Green Building & Design The essential guide for sustainable projects and ideas
gb&d GREEN BUILDING & design april 2011
what’s cooking? Today’s boldest eco-restaurants deliver savory visual fare, P. 52
+ Inside Gensler’s towering triumph, P. 46 Eco-activists take on the world, P. 62
april 2011
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contents
gb&d GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN APRIL 2011
FEATURES verbatim 20/
jason phillips One of the country’s youngest and most lauded product designers talks shop
22/
jeff hiller The president of the Sustainable Furnishings Council on changing consumer psyche
24/
michael lingerfelt Disney World’s Architect of Record saves the day
discussion board 26/
sea green The grand debut of Oasis of the Seas begs the question, can cruise ships really be sustainable?
launch pad 28/
workshop8 With a national design competition win under its belt, the future looks bright for this new creative collective
inner workings 30/
heritage aviation hangar TruexCullins transforms an Air National Guard hangar into a model of sustainability
taking shape 34/
adoba eco hotel & suites Holistic Architects’ harmonious concept rests on good vibes
community 37/
building assets on a budget Weinstein A|U Architects & Urban Designers builds community—literally
40/
Conversion experience workshop/apd revolutionizes housing in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward
43/
depends on the borough
manhattan’s mount olympus, p. 46 Venture inside Bank of America’s flagship skyscraper in New York, which boasts the highest LEED rating of any commercial high-rise in the country. The dynamic subtlety of the groundbreaking interior, courtesy of architecture and planning firm Gensler, provides the perfect backdrop for employees and would-be Olympians.
feast for the eyes, p. 52 The latest restaurant designs across the globe feed the growing hunger for sustainable and jawdropping dining environments. Today’s specials: demure and decadant creations sure to satisfy every craving.
league of extraordinary activists, p. 62 From Dubai to London, architects and artists around the world are embracing “solution-based art” and using their work as vehicles for much-needed change in the face of global issues treatening our planet.
+
8/ editor’s note 11/ commodities 14/ agenda/bookshelf 15/ memo 17/ defined design
OCV Architects cultivates a niche with affordable-housing projects
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contents
Angela Palmer’s haunting Ghost Forest installation seeks to raise awareness of a global danger threatening our planet: deforestation. For more, turn to p. 68.
spaces 72/
live/ Drew maran construction carmel building & design kitchens by meyer tfh architects mogavero notestine associates lorena checa associates william peck & associates young and borlik architects, inc. earth house estate mineral house
solutions 117/
specifications Kalin Associates sets master specs for Masdar City
120/
Storage McMurray Stern delivers specialized storage solutions for museums, military, and others
123/
hvac systems Woman-owned Pacific HVAC Depot helps businesses gain
95/
106/
112/
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work/ jackson & mcelhaney architects tca architecture planning conant architects rmw architecture & interiors banco cuidad de buenos aires play/ wayne troyer architects smith dalia O2 restaurant the balancing barn learn/ train & partners architects graeber, simmons & cowan south pond pavilion
LEED points
material world 124/
bamboozled Weighing the pros and cons of the design world’s newest darling
designer to watch 127/
markus earley The lighting designer and educator explains how lighting fits into the bigger energy picture
last look 130/
the living principles A green roadmap helps us navigate sustainability’s shifting terrain
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index of people & companies A–B AIGA, 130 Allure of the Seas, 27 Andrew Maynard Architects, 19 Ants on the Prairie, 18 Arndt, John, 13 Arqom, 11 Atmosphere Hospitality Management, 35, 36 Bambeco, 13 Bambu, 12 Berman, Matt, 40 Blue Frog, 61 Bombay, 58 Boone, Jeff, 37, 38 Branch, 12 Brandston, Howard, 128 Brockman, Stephen, 57 Brown, Laura Lee, 57 Build It Green, 92 Burke, Deborah, 57
C–D C Restaurant, 59 Cagle, Dave, 120, 121 Cameron, Helena, 53, 56 Cameron, Michael, 53 Carmel Building & Design, 77, 78 Carmody Groarke, 58 Carr, Scot, 38, 39 Checa, Lorena, 86 Choi, Helen, 80 Citigroup, 102 Clark, Robert, 59 Colgate-Palmolive, 102 Conant Architects, 100, 101 Conant, Peter, 100, 101 Cook + Fox Architects, 48 Cornelius, Tom, 115 Cumulus, 130 Dale, Terry, 27 Dalia, Tom, 108 Deane, Richard, 30, 31, 32 Deborah Burke Architects, 57 Design Ignites Change, 130 Design Management Institute, 130 DeSousa, JV, 28 Drew Maran Construction, 72, 73, 74, 75 Durst Organization, The, 48
E–F Earley, Markus, 127, 129 earleylight, 127, 129 Eising, Peter, 54 Epstein, David, 32 Ferry, Robert, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67 Fika, 58 Foster + Partners, 105
G–H Garduño Architects, 111 GDC Ontario, 130 Gensler, 46 Giannetti, Rocco, 46
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Gidfar, Ali, 28 Gilchrist, Bruce, 62, 63, 66, 67 Graeber, Simmons & Cowan, Inc., 114 Greenberg, David, 126 Gupta, Kapil, 61 Harris, Brian, 98, 91 Henrikson, Robert, 126 Heo, Woo Jeong, 16 Hiller, Jeff, 22 Holistic Architects, 34, 35, 36 Hwang, Joyce, 18 Industrial Designers Society of America, 130 J. Crew, 102 Jackson & McElhaney Architects, 95, 97 Jackson, Robert, 95 Jeong, Wonhee, 13 Joelson, Jo, 63, 67
K–L Kalin Associates, 117 Kalin, Mark, 117 Keever, Marcie, 27 Kendall, Laurie, 80 Kitchens by Meyer, 80, 81 Kotchen, Andrew, 40, 41 Krén, Matej, 17 Lange, Ulla, 28 LaVoy, Phyllis, 123 Lee, E.J., 48 LeMae, Brandy, 28, 29 Liebherr-Hausgeräte, 12 Lingerfelt, Michael, 24, 25 Lobster Box, 58 London Fieldworks, 66, 67, 68 Lorena Checa Associates, 86
M–N Maran, Drew, 72, 73, 75 McElhaney, Michael, 95, 97 McMurray Stern, 120, 121 Meyda Custom Lighting, 12 Mills, Matthew, 98 Minarc, 13 Mogavero Notestine Associates, 84, 85 Mogavero, David, 84 Mohr, Steve, 80 Monoian, Elizabeth, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67 Morphogenesis Architecture, 15 Morrison, Jasper, 12 Moseley, Larry, 114 MVRDV, 110 Nicely, Rob, 77, 78 Nichols, Russ, 102, 103 Noble Rot, 56 Norman, Elizabeth, 48
O–P o2 Global Network, 130 Oasis of the Seas, 26, 27 OCV Architects, 43, 44 Orbital Technologies Corporation, 16 Organic Exchange, 130 Pacific Environments Architects, 53, 54, 55
Pacific HVAC Depot, 123 Palmer, Angela, 63, 68, 69 Peck, Bill, 89, 90 Pergl, Ron, 115 Perkins + Will, 14 Phillips Collection, 20, 21 Phillips, Jason, 20, 21 Piragine, Adrian Prieto, 11 Pitt, Brad, 40 Pool, James K., 34, 35, 36 Proof On Main, 57
R–S Rahmani, Esan, 126 Rastogi, Manit, 15 Rhoads, Dan, 91, 92 RMW architecture & interiors, 102 Robinson, David, 98 Ronalds, Shannon, 59 School of Fish Foundation, 53, 59 Serie Architects, 53 Smith Dalia Architects, 108, 109 Smith, Markham, 108, 109 Starn, Doug, 125 Starn, Mike, 125 Storrs, Leather, 56 Studied Impact Design, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68 Studio East Dining, 58 Studio Gang Architects, 116 Studio Gorm, 13 Sustainable Furnishings Council, 22
T–U TCA Architecture Planning, 98, 91 Teas, T. Scott, 82, 83 Tekuto, Atelier, 94 TFH Architects, 82, 83 The Floating Restaurant, 53, 59 The Living Principles, 130 The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, 130 The Tote, 53, 60, 61 Thistleton, Anthony, 56 Train & Partners Architects, 112 Train, Kirk, 112, 113 Troyer, Wayne, 106 TruexCullins, 30, 31, 32
V–Y Uncommon Ground, 53, 56 Vaughan, Paula, 14 Vetsch Architektur, 93 Vigil, Joseph, 28 Vitra, 12 Vitto, Rich, 43, 44 Vivreau, 59 Walt Disney Company, The, 24, 25 Wardle, Kathy, 14 Waterhouse Restaurant, 53, 56 Waugh Thistleton Architects, 53, 56 Wayne Troyer Architects, 106, 107 Weinstein A|U Architects & Urban Designers, 37, 38, 39 Wercbach, Adam, 130
William Peck & Associates, 89, 90 Williams, David, 98 Wilson, Steve, 57 Winterhouse Institute, 130 Won, Yeon Jae, 16 workshop/apd, 40, 41 Workshop8, 28, 29 World Bamboo Organization, 126 Yahoo! Inc., 102 Yellow Treehouse Restaurant, 53, 54, 55 Young and Borlik Architects, 91
Advertisers A-Val Architectural Metal Corporation, 131 AFD Contract Furniture Inc., 103 Artec Construction and Development Corp., 40 Artisan Engineering, 33 Austin Energy Green Building, 9, 97 Avegno, Bailey, & Associates, Inc., 106 BEE Consulting, LLC, 39 Benchmark Construction, 92 Blomberg Window Systems, 75, 76 Bloomsburg Carpet Industries, 10 Carnegie, 51 Case Engineering, 101 Cerami Associates, 49 CMS Audiovisual Consultants, 49, 50 Cox/Durango Architects, 83 Crystal Cabinet Works, Inc., 79 Demilec (USA) LLC, 92 Duncan, 119 Edward Fields, Inc., 2 EnviroGLAS, 88 Ferguson Cox Associates, Inc., 51 H. Keith Wagner Partnership, 33 Harris & Sloan Consulting Group, Inc., 85 Haworth/Turnerboone Contract, 108 Innotech Windows + Doors, 39 Knoll, Inc., 50, 132 Leucos USA, Inc., 129 Lorena Checa Associates Architects, 88 McMurray Stern, 122 Millwork Visions, LLC, 90 Mitsubishi Electric, 33, 36 NewmatUSA Ltd., 6, 50 Pine Cone Lumber, 76 Rentenbach Constructors, Inc., 112 Rusk Renovations Inc., 40 Shurtape, 122, 123 Spacesaver, 122 Specialty Tile Company, Inc., 23 Structure Tone, 50 Tri-County Insulation, 76 USG, 49, 50 Viessmann, 83 Westphalen Photography, 33 Young, 104
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gb&d editorial
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editor-in-chief Christopher Howe
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George Bozonelos george@bgandh.com
Amie Kesler
FEATURES EDITOR Darhiana Mateo darhiana@bgandh.com
ASSOCIATE editor Timothy Schuler tschuler@bgandh.com
correspondents Meghan Boyer Tricia Despres Anne Dullaghan Joyce Finn Peter Fretty Scott Heskes Kelsey Higginbotham Jennifer Hogeland David Hudnall Russ Klettke Kelly Matlock Jamie Morgan Courtney Boyd Myers Alan Oakes Eugenia M. Orr Matt Petrusek Zipporah Porton Suchi Rudra Julie Schaeffer Kaleena Thompson Laura Williams-Tracy
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editor’s note
making a statement
A
s the demand for organic and local fare in restaurants continues to rise, architects are taking this trend one step further by offering eco-friendly environments in which patrons can enjoy their meals. In this issue of gb&d we bring you some of the most unique designs we’ve come across, vivid examples of how architects and chefs are working in tandem to bring sustainability full circle at these innovative dining locations.
