Turner’s lamps and lighting installations are handcrafted works of art. The pale blue Soda 10 is made from ten 1-litre soda bottles, which are hand-cut and then sculpted into multifaceted, ribbon-like forms. sarahturner.co.uk

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up front/agenda/bookshelf

OCt 2011

NEW READ Sustainable design is a constantly evolving field whose major players must do everything they can to stay up-to-date with the latest aesthetic trends, building strategies, and products. Alison Kwok and Walter Grondzik’s second edition of The Green Studio Handbook: Environmental Strategies for Schematic Design has all the latest information on applying environmental strategies to the schematics of eco-friendly structures. The book includes approaches for incorporating necessary technologies into a design at the earliest stages of the process; annotated tables and charts; and overviews of the most recent international standards, rating systems, and guidelines. All text is also backed up by instructional sketches and photos in full color. Elsevier, March 2011, $75.95.

State of Design: Victoria’s Design Festival/ Metro

International Conference on Sustainable Development/

For the first time, the USGBC’s annual conference and expo will be held outside the country—in Toronto.

But expect the same caliber of education, exhibitors, and special events for which Greenbuild is known. greenbuildexpo.org

Recommended Reading Top architects and designers on what you should have on your list Dennis Socolean is a forensic construction professional and general contractor who is ICC certified as a building inspector.

He has more than 15 years of experience in Northern California, and as owner of JC Construction Innovations, he currently oversees LEED-certified building projects and ensures they’re done quickly and efficiently. The forensic construction consultant also has expertise in construction defect litigation, and he has investigated more than 4,000 construction-defect cases.

And, thanks to certifications from the Indoor Air Quality Association, he has managed more than 2,000 air-quality cases.

No Impact Man

by Colin Beavan The Green Book

by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen Optimism Engine

by Jeffrey Sacks blogs greenprophet.com forcedgreen.com webecoist.com

OCT 2011

10.28/ 10.30

Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, ON

books

14

10.04/ 10.07

10.12/ 10.14 World Energy Engineering Congress/ Navy Pier, Chicago A big-picture event for any energy professional, this conference and expo offers myriad seminars on the latest trends and topics as well as the industry’s latest technologies. energycongress.com

Shanghai, China A platform for research and networking, this conference provides, among other things, a place for new global partnerships to form. engii.org/cet2011

10.30/ 11.02 ASLA 2011 Annual Meeting & Expo/ San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA More than 6,000 landscape architecture professionals meet, greet, and celebrate the profession at this educational event and products expo. The meeting also includes various special events and fundraisers. asla.org/2011meeting

10.18/ 10.21 World Sustainable Building Conference/ Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Centre, Helsinki, Finland This four-day conference aims to establish better solutions for more sustainable building by addressing world resources, well-being in cities and urban environments, and social sustainability and ethical principles, among other topics. energycongress.com

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up front/memo

wonderwall French architecture firm R&Sie(n) recently unveiled its signature “I’m Lost in Paris” project, a hydroponic living wall and roof completed in 2008 and designed for a private residence in Paris. The project could serve as a new model for cultivating vegetation atop and on the sides of buildings.

Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil by using nutrient-rich solutions to feed the plants’ root structures. For the “I’m Lost in Paris” project, more than 1,200 hyroponically grown ferns were nurtured on the concrete façade of the home, and they are fed a liquid formula infused with rhizobium bacteria that drips out of 300 individually glass-blown beakers. The entire drip feeding system works on its own, but the beakers were modeled as much for aesthetic value as they were to serve an exacting purpose, hanging almost like clusters of berries that extend as if grown from the ferns themselves.

ABOVE: The “I’m Lost in Paris” home is covered by more than 1,200 ferns drip fed by roughly 300 glass-blown beakers.

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The living wall took almost five years so complete, and it keeps the house covered all year long, regulating the home’s temperature and cutting down on energy costs while increasing its overall aesthetic appeal.

A creative team led by François Roche crafted the design around the idea of an “urban witch,” the home theoretically attracting passersby with its beauty while repulsing them with its strange bacterial brew.

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up front/memo

Hotter Models In the ongoing effort to temper excessive use of electricity in larger buildings, The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a computer program for energy modeling called EnergyPlus.

The simulator can analyze a building’s energy needs and output and thus conserve energy in the short term and save on building costs in the long term. Best of all, it is available free of charge for any designer or builder to use.

plantagon With funding from the Swedish government’s cleantech initiative, the Delegation for Sustainable Cities, the country’s Botkyrka municipality has signed an initial letter of intent with Plantagon International AB to build a vertical greenhouse in the city. Plantagon, a Swedish organization founded to combat world hunger, consulted with engineering company Sweco on the vertical greenhouse concept, and it then shopped the design around to many cities across the globe before reaching an agreement with Botkyrka. The completed greenhouse will be a spherical structure about 200 feet in diameter, with spiraling garden plots running up the inside. It will provide a year-round growing space in

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the far northern country and serve as a high-profile landmark for the Botkyrka municipality and the nation of Sweden. The next step in the process is to analyze all the possible benefits of the greenhouse in terms of its sustainability, efficiency, and effect on surrounding urban developments. Once the process is completed, contractors will be brought in to begin construction, most likely in early 2012.

Botkyrka serves as the south entrance to Sweden’s capital city of Stockholm, and thousands pass by the planned location of the greenhouse every day.

With any luck, the structure will be an example that other cities will quickly follow in an effort to promote sustainability and curb growing world-hunger issues.

The NREL designed EnergyPlus to work with the OpenStudio Application suite, a plug-in program that uses Google SketchUp, a simple, intuitive 3-D drawing program that allows a designer to create a model of a building quickly and easily. The Google program also has a feature called Match Photo that uses building images to create a 3-D rendering in almost no time at all. Once the rendering is in place, other OpenStudio programs such as ModelEditor, ResultsViewer, and RunManager allow a designer to manipulate the model, examine and compare different energy strategies graphically, and even run multiple energy simulations at the same time.

The use of OpenStudio means that all the source code for the software is open, so outside developers and programmers can add features to the program that the original designers might not have had the time or funding to create. In this way, NREL’s software is not only free to the public; it’s also open to expansion and enhancement within the public discourse.

pythagoras’ willis tower International firm Pythagoras Solar announced recently a pilot installment of photovoltaic windows in the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) in downtown Chicago. The company provides transparent, high-efficiency windows that have also been treated to generate solar power, effectively turning any building that uses them into an automatic solar farm.

In November 2010, Pythagoras Solar installed its windows on the south side of Willis Tower’s 56th floor. The windows use a building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solution that, if spread over the full surface area of the building, could generate more than two megawatts of electricity. The high-efficiency windows cut down on solar heat gain and prevent excess energy use while capturing energy at the same time, bringing the architectural engineering world that much closer to achieving net-zero energy in large-scale structures.

Pythagoras Solar’s pilot program with the Willis Tower, part of a larger set of renewable-energy goals the tower’s owners are working toward

ABOVE: Pythagoras Solar’s treated windows help turn high-rises into solar farms.

Photo: flickr_user: Vincent Desjardins.

achieving, is also a concrete example of how modern sustainable endeavors can serve as reinvestments in area economies, creating jobs for local residents and connecting the idea of sustainability more solidly with larger geopolitical issues. Perhaps in the future, whole downtown areas will be able to supply their own power while both maintaining and generating an economic base for local markets.

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up front/defined design

YOU KNOW, FOR KIDS Just as important as implementing ecofriendly, energy-efficient building solutions is educating today’s youth about those solutions—so that one day they might know to follow a similar path. New children’s museums continue to go up across the United States and throughout other countries, and many of their designers are incorporating lessons into the buildings themselves so that kids can learn about sustainable architecture from the moment they walk in the door. Here are a few of the latest works.

Brooklyn Children’s Museum Brooklyn, New York The Brooklyn Children’s Museum is New York City’s first LEED Silver-certified museum and the first to tap geothermal wells for heating and cooling purposes.

Wherever possible in the redesign of the original 1977 structure, Rafael Viñoly and his team incorporated rapidly renewable and recycled materials and highperformance, sustainable features, all while expanding and reconfiguring the space. Two stories of new construction add a library, a café, exhibition galleries, and classrooms, with second-floor galleries connected to the existing structure through open staircases and vertical circulation cores, providing visitors varying ways to explore the facility. The design also provides access to the existing rooftop terrace and outdoor theater and links these spaces directly to a second-floor Kids’ Café. Eco-friendly materials were incorporated throughout, including bamboo flooring, low-VOC paints and sealants, and high-performance glass. Photovoltaic panels were also affixed to the structure and are situated on display to work as a teaching tool.

Photos: Chuck Choi.

architect Rafael Viñoly Architects COMPLETION DATE 2008 Estimated energy savings per year $103,000 website rvapc.com

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up front/defined design

National Children’s Museum National Harbor, Maryland Washington, DC’s National Children’s Museum is commissioning a new state-of-the-art facility for itself, one that will be LEED certified and feature a number of educational green elements. This focus on sustainability will also be incorporated in the museum’s exhibits and operations. Key sustainable design elements will include a wind turbine; a living wall on the south façade; a green roof; recycled materials in the building’s framing; glass with high-performance glazing, low-e coating, and ceramic frit; water-efficient planting and permeable courtyard surfaces; and an underground cistern capturing rainwater for irrigation and toilets. The museum is designed with multiple pavilions and an outdoor space that are all central to the museum experience. It was important for the architects to create a building that promoted fun for the kids—to get them excited about learning to be environmentally conscious.

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architect Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects expected completion date 2013 Size 150,000 square feet website pcparch.com

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up front/defined design

Madison Children’s Museum Madison, Wisconsin Recently reopened at 100 North Hamilton Street, the Madison Children’s Museum anchors the north corner of the city’s Capitol Square and is housed in a former Montgomery Ward department store originally built in 1929. The five-level adaptive-reuse building features an accessible, all-season green roof; solar panels; daylighting through restored storefront windows; an energy-efficient HVAC system; natural ventilation; reclaimed construction materials, including doors, wood flooring, bleachers, and carpeting; natural, nontoxic, local materials, including paint, linoleum, concrete, and wood; and green bathrooms with 100 percent recycled partitions, photovoltaicoperated soap dispensers, dual-flush toilets, and waterless urinals. The building of the facility was itself sustainably sound. At least 75 percent of the construction waste was recycled rather than going to a landfill. Photos: Zane Williams. architect TKWA Inc. Opened August 2010 Size 41,570 square feet website tkwa.com

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verbatim

I’ve often thought about the day that every house and garage has photovoltaic solar panels on the roof that power the automobiles and solar hot-water heaters. I hope that day is not far off.

Derek Payne on VCBO Architecture’s education projects, buildings as living rooms, and what inspires him most

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Up Close & Personal What was your first job?

Mowing lawns, and all the while I was constantly thinking like a landscape architect—how these people could improve their yards. I was also a very shy kid and never did share any of my secret plans for their yards.

If you weren’t a designer, what would your alternate career be?

I could see myself as a materials-science researcher or in the field of alternative-energy research.

What inspires you?

Collaboration inspires me. Working in concert with all the people that it takes to craft a successful project is awe inspiring. Each project is infused with the personalities of all the people that contribute.

Describe yourself in three words.

Persistent, inquisitive, and (sometimes, maybe a little) irreverent.

What is your hidden talent?

I do a dead-on Donald Duck imitation, and when I was younger thought I might even make a career out of it.

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Derek Payne For Derek Payne, working as an educational designer is an education in itself. A partner at VCBO Architecture in Salt Lake City, Payne currently heads up higher-education projects that give him the opportunity to learn about various disciplines, which in turn helps him to design the best spaces possible for the students. Most recently, Payne learned about the application of beer-brewing principles in a science curriculum and the finer points of locating brewing equipment in a food-science lab. As the ways in which students learn are constantly being redefined, Payne looks to past achievements and future hopes to create intelligent and imaginative educational facilities. Here he discusses with gb&d some of his strategies and philosophies.

verbatim

Just the other day, a friend told me that her husband left his job and decided to go back to school. In part, he did this because he had visited the Westminster College Meldrum Science Center, and the learning environment in the building inspired him to take one of those rare life chances and return to his original love of the sciences. He has now been attending classes in the building this last semester and says the learning environment is exceptional. It’s this kind of response to our designs that makes you want to hurry and finish the next project.

I’ve often thought about the day that every house and garage has photovoltaic solar panels on the roof that power the automobiles and solar hot-water heaters. I hope that day is not far off. A focus on the educational aspect of sustainable habits is important to any successful design. We must all learn the behaviors that will reduce our negative impact on our environment. A great design can be the catalyst for positive change. In addition, the human cost—the building occupants—is much greater than the cost of any building systems. Providing spaces that are inspiring and healthy will result in the best long-term outcome and a solid return on our investments. —Suchi Rudra

As a partner in a firm with 70 employees, it is a constant struggle to devote the amount of energies to each project that I would like.

You want to spend every waking hour on every project to resolve every minute detail. My position involves leading teams that are crafting projects at institutions of higher learning. I am actively involved in the earliest programming and design right up until the last piece of furniture is in place. Our successes are only possible because of the commitment of our innovative and dedicated design team through all phases of the project.

The LEED Silver-certified Unity Center had large ambitions of becoming the living room to bring together an ethnically diverse community.

Through a mix of uses and spaces that encourage community participation, the facility now houses a recreation facility, a community art museum, a cultural performance center, adult-education classrooms, children’s technology classrooms, Salt Lake Community College classrooms—as well as a community dental clinic.

At the Meldrum Science Center, we literally had to blaze new trails to incorporate some of the important sustainable features. To be able to capture rainwater from the site, we had to seek out Salt Lake City Corporation’s approval to forego water rights—something they had never done before. This rainwater—and the water drained from the evaporative cooling system—is collected in an underground cistern and used to irrigate the landscaping on the campus. The control systems and energy use for the building are metered—and tracked and illustrated by students—on LCD screens throughout the facility.

The amount of daylight in the building is astounding, and classes are often held without ever turning on a light. Daylight is received from an exterior wall but also through the interior wall that is shared with the atrium/circulation for the building.

The Meldrum Science Center received LEED Platinum certification.

I am proud of this accomplishment, in particular because of the notoriety of science laboratory buildings as energy hogs. The recognition that this building has received has been one of our most successful marketing tools. VCBO has also designed four of the eight educational buildings in Utah that have achieved LEED certification, including the first state of Utah project [the building for the Division of Facilities Construction Management], the first high school, and the first LEED Platinum project on a higher-education campus in the state of Utah.

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BIG-D CONSTRUCTION

M OTH E R NATU R E WO UL D C A L L U S A VE RY R ESP O N SI B L E T E N AN T

w w w. b i g - d . c o m

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discussion board

Living the Dymaxion Life Reflections on the ‘grandfather of green’—Buckminster Fuller

In 1946, as the Second World War was winding down, Buckminster Fuller was working with the Beech Aircraft Company revising his prototype Dymaxion House for mass production. The name “Dymaxion” was a synthesis of some of Fuller’s favorite words: “dynamic,” “maximum,” and “tension.” His space-age prototype home exemplified the name and was like nothing the American consumer had ever seen before.

Circular in shape and made of aluminum, stainless steel, and plastic, it was called a “metallic mushroom.” Rather than rest on the ground, the Dymaxion house would hover several feet above it—the entire house engineered something like an umbrella— balancing on a central core mast with spokes radiating from the core, roof, and walls affixed to the spokes. The domed roof and elevation naturally created a low-pressure vacuum that circulated air to cool the home. Fuller made sure the Dymaxion House would be easy to assemble—the whole kit for the building’s shell could be transported in a 16-foot-long tube, or better yet, a completed model could be flown in the air, by dirigible, to the prepared site and simply lowered into place. The list price of this house of the future? $6,500—the going rate of a Cadillac automobile. The home owner, Fuller believed, should be able to pay for the house in five years and thus be free and clear of the stresses of longer-term financing.

THIS PAGE: The last surviving prototype of the Dymaxion House.

It’s now located at the Henry Ford Museum.

Photos: flickr_user: {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester}.

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When LIFE magazine previewed the prototype house in a flashy multipage layout in 1946, complete with interior photos of pie-shaped rooms with movable walls and bands of curving windows dressed in homey middle-American furnishings including flouncy drapes and dustruffled bedding, 3,500 orders with deposits

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discussion board “So the Dymaxion House was probably the worst-planned dwelling in the world—a small round space—unless you like igloos and live like Eskimos in one room. But he believed in privacy, so he carved it up and made rooms and the beds.

If you look at the plans today, it is to laugh. The

bed never got into the pieshaped room. There’s no

way architecturally to make it work. But he tried

anyhow. And he put an arched door in this mechanicallooking thing.” —Philip Johnson

“In 1951, Fuller drew attention to the ecological issues of today when he referred to ‘Spaceship Earth’ and the fragility of the planet.

As such, his work and

observations are even more important now than they were in his lifetime.”

—Lord Norman Foster

ABOVE, RIGHT: Fuller’s early conceptual drawings of the Dymaxion House and Car.

poured in. Fuller himself had been a fixture in the architecture, engineering, and design world for nearly 20 years. His first Dymaxion prototype home debuted in 1927. Fuller sought to break down the walls associated with various scientific disciplines, integrating them holistically into producing a better life for the inhabitants of “Spaceship Earth,” a term he coined. Fuller said our human goal was “to make the world work for 100 percent of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or disadvantage of anyone.” It is for this basic philosophy that he is regarded as the grandfather of the green movement.

Fuller sought to achieve his philosophical goals by increasing performance and design efficiency. The bathrooms in the Dymaxion House are an excellent example of Fuller’s quest for efficiency. The patented molded units were a scant 25 square feet, ergonomically housing a sink, waterless toilet (originally

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designed to shrink wrap discharge), and a bath tub with a fog-misting shower that was touted as providing a soap-free cleanliness using only a cup of water.

Some fifteen years prior to the debut of the 1946 prototype house, Fuller turned his attentions toward transportation. Henry Ford gave Fuller a chassis of a Ford sedan to alter radically. His Dymaxion Car had only three wheels, and the lone wheel for steering was at the rear of the car, as was the motor.

Wind tunnel tests produced an overall tearshaped body that was similar to the wheel fairings of the fastest aircraft of the time. Fuller hoped to put wings on a later model so it could fly.

Architect Norman Foster, who worked with Fuller in the 1970s, recently painstakingly reproduced the automobile with his design team. “The Dymaxion had the same engine and transmission as the Ford Sedan of the

time,” Foster says. “However, at three times the volume, with half the fuel consumption and a 50 percent increase in top speed, it not only did more with less but anticipated the ‘people mover’ of several decades later.”

Unfortunately, neither the Dymaxion House nor Car was ever mass produced. The last house prototype has been restored and is on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan, and the Dymaxion Car was the victim of a tragic accident at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Fuller went on to be one of the key innovators of the geodesic dome, a highly efficient structure whose basic concepts have been replicated in myriad applications.

And his philosophy still propels the green movement. “We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully, nor for much longer, unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common,” he once said. “It has to be everybody or nobody.”

—Alan Oakes

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launch pad

Greening in Pieces Blu Homes brings sustainability to the prefab market through its proven, efficient manufacturing platform

launched 2007 location Boston, MA distinction The firm sold 35 homes in 2010, and it is already on track to sell 80 in 2011, thanks to its scalable growth process website bluhomes.com

Who: Blu Homes is a specialized, eco-friendly builder focused on designing, producing, and delivering beautiful prefabricated green homes suitable for a wide range of buyers.

Maura McCarthy serves as vice president of sales and marketing, and Bill Haney is the company president. Prior to cofounding Blu Homes, McCarthy was in the venture funding business with ties to both sustainability and modular housing. Haney entered the equation with a seasoned background in environmental technologies.

Blu Homes currently has 80 employees, with plans to double its staff in 2011. The firm sold 35 homes in 2010, is on target to sell 80 in 2011, and has a very scalable process to allow it to continue growing. “The US homebuilding market represents huge opportunities,” McCarthy says. “We are positioned in a way to produce a product that meets a client need. The challenge moving forward is not finding clients; it will be filling our talent needs. Within Blu, there is understandably a great deal of excitement about how fast we are growing and the great number of geographies we have been able to touch so quickly.”

What: Blu Homes’ claim to fame is its truly distinctive line of prefabricated green homes, which capitalize on the use of a proven, efficient, and environmentally friendly manufacturing platform. “We did a lot of research as to why prefab has traditionally failed, and often it was the result of a narrow vision and the lack of a scalable platform,” McCarthy says. “With our homes, all Americans can have access to a beautifully designed, personalized, cool custom home that is reasonably priced.”

The average unit sale at Blu Homes is $230,000. There is a balance between a number of $150,000–200,000 units and others in the $300,000–550,000 range. Square footage

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ranges from 400 to 2,300. Green components include ultra-light, highly durable recycled-steel framing systems; rigid-foam insulation; heat-recovery ventilators and element-controlled construction processes for exceptional air quality; radiant-heat floors standard throughout all designs to save on energy consumption; high ceilings combined with walls of windows for natural lighting; high-efficiency appliances; and cabinets with the highest GreenGuard certification When: Although incorporated in 2007, Blu Homes took root when its cofounders funded a two-year study at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005 and 2006. The goal was to look at different ways of building smaller, beautiful, light-filled homes with economical energy requirements. “The feeling was that Americans were overleveraging themselves,” McCarthy says. “We wanted to find a new path to healthy building, including indoor air quality. The outcome of the study was to build off-site structures.”

Where: With offices in Boston and San Francisco, Blu Homes has built residences in 13 states and the Virgin Islands and recently received its first Canadian order. The company has a well-established network of highly trained representatives and realistic goals to continually expand the operation into new waters.

Why: “We noticed a big opportunity to do something that was more streamlined, thoughtfully designed, more in line with values of indoor/outdoor living,” McCarthy says. “We wanted smaller spaces with higher ceilings, large windows—but not energy-sucking houses. There is an interesting dynamic now, where people are going back to basics in parts of their lives yet using high technology to give themselves more time and freedom.”

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launch pad

PHOTOS: Randy Foulds.

Blu Homes

“We wanted to find a new path to healthy building, including indoor air quality. The outcome of the study was to build off-site structures.”

—Maura McCarthy, Vice President, Sales & Marketing

How: When purchasing a Blu Homes residence, clients are never left to fend for themselves, McCarthy says. “We take pride in the fact that the client experience is consistent and pleasurable with one company representative staying in contact with the client from beginning to end,” she says. “With Blu Homes, you are never alone. We walk you through each step—purchasing land, selecting the best model, financing, etc.”

The process usually takes six months and includes a 3-D representation of the house on the client’s land prior to the client making a final commitment. After all personalization is complete, Blu Homes commits to a final fixed price and then goes on to handle permitting, fabrication, and delivery using its in-house staff. “We also help coordinate with the local site contractor for foundation, utility connections, driveway, and landscape,” McCarthy says. —Peter Fretty

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TOP: Three bright, airy Origin models designed by Blu Homes.

Here, they serve as additions to a home in Wayland, MA. CENTER: From the inside, once a Blu Homes space has been customized, it’s hard to tell it’s prefabricated.

BOTTOM: Windows along most walls and near the ceiling bring plenty of daylighting into each Blu Homes unit.

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details

Beyond the Blueprint For the founders of Intexure Architects, lighting, landscaping, and even graphic design are all part of an architect’s job description

For Rame and Russell Hruska, architecture spans many fields—so when the duo teamed up to create Intexure Architects in 2001, they did so with a unique vision. “The word ‘intexure’ means to weave or interweave, which was important to us because we wanted to integrate all facets of the profession, including architecture, interior design, lighting design, landscaping, art and furniture selection, and even graphic design,” Rame says. “For example, in a recent restaurant project, we designed the logo and large-scale wall graphics, which reinforce the architectural space.” In keeping with the concept of interweaving, in 2006 the Hruskas founded Mod-Fab LLC, a construction firm. “We’d always been a design-focused firm,” Rame says. “Increasing our involvement in construction has reinforced that. It gives us more control, as well as the ability to manage quality and costs.”

Southmore Terrace was one of the first projects that Intexure Architects and ModFab completed together. The development of four residences is adjacent to Intexure’s offices in the Museum Park neighborhood of Houston. “We see a need for urban housing,” Russell says. “A lot of young professionals want to move back into the loop, so we’re working to create good design with a community atmosphere—but still meet people’s budgets. We think we accomplished that with Southmore Terrace.” The homes in the development sold quickly. “We did things in an unconventional way, but it worked,” Russell says. “Basically, we knew what we wanted to achieve, so we just started promoting it. People were hungry for it.”

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The idea of community is constantly at the center of Intexure Architects’ vision for more sustainable homes.

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Intexure Architects

details

For the Intexure team, architecture is about all aspects of design, including construction, landscaping, and graphics.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The Southmore Terrace development balances the need for urban density with open space.

RIGHT: A rooftop terrace provides additional outdoor space and city views.

BELOW: Carefully sited windows add light and openess to the Tallichet residence’s living and dining areas.

ALL PHOTOS: Don Glentzer.

The first four homes (currently undergoing LEED certification) were so successful that the Hruskas bought more property adjacent to Southmore Terrace for another development called Palm Terrace. “We’ve just now poured our tenth foundation in the area,” Russell says. All of the homes incorporate the Hruskas’ unique approach to sustainability, which goes beyond LEED requirements. “We are seeking to balance the need for urban density with appropriate green space, access to light, views, and nature,” Rame says. “We want to create a sense of community and connection to the neighborhood, which will lead to a more fulfilling living experience and enrich people’s lives.”

Living in an urban environment has many perks beyond the short commute. “We need a walkable environment where people can access retail, commercial, and cultural institutions without getting in a car,” Rame says.

“So we’re doing our part to transform this urban neighborhood to accommodate those needs.” The Hruskas also note that land costs are driving denser and more vertical structures—but Intexure’s developments are well-balanced. “[Our work] is denser than that of a single-family suburban home but less dense than that of a typical urban townhome

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In 2006, the Hruskas founded Mod-Fab LLC, a construction firm, to round out Intexure Architects’ design work with building expertise.

or patio-home development,” Rame says. “We preserve more green space, give people access to views and light and air, and incorporate elements like community gardens and gathering spaces. It’s a unique balance between individual and community space.”

Intexure Architects’ emphasis on sustainability is also evident in the LEED Gold-certified Green Building Resource Center, which the firm completed for the City of Houston in 2009. “The city wanted a center to promote green design and offer consulting services to

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details

Intexure Architects ALL PHOTOS: Don Glentzer.

ABOVE: The entry desk at the city of Houston’s Green Building Resource Center welcomes visitors under a dramatic soffit of reclaimed shiplap wood siding.

TOP LEFT: At the Green Building Resource Center, millwork fixed with casters enhances flexibility, allowing users to screen off or open up the conference areas.

CENTER LEFT: Existing structural elements were left exposed overhead in the center’s library while acrylic floor inserts reveal the inner workings of the raised floor and the air system underfoot.

BOTTOM LEFT: A dynamic visitor’s counter acts as a computer desk on one end and a bench on the other.

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people who want to green their projects, but need help getting started,” Russell says. The firm worked with an existing structure—a municipal space where the city houses its building permits office—to create a space that instructs on green material resources.

In keeping with the Intexure’s concept of holistic design, the project wasn’t limited to architecture; the team also worked with product suppliers to select materials to feature. “The space showcases a variety of green products to help people see the possibilities of sustainable design,” Russell says. “The space includes multiple carpet types, different wall finishes, lighting, countertops—and we coordinated it to look cohesive, which was a unique challenge.”

Looking ahead, the Hruskas hope to streamline the construction process, eliminate waste, and consider modular prefab options.

As Rame sees it, “I think there’s a real need in American housing for something more sustainable.” —Julie Schaeffer

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Steele Solutions Inc.

THE HEIGHT OF EXCELLENCE

713.523.0398 mainlandci@sbcglobal.net 1203 N. Durham Dr. Houston, TX 77008

In May of 1984, Mainland Construction, Inc. was established as a residential construction company specializing in remodeling and custom home construction with an emphasis on quality craftsmanship, architectural detailing, and client satisfaction. It is our conviction that supervisory attention insures high quality construction.

The experience level of our employees who are true craftsman, is one of our greatest assets. Additionally, we have established a cadre of subcontractors who meet our standards of excellence.

Steele Solutions, Inc., is a preferred designer and manufacturer of steel structures, including mezzanines, equipment platforms, catwalks and crossovers for material handling, storage, conveyor, equipment and machinery support, and other industrial and commercial uses, with installations throughout the world.

Steele Solutions, Inc., is known for its unmatched customer service and professional staff. Our team of design professionals (which include Professional Engineers’) have used their knowledge of the building codes to create a solid design for all elevated applications.

713.523.0398 mainlandci@sbcglobal.net

We are proud to partner with top material handling providers like Bastian who share our passion for top quality solutions for systems integration, material handling, manufacturing, distribution, equipment support and storage needs.

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www.MainlandConstructionInc.com

Phone 888-542-5099 • Fax 414-367-5098 info@steelesolutions.com

details

Divide and Conquer Bastian Development, the newest arm of an established materials-handling company, guarantees new territory

A developer and designer of materialhandling systems for global manufacturing companies, Bastian Material Handling LLC has developed a network of international, repeat clients—many of whom have increased their manufacturing operations within the past 12 months. This increase in fabrication activity has equated to a record backlog of work for Bastian, as its clients are in need of new, technologically updated material-handling systems.

Many of Bastian’s industrial users also require additional warehouse space and facilities to handle the increase in manufacturing operations and product inventory. So, in a move to meet the industrial/commercial space needs of its clients, Bastian Material Handling launched its sister company—Bastian Development—in August 2010.

“The concept is you have a three-generation international material-handling company that has worked with the same industrial users and tenants—who have referred this business [commercial real estate and leasing] away,” says Bastian Development’s general manager Lance Collins. “We want to expand our services by adding commercial real estate.” The newly formed development firm will provide all the services typical of a commercial landlord, including planning and needs analysis, portfolio assessment, design of buildings, site layout,

Bastian Material Handling launched its sister company—Bastian Development—in August 2010. development, acquisitions, and leaseback transactions. The only service the company will outsource to a third party is facility maintenance.

“We’re impressing on clients that we’re going to be a better [commercial-real-estate] solution because of our material-handling knowledge,” Collins says. “If you are a company whose expertise is designing the operation that runs the [material-handling] system, it can only help you design the building. We have a large complement of experience.”

A significant portion of the company’s commercial real estate experience can be attributed to Collins, who has worked within the industry for the past 20 years. Within the last 10 years, he has held the position of vice president for a publicly traded realestate investment trust (REIT) and a nationally ranked, privately held developer. This personal experience has given him a solid, working knowledge of sustainability from a commercial-real-estate perspective—a knowledge that will be reflected in Bastian Development’s adaptive-reuse and customized-space planning services.

Bastian Material Handling has international offices in a number of countries including Brazil, India, and Australia.

LEFT: The efficient layout of this almost 800,000-square-foot facility provided one Bastian customer with enough space to hold more than three miles of conveyor belt, 900,000 lbs of pallet rack, 500 bays of highbay shelving, and more than 2,000 bays of standard shelving.

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In the next 12 months, Bastian Development plans to deliver, lease, and manage two or three large—half a million square feet and up—manufacturing and distribution facilities within its 11 US markets.

“In terms of existing facilities, the biggest reuse trend is raising the roof to increase the clear height,” Collins says. “[Specific clear height] seems to be a new corporate standard.” An increased clear height allows for larger equipment or more layers of product storage, which benefits a tenant from a leasepayment standpoint. “Most tenants coming into the market won’t lease a building that doesn’t have a clear height of at least 28 feet,” Collins says, adding that Bastian will consider putting buildings under contract—to increase their clear height—if their clear height doesn’t meet the industry standard of 28 to 32 feet.

When eyeing the development of new facilities, Bastian will focus on flexible design that takes into consideration column spacing, car and truck parking, and the ability to increase clear height. “So even if the current tenant doesn’t need all the flexibility, a future tenant or owner can be comfortable that the building can be reused,” Collins says. Bastian Material Handling has international offices in a number of nations including Brazil, India, and Australia; however, Bastian Development will focus on providing commercial-real-estate services within the continental United States, where all regions operate the same in terms of real estate value and underwriting.