From a cocoon-shaped restaurant named Yellow Treehouse by Pacific Environments Architects of New Zealand to a floating dining room resting atop 1,675 two-liter plastic bottles in Vancouver, our “Feast for the Eyes” feature (p. 52) explores how the worldwide boundaries of sustainability are being tested with fearless design. As said by Anthony Thistleton of Waugh Thisleton Architects, the firm behind one of London’s greenest restaurants, Waterhouse, “It’s about pushing the boundaries, breaking the red tape.” Rooftop farms and pop-up eateries are other examples of how the dining experience is being reimagined through a greener lens. Uncommon Ground (p. 56) in Chicago boasts the first certified-organic urban farm in the United States; at 650 square feet, it has yielded 400 pounds of food and honey after two seasons—and all from the convenient location of the restaurant’s roof. In addition, over the past year we’ve also seen the trend of the food-cart phenomenon increase, but another trend that is slowly catching on is that of pop-up eateries. These are short-term, mobile locations—often employing very daring design—that materialize and offer patrons a temporary and sustainable dining experience with all the amenities of a permanent structure. While these restaurant designs are marrying organic fare with sustainable design, they are also serving as a way to increase cultural conservation and awareness via visual nourishment. And it is not only within the realm of restaurant design that architects/ designers seek to appeal to the senses while also making a statement; as you’ll read in “League of Extraordinary Activists” (p. 62), a slew of eco-artists around the world are using various mediums to bring awareness to the realities plaguing our world. Eco-activism, as it is called, “seeks to blend art, architecture, and education in order to solve both macro- and micro-environmental challenges.” This solution-based approach to design speaks to the innate connection between humans and the buildings—and world—we inhabit. As Robert Ferry, who with his wife Elizabeth Monoian cofounded Studied Impact Design, located in Dubai, puts it, “It’s not hyperbole to say that if you have a place that is designed well, it increases communication and interaction between people [and] contributes to social harmony in that there’s less ostracizing, less creation of the ‘other,’ and more encouragement of sympathy with fellow humans.” Whether eco-activism comes in the form of an entire city (think Masdar City, p. 67), installed birdhouse communities in Europe, or a traveling exposition featuring dinosaursized, desiccated tree trunks—or even in restaurant design—all are seeking to evoke two things: awareness and change. Enjoy,
Amie Kesler Managing Editor
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University Federal Credit Union A Sustainable and Safe Home for your Savings The UFCU Ben White Branch is proud to receive a Five-Star Austin Energy Green Building rating — only the second commercial building in Austin to achieve this level of sustainability.
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Green Features & Achievements » Solar energy array meets 25% of the building’s energy needs » Indoor water use is reduced by 90% » Native landscaping and a rainwater collection system reduce outdoor water use by 84% » 99% of construction waste was diverted from the landfill » 78% of the building materials were manufactured in Texas
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Bloomsburg Carpet Industries designs, develops, and creates products that avoid depletion of raw material resources and prevent further environmental degradation. We are committed to exceeding your expectations with superior products that meet the demands of today’s interiors without compromising the needs of future generations. We offer a wide range of designs with contemporary to traditional colors for the commercial and residential market place. Bloomsburg products are located in some of the most prestigious Law firms, Corporate headquarters, and Historic preservations around the world. Most Bloomsburg Carpets can be certified Green Label Plus, the higher standard for indoor air quality.
BLOOMSBURG carpet at its finest.
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Bloomsburg Carpet Industries, Inc. 49 West 23rd Street, 4th Floor, New York, New York 10010-4228 P (212) 688-7447 | F (212) 688-9218
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up front 11/ COMMODITIES 14/ AGENDA/BOOKSHELF 15/ MEMO 17/ DEFINED DESIGN
KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL Well established as a nexus in any home, the kitchen is also gaining status in the design world as a gathering ground for sustainable elements at their freshest and most imaginative. From a complex system that transforms the modern kitchen into an impressive, multifaceted green machine to lighting pendants custom crafted from wine bottles, innovation and a bold point of view are all on the menu. So go ahead and sample this collection of food- and kitchen-themed creations—all generously seasoned with a satisfying ecofriendly flavor.
< Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco articulated table by Adrian Prieto Piragine for Argentinean design firm Arqom is built from reclaimed wood collected from the Gran Chaco region of the South American country, regarded as one of the most extensive dry forests in the world. Pieces of native wood are grouped together to achieve a unified, unique configuration. The adaptable concept allows different configurations according to the type of use and the number of users. arqom.com.ar
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up front/commodities
Wine Bottle Pendants > Bamboo Utensils ^ Handmade by eco-friendly manufacturer Bambu in China for Branch, these utensils are made from organically grown, solid bamboo, making them both beautiful and durable. Available in six styles. Shown here (from left) are: Risotto Spoon, Round Spoon, Spatula, Rounded Spatula, Slotted Spoon, Long Spoon. branchhome.com
The flared and finned wine bottle pendants line from Meyda Custom Lighting are crafted using unique â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hot Shopâ&#x20AC;? glass-blowing techniques. Meyda artisans employ this painstaking process to re-shape new pendants from discarded wine bottles. meyda.com
BioFresh Freshness Centre > This Red Dot Award-winning refrigerator for product design in the household and kitchen category uses innovative LED lighting technology to illuminate the smartly designed interior. The division of the refrigerator into three different climate zones ensures storage at precisely selected temperatures, preserving the freshness and flavors of the food stored inside while conserving energy. With an understated design and cutting-edge technology, the appliance, manufactured by Liebherr-Hausgeräte GmbH of Germany, raises the bar for refrigerators. liebherr.com
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Cork Family ^ Designed by Jasper Morrison for international furniture company Vitra, the Cork Family of stools and side tables are constructed of almost 100-percent natural agglomerate cork. The discarded material, a waste product of the bottle-cork industry in Portugal, is re-fashioned into these eclectic and robust stools. vitra.com
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up front/commodities
Hide n’ Sit Chair Now you see it, now you don’t. This playfully discreet “disappearing” chair from award-winning Minarc, a Californiabased design studio with roots in Iceland, embodies the firm’s reputation for innovative use of materials. Specializing in modern, sustainable creations, Minarc has created a chair that boasts a finish material of inexpensive recycled rubber made from discarded tires and whose thoughtful design allows it to fit perfectly under a kitchen island or table and disappear from view when not in use. minarc.com
Sinatra Martini Glass > Looking for a chic way to toast to Earth Day every day? This Sinatra Martini Glass from Bambeco is handcrafted using 100-percent recycled glass. The colorful contrast of retro swirls sets the mood and brightens up any décor, whether it be a casual outdoor gathering or intimate dinner party. Because of their handblown nature, each glass is one of a kind. The glasses are made from thick, durable, glass to handle frequent use. Available in: Tumbler, Pint, Wine Glass, Martini Glass, and Pitcher. bambeco.com
Flow2 > Designers John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong of Oregonbased Studio Gorm have reconceptualized the modern kitchen with their Flow2 design. Every element of this system has an environmentally conscious purpose: Water from the dish rack drips onto the herbs and edible plants, which are grown in the planter boxes positioned below the rack. The evaporative cooling fridge box keeps food cool through evapo-transpiration minimizing reliance on electricity-guzzling refrigeration. Even the storage jars are made from unglazed earthenware with beech-wood lids. The integrated cutting board slides forward so scraps can be swept into the composting bin and turned into worm castings, a nutrient-rich fertilizer that can then be used in the herb boxes. Flow2 was on display last year at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon, as part of its Call and Response exhibition. studiogorm.com
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up front/agenda/bookshelf
april 2011
NEW READ
4.3–5 National Brownfields Conference Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia Whether you’re a newcomer to economic and environmental redevelopment or a seasoned pro looking to make new connections, this conference is calling your name. You’ll gain access to more than 150 educational and learning opportunities, outstanding plenary sessions, 200 exhibitors, scores of networking events, special training sessions, and much more. Registration is free. brownfields2011.org
4.15–16
4.20–21
NALMCO Spring Seminar
Green IT Economic Summit
Philips Lighting Company, Somerset, NJ
Ritz Carlton Hotel, Tysons Corner, VA
Offered annually in April as an opportunity for training, the two-day seminar is hosted at NALMCO Associate members’ facilities in different locations each year. Lighting professionals have the opportunity to learn about the latest lighting trends and the future of lighting, including energy-efficient solutions. nalmco.org
The second annual Green IT Economic Summit will feature approximately 25 of the world’s top technology firms, dozens of high-profile speakers and exclusive panels geared toward a national audience of CXOs, private equity investors, and executive entrepreneurs. greeniteconomicsummit.org
The worlds of food and design have always enjoyed a happy marriage, but with the rise of sustainability as a primary concern, both what we eat and where we eat are intersecting in myriad ways, opening up new avenues for chefs, restaurateurs, interior designers, and architects. Eat Out! Restaurant Design and Food Experiences chronicles a number of uniquely designed spaces, charts the trends the world has seen throughout the past few years, and projects new incarnations into the future. The editors have found compelling
Edited by S. Moreno, S. Ehmann, F. Schultze, R. Klanten. Published Februrary 2010. Gestalten, $69.00.
environments from around the globe that range from bucolic to beguiling, created by design firms like Richard Hutten and Tjep.