The firm focuses on 11 distribution areas in the United States and is constantly eyeing market conditions for existing building/land acquisitions and leasing opportunities and trends.

This enables the firm to present an individual client with specific property details and facility options upon request. “This is a great time to buy empty buildings but not a good time to buy buildings that are leased by tenants,” Collins says. “There’s a wide disparity in markets.”

—Erik Pisor

A MESSAGE FROM AWP INDUSTRIES, INC AWP Industries, Inc. / American Wire Products is a manufacturer of wire mesh decking, containers, and other material-handling storage products. Bastian Material Handling is a greatly valued distributor of AWP products. Bastian brings many years of experience, leadership, design, and engineering to the industry. AWP and Bastian work together to create the best, most cost-effective, material-handling solutions.

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BIEHLE ELECTRIC, INC.

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OCT 2011

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The American Experience --

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Triple Threat Gerding Edlen, a champion of green building, pursues a triple net-zero project in the heart of Portland, OR

To achieve net-zero status for the Oregon Sustainability Center (OSC), Gerding Edlen incorporated photovoltaic panels and geothermal energy, oriented the building to take advantage of solar heat in winter, and utilized shade canopies to keep things cool in the summer.

To CEO Mark Edlen and his team at Portland, Oregon-based Gerding Edlen, sometimes the simplest things are the most profound.

As one of the nation’s leading experts in the future of the green-building industry, Gerding Edlen applies the straightforward strategy of bringing in the best-in-class researchers, architects, designers, engineers, contractors, marketers, and sales professionals to create compelling residential, educational, and commercial spaces.

“For us, one of the most important aspects of any project is building community while lessening the carbon footprint,” Edlen says.

“We consider place and the unique character of the neighborhood. What does this community need? How can we get the residents and tenants personally involved in creating a community?”

Edlen and his late business partner Bob Gerding founded the firm in 1994. As Portland natives and big outdoor enthusiasts, it was only natural that they would incorporate the philosophy of sustainability into their work.

“In the mid- to late 1990s, our focus morphed into developing high-sustainability urban mixed-use projects,” Edlen says. “We also began branching out of Portland to Salt Lake City, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

We’re now looking at capturing the East Coast by expanding into New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Washington, DC.”

Gerding Edlen also designed a rainwater collection system for the OSC that directs water into a 210,000-gallon cistern and uses it for tenant consumption and to run the building’s physical systems.

Edlen notes that every site is different and every city has its own flavor. The Gerding Edlen team spends significant time learning about peoples’ needs and their neighborhoods. The designers study modes of transportation, demographics, and municipal objectives, and they immerse themselves in the physical, social, and economic aspects of the community. “An understanding of how all of these elements work together is essential to creating an environment where people can thrive,” Edlen says.

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details

Gerding Edlen PHOTO, TOP: Lara Swimmer.

The 42- and 43-story Bellevue Towers in Bellevue, WA, are located within walking distance of most downtown services and include a landscaped garden and energy-efficient windows.

A large part of the process is always being open to new ideas, new materials, and new ways to incorporate these materials. Beyond recycling the vast majority of demolition and building materials, the firm also uses recycled content within its buildings and provides residents with eco-friendly cleaning supplies. Often the firm’s engineers and architects take their cues from the sustainability developments in Asia and Europe—adding their own spin to create truly innovative buildings. This practice has led to the 41 LEED-certified projects the company has added to its portfolio over the years.

Gerding Edlen is in the preconstruction stage with the Oregon Sustainability Center (OSC), which will be the first large-scale, multistory urban building to pursue triple net-zero performance, meaning it will produce all of its energy on-site from renewable sources, capture and reuse all rainwater, and clean and filter all generated wastewater on-site.

The project is pursuing the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most cutting-edge green-building certification. Construction is planned to begin in early 2012. The OSC will be home to Oregon’s leaders in sustainable business, government, and education. It will act as a laboratory for green technology both regionally and globally.

The 12 West building includes five floors of underground parking to keep cars hidden.

As a net-zero energy building, the OSC must generate at least as much energy on-site as it uses—all while creating zero carbon emissions. To achieve this Gerding Edlen incorporated photovoltaic panels and geothermal energy and considered smart design elements such as proper building

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Gerding Edlen took five blocks of dilapidated brewery space and transformed it into a full neighborhood with mixed-use and residential structures.

orientation to take advantage of solar heat in winter and shade canopies to keep things cool in the summer. The cornerstone of OSC’s energy plan is using a wide array of photovoltaic cells—as many as four different types. Other technologies include highly efficient fixture optics with individual controls and a geothermal heating and cooling system based on a network of 600- to 900-foot-deep wells drilled on-site.

Edlen also notes that it’s important to involve the tenants and teach them how to embrace the net-zero lifestyle. And he believes a little bit of personal competition is not a bad thing.

Sensors throughout the building will take stock of energy use on an individual level— keeping track of typically unregulated plug loads such as task lighting and appliances.

“When people can see how much energy they use—and waste—they can more closely adjust and manage their personal energy use,” he says. Additionally, the firm is highly transit oriented. “Alternative transportation is where we need to go—whether it’s walking,

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biking, street car, light rail, or bus—as opposed to single-occupant vehicle trips,” Edlen says. With streetcar service literally passing through the building site and cyclingfriendly features such as bike parking, changing rooms, and showers, Gerding Edlen has factored in simple, clean, and efficient transportation to get to and from the OSC. Another Gerding Edlen hallmark is creating systems to collect and treat water on-site. For the OSC project, the firm designed a rainwater collection system that will direct water into a 210,000-gallon cistern and use it for tenant consumption and to run the building’s physical systems. Treated greywater—wastewater from low-intensity uses such as hand washing and shower use—will be recycled in the building’s toilets and used for irrigation.

Blackwater—from toilets—will be treated in an intensive biological wastewater system that uses a careful mixture of plants and biota to scrub the water, bringing it to levels that can be safely released into aquifers or reused again in the greywater system. Excess treated

wastewater, along with storm runoff, will be filtered on-site into the ground, keeping it out of the over-taxed municipal sewer system.

“Four years ago, we installed a membrane bioreactor in a 400,000-square-foot mixed-use office building where we processed 98 percent of sewage, greywater, blackwater, and storm water, and now it generates 22,000 gallons of clean water every day that we reuse,” Edlen says. “Fifty percent of it is used within the building, and the remaining 50 percent we export off-site as clean water.”

For Gerding Edlen moving forward, it’s all about going to a deeper shade of green.

“Being true to our innovative side and driving it harder has allowed us survive the economic downturn,” he says. “Over the years, the industry has changed dramatically. But our ability to continually push for a deeper shade of green—through innovative sustainability practices, great locations, great design, and great execution—has allowed us to thrive.”

—Anne Dullaghan

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Proud to partner with Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative to successfully complete the refurbishment of the Calgary Public Building.

Since our inception we have made corporate social responsibility a cornerstone of our operations. We are an employee-owned company that believes in family values as well as enhancing the communities and environments that we are involved with.

Corporate social responsibility will guide our decision making process now and at each moment in the future.

We have long been recognized as a construction company that practices environmental sustainability. In fact, we built the very first LEED® NC Silver building in the province of Alberta.

Sustainable building projects, such as those pursuing LEED® certification, will continue to be an important part of our project initiatives. We have completed a variety of ‘green’ projects from new construction to interior renovations.

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Edmonton

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Design for the Proletariat

The Calgary Public Building was MBAC’s first project that evolved from an integrated design process.

The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative works to envision and realize perfect public spaces The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative Inc. (MBAC) has an ongoing quest: to discover just how socially responsible architecture can be and how it can bring people together. In its 10th year, the Calgary-based firm, founded

by Marc Boutin, continues to take the view of social spaces as public spaces. So it’s no surprise that now 90 percent of the company’s projects are urban design and public work, whereas five years ago residential projects, such as the acclaimed Wrap House, made up the majority of MBAC’s portfolio.

Prior to starting his own business, Boutin had worked for the largest architectural firm in Canada and subsequently for a very small firm where he was the sole employee. With this diversity of experience under his belt, it was clear to Boutin that good architecture came from a collaborative effort and that giving like-minded people with diverse backgrounds a wide spectrum of responsibility cultivated a high degree of ownership in the project designs. Thus, MBAC’s office is structured as one large space, allowing its nine employees to join in each other’s conversations.

“You enjoy what you do more,” Boutin says.

“And if you enjoy what you do, the discourse in the office is much better. There’s no entropy in terms of ideas or information lost.

Each phase builds on the design direction established at the beginning.” One recent example of the firm’s collaborative efforts is the Calgary Public Building, currently aiming for LEED Platinum certification. While using sustainable techniques and materials, the firm also had to consider the heritage of the 80-year-old building. The firm blended these two critical elements together using an

A collaborative work environment has helped shaped MBAC’s research-based design process.

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integrated design process (a first for MBAC), which Boutin describes as a “systematic methodology for environmental stewardship and a moving from common sense into a kind of highly crafted system.”

The firm created a second skin inside the building so that the new windows framed the heritage windows, and within this second skin MBAC designed mechanical and electrical distribution systems. Stand-out sustainable elements of the building include built-in sunscreens into the envelope liner; sensors for the lighting; solar-powered washroom fixtures; solar hot-water panels on the roof; a water cistern; an atrium space that acts as a green lung; and a “heritage-interpretative floor” on the sixth floor that consists of consolidated heritage material from the entire building, including door hardware, bathroom stalls, marble flooring, and windows.

Boutin describes the building as an important milestone for the firm and a highlight of environmental stewardship for such a new city as Calgary, where the value of public space—underutilized so far—is just now beginning to be understood. “We focus a lot on the notion of social agency as being a key objective for architecture—so it becomes a place and space people can engage with in an intellectual and physical way, not just an unmediated way,” Boutin says.

“Architecture is ideally positioned to remove people from their stupor and allow them to be engaged and politicized individuals in society.” Having won the Prix de Rome in 2002, Boutin spent time in the ancient capital

MBAC’s projects are based on concepts such as “city as verb,” “anticipatory infrastructure,” “emergent public territory,” and “shifting amenityscape.”

that year as a visiting professor at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture. From this trip sprung the idea of the city as verb—one of the five concepts used by the firm to loosely categorize its projects. Other concepts include shifting amenityscape, negotiated space, emergent public territory, and anticipatory infrastructure.

“Our image of Rome is a city as noun, like set pieces in an urban context,” Boutin says. “But when you really experience Rome, it’s more akin to a verb; emergent social and cultural relationships define our experience of the city.

Take for example the marketplace, where our participation in that space is ephemeral and engaging, not unlike contributing to a broader ecology. These experiences are shifting over time, much like bars or restaurants spilling out and taking over a particular plaza where earlier a marketplace existed—an evolution that allows these spaces to become the living rooms for the citizens of Rome. By engaging in other people’s lives through this continuous process, you become a better citizen of that city.” Boutin believes his firm’s vision brings value to communities. “But I’m not pretending we are saving the world,” he says with a laugh. —Suchi Rudra

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Stick with the Program Boston Green Building uses utility funding to educate homeowners about the benefits of green building Since founding Boston Green Building in 2007, Brian Butler has made a name for himself building and retrofitting single- and multifamily homes within Massachussetts’s historic metropolis. In a city dating back to America’s earliest days, there is no shortage of sagging, centuries-old homes crying out for help. “We are a service-based company, and we focus on providing our clients with projects that are on-time, within budget, and with quality as the overarching factor,” Butler says. “Understandably, having a back office with open billing, an in-house millwork shop, project managers in the field, and excellent subcontractors who understand the green approach are paramount in meeting these pillars.”

Boston Green Building works in a town that, thanks to its historical heritage, has a number of centuries-old homes in need of substantial retrofitting.

One of the firm’s most recent projects is a 3,500-square-foot, seven-bedroom multifamily unit located near Tufts University.

Boston Green Building currently has four deep-energy retrofit projects under contract.

According to Butler, each retrofit is part of the National Grid’s Deep Energy Retrofit pilot program, which funds energy-based retrofits up to $42,000 for single-family homes and as much as $100,000 for multifamily units.

Run in partnership with Building Science Corporation, the projects receive the latest guidance in technical approaches for optimal efficiency, health and safety, increases in building durability, and reductions in future maintenance costs.

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The house Butler is currently working on tested at 130 HERS. “With a goal of hitting a zero on the HERS scale, we are superinsulating and changing out all the mechanical systems for state-of-the-art equipment,” he says. “And in this particular retrofit, we will also add renewable-energy components [such as photovoltaic and solarthermal panels on the back of the house].

Since this is also my personal residence, it has served as a bit of a laboratory for us to bring new equipment and experiment with end results—while remaining under the watchful eye of Building Science Corp.”

One of Butler’s most recent projects is a 3,500-square-foot, seven-bedroom multifamily unit located in close proximity to Tufts

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PHOTOS: Jeremy Eno.

“It’s an excellent program designed to encourage more area homeowners to embrace the energy-saving concepts associated with green-building standards,” says Butler, who was recently named Best Green Contractor by Boston Home magazine. “Usually any property eligible for the program is in a poor energy-performance condition, often with Home Energy Rating System (HERS) ratings exceeding 100. This arbitrary scale allows us to evaluate where a house is at and where it can go. With a HERS of zero, it uses no more than it produces.”

The firm’s retrofits work with the National Grid’s Deep Energy Retrofit Pilot Program, which funds energy-conscious retrofits $42,000 and $100,000 respectively for single- and multifamily projects.

University—meaning the potential for tenants remains high. In completing this retrofit, Butler is intently focused on using proven airsealing techniques with the blower-door test serving as a primary measuring tool. “Ultimately, we are aiming at a 95 percent reduction in leakage,” he said. “It has been a blast to watch it come down. If we hit this target, it will be a huge accomplishment for a retrofit.”

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Boston Green Building’s deep-energy retrofit projects are prime examples of how homeowners can achieve noticeable returns on investment, Butler says. “While the various green technologies garnering all the attention are wonderful additions, what people really need to focus on is insulation, which usually has a three- to five-year payback,” he says. “With results like that, it is not hard to show the payback. Our goal is to pursue the European approach to building a passive house, with up to 90 percent reduction in consumption when compared to a code-built house. As a result, we do our best to educate the client around what we can implement without breaking the budget. Windows are not always as easy to sell but are equally important as we work to build tighter houses.

The one noticeable benefit with new highefficiency windows is that homeowners often have an increased comfort level.”

Looking forward, Butler is bidding—in conjunction with the architects at ZeroEnergy Design—on the potential development of three parcels within Boston as part of the mayor’s E-Plus program, which is structured to induce developers to build energy-positive housing. Butler also hopes to develop a fiveunit net-zero neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachussetts, as the economy rebounds. As with Boston Green Building’s past projects, insulation will play a huge part when complemented with other sustainable elements.

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inner workings

3.1 Phillip Lim Flagship Store

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Building upon sustainability, collaboration, and beauty, Leong Leong Architecture creates engaging spatial narratives

architect Leong Leong Architecture client Phillip Lim location Seoul, South Korea size 5,850 square feet completed 2009 website leong-leong.com

For a two-year-old firm, Leong Leong Architecture is already designing buildings with an advanced vocabulary. Brothers Chris and Dominic Leong take common materials—think brass, concrete, and acoustic foam—and present them in uncommon ways.

Their flagship store for fashion designer Phillip Lim in Cheongdam-Dong, Seoul’s fashion district, stands tall with a 40-foot concrete façade.

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Leong Leong Architecture

1/ On the exterior façade, a grid of concrete panels fade toward the sky.

2/ Mirrors and acousticfoam walls affixed with brass cones are set up throughout the store’s interior.

3/ A diagram of the 40-foot-high façade.

4/ Diagrams for the foam wall panels, designed by Korean-American artist Wook Kim.

client/ The 3.1 Phillip Lim clothing line has a lot in common with architecture: beautiful angles, well-constructed seams, an elemental approach to design. The Leongs work with their clients to establish a visual identity. Phillip Lim is adamant that no project should be the same, and, with the Seoul boutique, the Leongs have built upon the architectural foundations of an earlier project they worked on with Lim in Los Angeles. The two buildings are related but not derivative, and Chris says that the Seoul boutique is “really about evolving the DNA established in our earlier collaboration.”

interior/ Chris and Dominic are gifted designers in their own right, but, because their firm is still young, they also owe much of their success to their collaborative efforts.