RECOMMENDED READING
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Living Future 2011
TBD Chicago, IL
Sheraton Wall Centre, Vancouver, BC
The fourth-annual eco-extravaganza includes exhibits from Chicago’s leading green companies, a tour of a local sustainable icon, food, and various forms of entertainment. gogreenmanagement.com
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Earth Day Chicago Event
APRIL 2011
With the provocative tagline of the “UnConference for Deep Green Professionals,” this year’s event will have an equally intriguing theme: “Our Children’s Cities: Visualizing a Restorative Civilization,” and is sure to be a breeding ground for innovative thought surrounding sustainability. cascadiagbc.org
As co-directors of sustainability for Perkins + Will, one of the world’s leading sustainable-design firms, Kathy Wardle (left), LEED AP, Paula Vaughan (right), AIA, LEED AP, are responsible for steering the firm’s prolific green portfolio, establishing strategic direction, and ensuring that sustainable ideas are an integral part of all of the firm’s projects and practices. Here are the pair’s combined picks for sustainability resources.
books Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis by Jerry Yudelson The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken Busby: Learning Sustainable Design by Peter Busby blogs BuildingGreen.com Ted.com DorisRappMD.com
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up front/memo
India’s Answer to The High Line The project’s premise is ambitious. In fact, if successful, it would trump even the famed High Line, in New York City, in scope and impact. Urban planner and architect Manit Rastogi of India aims to use Delhi’s neglected nullahs (storm drains) system to transform the city, India’s secondlargest urban center. The nullahs restoration project, an initiative by Rastogi’s Morphogenesis Architecture, would turn 350 kilometers of storm drains—now mostly filled with neglected sewage and viewed as a nuisance by citizens— into a network of landscaped paths for pedestrians and cyclists. But in order for this wonderous proposal to reach its full potential, three major steps must occur:
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1/ Alternate Transportation Network. The creation of walking/cycling paths to better connect commuters with public transport. 2/ Alternative Environmental Network. Cleaning the sewage entering the nullahs through the use of a system of organic reedbeds and aerators is a well-established system that is eco-friendly, affordable, and necessary. 3/ Alternative Cultural Network. The new network could be used to trigger a number of new urban activities ranging from tourism to sports, as well as to interconnect the city’s major cultural venues. Some of the nullahs are 700 years old and many archeological sites are situated on the ancient nullah network.
ABOVE: Before-andafter renderings of the proposed restoration of Delhi’s 350 kilometers of neglected storm drains.
By reusing a neglected water-drainage system, this initiative aims to bring about significant sustainable change within the city, enhancing the social, cultural, and transportation networks of the city, while simultaneously weaving in an eco-sustainable system capable of truly improving the quality of life in Delhi.
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up front/memo
Musical Bridge The city of Seoul could soon be biking to a new beat. An entry in 2010’s Seoul Cycle Design Competition, in partnership with the Seoul Design Foundation, takes musical fancy to new heights with its Xylophone Bridge design. The concept, by Yeon Jae Won and Woo Jeong Heo, features a bridge that
interactively plays music and lights up when riders glide over it. The design showcases wooden bars of different lengths and corresponding musical notes amplified by an internal hammer as a bicycle rolls over them. Imagine several of these bridges placed strategically throughout Seoul, gifting the city with a rich new urban rhythm and promoting more eco-friendly transportation simultaneously.
NASA Grows Veggies in Space The future of space travel just got greener, but not because of fuel efficiency. NASA has begun testing greenhouse prototypes for growing vegetables in space, theorizing that long-term missions down the road would require the crew to be able to grow their own food in a space garden or plant nursery in the ship—versus living off the liquid meals currently available. The brainchild of Wisconsin-based Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC), “VEGGIE” systems are lightweight, low-maintenance, and energy-efficient greenhouses, or vegetable-production systems, equipped with LEDs that emit the type of light most useful for plant growth. The prototypes are currently being tested in Arizona before possibly being sent to the International Space Station (ISS) for orbital tests. The technology was already tested at the annual Desert RATS (Research And Technology Studies) in Arizona, were three types of lettuce were grown—and eaten —by the research team. In addition to lettuce, scientists hope that other greens, as well as tomatoes, radishes, peppers, and herbs, can be grown. Studies show that the nutritional value of the lettuce crops is comparable to those grown traditionally here on Earth. NASA is planning on conducting further studies to make sure no pathogens or viruses could potentially be carried up to the ISS. Photo: Orbital Technologies Corporation, Paul Zamprelli.
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Top Solar Projects in U.S. As the world races to replace nonrenewable energy sources with ambitious solar projects, the United States is not far behind. A Fast Company blog recently released a list of “The 8 Most Exciting Solar Projects in the US.” 1/ Solar Energy Generating Systems. Located in California’s Mojave Desert, the Solar Energy Generating Sytems (SEGS) plant is the largest active solar-energy facility in the world. The Luz International-designed solar-thermal plant has an installed capacity of 354 megawatts, features 936,384 parabolic mirrors, and spans more than 1,600 acres. In total, SEGS provides power for 232,500 homes. 2/ Nevada Solar One. The concentrated-solar plant, in Boulder City, Nevada, has a maximum capacity of 75 megawatts, and produces 134 million kilowatt-hours of power each year. 3/ Solana Generating Station. This Gila Bend, Arizona, plant will have a capacity of 280 megawatts—enough to power 70,000 homes— when it is completed in 2013.
4/ Abengoa Mojave Solar Project. Another mammoth Mojave Desert plant, it will be built on more than 1,700 acres of private land northeast of Los Angeles. When completed in 2013, the concentrated-solar plant will produce 250 megawatts of power. 5/ Beacon Solar Energy Project. Construction was approved for this NextEra-built Mojave Desert project in August 2010. This marked the first time that state energy regulators approved a solar-thermal plant in 20 years. 6/ Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. This 392-megawatt system, slated to be built by Brightsource Energy, will consist of three 459-foot solar towers and thousands of parabolic mirrors. The plant, which will be located in the Ivanpah Valley of Southern California, will almost double the amount of commercial solar thermal electricity produced in the United States. 7/ Blythe Solar Power Project. If built, this proposed $6 billion solar-thermal project in Blythe, California, will produce a whopping 1,000 megawatts of power, making it the largest solar plant in the world. 8/ Calico Solar Project. Proposed by Tessera Solar, this San Bernadino Count, Californiabased project could potentially produce 850 megawatts of concentrated-solar power and cover 8,230 acres of public land.
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up front/defined design
Statement Pieces
Art excites. Art informs. Art imagines. Art questions. Art provokes. Here are some examples of both practical and fantastical artistic/architectural creations that make a statement and propose solutions to very real problems impacting our world today. From offering shelter to endangered bat species to offering shelter to flood victims, these projects have a higher calling than just aesthetics.
Scanner Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna Bologna, Italy In his largest book installation to date, Slovakian artist Matej Krén created a spectacular tower of books for the Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMbo). The display, named Scanner, was exhibited at the museum from March to July 2010. More than 36 feet tall and composed of 90,000 books, this intensely narrow yet monumental installation—which forces visitors to enter one by one—dazzles with a sensory vertigo, and is meant to explore the impossibility for humans to reach final, definite goals by presenting a destabilizing spatial experience. No stranger to book stacking, Krén plays with mirrors and illumination to alter reality and challenge our definitions of space and perspective. Scanner was created specifically for MAMbo in collaboration with the Slovakian Centre for Information on Literature.
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artist Matej Krén photography Matteo Monti installation duration March 25, 2010 to July 25, 2010 websites mambo-bologna.org, matejkren.cz
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up front/defined design
Bat Tower Griffis Sculpture Park East Otto, NY Located adjacent to a pond in Griffis Sculpture Park, in East Otto, New York, a towering structure beckons the eye—and hundreds of grateful bats. The brainchild of Joyce Hwang, an architect at the University at Buffalo and principal at Ants on the Prairie, an architecture and research practice, the Bat Tower is a permanent installation that provides a safe haven for endangered bats. The twisted, vertical bat cave stands 12 feet tall and is designed to raise awareness about “white nose syndrome,” a deadly disease affecting bat populations. Hwang, with the help of her architecture students at the University at Buffalo, built the tower out of plywood. Five triangular segments are stacked together and held in place with bolts and cables; each segment consists of finished plywood panels arranged in a ribbed, accordion-like pattern, which allows the bats to crawl up inside. The exterior is covered with dark stained plywood in order to heat up the interior cavity for the bats. Four hundred pieces of plywood were used to create the tight, narrow spaces preferred by the furry, flying creatures. The bat tower was officially dedicated on October 2010. “Since I was a graduate student, I have taken an interest in the constructive relationships between humans and animals, and how we can shape our environment in a beneficial way,” Hwang says. “Bat Tower draws attention to bats by challenging the notion of a bat house being something nondescript that fades into the background.”
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director and lead architect Joyce Hwang consultant Katharina Dittmar structural engineer Mark Bajorek completion date June 2010 photography Joyce Hwang, Albert Chao website antsoftheprairie.com
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up front/defined design
Airdrop House Concept A compelling and imaginative response to the global threat of flooding, Andrew Maynard Architects’ Airdrop House concept functions as an emergency shelter for regions ravaged by floods. The Airdrop House—spherical, sponge-like housing kits—are literally dropped from standard military aircraft into flooded areas, and as the kits hit the water, they begin to soak up water and grow into food-producing, self-sustaining temporary structures. Once the houses are set, they begin to take root into the ground and can expand up to 23 feet in diameter—as they dry the spongy material hardens. Seeds embedded in the foam polymer begin to bud once they hit the silt-rich flood waters, eventually providing shade for the home and a source of food production. Although the shelters are envisioned as a temporary refuge, the homes can be covered in local materials and reinforced to improve their durability. If left untouched, the house will slowly decay until it completely breaks down to become a fertile crop bed. Although largely fanciful, the Airdrop House concept holds seeds of promise and is an ambitious and large-scale example of solution-based architecture.
architect Andrew Maynard Architects
renderings Andrew Maynard Architects
website maynardarchitects.com
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APRIL 2011
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verbatim
My education taught me to use mathematical processes Jason Phillips on ethnic chic, the future of furniture, and his own lauded line—sleek pieces derived from mathematics and a background in handcrafted elegance
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You’d never guess from Jason Phillips’ accomplishments that he’s only 26. An industrial designer by education, he began his career as vice president and creative director of family-owned furniture maker Phillips Collection. Within a few years, he’d set off on his own with Jason Phillips Design. Today, he’s one of the country’s most lauded furniture designers, with a number of awards under his belt—including one of the industry’s most coveted honors, the 2010 Product Designer of the Year award from the Accessories Resource Team. I grew up in the furniture business. My parents started Phillips Collection, a furniture business, in 1983, the same year I was born, so I spent my childhood traveling the world with them, visiting suppliers in Southeast Asia and Mexico, going to trade shows in Europe. I joined the company when I graduated from the University of Michigan. The Phillips Collection style is ethnic chic, which we called “handtouched contemporary.” We work with artists that don’t have sophisticated manufacturing processes. All of our products look like a hand touched them at some point in the development process. About 50 percent of the products offered are eco-friendly. Green is a focus of every new item, and when we reinvent bestsellers, we try to make them greener. We work with reclaimed woods and fast-growing grasses and vines, and we reconstitute leftover materials to create products. We actually have entire collections for which not a single tree has been cut down. We have a higher-end product, and we eat the higher material cost—we don’t pass it along to customers.
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Jason Phillips
verbatim
Examples of Jason Phillips’ eco-friendly furniture pieces: (Clockwise) Reclaimed chunks wall décor, Bonsai sculptures, and driftwood tables.
About three years ago I launched my own brand, Jason Phillips Design. My education taught me to use mathematical processes to develop sleek products. That’s in contrast to Phillips Collections’ handcrafted feel. In my own brand, I try to marry my own education and sensibility with the Phillips Collections’ sensibility to create products that represent where I think the industry is heading. My river stone planters are a good example of my work. They apply stones from the Ayung River in Bali to a monolithic, geometric concrete planter form. It’s a statement piece. I have been a finalist for the American Society of Furniture Designers’ Pinnacle Award four years in a row, and in 2008, I won Top Accessory for the planters. My greatest achievement to date has been being honored by VERANDA magazine. They saw me at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York and named me one of the top four design talents in the country with their Art of Design award. Right now I spend about 75 percent of my time in my role at the Phillips Collection, but I’ve been groomed to take over the business and marry its brand with mine. I think that will happen within 10 years. I’ve had a lot of success, but I’m trying to keep myself in check. I give back where I can. I work with universities to create good educational programs. I also think a lot of industry organizations welcome a young voice, so I’m very active on boards and committees.
Up Close & Personal What was your first job? It was with Phillips Collection. If you weren’t a designer, what would be your alternate career? An accountant. I like numbers, and I like things to be organized. What inspires you? My true inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. When I sit down to design something I don’t use a planned process; I just let an idea pop into my head. Describe yourself in three words. Unique, hyperactive, and gregarious. What is your hidden talent? I’m a good listener.
—as told to Julie Schaeffer
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verbatim
We spent the first year figuring out what the movement meant Jeff Hiller, president of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, on its origin, the psychology of consumers, and his love of a good conversation
In 2008, we began a hangtag program in which consumers could easily identify retailers and products that exceed our threshold sustainability measures. Currently, we have 11 exemplary members who are looking into utilizing hangtags. During the same year, we began a consumer print-advertising campaign. It was important for us to find a public figure that we could attach to the product, and we knew celebrity endorsers who were actually interested in the subject would work well. We have also launched a certified sustainability-training program where we can train people to teach others to take the message forward. I’m proud to say we have approved over 450 Green Leaders to date. The SFC has since grown to over 400 members, the largest organization of our kind in residential furnishings. These days, we are attracting 10–15 new members every month. We have 200 manufacturers, 100 retailers, 100 interior designers, and 17 raw material companies. We love working with companies who have been hard at work advancing our cause and achieving a higher level of performance. It’s exciting to see everyone get into the conversation. Attracting companies such as Room and Board, Williams-Sonoma, and Century Furniture is a wonderful thing for this group. Anyone can become a member. For membership, we simply require a legitimate plan for improvement in terms of green building and applications. —as told to Tricia Despres
There was a time when the idea of green products out in the marketplace might have been a passing fad. Yet these days, the act of “going green” is a legitimate market trend. Jeff Hiller is a founding board member and current president of the Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC), an organization committed to supporting retailers, manufacturers, and interior designers involved in green furnishings. It was founded in October 2006 in North Carolina. For consumers, a company who is sustainable is not typically a frontend driver when it comes to their purchase decisions. It’s not like a customer walks into a store and says to themselves, “I wonder where the green stuff is?” However, our research shows that when it is brought to the attention, it does turn into a nice and effective tiebreaker for customers. The customer wants to know, “Why should I buy from you compared to your competitor?” It’s important to share the story behind the product. The SFC was organized in the showroom of our founder, Gerry Cooklin, at High Point Furniture Market in October 2006. He started organizing small meetings, and it eventually blossomed into the founding meeting of SFC with some 43 members present, everyone from manufacturers to designers. It was at that meeting that we knew we had the mass to go ahead and look into forming a nonprofit organization.
Up Close & Personal What inspires you? The illegal logging issue is near and dear to my heart. I work closely with the FSC on the subject and how to prevent it. What is your hidden talent? I would have to say graphic design. I previously worked at Leo Burnett in Chicago as a VP/ Account Director in the client-services department. Describe yourself in three words. Energetic, driven, optimistic. Describe the Sustainable Furnishings Council in three words. Forward thinking, embracing, inquisitive. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I see myself doing what I am doing right now, just a lot more of it. I also wouldn’t mind seeing SFC having 25,000 members by then. Worldwide reach, you know?
We spent the first year attempting to figure out what the movement really meant. It was a definitional process. But, it was important to establish some sort of standard because one really didn’t exist. I also spent a lot of that time scurrying back and forth across the country working to pump up the organization in terms of its size.
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APRIL 2011
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verbatim
I want architects involved. You can’t lead if you aren’t out there. Michael Lingerfelt isn’t a saint, but the architect of Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is feeding the hungry, helping heal communities, and bringing Bible stories to life—he’s not far off
Michael Lingerfelt, the new Florida AIA president, has no problem telling you what he thinks. The Architect of Record for Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom doesn’t pull any punches when he discusses his 15 years at Disney, his experience as a safety/disaster assessment professional, or his efforts to get architects, engineers, and building officials trained for emergency duty and active in their communities. He speaks freely about his recent work with Darden, the well-known leader in the casual-dining industry. He is actively campaigning against Florida’s controversial Proposition 4, which if passed, would require voter approval for all new developments. He quotes Albert Schweitzer on Twitter (“Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid”). And—incredibly—he does it all with flair. I believe that you have to leave this place in better shape than when you got here. Just try to be nice to somebody. There is a graphic designer that worked for me at Walt Disney World’s Tomorrowland. He is struggling, and I am trying to send work his way. I was speaking with another friend of mine about a project, and I said, “The guy you need to do this is this graphic designer.” I think the best thing you can do is introduce a friend to another friend of yours in the hope that good things may come out of it. That was my “something” so far today.
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I spent 15 years at Disney indoctrinated into Mickey’s Ten Commandments, and they are a great way to create events and places that people will remember. If you go to a Disney Park, the ride is a component of the overall story. At Saddleback [Church], we were trying to tell the story that you need to have a relationship with the creator of this universe. We tried to create a place where kids could learn without ever reading a word. Our water feature had two layers of [the thermoplastic] Lexan, and under the rock there was a simple evacuation drain, so if you put your foot on the stone it evacuates the water and you can walk across dry land like Moses. What little 5 year old is ever going to forget that story? I like to say that we provided an ounce of treatment and a ton of treat. Architects are problem solvers by their nature. As Richard Farson states in his book, The Power of Design, “Design can transform the world. It can put right what is wrong in our communities. It can address society’s most intractable ills. Properly mobilized, design could make a whopping impact on deep-rooted dilemmas such as the ravages of poverty, the miserable state of the American education system, and the failure of criminal justice. It could do nothing short of move mountains.” Speaking of moving mountains, while I was in California leading the design team for the Disney attraction Expedition: Everest, I was trained in disaster relief. I came back to Florida to build the attraction, and in 2004 the hurricanes came through Central Florida. I found out that the people doing the damaged-building assessments were not building professionals. There wasn’t a program in place in Florida to mobilize trained design professionals who are licensed for the health, safety, and welfare of citizens. So I started training architects, engineers, and building officials. Thirty percent of our architects are either unemployed or underemployed, and we are hurting in Florida. In the absence of something, you create something. That’s my point as next year’s President. I want architects involved. ... People are in desperate need of creative ideas to solve problems, and as architects the values we talk about are collaboration, growth, advocacy, and obviously leadership in our community. You can’t lead if you aren’t out there. Darden has six restaurant brands and they understand that resources are limited and are committed at the very top of the organization to sustainable practices. We started working with Red Lobster and Olive Garden. It took awhile but now Longhorn and Bahama Breeze have stepped up to the plate. Our first LEED restaurant was certified Silver in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Their sustainability goals transcend the buildings themselves. They want to be great community partners, and one example addresses the problem of Americans going without food. In this country, we have 14 billion pounds of food going to the trash and 37 million people including 14 million children going hungry. In 2009, Darden donated 8,758,500 pounds of food to more than 1,000 agencies. Instead of throwing it away, they prepare the food, freeze it, and get those packages out to the local Food Banks. It’s called their Food Donation Connection and we achieved Innovative Design LEED points for the initiative.
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Michael Lingerfelt
verbatim
ABOVE: As the Architect of Record for Disney, Michael Lingerfelt spent 15 years telling stories with his fantastical designs. Captured here, a magical moment at Disney World: a shot of the Animal Kingdom Tree of Life across a lake at sunset.
Up Close & Personal What was your first job? Lifeguard at a Boy Scout camp. If you weren’t a designer, what would be your alternate career? An Air Force pilot. What inspires you? People and how they overcome adversity and accomplish amazing things. What project captures the best of your work? Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, Expedition: Everest. Biggest pet peeve on a project? Political bickering instead of team unity.