For the Seoul flagship store, they worked with Korean-American artist Wook Kim, whose lush wallpaper designs reflect the colors and patterns of ancient Korean ceramics. Working with artists such as Kim not only gives an unusually mature depth to the Leongs’ architecture and design; it also fosters cross-pollination of ideas.

inner workings

finishes/ For the Seoul flagship store, Chris and Dominic worked together with Phillip Lim to create custom finishes such as a leather herringbone pattern, concrete tiles, and brass stars. But for the Leongs, these finishes aren’t just an end point—the brothers work with their client on the entire visual identity, turning the customer’s dreams into a design strategy.

Brass became an important part of the 3.1 Phillip Lim brand identity, one of the “material linings” that Chris says “creates a narrative of atmospheres.” The custom finishes also breathe life into the interiors, encouraging interactions between the clothing and the customers.

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PHOTOS: Iwan Baan.

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inner workings

5/ An elevation of one of the store’s cone-wall staircases. From the beginning, the Leongs imagined the cones to be dense on some of the wall tiles and sparse on others.

6/ The curving walls of the interior fit the Leong brothers’ overall project theme of hemispheres.

7/ In the middle of the store is a double-height space lined with wallpaper by Wook Kim.

Leong Leong Architecture

materials/ Sustainability is a given for Leong Leong Architecture, which relies on local sources rather than shipping raw or finished materials from around the world. Everything from the exterior concrete panels to the interior lighting fixtures was sourced from around South Korea.

Even the outdoor courtyard is paved with basalt, a stone very common in the country. The dark stone, juxtaposed against the light concrete tiles, gives off a surprisingly soft reflection of the muted gray Seoul sky.

concept/ The Seoul store is built, both conceptually and physically, around a theme of hemispheres.

Three pieces of curved glass form the exterior storefront. And inside the store Leong Leong designed circular walls that are thickly layered with acoustical foam, giving them a sharp texture that echoes the exterior concrete tiles. The foam is coated with paint to give it a polished finish. The curved walls also showcase the 3.1 Phillip Lim collection, subtly guiding the customer through the store.

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building/ For Lim’s boutiques—one in Los Angeles and one in Seoul—the Leongs worked with existing structures rather than building from the ground up. It’s an important way they are improving their sustainability practices and pushing themselves creatively. Looking ahead, the Leongs are confident that environmentally friendly material choices will become an even greater part of their identity.

future/ The retail projects they’ve done for 3.1 Phillip Lim both have been fast-paced, and now that they have a few big successes under their belts, they’re finding it easier to anticipate the kinds of environmentally focused choices they will have to make. They recently designed a space for another client where the floors were all made from reclaimed wood, and for a temporary art gallery project they used a soy-based spray installation, a material they love for the way it evokes Le Corbusier’s soft brutalism. —Laura M. Browning

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PHOTOS: Iwan Baan.

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taking shape

bauhaus Inspired by the work of German modernist Marcel Breuer, Hufft Projects builds a sustainable single-family home clad in FSC-certified machiche

architect Hufft Projects location Mission Hills, KS size 5,000 square feet expected completion October 2011

Matthew Edwin Hufft founded Hufft Projects in 2004 after honing his skills under the likes of renowned architects Michael Rotondi, Stanley Tigerman, and Bernard Tschumi. He holds two advanced degrees in architecture and design, graduated at the top of his class, and was the first in the University of Kansas’ history to receive the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Travel Fellowship award. He’s a past professor at the Pratt Institute; a LEED-accredited, NCARB-certified, licensed architect; and recipient of the Kansas City Home and Garden Design Excellence Award as well as multiple national and international design awards. Yet his greatest achievement to date is fatherhood. He also flies planes.

With all that, it’s not surprising that Hufft Projects is a driving force in the Kansas City region for sustainable modern architecture. The firm’s diverse portfolio includes adaptive-reuse, residential, light commercial, and exhibition projects, and it shares a studio space with its material fabrication company, Make Studios. The goal for the company is to maintain its boutique practice while growing the firm’s workload and cornering the booming sustainable-construction market. One of its recent projects, Bauhaus, is a flattering combination of environmentally friendly design and simple, elegant lines. The single-family home, which covers 5,000 square feet, is slated for completion in October 2011.

website hufft.com

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taking shape

style/ Bauhaus’ design was inspired by a nearby home built by Marcel Breuer, a famous modernist architect from the Bauhaus movement in Germany who later moved to America. He is actually considered one of the grandfathers of the movement, and Bauhaus is an “ode to Marcel,” says creative director Matthew E. Hufft.

Hufft Projects

design/ The single-family house is a wooden box that floats upon a stucco base. It is U-shaped on the ground level and L-shaped on the second level. The ground level includes a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a library, and a guest cabana. The second level includes bedrooms and a children’s playroom. All the lighting is efficient, including LED, T-5 fluorescents, and a dimming panel. Daylighting is brought in extensively throughout.

exterior/ The house includes maximum glazing and overhangs toward the south to control daylighting and eliminate heat gain. The roof is covered with thermoplastic polyolefin to maintain maximum reflectivity. The exterior is clad in a FSC-certified machiche wood imported from Guatemala. “The wood is extremely durable and has a beautiful red tone to it,” Hufft says. “It’s as hard as steel and will last forever.” Spray-foam insulation forms a complete air barrier between the interior and exterior. “We have the harshest temperature swings—from below zero to above 100—and humidity is a huge factor here,” Hufft says. “Spray-foam insulation is a good blanket.” Based on current energy costs, Hufft anticipates the homeowners will save a couple thousand dollars a year on their heating bills. Combined with tax credits, he says, they can expect payback in five years or less.

interior/ All cabinets are made with formaldehyde-free particle board.

Finishes are all water-based, and paints are low-VOC. “Our thought process of what’s green doesn’t mean it has to be made of recycled materials,” Hufft says, referring to the ceramic-tile chosen for the flooring. “A lot of what we spec has a durability factor, and we feel that’s one of the most sustainable things you can do is use a material that’s going to last without maintenance. Ceramic tile does that. It lasts forever.”

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1/ A rendering of Bauhaus from Belinder Avenue, just four lots from an iconic Marcel Breuer house.

2/ An in-progress shot from the front. All of the geothermal wells for the home’s mechanical system are in the front yard below the front lawn, and all of the exterior siding will be FSC-certified machiche wood from Guatemala.

3/ A rendering of the back courtyard.

The house has a U-shaped floor plan on the first floor to provide privacy.

4/ A view of the master bedroom wing from the kids’ bedrooms. The openings will be covered by large windows to provide daylighting.

5/ View of the back courtyard from the front entrance foyer. The home will have a relatively open layout.

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energy/ The house uses geothermal heating and cooling. Roughly 300 feet below the surface of the front yard, there is a series of wells that pump a combination of water and glycerol through the pipes, keeping the home cool in summer and warm in winter. A standard forced-air system with a heat pump blows air into the house, but the Bauhaus’s system is twice as efficient. —Lynn Russo

Project: 338 Booneville | Hufft Projects

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community LEFT, BELOW: Cuneo Hall exterior and atrium. The passive cooling of each classroom can be individually controlled thanks to a ventilated common space.

Back to the Future Solomon Cordwell Buenz helps Loyola University Chicago continue to embrace history in high-performance classrooms

community Loyola University Chicago enrollment 15,951 (9,747 undergraduates) note Loyola University Chicago is a private university founded in 1870 as St. Ignatius College. It is the largest Jesuit university in the nation and has three Chicago campuses: Lake Shore, Water Tower, and Medical Center. news The campus has looked at reducing energy consumption over the last 10 years, and about 26 buildings have been built or renovated. That mix of buildings has the effect, when cumulatively in place, to create a 30 percent reduction in energy use for a core of campus. needs To address a challenging economic environment, in 2001 Loyola University began looking for areas of inefficiency in its operations to save costs. An energy audit revealed the university’s most inefficient buildings, and the school has set to work renovating or replacing them.

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College is a place for people to find where they fit in. And its buildings need to fit, too.

Chicago-based design firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) helped Loyola University trade an inefficient, outcast building for a new classroom structure that is suitable for the Lake Shore campus’ historic core and also coordinates with the university’s commitment to control lifecycle costs.

In 2001, Loyola University, one of 28 Jesuit colleges in the nation, began looking for areas of inefficiency in its operations to save costs. During an energy audit, an 11-story precast modern building built 40 years ago was revealed as one of the most inefficient buildings on campus, consuming almost $500,000 each year in energy costs.

“People thought the building didn’t fit contextually on the historic campus,” says Devon Patterson, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, a principal with SCB. “This was a great opportunity to create a historical building and use the historical architecture while pushing it to use less energy.”

Campus officials decided to tear down the building and construct a new energy-efficient building that would fit contextually in the historic core of the campus. Taking design cues from a nearby building dating back to 1890, SCB designed the 68,000-square-foot Cuneo Hall, which mirrors the campus’ mission-style architecture and contributes to the university’s long-term sustainability with high-performance elements.

“There were a lot of interesting ideas before the days of air-conditioning,” Patterson says.

“There were high floor-to-ceiling ratios and cross ventilation. We decided to take some of those ideas to the new building.” The four-story Cuneo Hall employs passive systems to take advantage of Chicago’s periods of mild weather. High ceilings, large windows, and a central atrium activate natural ventilation as air comes in the windows, across the building into the atrium, and up and out a glass skylight. Because classrooms aren’t dependent on cross ventilation from the windows in the classroom across the hall, instructors can choose to open their

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community

Solomon Cordwell Buenz

“There were a lot of interesting ideas before the days of air conditioning.

There were high floor-toceiling ratios and cross ventilation. We decided to take some of those ideas to the new building.”

—Devon Patterson, Principal

ABOVE: Cuneo Hall is projected to have energy costs of roughly $18,000 per year, a vast improvement over the old building’s halfmillion-dollar bills.

—Laura Williams-Tracy

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P I C T U R E B I G

Cuneo Hall will use 60 percent less energy than required by the building code, and such significant energy savings helped Cuneo Hall earn a LEED Gold designation. “Earning LEED was not the benchmark; our goal was resource reduction,” Patterson says. “The result of all this integration is a building that fits very nicely in LEED, but we were designing to the performance of the building.”

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R E S U LT S

“Cuneo Hall will have a significant impact on the university,” Patterson says. “The campus has looked at reducing energy consumption over the last 10 years, and about 26 buildings have been built or renovated. That mix of building has the effect, when cumulatively in place, to create a 30 percent reduction in energy use for that core of campus. The buildings designed now will pay for themselves, and as energy prices continue to escalate, the payoff will happen even faster.”

Elara Engineering is a full-service consulting engineering firm with the experience and proven track record to offer the best practical solutions for all clients’ needs.

The firm specializes in the development, design, and construction oversight of building and utility systems.

With a passion for energy-efficient, sustainable design, Elara Engineering produces creative, cutting-edge designs that improve the functionality of both new and existing buildings.

Many of the firm’s projects have been recognized by ASHRAE for excellence in engineering for its innovative designs, master planning, and cost- saving analyses provided by the firm’s energy audits.

S U S TA I N A B L E

“We didn’t want the vagaries of different teaching styles to change the performance of the building, so we created a system where each individual classroom could control its temperature on its own,” Patterson says. Also, during extended periods of the year in Chicago’s mild spring and fall seasons, building users can turn off the mechanical system to save energy. When it opens in the fall of 2012, heating and cooling Cuneo Hall is projected to cost the university about $18,000 per year, a significant savings over the former building’s half-million-dollar power bills.

T H I N K I N G

classroom door and benefit from the circulation of air to the atrium.

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BIODOME. The interior of the California Academy of Sciences is beneath a giant green roof located in San Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Golden Gate Park, but skylights built into the ceiling provide daylighting.

Photo: Tim Griffith.

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green museums series: Part III

EARTH+WATER Museums continue to be on the cutting edge of sustainable design. Green water-filtration systems in particular have become increasingly popular—and more attractive, too. For proof, look to the Grand Rapids Art Museum, where water is cycled through crowd-pleasing fountains before it’s repurposed in the museum’s toilets. Green roofs, covered with oxygen-producing vegetation and providing natural building insulation, are also on the rise. The roof of the California Academy of Sciences—one of the largest natural history museums in the world—is outfitted with 1.7 million plants. “Earth+Water,” the third and final installment of gb&d’s green museums series, explores these projects in depth. story by Kelly Matlock

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GREEN MUSEUMS SERIES

THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Already one of the largest natural-history museums in the world, the California Academy of Sciences earned a new level of recognition when it was redesigned by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and rebuilt in 2008. The project, in Golden Gate Park, made headlines for everything from its recycled materials to its photovoltaic cells to its insulation, earning 54 LEED points and Platinum certification. “Cal Academy chose to become deeply sustainable,” says Kate Davies of the Green Museum Initiative. “A major addition that takes this project beyond the usual list of sustainable design elements is the stunning living roof.”

Padded with six inches of soil, the 2.5-acre roof is covered in native California plants. It keeps interior temperatures about 10 degrees cooler than a standard roof and reduces low-frequency noise by 40 decibels. It also combats urban heating by staying about 40 degrees cooler than a standard roof, and it serves as an effective system to absorb about 98 percent of all storm water, preventing as much as 3.6 million gallons of runoff from carrying pollutants into the ecosystem each year. Such a success isn’t simple. “[The roof] needed to have a surface with acceptable slopes to grow plants on,” says Mark Carroll, Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s lead architect on the project. “It needed to allow for penetrations to provide natural light and ventilation. Furthermore, the roof needed to be buildable and within a reasonable budget. This was all resolved in collaboration with our consultants who reviewed drawings, models, computer models, mock ups, and prototypes.”

PHOTO: Tim Griffith.

To select the plant species for the new roof, California Academy botanist Frank Almeda began working with a team of architects and living-roof experts. “Our goal was to choose native plants that were well adapted to the climate in Golden Gate Park and would provide a much-needed habitat for native birds, butterflies, and other beneficial insects,” Almeda says. “We also needed to select species that would look attractive throughout the year since a visually appealing roof is a powerful educational tool.” Almeda and his team spent two years testing more than 30 species of native plants in steeply sloped planter boxes on the roof of the museum’s former home. Nine hardy finalists were chosen: four perennial plants that Almeda affectionately refers to as “The Fab Four” and five annual wildflowers. The roof now offers the largest swath of native vegetation in San Francisco County, including 50,000 coconut-husk trays filled with 1.7 million plants. The trays will biodegrade over the next several years, leaving a carpet of colorful plants and wildflowers.

The museum’s stunning hills were designed for visual impact and energy conservation. Steep undulations in the roofline roll over the academy’s domed planetarium, rainforest, and aquarium exhibits, echoing the topography of the building’s setting and evoking the interdependence of biological systems. The hills, which feature slopes in excess of 60 degrees, draw cool air into the open piazza at the center of the building. Strategically placed skylights in the roof automatically open and close to allow heat to escape through the tops of the domes, and they also allow sunlight to reach the living rainforest and coral reef exhibits below.

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1/ The academy’s living roof is planted with nine species of native California flora and is a habitat for local animal life.

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PART III: EARTH+WATER

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PHOTOS: Stefano Goldberg, Publifoto (2), Shunji Ishida (3), Tim Griffith (4), Jon Mc Neal (5, 7), Nic Lehoux (6).

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2/ A diagram of the piazza showcases the structure’s complex engineering.

3/ The academy’s green roof fits in with the lush greenery of Golden Gate Park.

4/ The built-in skylights allow much of the earthcovered structure to remain daylit.

5/ The massive roof totals 2.5 acres in size.

6/ The grand façade enhances the drama of each visitor’s entrance.

7/ Plants on the roof were placed side by side in biodegradable coconuthusk trays.

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GREEN MUSEUMS SERIES

Grand Rapids Art Museum Grand Rapids, MI

A building’s sustainable components are often invisible to visitors—but at the LEED Goldcertified Grand Rapids Art Museum, wHY Architecture set out to blend sustainable design with aesthetics.