I think where we are going with this next economy will be right-brain centered. The outside-the-realm-of-what-has-been-done-before thinking is what is going to create economy in the United States. I live in the Sunshine State, so why can’t we harvest the sunshine and create the next generation of power? Why does it have to be oil? We need to renovate our buildings to accept all that. The United States has a massive amount of natural gas, and we could fuel power plants instead of coal without destroying the land and polluting the air. If you liked the recession you’re going to love the depression. St. Pete Beach is a great example of what happens with this kind of legislation [Proposition 4]. Every comprehensive plan change, whether it be a school, a municipal building, or a new corporate headquarters, went to the ballot. It’s an expensive crapshoot for any company wanting to move to Florida, so the jobs will go to another state. ... Three years after they had it on the ballot, St. Pete Beach voted to take it off. It ended up in the courtroom, and they still can’t get rid of the darn thing. It’s a stimulus package for attorneys and bad for business. But as more and more people are learning what it really is, they are beginning to turn away from it. —as told to Scott Heskes
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discussion board
Sea Green Cruise ships—symbols of both luxury and waste—are charting more sustainable courses, utilizing the newest technology for the next generation of passengers
When Oasis of the Seas debuted in 2008, she was touted not only as the largest cruise ship to ever set sail—loaded with groundbreaking entertainment and amenities—but she also was billed as the greenest. Top deck, the Oasis boasts an array of 21,000 square feet of thin-film solar panels that produces enough energy to light the ship’s Central Park and Royal Promenade areas. LED and fluorescent lights are used in place of halogen and incandescent lighting. And windows reduce heat with special coatings. These are just a handful of strategies and products employed on the 225,000-ton behemoth. The ship’s 5,000-plus passengers and 2,000-person crew are kept comfortable by air-conditioning systems that shut off when passengers leave a room. Carbon dioxide sensors and computerized timers control temperatures in public areas by detecting the number of people gathering in a space at a given time. Blackwater and greywater are treated using the best technology available. Guests themselves are encouraged to separate their garbage to permit more efficient recycling of trash that is sent ashore. With 60 percent of a typical cruise ship’s energy going toward propelling it through the seas, Oasis’ engineers utilized azimuth pod propulsion systems that pull the ship rather than the screw propellers that would push it.
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An Oceanic Oasis. The groundbreaking cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, includes several sustainable design elements—such as generous use of LEDs to light the interiors, special coatings on windows to reduce heat, and 21,000 square feet of thin-film solar panels on the top deck— meant to minimize its carbon footprint, despite its mammoth size. Photos: Royal Caribbean International.
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Oasis of the Seas
The combination of this technology and its placement—the pods are positioned deeper in the water than usual—earns energy savings of more than 10 percent. The hull design itself was extensively tested to reduce drag and was coated with new paint that reduces surface frictions.
Experts Weigh In On whether cruise ships can really be green “We recognize our responsibility to protect the environment in which we operate, and have made great strides to reduce the footprint of cruise vacations. While a significant amount of this is accomplished through our practices, much begins with ship design. From the engines we power to the hulls we sail upon, the design of every aspect of our ships takes into consideration ways to operate more efficiently. We want many generations to come to enjoy the oceans and the beautiful destinations we visit, and therefore it is incumbent upon us today to remain firmly committed to this promise.” —Terry Dale, President & CEO, Cruise Lines International Association
“No, cruise ships really can’t be green. They can do things to reduce their environmental footprint—to be greener, but even the greenest cruise ships pollute our air and water. These ships need to be doing much more to actually reduce their environmental impact and footprint in our oceans and on our shores.” —Marcie Keever, Oceans & Vessels Campaign Director, Friends of the Earth
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While these attempts at being green are genuine, ship architects themselves admit Oasis is a transitional design. Ships of the future will be far better designed, with sustainability in mind at the conceptual level. Creating a truly green cruise ship poses enormous challenges. Architects must meet and even exceed expectations of customers, who have grown accustomed to cruise ships being part hotel, part shopping mall, and part floating amusement park. Last year, nearly 15 million customers cruised on 200 ships. Cruise companies are enormous corporations estimated to employ 350,000 people in North America alone. If a company expends $1.4 billion on an Oasissized ship, it expects a return on its investment. Finally, ship architects and engineers must sort through a tangled web of international regulations that call for different environmental standards depending on which sea a ship sails or at what port it docks. Environmental advocacy groups, as well as the public at large, have put pressure on the industry to reduce its carbon footprint. The cruise industry itself issued a report, Charting a Sustainable Course, in September 2010 to comprehensively address environmental concerns—noting advances as well as future challenges. What would a truly green cruise ship look like? Already maritime architects are studying multiple hull configurations as a way to further reduce drag on the water. Future ships will rely on a combination of biofuels, fuel cells, and solar technologies. They will be able to plug into the power grid of local ports, conceivably relying on more green sources of energy. Juneau, Alaska, for example, allows ships to plug into its grid, which utilizes abundant hydroelectric sources.
discussion board
Ships of the future will be far better designed, with sustainability in mind at the conceptual level. Creating a truly green cruise ship poses enormous challenges.
A new generation of seawater scrubbers will clean engine exhaust of toxic greenhouse gasses. Cruise company Holland America successfully employed the first generation of this new technology on the Zaandam. Smarter purchasing and management will reduce the amount of refuse a ship produces further. Waste oils will be converted into fuels to power the ship. Water purification systems will evolve to the point that no effluence is discharged from a ship. Cruise-ship architects will better understand the capabilities of new technologies to ensure passenger comfort. Materials used in ships won’t be toxic. And when it comes time to scrap a ship, it will be done in such a way that it respects the environment using safety standards that protect the dismantlers and the sea. Cruise ships can benefit from being cities unto themselves because they control almost all the factors guests experience. They benefit from the fact that nearly half of all cruises sail in two areas: the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, creating greater efficiencies. Whether Oasis of the Seas—and her newly christened sister, Allure of the Seas—will be a prelude for green cruise-ship design or the traditional designs will become an era’s massive dinosaurs—extinct by their own inherit inefficiencies—only time will tell. —by Alan Oakes
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launch pad
The Winning Team Workshop8 hit it out of the park on its first design collaboration—creating a LEED certified, net-zero project that won a national competition launched 2010 location Boulder, CO people JV DeSousa Ali Gidfar Ulla Lange Brandy LeMae Joseph Vigil distinction The studio was formed around a competition; though it had no building like that being requested in its portfolio—or a portfolio at all—the firm was chosen as the winner website workshop-8.com
Who: Workshop8 is a collection of design professionals who know that nothing makes a team gel quite like the exhilaration of winning. The architecture, planning, and design team formed in February 2010, and within weeks, its assembled talents sparked the interest of the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso, Texas, which named Workshop8 winner of its national green-design competition. The firm is led by five principals, which includes three licensed architects (JV DeSousa, Ali Gidfar and Joseph Vigil), an interior designer (Ulla Lange), and a designer / business development officer (Brandy LeMae). “A design competition was a new approach for all of us,” LeMae says. “When I found out about the competition in February and brought it to the meeting, everybody said, ‘Let’s do this.’” What: The partners previously ran their own design firms. A dreadful economy for commercial and residential development led the designers to consider partnering to save expenses and create a firm with a broader base of talents to win new work. The competition was the final impetus. The housing authority was selecting an architect for a LEED Platinum senior-housing project. The team knew it had talents to offer the project, but a similar project was not in its portfolio. The design competition was a way for the team to show what it could do and for the team to practice seeing how the partnership might work. “Our architectural interests lean toward contemporary and energyefficient work, so the competition played to our strengths,” LeMae says. “It’s unusual for a housing authority to hold a competition for such a building.” When: Throughout a six-week period, the team poured its collective energy into the design competition, working countless late nights in February and March 2010 in
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a windowless warehouse in Boulder, Colorado. The team created not only a design that met the LEED requirements but was also net-zero energy. The team also conceived the name Workshop8, named for the warehouse where they were working and the eight guiding principles of the firm: artistry, sustainability, collaboration, passion, integrity, exploration, viability, and leadership. The project, a 73-unit senior-housing facility, was funded primarily through the National Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The construction budget is $13.5 million. Where: The Boulder-based design firm has consolidated offices from the windowless warehouse where its first successes were born into a small storefront in Boulder’s up-and-coming 15th Street Design District. The team’s biggest project is in El Paso, but team members have decades of experience working regionally and internationally. Why: Members of Workshop8 call themselves “green geeks” for their commitment to designing environmentally responsible and regionally responsive structures. The partners conduct extensive research on sustainable practices to ensure that all projects conserve energy and are good stewards of natural resources. Though Vigil had multifamily experience, other team members brought new talents to the task of designing the El Paso project. “The partners like to sit around the table and say, ‘None of us could have gotten this job alone,’” LeMae notes. “It took all of us working together collaboratively to get it.” How: Bringing independent businesspeople together to build a new venture is a challenge. “Our inspiration is a quest for artistry and sustainability within every project,” LeMae says, “and it’s what motivates us and glues us together.” —by Laura Williams-Tracy
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Workshop8
launch pad
“A design competition was a new approach for all of us. When I found out about [it] in February and brought it to the meeting, everybody said, ‘Let’s do this.’” —Brandy LeMae, Designer & Business Development Officer
LEFT: The self-proclaimed “green geeks” that comprise the Workshop8 collective. TOP: The Canopy Wall (named for a stand of trees) protects the units from winter winds and hot summer sun and supports the PV and solar-thermal systems. CENTER: Workshop8’s winning entry in El
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Paso, TX. BOTTOM: The Community Building houses communal cooking and dining facilities as well as a residents’ room with a library and a media room. Educational kiosks are located in the public plaza to demonstrate the sustainable features of the site.
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architect TruexCullins interior designers Kim Deetjen, Cecilia Redmond, Casa Bella Design landscape architect H. Keith Wagner Partnership mechanical & electrical engineer Hallam ICS structural engineer Artisan Engineering commissioning Thomas Engineering construction manager Engelberth Construction, Inc. location South Burlington, VT completion 2010
Spanning five decades, the Burlington, Vermont architecture firm of TruexCullins has a history of sustainable design, beginning with the Church Street Marketplace in the 1970s on the eastern shores of Lake Champlain. Considered by Forbes magazine in 2009 as one of the “prettiest” cities in America and by Children’s Health magazine that same year as the “best place in the United States to raise a family,” Burlington also lays claim to the beginnings of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in a renovated gas station in 1978.
Heritage Aviation Hangar In line with Vermont’s strong environmental history, TruexCullins strips an Air National Guard hangar down to the steel and rebuilds a model of sustainability
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As an architecture and interior-design firm, TruexCullins provides expertise in five distinct design studios in the disciplines of education, workplace, home, resort, and interiors. Sustainable design is at the core of the practice. The firm makes a practice of demonstrating the benefits of green design with aesthetically pleasing, high-performance buildings and interiors that illustrate how sustainability enhances lives and the environment. Collaboration is vital, and keeping things down to Earth is a hallmark of the firm’s approach: “We have some great clients,” reflects partner Richard Deane. “And we have a good group of people here to work with them. It’s a collaborative effort to identify the vision of a project and then get from the beginning to the end. We like to have a little fun along the way and enjoy the process and each other.” The convergence of the firm’s collaborative approach, environmental experience, and desire for enjoyment is exemplified by a recent project: the Heritage Aviation Hangar project.
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Heritage Aviation Hangar 1/ The 35-foot-high hangar door flanks the airside entry to the passenger arrival/departure lounge. TruexCullins worked with the door manufacturer and fabricators to detail air‐sealing gaskets at the joints between the movable door panels and the door frame—the main source of air infiltration in hangar facilities. Photo: Jim Westphalen Photography. 2/ First-floor plan of TruexCullins’ design. The existing building was stripped down to the underlying steel. 3/ On the eastern roof, with varieties of sedum in bloom, one can see the back of the photovoltaic array and the wind turbine. Rainwater is collected from both this roof and the higher hangar roof. Photo: Susan Teare Photography. 4/ Artificial light is seldom used during the day at the maintenance hangar. Multiple roofmounted skylights and high windows to the south and east provide the illumination needed for most tasks. Photo: Susan Teare Photography.
client/ The Heritage Aviation campus at the Burlington International Airport was recently expanded to include a renovated aircraft hangar for maintenance operations and a Fixed Based Operation (FBO)— executive aircraft and charter airline facilities as well as aircraft and crew-support facilities. The building was to be stripped to the underlying steel and concrete shell and then outfitted with a new, high-performance exterior envelope, an entirely new HVAC system, electrical and safety systems, and a number of innovative environmental and renewableenergy strategies.
history/ In its previous life, the structure was a helicopter hangar for the Air National Guard. It was originally constructed sometime in the 1950s in South Burlington. “It’s true in many projects that constraints make opportunities,” Deane says of the existing elements the team found. “This was certainly the case on the Heritage Aviation Hangar.” One such challenge was creating an efficient building skin.
inner workings skin/ Making efficiency a challenge, the 35-foot hangar door must be opened in extreme weather conditions. So the insulation rating for the new building skin was one of the original focuses. “We had to find a cost effective way to put a skin on the building that was reasonably efficient,” Deane says. “We focused on standard-grade, industrial, metal panels.” The interior and exterior metal skin has 3-inch rigid insulation and flexible rubber seals, creating a double interlocking joint when the panels are put together. For the interior, a layer of studs and drywall enabled the system to achieve better than an R20 insulation value.
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inner workings 5/ A main structural brace for the building becomes a primary design element within the interior of the arrival/departure lounge. Photo: Jim Westphalen Photography. 6/ Roof-mounted photovoltaic panels have full exposure to the southern sun. A solar-hot-water array also included in the plan provides domestic hot water for the facility. Photo: TruexCullins.
Heritage Aviation Hangar water/ The 72,000-square-foot building functions as both a high-end, commuter airline terminal and a maintenance operation for refueling and restocking the planes. The LEED Silver-certificated project included storm and wastewater-management systems and permeable pavement surfaces. A green roof collects and filters rainwater for plane washing and landscape irrigation.
energy/ A 10-panel solar-thermal system provides domestic hot water, a 120-panel photovoltaic array provides power, and a 100-kilowatt wind turbine generates electricity and heat. “We are...advocates for sustainable design and stewards of our clients’ resources,” Deane says. “We help them to understand how they can best invest in good design and sustainability.”
culture/ Vermont’s culture is a source of inspiration for the firm’s many projects. “People move here for the clean water, clean air, and low crime,” says Partner David Epstein. “There is a strong culture to keep Vermont green, and that belief has permeated local and state politics. ... We have been doing sustainable design here for a long time, and as a consequence, we have a lot of expertise in the building community.” In addition to work in Vermont, TruexCullins has an international portfolio that includes the LEED Silver project for the Anglo American School of Sofia in Bulgaria, where TruexCullins deployed an environmental audit using LEED for Schools criteria. The effort helped solve some major technical issues the school had with storm water and wastewater.
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“We see institutions coming to us wanting to do sustainable design,” Epstein says. “We have been shouting at the wind for some time now, and the wind is starting to change direction.” —by Scott Heskes
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c Robert Benson Photography
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taking shape
Adoba Eco Hotel & Suites James K. Pool’s Holistic Architects bases the design of an entirely new brand of eco-hotels on quantum physics, sacred geometry, and the universal Law of Attraction
architect Holistic Architects client Atmosphere Hospitality Management, LLC targeted locations Denver, Tucson, San Francisco, Portland, Houston, Midland/Odessa, Seattle, Washington, DC construction timeframe 14–16 months prototype square footage 182,400 for 186 suites; 21,000 for common areas expected number of hotels 50+ within 36 months of launch
James K. Pool has been practicing architecture for 30 years, but it was science—specifically, quantum physics— that led him to his most recent endeavor: the design of a cutting-edge eco-hotel called Adoba Eco Hotel & Suites. “I’ve been studying certain aspects of quantum physics for quite a while, specifically the universal Law of Attraction, [which says] that on the subatomic level, like energy attracts like energy,” Pool says. “So why not…in places we occupy, either residential or commercial, use universal laws of energy to our benefit? It may sound like new-age mumbo jumbo, but it’s simply designing a building with an energy that has a like energy frequency of the Earth in order to produce a harmony of energy in the building.” Pool has been practicing this approach, which he calls “holistic architecture,” for years as the principal of James K. Pool Architects. But with the design of Adoba, he felt that it was important to have a new firm dedicated to this vision, so he founded Holistic Architects. So what exactly is a holistic approach? It involves an architect taking a shape, color, or material that exists in nature and applying it to a building. “You end up with a compatibility of energy that produces harmony,” Pool says. “We’ve all felt it: You walk into a home or business, and it really feels good, and you feel like being there, which enhances your well being. Whether it was by accident or intention, that’s the result of attracting like energy frequencies. My purpose is to bring this out to the world and have it not be by accident.”
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1/ The main front rendering of the hotel shows the use of an aluminum barrel roof. Depending on the site, different sidings can be used, such as aluminum, thin concrete panels, or other innovative, sustainable materials.
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Holistic Architects client/ Everything about Adoba, Pool says, stems from energy—and that includes its conception. In late 2009, Atmosphere Hospitality Management approached Pool with the bold idea of creating an entirely new brand of eco-hotels using the latest sustainable philosophies and materials. Pool, in turn, introduced Atmosphere Hospitality Management to holistic architecture. “Just as like energy attracts like energy on the subatomic level, we attracted each other,” Pool says.
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plan/ After exchanging ideas about their respective philosophies, a partnership seemed like a good fit, so Pool developed a series of schematic sketches, which Atmosphere Hospitality Management is using to solicit investors. The goal is for every Adoba hotel to obtain at least LEED Gold or Platinum certification. That will be achieved through a number of holistic and green features.
taking shape
energy/ At the heart of Adoba is Pool’s holistic approach to architecture. “Every building has a heart, which is like a vortex attracting universal energy,” he says. “In the case of Adoba, the vortex is the fountain. From the heart of the structure, you can use the different energies collected there and by the Law of Attraction, you can set up whatever energy, whatever feeling you want in any room in the structure. For example, I want a social energy in the bar and lobby area, so I’m using colors and materials to achieve that. I want a creative energy in the conference rooms, so they use different colors and materials. But the most important energy is the intent you place in these spaces—thought is an energy too.”
mechanical/ Pool is very interested in using Mitsubishi’s variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems, which are water-source, heat-recovery systems that produce simultaneous heating and cooling in precise capacities. They can also provide supplemental hot-water heating. “This is a very energy-efficient HVAC system that will give the client very good energy savings and therefore good LEED advantages,” Pool says.
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2/ The state-of-theart kitchen kiosk, amid healthy furnishings like sustainably manufactured carpets and furniture, offers everything at the guests’ fingertips. 3/ The shape of the hotel is based on a circle. In line with Pool’s ideas concerning energy, this symbolism represents the power to create growth and healing. 4/ The layout of the suites is put together in a way so that it promotes a relaxing and rejuvinating stay.
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taking shape renewable energy/ Roof-mounted solar panels and wind turbines in the back courtyard are expected to produce enough electricity that at times Adoba will sell electricity back to the utility company. water/ Pool believes that water conservation will become a major issue in the near future. Adoba Eco Hotels will thus utilize lowflow plumbing and efficient mechanical systems as well as landscaping that requires little or no irrigation.
Holistic Architects materials/ Exterior finishes will include thin concrete or aluminum for their high amounts of recycled content. Interior finishes will consist of sustainable carpets, furniture, and even bedding. Specific materials will change depending on the location of the hotel. “The idea is for Adoba to go up in many locations,” Pool says, “and we want as many materials as possible to be sourced locally, so the materials we use will depend on what’s available in the area each hotel is being built.”
lighting/ Fluorescent and LED lighting will be combined with structured glass walls for maximum use of daylight. building enclosure/ Pool says that in order to have a long life, today’s structures need to have a well-sealed enclosure to prevent moisture and air penetration. To create a tight envelope, he uses high-performance glass, natural ventilation, and mechanical air exchanging, foam insulation, and climate-specific membrane assemblies.
control systems/ Heating, cooling, and lighting will be controlled by an automated “smart” system designed to maximize efficiency.
management/ Pool admits that even the greenest structure can’t guarantee sustainability without ongoing effort. To that end, Atmosphere Hospitality Management has created a committee to instill a culture of sustainability and social responsibility. “Holistic architecture starts with design but rolls over into management style,” Pool says, “and Atmosphere Hospitality Management is committed to making sure it’s at the forefront of everyone’s mind throughout the day every day.” —by Julie Schaeffer
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5/ Dual all-glass elevators allow for interior and exterior viewing. 6/ A view of the multilevel lobby, showing the structural glass wall and signature waterfall, the focal point of the hotel’s energy. 6
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community
Building Assets on a Budget Weinstein A|U Architects + Urban Designers perfects durable design for community organizations
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community Seattle, WA metro area population 3,407,848 note Seattle’s government has a devoted department, the Department of Neighborhoods, to encourage civic participation building on a hyper-local level news In 2010, Seattle’s City Council decided to make carbon neutrality a major priority; since then, it has hosted a number of events for experts and residents to establish the path toward carbon-neutral status needs Resolution is needed on issues of density surrounding light-rail stations. Some say there is not enough to take advantage of the transit investment; others argue higher densities will result in increased crime
Seattle-based design firm Weinstein A|U Architects + Urban Designers takes the art of community building seriously. Public and community building have made up a large portion of the firm’s work since architect Ed Weinstein established it in 1977. Jeff Boone, an associate with the firm, says that usually at least 25 percent of Weinstein A|U’s work is for various nonprofit organizations, although currently, that amount is closer to half. “Our firm enjoys doing community-based projects, and that lends itself to doing public work and not-for-profit projects. But we also see those opportunities in private projects, as they need to interact with the community and be a community asset,” Boone explains. The firm likes the challenge of getting the maximum out of a limited budget. Weinstein A|U’s first project for the Boys & Girls Club—the Seattle AIA Honor Award-winning EX3 Teen Center—was built for $170 per square foot.