The resulting design incorporates many green features that are as eye-catching as they are environmentally friendly. “We want to make sure the museum’s architectural design represents the integration of art, technology, and people,” says wHY Architecture principal Kulapat Yantrasast.

One of the building’s most unique sustainable features has also become the most aesthetically pleasing. The water-conservation system is tied to pools and fountains in the park outside of the museum. “The reflecting pool and water pool in the urban-pocket park are the visible part of the water-conservation system of the museum,” Yantrasast says. “Rainwater and snow water are retrieved and stored in cisterns, then cycled up to the pool and water-wall fountain for aeration and enjoyment.” Next, the water is used for flushing in the toilets and for plant irrigation around the museum.

The project team made an effort to source sustainable building materials, too. For example, concrete was used for much of the museum. “Concrete is one of the greenest materials,” Yantrasast says, “because the majority of its ingredients could easily be sourced locally very close to the construction—anywhere in the world.”

Yantrasat has also described the museum as being monumental in its status as a civic symbol, yet intimate in its experience. The compelling use and reuse of water—one of the world’s most valuable resources—is a vital part of the legacy the museum seeks to leave.

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PHOTOS: Grand Rapids Art Museum (1), Steve Hall, Hedrich Blessing (2, 4, 5, 6), Scott McDonald, Hedrich Blessing (3).

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1/ The art museum makes a grand statement within the overall landscape.

2/ The museum connects with the exterior at the street level and on covered balconies.

3/ In the East Court Atrium, glazing allows filtered natural light deep into the museum while reducing heat gain.

4/ The water wall of this outdoor public space circulates recycled water before it’s used again.

Cisterns behind the wall store rainwater for use in toilets and for irrigation.

5/ The reflecting pool is also filled with water collected from rain and snow.

6/ The ceiling of the museum’s auditorium space has a constellation pattern of Grand Rapids’ sky during the summer solstice.

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PHOTO: Christy Radecic.

Stadium All-Stars Populous and mortensOn Construction are scoring big with a new generation of experiencebased sports arenas

by Zach Baliva

PHOTO: Paul Crosby.

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PHOTO: David Aschkenas.

In 1982,

a $68 million Metrodome opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For almost three decades, the venue hosted MLB, NFL, and multiple NCAA events—until December 2010, when its roof collapsed, delaying a Giants vs. Vikings game that ultimately had to be relocated. The original roof installer bid to repair the 700,000-square-foot fiberglass membrane—which is manufactured in Mexico—at a cost of $18 million. The hefty price tag sparked many to call for a totally new venue.

In the end, a parking lot just 1.3 miles from the dome was transformed into Target Field—the greenest stadium in Major League Baseball. Target Field, designed to LEED Silver specs by Populous, an international architecture firm, showcases the very best in sustainable sports design. Jeff Spear, associate principal, has noticed the popularity of sustainability skyrocketing within Populous’ sports-venue niche over the past decade. Coors Field, built by the firm in 1995, employed recycled content; Gillette Stadium, built by the firm in 2002, featured innovative water-use strategies. In recent years, publicly funded projects have increasingly embraced LEED principals.

It made sense, then, that the Minnesota Twins—a former Metrodome team—would approach Populous about building the new sustainable stadium. “We knew technology was on our side to take Target Field green and avoid expensive retrofits later,” explains Kevin Smith, the Twins’ executive director of public affairs. “We knew Populous, we knew what they were doing, and we knew they could give us great benefits with very little added cost.” >

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Stadium All-Stars Populous and general contractor Mortenson Construction capitalized on the urban location, turning Target Field into a hub. The stadium is the only modern MLB park that integrates public transportation into the building. Both light and heavy rail lines connect directly to the stadium. When the Twins played at the Metrodome, only seven percent of their fans arrived via public transit. In just one full season, that number has jumped to more than 20 percent. In addition, a bike path runs under the stadium, and 800 bicycle parking spots make it easy for fans to arrive by bike. Because the stadium shares existing Target Center parking, Populous and Mortenson added less than 100 new parking spaces for a stadium built to hold 42,000 fans.

Target Field is close to the Mississippi River, so storm-water management became a hot-button issue. The Twins partnered with one existing company—Pentair—to address the concern. The company stepped in as the Twins’ sustainable water provider to build a custom rainwater recycle system that collects and filters water for use in cleaning the stadium’s lower seating bowl. The system combines with efficient fixtures to save 5.5 million gallons of water each year. Early

results show that the new stadium is bringing improvements at all levels. In 2010, ESPN The Magazine ranked the Twins first of 122 for fan experience in all sports—this as opposed to 2009, when the same publication ranked the team 114th. The team sold-out 80 of 81 home dates and set an all-time single-season attendance record of 3.2 million.

Populous tackled similar issues at the Pittsburgh Penguin’s CONSOL Energy Center, which opened in August of 2010. The $320 million arena has a capacity of 20,000 and achieved 42 LEED points, making it the first USGBC Gold-certified NHL arena. Again, public transportation was a priority. CONSOL is located within a half-mile of light rail and bus routes, and its parking lot includes preferred parking for fuel-efficient cars—“People coming to a hockey game may or may not notice graphics inside a building,” Spear says, “but they will notice a preferred parking space.” Populous used recycled-content materials for one-third of the building and locally sourced products for another third. Furthermore, crews diverted more than 90 percent of CONSOL’s construction waste from landfills. The project team developed a partnership with a Pittsburgh recycling company to offer commingled >

The $320 million arena has a capacity of 20,000 and achieved 42 LEED points, making it the first Gold-certified NHL arena.

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PHOTOS: David Aschkenas.

CONSOL ENERGY CENTER The Pittsburgh Penguins have partnered with Alcoa Recycling to introduce a commingled program at their innovative NHL facility. The team has relied on its website to promote the program and educate fans. A URL on recycling links to articles such as “Why Recycle?” “What Type Can I Recycle?” “Recycling Fun Facts,” and “Lifecycle of the Aluminum Can.” gbdmagazine.com

PHOTOS: Paul Crosby (top), Bergerson Photography (center), Christy Radecic (bottom).

Stadium All-Stars

TARGET FIELD If the dimensions of the Twins’ new home seem familiar, that’s because they’re similar to those of the Metrodome. One aspect, however, is strikingly different: the left field and right field foul poles stand 411 and 403 feet from home plate. Unlike most optic yellow Major League poles, the Target Field versions—and 30 percent of the stadium’s other installed items—were made from recycled materials.

“We knew technology was on our side to take Target Field green and avoid expensive retrofits later.”

—Kevin Smith, Executive Director , Minnesota Twins

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international projects

FNB STADIUM SOUTH AFRICA Designed by Populous as the main association football arena for the 2010 World Cup, FNB Stadium became the largest sports venue in Africa.

DATONG SPORTS PARK CHINA The Populous-designed athletic complex includes a 30,000-seat stadium, an 8,000-seat arena, a 1,500-seat natatorium, and a multiuse training hall.

LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC STADIUM UNITED KINGDOM For Populous, the challenge in building a stadium for a specific event lies in creating a structure that is both temporary and permanent.

LEEDS ARENA UNITED KINGDOM This venue will incorporate some of the latest innovations in sustainability and intends to gain a BREEAM rating of “very good,” which would make it the UK’s most environmentally friendly venue.

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RENDERINGS: Populous, Chris Gascoigne (FNB Stadium).

By embracing the temporary, Populous was able to explore materials, structure, and operational systems in a completely different way.

PHOTOS: Christy Radecic (top left), Aaron Meisch, Blue Sky Aerial Photography (right).

Stadium All-Stars

“The most successful green elements are those that people don’t see because we must still provide both a great experience and great architecture.”

—Jonathan Knight, Senior Designer, Populous

TCF BANK STADIUM The Golden Gophers’ new venue is part of a campus-wide, 75-acre storm-water system that cleanses and returns water to the Mississippi River. Efficient fixtures save an additional 560,000 gallons per year, and native plants and low-maintenance landscaping offer additional annual reductions of 4.8 million gallons.

recycling at the arena. “We try to make it as easy as possible for fans to recycle,” Populous associate Logan Gerken says. “Sustainable design is good design, and it makes these buildings operate better.”

Populous and Mortenson again worked together at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium—the venue that hosted the Minnesota Vikings when the Metrodome’s roof collapsed in 2010. The downtown horseshoe-style stadium holds 50,800 fans at capacity but was designed to be able to expand to a size of 80,000. In 2009, TCF Bank Stadium became the first collegiate football venue to receive LEED certification, qualifying for Silver status. Emily Eisenmenger, a LEED AP and business development director at Mortensen, says her company worked to implement green designs and sustainable initiatives. “We interview all subcontractors and ask them hard questions about how they can help us use a team approach to reduce the impact of a building and make it a better environment,” she says. The team combined many eco-friendly elements—such as occupancy sensors, efficient lights, and a low-impact HVAC system—that together yield big results.

“The most successful green elements are those that people don’t see because we must still provide both a great experience and great

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architecture,” says Populous senior designer Jonathan Knight. “We don’t want a stadium to stand out as odd or obtrusive because it has these sustainable ingredients.” TCF Bank Stadium’s mechanical system, for example, is concealed but beats ASHRAE standards by 16 percent. A dual heating and cooling system eliminates the need for two sets of pipes. “All the changes we put in place led to huge operational cost reductions,” says Matt Nelson, a LEED AP and MEP engineer with Mortenson. TCF Bank Stadium features bricks, concrete masonry units, precast stone, wood, and steel. The materials bestow a classic campus aesthetic and provide durability. Mortenson used almost 9,000 tons of steel, 97 percent of which came from recycled content.

TCF Bank Stadium replaces the beloved Memorial Stadium, known affectionately as The Brickhouse. “The university wanted us to pay homage to their past but bring them into modern times,” Knight says.

Populous designed the building to appear as if it had been in place for 100 years. While a unique east-west layout provides views of the skyline and sight lines lead one’s gaze to the third-largest video screen in collegiate football, traditional red bricks (with limestone accents) and repeating columns retain the traditional campus feel. gb&d

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SYLVAN RETREAT. The Groot Klimmendaal Rehabilitation Centre, a therapeutic facility in Arnhem, Netherlands, is nestled amid a peaceful forest, p. 79.

Photo: RenĂŠ de Wit, architectuurfotografie.com.

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/live casa orquidea

a blank canvas MATEU Architecture creates the backdrop on which clients express themselves

by Julie Schaeffer

When MATEU Architecture began Casa Orquidea in 2006, the project had multiple site challenges, making it seem anything but simple. But that was just fine with the firm’s founder and president, Roney Mateu. “We prefer to work on things we’ve never done before because that presents us with a challenge and lets us give clients design solutions without preconceptions,” says the architect, to whom, in 1992, AIA Florida gave its award of honor for design, the organization’s highest honor.

Casa Orquidea’s primary challenge was its location: central Coconut Grove, a neighborhood with many tall multifamily homes. “It was commissioned by a young couple looking to live in a [low-level] single-family home because the husband wanted to walk to work a few blocks away,” Mateu says.

Once that hurdle was cleared, MATEU Architecture faced more specific site-related challenges. The 50-footwide property had a small frontage and was located on one of the highest elevations in Coconut Grove. The solution was to build narrowly and vertically. “We put the garage in the basement,” Mateu says. “On the main floor, we developed a linear solution, with the home becoming more private as you move toward the back. Eventually you reach an outdoor pool, behind which is a separate building that serves as a home spa with exercise equipment and a sauna.”

Inside, floors are polished concrete, and ceilings and roofs are concrete slabs supported by steel I-beams— something Mateu calls “an open and honest expression of the structure of the house.” The rawness of concrete and steel is juxtaposed with highly polished elements (including a a high-end kitchen, streamlined furniture, and an expansive art collection), and Mateu says that’s the way it should be. “Our intent was to blur the definition between entrances and exits because that’s how people live,” he says. “We don’t live in compartments. We live in spaces that flow into each other, defined only by furniture or objects or shapes.”

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MATEU Architecture

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OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT: Casa Orquidea was built in a narrow lot in the neighborhood of Coconut Grove, FL, an area of tall multifamily structures.

MATEU Architecture designed the space as a blank canvas on which the homeowners can continue to build.

ABOVE: A view of the garden courtyard at Casa Grove I in Coconut Grove. Photo: Claudia Uribe Touri.

TOP RIGHT: The orchid room of Casa Orquidea has solar-roof panels doubling as shading devices for the flowers.

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MATEU Architecture

“We see our design as a canvas for people who are going to be living there. ... We allow clients to express themselves on our backdrop, which is a framework for living.”

—Roney Mateu, President

Perhaps the best example of MATEU Architecture’s approach is the orchid room, designed to house the owners’ extensive flower collection. “Everything we design is intended to solve more than one problem,” Mateu says.

“To that end, the orchid room’s design was not only a response to the needs of the plants but to the sustainability requirements of the house. The shape of the orchid room supports the angle of roof required in southern Florida for southern solar-panel orientation; the solar panels, in turn, create necessary shading for the orchids.”

The house is a perfect example of what MATEU Architecture is known for: homes that are made for their owners to expand upon. “We see our design as a canvas for people who are going to be living there, so we don’t try to overdesign or overarticulate everything,” says Mateu, who has won 54 AIA design awards throughout his career.

“We allow clients to express themselves on our backdrop, which is a framework for living.”

That, Mateu says, is one reason he has chosen to continue to focus on residential work. Other notable residential projects include Casa Pombo (under construction in Coconut Grove), Casa 3114 North Bay Road in Miami Beach, and a series of residential units for the elderly in Miami Beach. The other reason Mateu focuses on residential work is that it’s faster. At his prior firm, Mateu Carreno Rizo & Partners, he was responsible for the 1 million-square-foot, $400 million South Terminal at Miami International Airport, and Mateu likes to see projects through to completion. “The airport terminal, from design to completion, took more than 12 years,” he says.

“A residential project typically takes two to three years.”

That’s not to say the firm only tackles home projects.

Some of MATEU Architecture’s most exciting designs are in other sectors, such as the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum Palley Pavilion and the Best Friend’s Pet Hotel at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. But those, too, met Mateu’s requirement that he be able to finish them fast enough to see the finished creation. “As an architect, I’m dedicated to seeing things built,” he says. “That’s the difference between art and architecture. If we design beautiful things on paper and they don’t get built, we haven’t done our job. My satisfaction comes when I can walk into a built structure and see the scale, the proportions, the light, the relationship to the outdoors, the functionality as a built piece.” gb&d

RIGHT: The dramatic South Terminal of the Miami International Airport is a structure Roney Mateu worked on for more than 12 years with his previous firm.

Although he’s proud of it, he prefers smaller projects he can see through from beginning to end in a shorter span of time.

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project spotlight

come one, come all Built on top of a former garbage dump, planned with multiple green elements, and then surrounded with additional environmentally conscious residences, Houston-based Intexure Architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; home studio represents a full commitment to renewal, revitalization, and sustainability. Inside, natural ventilation, extensive daylighting, and a compact design keep the home energy-efficient, even as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spacious enough to accommodate up to 14 guests. The husband and wife behind the firm work to not only build green structures but also a sense of community, and they incorporated a neighborhood pavilion outside their home with vegetable and butterfly gardens, a childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sandbox, and an in-ground pond filled by captured rainwater.

Photos: Rame Hruska (interiors), Don Glentzer (exteriors).

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Glassbury Court

active participation Wilder Balter Partners’ geothermally heated activeadult community is affordable and sought after

by Erica Archer

Glassbury Court at Cold Spring represents a major success for green building and energy efficiency. It is real-estate developer Wilder Balter Partners’ first community offering geothermal heat to residents. And despite a $12,000 initial cost for the geothermal heating system, about half of the residents have chosen it over gas heat. President Bill Balter says that the system, which the developers are providing at cost to residents, will take only about five years to pay for itself. According to Balter, the local market conditions inspire cautious optimism for the greening of the company’s many communities. “But it’s hard to know,” he says. “We are absolutely subject to consumer confidence, and it seems to be slowly improving. Our sales picked up about six months ago. Our sales in 2009 were better than in 2010, and 2011 looks to be better than 2010.”

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ABOVE: Glassbury Court at Cold Spring is a LEED-certified activeadult community that consists of 90 homes. It is Wilder Balter Partners’ first community offering geothermal heat to residents.

Wilder Balter views its market niche as comprising three parts: “We specialize in affordable housing, active adult luxury housing, and luxury homes,” Balter says. “All of our construction is high performance, typically Energy Star or LEED compliant. We’re one of the largest developers in the Hudson Valley that’s committed to high-performance construction on all product segments, even our affordable housing.” The company specializes in single-family, affordable housing; luxury townhouses; senior housing; and active-adult housing. With a staff of 130, the firm typically develops three or four projects at a time and constructs the same number simultaneously. Its projects range in size from $10 million to $30 million.

Senior housing is rising in importance to Wilder Balter’s market. “[Seniors are] the fastest growing segment of the population nationally,” Balter says, “and the senior population is growing faster in the Northeast than it is nationally, and it’s growing faster in the New York metro area than it is in the rest of the Northeast.”

Wilder Balter first entered the real-estate market in early 1990s, during the last major downturn, when the market was glutted with bank-owned, troubled properties. The partners purchased and repositioned their acquisitions as affordable housing, so marketing was key. “You’re always marketing a lifestyle, especially with active adults,” Balter says. Rising oil prices led Balter to explore high-performance construction. He also attended the USGBC’s 2006 Greenbuild Expo in Denver.

“I recognized that four years ago what we talked about as green would be standard building practice in the

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TOP: The Roundtop development in Cortland Manor, NY, will include 92 affordable rental units and will be compliant with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal Green Building initiative.

RIGHT: The Hillcrest Commons development in Carmel, NY, will include 76 rental units and will also be compliant with New York’s Renewal Green Building initiative.

“Basically, the way we were successful in this down market is giving people all of the features that they want in their home as a standard price and not à la carte.”

—Bill Balter, President

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not-too-distant future,” he says. “With the onset of the recession, which I don’t think anyone expected four years ago, I wanted to have a competitive advantage. So we were really the first ones in our market doing it … The customers were paying attention, so the industry was paying attention.”

Another example of Wilder Balter’s success is the twoand-a-half-year sellout of a 64-unit active-adult townhome community during the recession. “We sold more in this market than any other development of its kind,” Balter says. Balter attributes that success to high-performance construction that combines affordability with functionality in an attractive package; radiant heating and foam insulation, for example, are features that are common in the firm’s developments that are not available in its competition’s homes.

“Basically, the way we were successful in this down market is giving people all of the features that they want in their home as a standard price and not à la carte,” Balter says. “So I think what sets us apart is in addition to our wonderful lifestyle community, the homes are very inexpensive to operate and very comfortable.” gb&d OCT 2011 69

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green zone pizza

nature meets nurture Tectonic Design‘s sustainable planning keeps its roots in the surrounding natural environment

by Kaleena Thompson

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Many architects draw up sustainable projects, but for Tonino Vicari, principal of Tectonic Design, there is an intrinsic appreciation for the larger philosophy behind the design aesthetic. “I love nature, and I think God is the true great designer,” he says. “We try to learn from the design we see occur in nature and incorporate that into our work.

Sustainable design is a good way to protect the health of building inhabitants, the people, and enhance the natural environment.”

Since 1998, Vicari has kept his firm small in order to dedicate its full attention to every project and client.

“Our clients really seek us out for our ability to deliver projects that are designed and tailored like a fine suit,” he says. “They hire us because they know they are not going to be given a design that is off the shelf—or the next manifestation of some philosophical or art movement.” Vicari emphasizes that the client-architect relationship is more than a business transaction. “The marriage of architect and client is one that is based on the

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Tectonic Design PREVIOUS PAGE: Green Zone Pizza, an organic restaurant in Grosse Pointe, MI, is a 1,400-square-foot space with LED lighting, low-VOC materials, and low-flow fixtures.

LEFT: The Mason Residence is one Tectonic Design worked on with Robert Darvas Associates. Its warm wooden exterior helps it blend seamlessly with the landscape.

“The design approach was to create a space that is soothing and comfortable, somewhere between a spa and a cafe.”

—Tonino Vicari, Principal

understanding that the design is enjoyed by our clients because it is a reflection of their goals, ambitions, and ultimately themselves,” he says. For example, the owners of Green Zone Pizza, a fully organic restaurant in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, approached Tectonic to design a space that would correspond to its organic standards. The project, which commenced in December 2010, is set to achieve LEED Silver certification. “The design approach was to create a space that is soothing and comfortable, somewhere between a spa and a cafe,” Vicari says. The walls will form undulating curves with warm materials, bright colors, and crisp, smooth, clean lines. The 1,400-square-foot contemporary-style space will include LED lighting, low-VOC materials, and low-flow fixtures.

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While successful Tectonic Design projects have gone up nationwide, the firm is based in Monroe, Michigan. Its portfolio reflects a deep understanding of the environment, people, and the poetics of construction across a wide variety of projects, including mixed-use, high-end residential and commercial projects, as well as hotels.

Even more significantly, the company’s name, Tectonic, reflects the firm’s work and philosophy. The name is derived from the Greek word “tekton,” which means “builder,” Vicari says. “We see the role of the architect as master builder as well as a designer and intellectual,” he says. “And the physical manifestation of ideas, dreams, and thoughts is really the poetics of architecture.”

As a way to reinforce the company’s green standards, Tectonic has moved toward the philosophy of sustainable morphology, which is the idea that shape and design considerations of an architectural project should see the natural environment as a priority. “For too many years architects have been fighting nature with oversize mechanical systems and buildings that really don’t respond to the natural environment,” Vicari says.

For Vicari, the intimate relationship of site and structure is rooted in a bold aesthetic, where projects emphasize individuality, sustainability, passive-solar design, and maximum performance in nature. It is one of Vicari’s most recent projects that perhaps best demonstrates his passion for inventive sustainable design. It is a North Carolina home that reinterprets the traditional single-family home into a jewelry-box concept. It boasts warm wooden exteriors that open up to a softer, clean interior. The project was based on the European courtyard concept and provides passive cooling in a climate with warm summers and mild winters. “The interior courtyard has a water feature and pool to create evaporative cooling, which reduces the need for air-conditioning in the summer months,” Vicari says.

The firm excels at designing livable houses and functional commercial spaces that are progressive and appropriate, Vicari says. And Tectonic’s inventive talent has continued to capture the attention of private developers who wish to bring innovative concepts to life. “We are working on a very exciting mixed-use hospitality project that really has no comparison in the metro Detroit area—or the state of Michigan for that matter,” Vicari says. It’s not hard to imagine that Tectonic is on its way to making a broader mark in the green design industry. gb&d

A MESSAGE FROM ROBERT DARVAS ASSOCIATES Robert Darvas Associates is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. We believe our longevity and success is attributable to our zest for designing. All of our principals have degrees in architecture and engineering, giving us the unique ability and interest to better understand our client’s goals. We aren’t afraid of the complicated, imaginative, or dramatic projects; in fact, we prefer them. RDA is proud to have worked with Tectonic Design on the Mason Residence.

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Barr Mansion

from the ashes Melanie McAfee and Homestead Heritage transform the tragedy of a fire into a new opportunity

by Mark Pechenik

On June 9, 2010, Melanie McAfee watched in horror as ten years of hard work went up in flames. But even while witnessing the Barr Mansion and Artisan Ballroom succumb to a lightning-induced fire, the owner never doubted the future of her Austin, Texas-based certified-organic events facility. “I’ll never forget that night,” McAfee says. “By the time I arrived, the roof was collapsing, and the ballroom was engulfed in flames. But there wasn’t time to question what was happening; we had to get ready for a wedding the next weekend.”

Following the blaze, which destroyed the mansion’s ballroom, McAfee saw an opportunity to build upon her passion for sustainable event hosting. The result is a new, structurally green ballroom space that will soon become the Barr Mansion’s centerpiece.

Immediately following the fire, McAfee turned to Homestead Heritage, which built the mansion’s original ballroom, to begin the rebuilding process. The construction firm provided Barr Mansion with an antique Dutch barn that became the heart of the new ballroom structure.

“The barn was dismantled and shipped to Austin from upstate New York,” McAfee says. “It’s timbers were then customized for our foundation slab.”

The new ballroom showcases Austin’s rich naturalwood resources. Highlights include four dramatic eightfoot-tall main arcade posts made of local stripped-bark cedar, doors constructed of native pecan trees, an entry door formed from a fallen oak in nearby Zilker Park, restroom counters made of area walnut trees, and the signature awning featuring wood reclaimed from the old ballroom’s charred timbers.

McAfee took advantage of the barn project to advance the mansion’s environmental focus. A concrete block erected upon the foundation slab is aerated for enhanced heating and cooling. And straw and shredded paper used in binding agents will promote better insulation breathability and, in turn, greater energy efficiency.

Wherever possible, local products and services were used in the ballroom’s construction—thereby reducing the environmental cost from long-distance transportation of materials and workers. Rather than artificial pigments, earthen plaster made from local sands and clays provides the ballroom’s walls with their rich golden-tan color. Area

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BELOW: The newly renovated Barr Mansion is freshly aglow after a fire in 2010 brought down the original structure. Photo: Hyde Park Photography.

blacksmith Collin McIntyre of Sculpture Forge designed the ballroom’s 44-foot-tall steel-curtain wall system, which includes energy-efficient solar-ban glass.

There were also significant upgrades in lighting throughout the facility. “A local craftsman not only designed LED light fixtures for the ballroom but also incorporated this energy-efficient lighting source in our work areas and our decorative tree lighting on the property,” McAfee says.

McAfee originally purchased the Barr Mansion in 1981, intending to renovate it for resale. “But I fell in love with the place and decided to make the house go to work for me,” she says. In 2007, McAfee transformed the mansion into the nation’s first certified-organic events facility. “In terms of food processing, I didn’t like what I was seeing, and I wanted to do something about it,” she says.

Her efforts have earned Barr Mansion the highest score possible from the Green Restaurant Association and recognition as a GreenChoice Renewable Energy Partner by Austin Energy. The facility hosts not only weddings but also business meetings, CD release parties, and other occasions. Its event menus feature USDA-certified organic foods and local herbs and vegetables. Food waste composted for the property’s certified-organic gardens and wildlife habitats ensures that Barr Mansion is a zero-waste facility .

Other green-friendly highlights include linens made from organic cotton, hemp, or recycled fabrics; 100 percent post-consumer paper for offices; and, whenever possible, furniture from local suppliers and manufacturers.

McAfee is confident that the new ballroom, which opens in May, will soon reap the advantages of Barr Mansion’s organic legacy. “We’re definitely seeing increased interest in our facility,” she says. “If anything, the new ballroom will likely grow our market niche among brides and grooms concerned about sustainability issues.” gb&d

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shopping centers

economic altruism Westfield Group has found a way to turn a profit without giving up on environmental responsibility

by Tina Vasquez

The mall culture of the 1990s left a bad taste in America’s mouth. Shopping centers became synonymous with passé fixtures, dull color palettes, and poor fluorescent lighting.

Twenty years later, many shopping centers are still suffering from the same pitfalls. But thanks to Westfield Group, an Australia-based shopping-center company with the largest-listed retail-property portfolio in the world, many centers are getting elegant and innovative makeovers with cutting-edge sustainable features that are good for the environment and good for the company’s bottom line.

Westfield Group first entered America in 1977 and now has 55 high-end shopping centers in various major metropolitan areas. The company is special for two reasons: its constant transformation of its shopping-center portfolio and its long-standing commitment to sustainability.

Westfield Group’s revitalization projects don’t just breathe new life into local communities; they also reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Westfield is currently in the process of retrofitting all of its existing buildings, and this year the firm will meet its goal of reducing its energy use by 15 percent since 2008.

Two of Westfield Group’s most recent redevelopments were overseen by Jonathan Krausche, the firm’s recently named director of sustainability. Under Krausche, Connecticut’s Westfield Trumbull received a complete remodel and expansion that included energy-efficient upgrades. In Southern California, Westfield Culver City was completely transformed, receiving a full energy audit with sustainable upgrades including new lighting, a better HVAC system,

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ABOVE LEFT: The Westfield Culver City received a recent energy audit and a subsequent sustainable upgrade to its lighting, its HVAC system, and its chilledwater system.

ABOVE RIGHT: In the mall’s common area, public art functions as a sustainable light source.

and a Trane-designed chilled-water system that stores ice at night when electricity rates are low and then uses the energy to cool the building during the day.

In mid-March, Southern California Edison presented a check for $192,000 to Westfield Culver City as a rebate for the center’s energy conservation. Last year’s infrastructure upgrades at the mall are expected to save more than $200,000 in annual energy costs. Krausche, who has ties to Culver City, is quick to point out that Westfield was ahead of the game there in terms of sustainability but simply failed to place a label on what it was the firm was doing. “With Westfield, it was never a matter of being sustainable just for the sake of it,” he says. “Sustainability was a core value of the company; they just weren’t calling it that. It was corporate responsibility.”

This is something that was echoed by Joe Jaworski, Westfield’s vice president of national operations. “Shopping centers are large, complex infrastructures in urban settings, and they require a lot of resources to make them run efficiently, but we try not to use more than we need,” he says. “Being a part of the community not only means contributing to the local economy, but it also means being a good, responsible neighbor.”

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“We’ve proven from a financial standpoint that it makes sense to be sustainable. We’ve succeeded at making a financial case for altruism.”

—Joe Jaworski, Vice President of National Operations

Besides upgrading its existing shopping centers with sustainable features and working on three future LEEDcertified properties, Westfield is also pioneering something called ecoWISE, an enterprise-management system specifically developed for the company. Essentially, it is a proprietary system that enables Westfield to view the energy meters of each of its properties in the data cloud, meaning the information can be accessed at any time and from anywhere. The system will provide property managers with real-time control and access to real-time data on how buildings are performing.

“This is the holy grail for building owners,” Krausche says. “It provides the most accurate data possible, and it gives us the opportunity to learn more about how our buildings work, allowing us to identify changes in energy use and then shift energy use as it becomes necessary.” At a time when many companies are jumping on the green bandwagon to pacify consumers, Westfield has already routinely “walked the talk,” as Jaworski puts it. The results-orientated company is honest about the reasoning behind its green endeavors.

“We do everything we can to be sustainable, but it’s not all altruistic,” Jaworski says. “We have shareholders, and we have to fulfill our responsibilities to them. We’ve proven from a financial standpoint that it makes sense to be sustainable, that it makes sense to invest this much money on these endeavors. We’ve succeeded at making a financial case for altruism.” gb&d

Commercial Solar • Government Solar

A MESSAGE FROM REALFOUNDATIONS INC. Westfield worked closely with RealFoundations, a leading consultant to the real-estate industry, to design and implement the enterprise energy-management solution, an important component of the ecoWISE program. RealFoundations uses a data-driven approach to develop and execute enterprise-level sustainability and energy platforms that are anchored by the three interrelated processes: measure, analyze, act.

A MESSAGE FROM B&R CONSTRUCTION B&R Construction has provided initial evaluation of federal, state and utility company incentives, life cycle cost assessments for different systems, and commissioning. Our solution, saved the Connecticut Westfield Shopping Center over $1,000,000 in engineering and construction cost, in the meantime being able to finalize the project approximately five months ahead of schedule. We are currently working on a number of design-build large projects, such as a 95 acres LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development) Silver certified multi-use campus, and a large data center in Ashburn, Virginia to mention only a few.

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project spotlight

norway says hello Designed by Norwegian firm Jensen & Skodvin, the Juvet Landscape Hotel is a boutique resort with just seven rooms, each one with one or two floor-to-ceiling glass walls looking out at a different angle on the forested subarctic landscape surrounding Norwayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Valldøla River. The hotel was built to exist in harmony with nature, every room standing on stilts to leave the ground undisturbed. Completed near Gudbrandsjuvet in 2008, the hotel also features a communal spa right along the river for further relaxation.

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project spotlight

chennai takes a bow This gracefully angular stage space, designed by Morphogenesis for the Chettinad Health City in Chennai, India, represents a break from both the grand, classical and boxy modern design concepts that typify interior performance venues. The designers conceived a facility with zigzagging strips that seem to extend continuously from floor to wall to ceiling, and cove and recessed lighting fixtures enhance the atmosphere of the room. All HVAC and audio-visual equipment is housed in wooden slots between each angular strip, keeping it tucked away and leaving the space cleaner in appearance. Photos: Bharath Ramamruthum.