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community PREVIOUS PAGE: The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Patient House provides temporary housing for out-of-town cancer patients and their caregivers. The woodclad, residential units float above the second floor common level that includes a lounge, media room, shared cooking and eating facility, landscaped courtyard, and covered porch. Photo: Michael Burns.
Weinstein A|U Architects + Urban Designers RIGHT: The Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club is the largest club in a public housing project. The facility utilizes durable, cost-effective materials such as pre-cast, insulated concrete panels, and metal siding, with 40% of its materials manufactured within the State of Washington. Photo: Chris Meek, Integrated Design Lab.
“A lot of effort went into studying daylight conditions. Even on a typical, overcast Seattle day, the gyms are brightly lit spaces without any lights on. It’s like being outside without being rained on.” —Jeff Boone, Associate
“Much of the work we do now is to help nonprofits with their capital planning,” Boone says. “It is an interesting challenge as they can now build more for less, but their fundraising capabilities have also been impacted. We strive to provide them with ideas and concepts that give them flexibility as their capital campaigns move forward.” A recent project, which opened in summer 2010, is the PEAK Boys & Girls Club (targeting LEED Silver), a partnership between the Boys & Girls Club and the Mercer Island School District. An important part of the PEAK project, as well as for the firm’s two previously built Boys & Girls Club projects, was keeping operational expenses at a minimum through the incorporation of daylighting; the field house can be operated during the day without turning on any lights. “A lot of effort went into studying daylight conditions. Even on a typical, overcast Seattle day, the gyms are brightly lit spaces without any lights on. It’s like being outside without being rained on,” Boone says. The firm worked with Integrated Design Lab of Seattle for all daylight modeling on the clubs, as well as on all its public projects. Boone admits that crafting the PEAK’s 18,000-square-foot, multipurpose field house adjacent to a single-family residential neighborhood was a challenge. As a solution, the
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firm took advantage of the hillside and sunk the field house into the sloping site. The other part of the center is a three-story club building, which includes childcare, classrooms, a performance studio, a dance floor, and a recording studio. The construction cost was $9.4 million. Another community project, completed in December 2009, is the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) Patient House. The project’s lead architect and another Weintstein A|U associate, Scot Carr, says that the building is motivated by the desire to provide an affordable, safe, non-institutional housing option for patients and caregivers while also striving to create spaces that will have a healing influence by reducing stress and facilitating interaction between residents. The 84,000-square-foot building, on track for certification at the LEED Gold level, was largely about how to “bring people together in a variety of ways so that interactions can happen according to the desires of the residents in a casual manner,” he notes. The second-floor common spaces are organized around an exterior landscaped courtyard, and building features include 80 individual studio suites (each 400 square feet); green roofs that cover 65 percent of the site and are used as aesthetic amenities and storm-water detention elements; energy-efficient building
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systems with heat recovery and a high-performance thermal envelope that meet Architecture 2030 Challenge requirements.
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“The building is meticulously detailed in order to withstand the tests of time,” Carr says. “Sustainability begins with designing durable buildings that are capable of lasting 75– 100 years.” Weinstein A|U has also helped a local Jewish Community Center with its master planning for a number of years and is currently designing a renovation of the community center. The firm is also extending its community-building skill as far as Hawaii. It is currently developing affordable-housing concepts for the islands, as well as designing a new Waiohuli Community Center for a 17-acre site on Maui. The project is being developed in cooperation with the Hawaiian Homelands community. —by Suchi Rudra
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MADE IN NORTH AMERICA
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community
Conversion Experience Ever evolving, adapting, and growing, workshop/apd’s personal encounters in New Orleans inspire an entirely new design concept
community New Orleans, LA metro area population 1,235,650 note Though in 2006 the city’s population had dropped to 46% of its pre-Katrina total, in 2010 the Greater New Orleans Area had reached 91% of its population before the hurricane news As neighborhoods come back to life, a new study from the National Association of Realtors highlights the “social benefits” of home ownership, claiming that it positively affects crime rates, educational performance, and health needs A recent news article highlighted New Orleans’ lack of eco-minded legal experts; groups are working to increase awareness and provide events that highlight the city’s need of environmentally conscious attorneys to assist in redevelopment
ABOVE: The principals of workshop/apd, Andrew Kotchen and Matthew Berman, designed a new way of building homes after working on a new community within New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward.
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The devastation in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina changed the way homes are being built. Not only are new homes in New Orleans being constructed to withstand natural forces, but new residential construction is also incorporating the latest advancements in energy-efficient infrastructure to reduce the impact on the community. Global Green USA, with Brad Pitt as the jury chair, called for an international sustainable-design competition for a zero-energy-home solution that would welcome residents of the Lower Ninth Ward with new homes that would enable them live better, smarter, and more eco-conscious. Selected from 125 submissions, the winning design was GreeN.O.LA, created by Matt Berman and Andrew Kotchen, principals of New York’s workshop/apd. Advancing the wants and needs of Lower Ninth Ward residents, the solution incorporates the latest green technology into a design that complements the historic neighborhood. The GreeN.O.LA homes are located in the Holy Cross neighborhood, part of the Lower Ninth Ward. Five single-family homes are included in the original plan. Currently, one serves as the historic neighborhood’s visitor
center, two are for sale, and the last two are expected to be completed this year. The plan includes single- and two-story homes, an 18unit apartment building, and a community center. “The community center is a congregation space and amenity for residents who are moving back into the neighborhood,” Berman says. The entire project is expected to receive LEED Platinum certification, including LEED for Homes and LEED-NC for the other buildings. The competition included round-table discussions that allowed for the integration of multiple ideas, and the final phase included a presentation that was open to the public, allowing for a Q&A with the design finalists, the jury selection panel, and residents. Residents, able to utilize their voices, were able to vote after the final presentation. “One of the reasons we won the competition is because we listened to the needs of the residents but then advanced what we heard,” Kotchen says. “Our final design combined the wants of Holy Cross residents and the specifications of the competition into a single, holistic solution.” The award-winning design is expected to
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community
“For us, the efforts in New Orleans opened up a new focus for our practice. The integration of sustainability...includes community outreach and educating others in order to make a difference.” —Andrew Kotchen, Principal
help homeowners save between $1,200 and $2,400 per year on utility costs, and when the apartment complex is completed, lowerincome renters will also be able to enjoy lower energy costs, along with spectacular views of downtown New Orleans and the Mississippi River. GreeN.O.LA single-family residences were designed with rooftop photovoltaic arrays that convert sunlight into electricity and will feed extra power back into the grid. Water cisterns are used for storm-water management, and permeable pavement prevents runoff. Inside, workshop/apd’s design called for spray-foam insulation, paperless drywall, and reclaimed wood for flooring. The sophisticated building science that workshop/apd employs with all its designs became much more community and environmentally centered as they visited New Orleans and experienced the devastation first hand. “For us, the efforts in New Orleans opened up a new focus for our practice,” Kotchen says. “The integration of sustainability into design includes community outreach and educating others in order to make a difference.” The new focus for workshop/apd is the formation of RightFrame. “The goal of RightFrame is to provide design services that are cost-effective and available to every homeowner. The designs are tailored to reduce the ecological impact construction has on the built environment,” Kotchen explains. Berman’s and Kotchen’s new venture comprises architecture, construction, and building-science experts who are dedicated to changing the “suburban landscape” by reducing a home’s carbon footprint. —by Eugenia M. Orr
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TOP, BOTTOM: Interiors of some of the GreeN.O.LA projects. The sleek, luxurious designs, available to residents of New Orleans’ Holy Cross neighborhood, feature paperless drywall and reclaimedwood flooring. Photos: Kim Bee.
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When you adore your client
Artec joins OCV in building greener affordable housing for the City of New York. www.artecconstruction.com
community
Depends on the Borough OCV Architects’ affordable housing projects are reshaping New York City, responding to the individual needs of each distinct community
community New York City metro area population 19,006,798 note Local Law 86, otherwise known as the green building law, is the piece of legislation that requires municipal buildings to achieve LEED Silver at a minimum, among other requirements news In late 2010, New York City became the first municipality to launch its own brownfield cleanup program; the initiative offers incentives to developers who use the program needs The benefits of plaNYC, the ambitious and lauded long-term plan for a more sustainable New York City, are not equally accessible to all; experts say including everyone, especially the working class, will be the recipe for success
In New York City nowadays, development projects funded with city money are required to be sustainably designed, thanks to the passage of Local Law 86 in 2005. But it was not always so. “In the late 1990s, we hired a staff person who was entirely devoted to researching and getting us up to speed on green architecture,” says Rich Vitto, principal at OCV Architects. “But it was especially difficult back then on public projects to push agencies on green ideas. We’d give them options and they’d generally shoot them down. “At the time, there was a lot of misinformation, and a lack of information, about green architecture,” he continues. “It was tough to filter through and determine what made sense, what the impacts were on construction costs—what it took to follow through
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TOP: The Fox Point housing project is one of New York City’s first supportive-housing buildings to seek LEED Silver. BOTTOM: Rooftop terraces at two levels provide residents with sweeping views of New York City.