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project spotlight

therapy by design A building as therapeutic in design as it is in practice, the Groot Klimmendaal Rehabilitation Centre integrates itself naturally with surrounding forestland near Arnhem, Netherlands, with extensive windowing to provide views of the arboreal splendor. Dutch firm Architectenbureau Koen van Velsen maximized the energy efficiency of the healthcare facility by keeping the design compact and incorporating both extensive thermal storage capabilities and daylighting that reaches almost every corner of the 100-foot-wide building frame. The structure is part of a larger masterplan to create a public park landscape with with one- and two-story buildings set amid verdant vegetation. Photos: RenĂŠ de Wit, architectuurfotografie.com.

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MARY Hooker SCHOOL

hands-on education BL Companies’ unrivaled educational facility has become a field-trip destination for other schools

by Eugenia Orr

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In Connecticut, the idea of sustainability is being pushed all the way down to grades K-12. “Students are touring college campuses during their junior year of high school and asking what sustainable programs and facilities colleges have on campus,” says Rainer Muhlbauer, AIA, LEED AP, the director of architecture for BL Companies, Inc. Increased awareness of the importance of sustainability efforts has created a new kind of young customer for architects, engineers, and education facilities to answer to. Students are demanding more sustainability efforts with each class—at younger and younger ages. So, design firms such as BL Companies have stepped up to meet youths’ needs—with structures such as the firm’s Mary M. Hooker Environmental Studies Magnet School.

Students look forward to Monday mornings at the Mary Hooker School. BL Companies renovated the original 75,000-square-foot facility and included a 31,000-squarefoot addition to provide a wealth of extra space. The firm incorporated into the structure the latest sustainable elements, including an all new MEP system with a condensing boiler, a cogeneration system that uses waste heat to heat the school’s domestic water, and daylighting controls throughout. The school also has a small photovoltaic array, which is used more for educational lessons than

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BL Companies

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ALL PHOTOS: Robert Benson Photography.

OPPOSITE PAGE: The Mary M. Hooker Environmental Studies Magnet School. BL Companies renovated the 75,000-square-foot structure and added an extra 31,000 square feet.

RIGHT: Students help plant vegetation in the butterfly vivarium, one of several environmental amenities beyond the school’s energy- and water-efficient systems.

BELOW: Daylighting and extensive color brighten the cafeteria.

energy, but it is still an integral part of the facility’s environmental focus. “The entire underlying purpose of the school is environmental education,” Muhlbauer says.

In addition to its sustainable inner workings, the school now has a butterfly vivarium, a miniature Long Island Sound ecosystem in the lobby, a planetarium, and a hydroponics garden. The school is so innovative it’s used as a field trip destination for other schools. “The school expands beyond the boundaries of the walls and engages the community itself,” Muhlbauer says.

BL Companies’ project manger, Chris Roof, AIA, LEED AP, has been vigilant in pursuing LEED certification for the project. The plan has received all 10 energy-conservation points and also incorporates a storm-water treatment system and LED site lighting. Having completed 59 points toward LEED certification, the company is anticipating a LEED Platinum rating, one of the first for a New Englandarea school.

Muhlbauer attributes the USGBC with advancing sustainable building practices. While the organization’s process does require a substantial commitment, he still says it has increased the overall awareness of sustainable design. “The awareness of sustainability has not only pushed itself through the architecture, engineering, and building industry; it has found its way into households and children in K-12 schools,” Muhlbauer says. “My hope is that this becomes the code minimum—rather than high bar—we are all trying to achieve.”

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“The awareness of sustainability has not only pushed itself through the architecture, engineering, and building industry; it has found its way into households and children in K-12 schools.”

—Rainer Muhlbauer, Director of Architecture

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BL Companies BL Companies is dedicated not only to preserving and building sustainably but also to investing in the people that make the company successful. In 2005 BL Companies changed ownership and became 70 percent employee owned. “At every level, each employee is an owner,” Muhlbauer says. The firm is currently 80 percent employee owned and working toward 100 percent. BL Companies has an internal culture that recognizes that every individual has an impact on the outcome of the company.

Attracting and retaining the best employees has fueled the employee-owned agenda and encouraged long-term employment. For BL Companies, sustainability is more than a design aesthetic—it’s a philosophy around which to build a company and loyalty and to create buildings that also serve as inspirational learning tools. gb&d

ABOVE: The entry lobby contains a Long Island Sound habitat.

Photo: Robert Benson Photography.

BL Companies’ sustainable educational projects also extend to the higher-education sector, as with the Yale Science Park Garage on the edge of the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut. In contrast to the elementary school, this mixed-use project is a commercial space occupying what was once industrial land.

While answering Yale University’s need for parking near administrative office space, BL Companies also extended the New Haven downtown by creating a new streetscape devoted to retail businesses.

The project began with a massive cleanup effort, including an extensive excavation of contaminated soils prior to any construction. The garage now includes a pocket park, free bicycle parking, and access from a bike path. The parking garage has an actual roof in lieu of rooftop parking. “The roof provides two acres of space for future photovoltaics,” Muhlbauer says. “A separate electrical room and conduit are already incorporated into the structure along with a series of parking spaces that have conduit and junction boxes for electric-car plug-ins.” Also, the garage was completed using local products, manufacturers, and recyclable elements—not necessarily with the goal of earning LEED points but simply to incorporate sustainable practices into every aspect of construction.

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C el e br at in g 2 5 Y e ar s ARCHITECTS · ENGINEERS · LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS · LAND SURVEYORS Connecticut · New York · Pennsylvania · Maryland

www.blcompanies.com

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spaces/learn GREEN SCHOOLS

a learning process Celli-Flynn Brennan Architects & Planners designs spaces that encourage educational ambition

by Julie Schaeffer

The Natural Sciences Building at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, is a perfect example of the sort of structures Celli-Flynn Brennan Architects & Planners is best known for. The 62-year-old firm has earned a reputation for addressing educational clients’ needs for creative spaces that promote learning, and the Natural Sciences Building, which the firm is just beginning, stands as a testament to both the Celli-Flynn Brennan’s niche expertise and its commitment to sustainability.

“We’re looking at creating a photovoltaic array and wind turbines as part of the instructional pedagogy of the building,” principal Bill Brennan says. “Putting the science behind the building on display will help students understand what’s occurring with environmental strategies and sustainable buildings.”

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BELOW: A rendering of the new Mt. Lebanon High School in Mt. Lebanon, PA. The steeply sloped topography of the site proved a challenge that CelliFlynn Brennan skillfully overcame. Architectof-Record: Celli-Flynn Brennan. Associate Architect: OWPP.

The firm’s understanding of educational architecture stems from its long history in the field. “We come to a campus having visited more than 100 others and having designed buildings on at least 50 others,” principal Tom Celli says. “As a result, our clients find that we’re in touch with their needs and can respond with creative solutions that promote enrollment growth, improve the academic environment, and enhance student life—all while preserving the historical context of the campus.”

Another example of the firm’s approach in action is the DiSepio Institute for Rural Health and Wellness, also at Saint Francis University. The 30,000-square-foot, $7 million building, designed to meet LEED Silver standards, is a working clinic as well as an educational facility. It includes, to name just a few elements, a research laboratory, a student health clinic, a rehabilitation center, a therapy pool, and a video-conferencing room. “It’s a timely subject because the health sciences are booming across undergraduate institutions today, and this building will help deliver health services to rural America,” Brennan says.

The firm is also proud of its work on the business school at Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. The 18,000-square-foot, $8 million building, which is on track to achieve LEED Silver certification, completes a historic courtyard, which Celli-Flynn Brennan found particularly compelling given its interest in historical preservation. “The university began with the purchase of a 360-acre tract of land that featured a wonderful garden from the 1900s,” Celli says. “This project, along with

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Celli-Flynn Brennan Architects & Planners

“It’s not unusual for a group of students to have as much say in the design of a building as the faculty involved.”

—Bill Brennan, Principal

two existing buildings, completes a quadrangle around that garden. So there are environmental features, such as daylighting, while maintaining the historical context of the campus, which is very important to most clients.

No one wants us to drop a modern glass building into a campus that consists primarily of red brick Georgian architecture.”

Currently under construction is the addition and renovation of Mt. Lebanon High School in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The 485,000-square-foot, $113 million project—which consists of 242,000 square feet of new

construction, the remainder repurposed from an existing building—wasn’t easy. According to Celli, the architects faced a number of challenges, including a difficult site that drops 85 feet behind the school. “Designing a building to accommodate that topography, to allow for a phased project, and to interact with the many public processes and community activists, proved to be a real challenge,” Celli says. However, the project still went to bid in March 2011.

In many cases, it is the very challenges of educational architecture that continue to draw Celli-Flynn Brennan to the field. “It’s not unusual for a group of students to have as much say in the design of a building as the faculty involved,” Brennan says. “Educational architecture today is not a top-down decision-making process; it’s a grassroots effort that is based on consensus-building.”

Indeed, there’s been a transformation within educational institutions, particularly colleges, to meet the demands of a new world order focused critically on sustainability. “Colleges and universities are on the leading edge of sustainability because their students have grown up with recycling and natural foods and thus come to them demanding a certain lifestyle,” Celli says. “As a result, most of these clients appreciate how design may attract students and address their needs.” gb&d

Maximizing Sustainable Design For Education

landscape architecture site planning urban design landscape architecture site planning urban design landscape architecture site planning urban design Werley Associates believes that an effective landscape Werley Associates believes that an effective landscape Werley Associates believes that an effective landscape architecture practice must bring humans and their activities architecture practice must bring humans and their activities architecture practice must bring humans and their activities into with features ofof the which surrounds into harmony with the best features ofland the land which surrounds into harmony harmony withthe thebest best features the land which surrounds them.

Services normally provided byby Werley Associates them.

Services normally provided by Werley Associates them.

Services normally provided Werley Associates comprise the ofof structures upon thethe land, the the comprise the arrangement of structures upon theland, land, the comprise thearrangement arrangement structures upon Pictured: Mt. Lebanon High School.

Architects: Celli-Flynn Brennan & Associate Architect OWPP.

design of spaces and, thus, thethe creation of aof more design of out-of-door spaces and, thus, thecreation creation of aa more design of out-of-door out-of-door spaces and, thus, useful, safe safe and pleasant livingliving andliving working useful, and pleasant and working environment, sustainable, useful and pleasant andenvironment, working meeting the client’s functional and and facilities requirements. meeting the client’s functional facilities requirements. environment, meeting the client’s functional and facilities

Architecture Sustainable Design Master Planning Interior Design

All work is performed in close collaboration with the andwith All work is performed in close collaboration withclient the client and requirements.

All work is performed in close collaboration all members of the design team, conscientiously all other members ofmembers the design conscientiously theother client and all other ofteam, the design team, adhering to budgets and and schedules. adhering to adhering budgets schedules. conscientiously to budgets and schedules

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Building Information Modeling (BIM)

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spaces/learn more educational projects and more awards. And today, the firm’s designs dot the campus of Yale University, which mandates that all new projects meet at least LEED Silver certification, and the firm was honored with 2005 and 2009 Built Design awards from AIA Connecticut. One notable project is Yale University’s LEED Gold-certified Stoeckel Hall, which the Connecticut Green Building Council awarded a Most Intriguing Institutional Building award in 2010.

The hall, which houses the Yale Department of Music’s faculty and administrative offices, seminar rooms, a production studio, and music composition computer labs, consisted of a full exterior restoration, an interior renovation, and a new addition.

The addition was a testament to Charney Architects’ imagination. “The project was intended to be a renovation of an existing building in order to house the undergraduate department of music, but we realized very early on that the building was too small, and one of most important elements, a room for functions and presentations, would not fit,” Rich says. “So we took it upon ourselves to suggest an alternative to the university. Since we had already done the heavy lifting with infrastructure improvements to the existing building, and a new foundation and roof would be required even for a small addition, we suggested that now would be the time to add more floors to the addition.”

Stoeckel Hall is sustainable on a number of levels: in addition to achieving LEED Gold status, it has created

stoeckel hall / sterling power plant

ivy league history With vast experience in institutional work, Charney Architects helps preserve Yale University’s architectural legacy

by Julie Schaeffer

When architects and identical twins Rich and Rob Charney founded Charney Architects LLC in 1988, they planned to focus on institutional clients, and the success of a sustainable school project in Wyoming encouraged them to include green design in that focus. “It was the first time we encountered the possibility of doing a large-scale educational project using energy-conservation methods,” Rob says of the firm’s Wilson Elementary School in Teton County. The structure features geothermal heating, and later it won a Design Honor award from the Connecticut chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

But Wilson Elementary School, completed and occupied in 1999, was just the beginning for Charney Architects’ excellence in the educational arena. The Charneys enjoy working with institutional clients because “they have an interest in good design and longevity,” Rob says. The firm’s success on the Wilson Elementary School led to

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ABOVE: Yale University’s Stoeckel Hall, from College Street. Photo: © Adam Laipson.

RIGHT: Yale’s Sterling Power Plant’s new cogeneration facility.

Photo: Charney Architects LLC.

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Charney Architects LLC

“[Yale University] asked us to become involved because we’d done so much work on campuses with significant architectural elements that needed to be preserved.”

—Rich Charney, Partner

more classroom space in the center of campus without the university having to acquire any new property. It also has increased the efficiency of the building’s existing infrastructure, including its elevator, the stairs, and the bathrooms. And, it is a historic restoration that repurposed a deteriorated but precious exterior façade that consisted of more than 1,500 pieces of terracotta made in 1897.

Charney Architects is also particularly proud of its work on Yale University’s new Cogeneration Facility at the Sterling Power Plant, an expansion project that created a 15-megawatt facility to provide electricity and steam to the university’s medical school campus.

The challenge was that the bulk of the new facility would involve the renovation of an existing underground concrete structure formerly used to hold cold water—and part of it would extend above ground in the middle of Yale’s medical school campus. “It was positioned on one of the larger open spaces on the medical school campus, and part of a well-used pedestrian path,” Rich says. “The university asked us to become involved because we’d done so much work on campuses with significant architectural elements that needed to be preserved.”

The result is a building that blends with the existing campus context. “It bifurcates above ground so the landscape is brought over a portion of the building,” Rob says.

“As a result, they have not only a cogeneration plant that has helped reduce Yale University’s overall carbon footprint by more than 14,000 metric tons per year but also a green roof that enhances the public landscape.”

According to the Charneys, their innovative ideas are what have led to success. “We’re very good listeners and very good problem solvers, both in regard to technical challenges and planning, but we also consider ourselves pragmatic, so we enjoy working with clients who are seeking practical but imaginative solutions,” Rich says. “That skill set applies to any client but is particularly well suited to institutional clients, who build for the long term.” gb&d

ABOVE: Stoeckel Hall’s garden wall and addition, from the Yale Elizabethan Club. Photo: Charney Architects LLC.

Spiegel Zamecnik & Shah Inc. A MESSAGE FROM SPIEGEL ZAMECNIK & SHAH INC. Spiegel Zamecnik & Shah Inc. has been providing professional services to a range of clients for more than 45 years. Our primary activity is the design of framing and foundations for new buildings such as hospitals, educational buildings, libraries, and museums. Our clients include institutions, the government, corporations, and developers.

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Structural Engineers NEW HAVEN, CT | WASHINGTON, DC

www.szsnh.com

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project spotlight

legacy lived out Designed by Wang Shu in the Yinzhou district in Eastern China, this massive, angular, fortress-like museum consists of a reinforced concrete core and is lined on the exterior with grey and red rubble, stone, and brick collected from ruined villages in the surrounding regionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;villages that were torn down to make way for new offices and governmental developments. In this way, the Ningbo Historic Museum is itself made from historical artifacts, and it now carries on their legacies with dramatic flair.

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solutions

Digital Designs At Hines + Dibrova Studio (H+D Studio), designs are about more than function and aesthetics. “Design is not just a matter of taste,” owner Zach Hines says.

“Design generates progress. Design is action and purpose. Design is much more of a dynamic thing.”

The studio’s founders, Hines and his business partner, Oliver Dibrova, believe good design solves problems and identifies new opportunities. The partners have been doing just that at H+D Studio since its inception in 2009. The architecture, design, parametric-design, and environmental-modeling firm relies on innovative technology that drives its unique solutions.

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backgrounder/ H+D Studio is pushing the boundaries of 3-D prototyping technology through products such as its VOVA lamp—created using advanced algorithms to maximize illumination aesthetics and material performance. The laser-sintering 3-D prototyping process used yields intricate designs with millimeter tolerances. Now, H+D Studio is applying the process and principles behind the VOVA lamp to complete buildings by creating sustainable façades and parametric skins. challenge/ The firm needed to design an environmentally sustainable and optimized parametric façade for an existing building in Stuttgart, Germany. The mixed-use urban building, a basic box, currently sits in a vibrant corridor and needs a contextual and sustainable facelift.

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Hines + Dibrova Studio

solution/ Hines and Dibrova saw a typical box building in the heart of Stuttgart and knew it was the perfect match for their studio. “We found a standard building that was sort of lost in a thriving cultural district and knew we could design something to improve the building’s performance and the actual urban context,” Hines says. The mixed-use building stands in a major hub near parks, transit lines, five-star hotels, and fashion shops.

Hines and Dibrova set out to craft a proposal that would introduce good design and environmental responsibility to the out-of-date building.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Located in Stuttgart, Germany, this project’s parametric façade was developed in python coding language and responds to factors such as solar insolation, shadowing, and design aesthetics.

Rendering: hinesdibrova-studio.com

solutions/3-D prototyping

RIGHT: A prototype of the skin for the Stuttgart project was fashioned after extensive computer analysis regarding issues such as sun position.

BELOW: The VOVA lamp was one of the first pieces created with H+D Studio’s 3-D prototyping technology, which is exact to the millimeter.

In fact, sustainable façades and reskinning buildings is quickly becoming an area of specialty at H+D Studio. “We can reduce the carbon footprint of inefficient commercial and residential projects by looking closely at the building envelope,” Hines says. His company’s innovative skins are a cost-effective way to rejuvenate aesthetics and improve environmental performance— the two main goals of the Stuttgart project.

“If you reskin a building,” Hines says, “you can reduce HVAC and energy usage by 45 percent per year and solve solar gain and lighting problems.”

What makes the effective reskinning possible is H+D Studio’s unique parametric design capabilities. Hines and Dibrova write complex computer algorithms and scripts to build digital and physical prototypes that are measured and adjusted in real time to optimize performance. With the Stuttgart building, a parametric façade written in python coding language provides the best possible design that responds to factors such as sun position. “We’ve changed the skin thickness at certain places, depending on exact programmatic needs,” Hines says. “Retail areas have less shading while the apartments have more.

It’s sensitive and responsive.” The aesthetics of the proposed skin are far more dynamic and much more fitting for the building’s high-end cultural district.

Hines and Dibrova have also improved the overall performance of the existing structure. Elaborate calculations and simulations from an exact digital model show that their sustainable façade will reduce HVAC needs by at least 50 percent annually while optimizing solar gain.

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The façade is dynamic—but dynamic for a reason. “We didn’t just do this for good design,” Hines says. “What we proposed fulfills program requirements to address specific site and contextual issues.” H+D Studio’s ability to use BIM software and advanced parametric scripts provides a solution that is cost effective, visually pleasing, and environmentally responsible.

“If you reskin a building, you can reduce HVAC and energy usage by 45 percent per year and solve solar gain and lighting problems.”

—Zach Hines, Owner

Embracing technology is a natural practice for Hines and Dibrova. After all, the business partners met in a sustainable-design Internet forum. Now, they are launching a Web portal called HD Lab, created to share their tools and help the architectural community collaborate and share information online. —Zach Baliva

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solutions/convention centers

LEFT: An overhead rendering of new seating area created outside Hall C of the convention center. The facility has undergone several renovations in pursuit of a LEED for Existing Building certification.

600,000 square feet of green The Greater Ft. Lauderdale / Broward County Convention Center was first exposed to sustainability in the 1990s, when an employee took it upon herself to go through the office at night and gather recyclable materials. But it wasn’t until 2001, when the center began looking at replacing the lighting fixtures in its 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall, that the initial employee’s vision began to be more fully realized. Today, the convention center is on a mission.

backgrounder/ “In 2001, when we heard that a convention center in New York City had retrofitted all of its 1,000-watt fixtures in its exhibit halls with 400-watt fixtures that emitted the same amount of light, we did the same,” says Mark Gatley, the center’s general manager. “And that led us to think about how we could move in the direction of sustainability initially created by our recycling employee.” challenge/ In April 2009 the Greater Ft. Lauderdale / Broward County Convention Center, in concert with its third-party management firm, SMG, decided to make the capital investment in its facility necessary to achieve LEED for Existing Buildings status within two years. solution/ The convention center’s first step was to find a consulting company that could help guide it through the process of LEED certification. That company, Atlanta-based Sustainable Options, LLC, audited all of the convention center’s systems—“soup to nuts,” Gatley says.

It then began making the changes necessary to achieve LEED certification, which first involved a number of capital projects.

One project was the replacement of two chillers and the upgrading of the air-handler system to implement demandcontrolled ventilation with carbon-dioxide sensors. With that system, sensors monitor carbon-dioxide levels (which fluctuate

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with occupancy rates) in the air inside the building, and an air-handling system uses data from the sensors to regulate the amount of ventilated air admitted based on occupancy (in contrast to the traditional method of ventilating at a fixed rate regardless of occupancy).

Other projects included retrofitting lighting throughout the facility, retrofitting all plumbing fixtures with low-flow water restrictors, replacing landscaping with plants indigenous to southern Florida, and revamping the irrigation system.

The results have been impressive. “The upgrading of the HVAC system alone saved a projected 20 percent on energy costs, and retrofitting the lighting should take that number up 40 percent,” says Julia Johnson of Sustainable Options LLC, who has worked closely with the convention center for more than two years. “Meanwhile, retrofitting the plumbing fixtures has reduced potable water usage by a projected 38 percent, and the irrigation system has reduced irrigation water usage by a projected 65 percent.”

The greening of the convention center, however, isn’t limited to capital improvements. Other sustainable efforts include the use of GreenSeal cleaning products and local, organic foods. Perhaps the most interesting element of the convention center’s pursuit of LEED certification, however, is a machine Gatley and Johnson fondly call “the digestor” for its ability to turn organic material into water using a combination of living enzymes, wood

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chips, and 120-degree water. Since the convention center began using the digestor, made by BioHitech America, in December 2010, it has consumed almost eight tons of food waste. That, in combination with the facility’s donations of leftover food to local food banks, has done what Gatley once thought impossible. “Virtually no food waste leaves the building,” he says.

Despite its success, the convention center knows the road ahead is long, and to that end it continues its journey. For example, as cleaning equipment wears out, it is replaced with more environmentally friendly models that have HEPA filters and emit less noise. In addition, the convention center has committed to purchasing renewable energy credits every two years in order to make itself 100 percent carbon neutral in the future.

Perhaps the biggest effort, however, will be the change in thinking that is required by such a major overhaul. “A piece of the process is cultural,” Gatley says. “Everyone who works and exhibits here has to be shown a new way of doing things, and that will continue for some time.” — Julie Schaeffer

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WINN WITTMAN His contemporary homes in the Texas Hill Country deservedly win loud praise, but one home in particular, Soaring Wings, promotes zen-like serenity

by Russ Klettke

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architect to watch

Winn Wittman 1

2

3

4

Soaring Wings 1/ Cantilevered double balconies covered by the copper wings enjoy a sweeping view of Austin, TX. 2/ The copper wings also serve a sustainable purpose, reflecting excess heat from the sun. Photo: Casey Dunn.

3/ The exterior courtyard includes a swimming pool for hot Texas summers.

4/ The interior upper gallery is fitted with motorized sun shades programmed to an astrological clock.

All photos (except otherwise noted): Thomas McConnell.

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architect to watch A design magazine called him “America’s most rock-’n’-roll architect,” but the wildly creative homes that Austin, Texas-based Winn Wittman Architecture creates are more about hillside views, the gentle sounds of nature, and sustainability. For example, Wittman’s widely published Soaring Wings residence has received multiple awards, including the Dream Home Awards’ 2009 Silver Award for Custom Contemporary Home of the Year. Its construction required the painstaking placement of copper panels in the underside curves of the building’s cantilevered wings. “Each part of the wing has a different radius,” Wittman says.

“It required artisans and laborers to work together.” The end product is functional and stunning, achieving energy efficiency through a smart use of materials and systems that work in harmony with Austin’s four seasons—Vivaldi from Van Halen, so to speak.

You grew up in Boston but relocated to Austin more than 20 years ago.

How has that influenced your work?

Boston is of course much more traditional, but I discovered a Texasstyle freedom that I love. Here it’s less about social status and where you went to school and more about who you are and what you have to say. Austin has changed since I arrived in 1987. The Texas economy then was all about oil, but here in Austin the economy is now more about high tech and music. This translates into the architecture, where we have a lot more interest in green buildings.

How is the climate in Austin, and how does that affect energy use?

Homes in Austin—where winters are mild and summers can be hot and sunny—have all-electric systems for heating and cooling. Propane gas is used for hot water and cooking.

“They told me it is like walking into a church.

It has serenity. You can hear the sounds of birds and feel a vibe with the natural environment.

Places like this elevate the human experience.”

—Winn Wittman, Founding Principal

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How much was energy part of the equation with Soaring Wings, your award-winning 2007 home in West Lake Hills, Texas?

It’s a larger home with lots of windows. But we used a computermodeling program to see exactly how the sun would hit the house every day of the year. This led to the design of the copper wings, which are sculptural elements designed to also serve as cantilevered balconies. The wings face west, into the afternoon sun, but the copper reflects heat away from the house. We also used light-colored roofing materials with thermoplastic membranes and lighter flooring materials, which also absorb less heat. Shades on the south-facing rooms are timed to a solar clock. In the winter, warmth is taken from the outside air as part of the forced-air system, down to 32 degrees.

It’s like air-conditioning in reverse. Below that, electric heat strips are used. On the whole, it’s very energy efficient.

This is a contemporary home with a lot of drama, and yet you achieve some very peaceful moments. How did you accomplish that?

It begins with an unusual entry sequence. As visitors climb a grand staircase to the entrance level, it’s a mysterious rise up alongside a courtyard that is carved into the side of the hill. It provides a lot of anticipation and a surprise—a light waterfall and pool.

What do the owners say it is like to live there?

They told me it is like walking into a church. It has serenity. You can hear the sounds of birds and feel a vibe with the natural environment.

Places like this elevate the human experience. gb&d

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material world

a brighter future White reflective roofing absorbs less heat, saving you— and making you—more green

description/ Reflective Roofing is a general term usually relating to a roof surface that is highly reflective. In order to be considered reflective, a roof surface must exhibit high solar reflectance, which specifies the percentage of light that hits the surface and is reflected back into the atmosphere. “For Energy Star purposes over the last several years, a solar reflectance of 0.55 would be considered high, and values may be measured for roofing materials as high as 0.85 to 0.90,” says Jim Leonard, a representative of the Reflective Roof Coatings Institute. All roofing materials exhibit some degree of reflectivity, even black rubber, which has a solar reflectance of about 0.10.

“Highly reflective roof surfaces are typically the result of a coating application to the roof substrate material,” Leonard says. “The coating then becomes the surface that interacts with the sunlight and defines the solar reflectance and thermal emittance for the roof system.”

ABOVE, OPPOSITE PAGE: Field-applied reflective-roofing coatings are placed directly on the roof surface, and they are a quick, easy way to increase energy efficiency.

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types/ One of the most common reflective roofing materials is reflective-roofing coating. This coating comes in two types: field-applied and factory-applied. Field-applied coatings are most often applied directly onto a preexisting roof surface. This process can make an older, already-in-place roof more reflective. A factoryapplied coating is applied at an industrial facility prior to distribution and installation.

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material world

“Envision a roof that reduces the energy consumption and demand of the building it protects. ... That’s a reflective-coated roof.”

—Jim Leonard, Representative, Reflective Roof Coatings Institute

pros & cons (+) + Outside of the sustainable features listed above and energy savings, reflective roofing can also help to make a roof watertight and position the roof and the building for longer life.

(–) – For many, the fact that all reflective roof coatings are white can aesthetically be a challenge.

There are multiple coatings that are described as “cool” instead of white, but a white coating will assure you the highest solar reflectance.

– Reflective roofing surfaces also tend to soil and pick up dirt over time. The solar reflectance also drops from its initial value after a few years. “Typically white coatings will loose approximately 20 percent of their initial solar reflectance over their first three years of exposure and then level off at that value over time,” Leonard says.

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Reflective, single-ply membranes are also an option. These membranes are ideal for commercial or industrial, flat or low-sloped reroof applications and come in two types: thermosets and thermoplastics. Thermoset membranes are compounded from synthetic rubber polymers, and the most commonly used thermoplastic membranes are PVC and TPO. “In terms of asphalt, there’s modified bitumen,” Leonard says. “Roofs may also be covered with white or light-colored granules and get a solar reflectance of .4 to .45. They’re not highly reflective, but they’re still more reflective than black roofs.” applications/ Reflective-roofing coating is easy to handle and simple to apply, but you’ll still want to hire a contractor if you’d like to get the most out of it.

Outside of performing the actual application, a contractor will also be the best judge of which coating to use. Coatings come in many varieties, and choosing the one that’s right for you will depend on current roofing material and the area’s climate.

“Roof coatings are versatile,” Leonard says. “[They] come in multiple chemistries, so they can be used in a wide variety of climates, on a broad spectrum of roof surfaces, and can help to restore the roof that is in place and improve its functionality. They can be applied to virtually every roof-substrate material that is produced.” Coating chemistry and

roof-substrate chemistry must be matched to guarantee adhesion.

Note: check that your roofing contractor has worked with reflective coatings in the past, and ask for referrals to gain further knowledge of his or her success with the material. durability and effectiveness/ Typically, roof coatings, no matter the chemistry, are designed to perform in difficult weather conditions, stay flexible, resist reasonable abuse, and should perform for a period of 15 years or more. Reflective-roofing coatings have been found to effectively reduce electrical costs in nearly all climates of the United States, but the best return on investment is in warmer states such as Texas, Arizona, Florida, and California—in buildings that are often air-conditioned with limited insulation. “Cost effectiveness is easiest to quantify in the realm of energy-cost reductions,” Leonard says. sustainability/ “Envision a roof that reduces the energy consumption and demand of the building it protects,” Leonard says. “Envision that it lasts 2–4 times longer than its uncoated counterparts.

Imagine a roof that minimizes its environmental impact on the surrounding community. That’s a reflective coated roof.” Leonard also points out that reflective roof coatings reduce temperatures, lowering the urban heat-island effect and creating less smog. A reflective-roof surface also provides a temperature differential from rooftop to bottom, which allows for less heat energy to be conducted through the roof.

Additionally, if cooling equipment is mounted on the roof, a reflective-roof surface will also allow the HVAC equipment to run more efficiently. Finally, reflective roofs dramatically reduce electrical demand when temperatures are at their highest. —Thalia A-M Bruehl

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last look

eight miles2 The global sustainability movement is peppered with isolated environmental victories: a LEED-certified office building here, an off-the-grid, net-zero country house there. But few have aimed to paint the environmental urban landscape in broaders strokes until recently, when whole city and regional governments—such as the City of Nanjing, in central China—began approaching firms about sustainable masterplans for entire metropolitan areas.

housing for 200,000 people, industrial and commercial space, schools and hospitals linked by elevated rail, and ten high-profile structures, all of which are designed to achieve LEED Platinum status—the whole city, in fact, is designed as a model of sustainability that will ideally meet all the latest international standards.

The firm based their design in part on a narrative of a prince whose actions on the bank of the Yangtze River cause a ripple effect that spreads beauty and happiness across the land. The idea is to create a model for other cities in China and elsewhere to follow so that, one day, the sustainable movement can move forward in leaps rather than single steps.

The government of Nanjing recently appointed CK Designworks, an architecture and urban planning firm based in Melbourne, Australia, to concieve an environmentally sound urban plan for almost eight square miles of already-inhabited residential, commercial, industrial, and rural land in the city’s Pukou district. The firm visited the site and crafted a large-scale plan that includes

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