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“We want the people living in our buildings to feel a sense of comfort and a certain amount of propriety that they’re motivated to take care of them.” —Rich Vitto, Principal
OCV Architects
with it.” But green design was a concept Vitto and his fellow principals, Jack Coogan and Sara Arnold, intuitively understood to be essential to the future of their firm. And the socially responsible nature of green design meshed well with OCV’s area of expertise: community-minded housing projects. OCV has taken on a variety of developments for affordable housing and supportive housing for special needs (homelessness, addiction recovery, mental health, AIDS) since its founding in 1986—particularly projects in high-density neighborhoods where living spaces are fused with accommodations for support-services staff. “Many of our projects are set up to provide social services as part of living accommodations,” Vitto says, “where the design is a part of a larger community and people can move around and take advantage of the services and programs available.”
50 percent. These sustainable systems were funded by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and private donations. Another project, the Serviam Gardens in Bronx, New York, will recycle, reuse, and redevelop 9 acres of campus at Mount Saint Ursula’s school. The sustainable design plan of the eight-story, 240-unit housing development for low- to middle-income senior citizens includes smaller units, which reduce parking requirements as well as the overall footprint of the development, and the adaptive reuse of a Georgian-style convent. At Fox Point, a 48-unit supportive-housing project for formerly homeless individuals and families, also located in the Bronx, OCV is currently awaiting LEED Silver certification, making it one of the first such projects of its kind. Completed in 2009, it also includes two intensive green roofs and a microturbine that has cut electricity use in half.
But the firm is not just known for its work in the supportive field. It builds sustainability-minded schools, community projects, and affordable and market-rate apartments throughout New York City. Over the course of The 20-person firm now boasts six LEED APs, and Vitto says OCV tries to design to the past five years alone, OCV has completed LEED standards regardless of incentives, more than 1,000 units of low- and middle-inparticularly in regard to HVAC systems. come and supportive housing in four of New “Sometimes we emphasize local materials; York’s five boroughs. sometimes a low-maintenance design is the best approach,” he says. “We want the peoSince nonprofits are generally working with ple living in our buildings to feel a sense of shoestring budgets, finding ways to recomfort and a certain amount of propriety duce energy costs is a natural goal during that they’re motivated to take care of them.” OCV’s design process. At the Kingsbridge Terrace Veterans Residence in the Bronx, a It’s not always that simple, of course. Nonhousing project funded by the Jericho Projprofits and government organizations are ect (an organization devoted to combating perpetually battling funding issues, and homelessness), OCV designed a $14 million, though it’s changing for the better, the de44,000-square-foot, LEED-certified strucvelopers holding the purse strings aren’t alture with 76 units of housing for veterans of ways easily convinced that sustainable or the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Among its energy-efficient designs are worth the upeco-friendly attributes are three green roofs front cost. “We’ve definitely had jobs where (two extensive, non-accessible green-mat we proposed something like a green roof, it coverings and one intensive, accessible garwas eliminated due to costs, and then later den roof and terrace), enhanced daylighton the client tells us, ‘We really should have ing, and a mechanical system that employs done a green roof,’” Vitto says. “But that’s a micro-turbine to generate electricity and happening less and less.” —by David Hudnall hot water, decreasing electricity usage by
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features 46/ manhattanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mount olympus 52/ feast for the eyes 62/ league of extraordinary activists
PATTERN PLAY. The interior of The Toteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lounge Bar is an intricate arrangement of three-dimensional, faceted wooden paneling, acoustically treated with sound proofing material. The pattern of the paneling is a series of trees with intersecting branches. Turn to p. 61 for a closer peek at this groundbreaking restaurant in Mumbai, India. Photo: Scott Norsworthy. gbdmagazine.com
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Manhattan’s Mount Olympus For a Herculean monument towering 55 stories above New York City’s Bryant Park, global architecture and planning firm Gensler creates a stunning—and wholly sustainably—interior design
story Anne Dullaghan
S
ince their genesis in ancient Greece, the Olympic Games have required athletes to train for decades in order to win a gold medal. The developers, designers, and builders who worked on Bank of America’s One Bryant Park building achieved Gold—and Platinum, an even higher achievement—in little more than five years. These Herculean accomplishments mark the first time in the nation’s history that a high-rise commercial office building has attained the highest LEED rating.
Rising 55 stories above the green expanse of Bryant Park, near the intersection of New York’s Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street, Bank of America’s flagship skyscraper is one of the country’s most environmentally responsible high-rise office buildings and was certified Platinum under the LEED Core & Shell rating. Today, it provides occupants with clean air and natural light, even while it conserves energy and other natural resources. Though a building’s exterior, architectural structure, and operational infrastructure are vital, it’s the Bank of America building’s interiors that really give occupants and visitors a sense of the heart and soul of the place. In April 2003, global architecture firm Gensler began working with Bank of America and its development team to create the project’s initial design criteria. As architects, designers, planners and consultants, Gensler partners with clients on some 3,000 projects every year. With more than 2,000 professionals networked across 33 locations, Gensler acts as trusted advisors, combining localized expertise with global perspective wherever new opportunities arise. “First, we helped the bank and development team with the site acquisition. They chose us due to our expertise around trading-floor design,” explains Rocco Giannetti, a principal at Gensler. “Then the site was assembled to achieve the large, trading-floor space.” The unique size of the building’s footprint allows the bank to operate six major trading floors, ranging in size from 43,000 to 99,000 square feet. “After that initial pre-design work, we competed with another design firm for the interiors work,” Giannetti says. “And we were fortunate enough to be selected due to our longstanding relationship, expertise in financial services, and the good work we did in pre-design.” Gensler designed the bank’s 36-story, 1.7 million-square-foot interior to address continually changing workplace requirements. Its functional and flexible design was driven by a 5-foot grid that allows modular desks, light fixtures, and partitions to be arranged to suit the evolving business demands of the bank’s operations.
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INTERIOR INTRIGUE. Fit for Olympians, the bright and decidely modern interior spaces of the Bank of America’s Tower makes the most out of the surrounding views and natural light to promote employee well being and productivity. From the eco-friendly furnishings to sustainable materials, Gensler exercised a subtle touch to earn the building the highest LEED rating for a highrise commercial structure. All Photos (except bottom): Paul Rivera. Bottom Photo: Nick Merrick of Hedrich Blessing.
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manhattan’s mount olympus
“Many new products were born from this project. Five years ago, not many sustainable products existed in the market. There was a huge opportunity to help companies move the industry forward, and we’re proud to have been a part of it.” —Elizabeth Norman, Senior Associate
“A main focus was on daylight and the view,” says E.J. Lee, a principal and design director. “We specified floor-to-ceiling office fronts that are made of clear glass. The corridors are open spaces to let in light and showcase the city views. We also designed the conference rooms to be functional as well as beautiful. It looks out onto Bryant Park, which has a diverse function—it’s a very simple park, but it seasonally changes, with ice skating or Fashion Week and other events that we wanted to help bring into the bank’s interior space.” Giannetti comments on the visual design of the spaces themselves. “Trading floors are like worlds unto themselves,” he says. “Some of the things the design team did to make that environment unique was to include all the amenities and support that would be needed—from on-floor food service and the beautiful stairs that we designed that connects all of the trading floors to a large, morning meeting room where the trading floor leadership reviews the business for the day.” The team incorporated a number of visual elements, such as a media wall at the far end of the trading floors. And in order to break up the large expanse of ceiling, it added lighting pop-ups. “The low-energy, long-life LED lamps add color and dimension to the ceiling space that complements the Bryant Park sky outside the building,” Giannetti explains. From the start, one of the biggest challenges for Gensler was sourcing green materials for the building’s interiors. “When we began looking at furniture and materials several years ago, not too many people knew about green design—the materials weren’t readily available like they are today,” Lee says. “We worked closely with many different manufacturers to educate them about GreenGuard certification. At first, I was expecting this to be a mundane project that wasn’t going to be as aesthetic as we would have wanted. Surprisingly, it turned into a ‘wow!’ project that was green as well.” Even more exciting was the ability for Gensler to help shape a then-fledgling green design industry, adds Elizabeth Norman, a senior associate with Gensler. “Many new products were born from this project. Five years ago, not many sustainable products existed in the market. We were able to help our manufacturers and suppliers rethink or make adjustments to fit LEED requirements, as well as to incorporate flexibility and universality into the products. There was a huge opportunity to help companies move the industry forward, and we’re proud to have been a part of it.” Gensler’s LEED Gold-certified Bank of America workplace interiors are fit for Olympians— bright and contemporary, with exceptional air and light quality to promote employee health and productivity. “The building team—the Durst Organization and Cook + Fox Architects—faced the greater challenge and succeeded in that they had less time than we did to plan and design the project,” Giannetti notes. “Construction needed to move ahead of the interiors, so they were always a full design phase ahead of us. Throughout the project, it was all about the details. Which means nothing jumps out at you and says, ‘I’m green, or I’m LEED.’ The sophisticated systems, the engineering, the sensitivity to the materials selection, the furniture…all of those details added up to the collective LEED Platinum and LEED Gold certification we all achieved.” So what makes this project different from other sustainably built skyscrapers around the world? “It really smashed any doubt that such an environmentally sustainable metropolitan building could come to life,” Giannetti says. “If you’re skeptical and you think it’s too cost prohibitive, just take a look at One Bryant Park and the Bank of America workspace. It proves how achievable the vision is, and it showcases the true commitment of the team. From writing the design criteria and programming to having people trading on the floor five-and-half years later is an amazing accomplishment.” gb&d
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ENTIRE GENSLER BANK OF AMERICA TEAM. CARNEGIE IS PROUD TO HAVE COLLABORATED APRIL 2011
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WITH YOU AND HELPED CONTRIBUTE TO THE SUBSTANTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACHIEVEMENTS AT ONE BRYANT PARK.
Whether taking a demure approach or a wildly imaginative one, pioneering restaurants across the globeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the visionary architecture firms behind their designsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; are serving up sustainability in the form of cutting-edge ideas that whet the appetite for healthier menus and more eco-conscious environments story Suchi Rudra
Feast for the Eyes
The 33-foot-high Yellow Treehouse Restaurant in New Zealand blends in organically with its redwood forest surroundings during the day, but emits an alluring glow at night to beckon guests. Photos: Lucy Gauntlett. 52
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As the hunger for all things Earth-friendly continues to grow across the world stage, bold and visionary restaurants are responding by thinking beyond their menus to the entire dining environment and experience. These days, the hottest restaurants are those that are finding ways to bring together cutting-edge sustainable design and pioneering practices to the dinner table—and in some cases, the customers are none the wiser. Waugh Thistleton Architects’ Waterhouse Restaurant, for example, left London’s newspaper critics astounded by the restaurant’s simplicity, which pushed its groundbreaking green design into the background. On the other end of the sustainability spectrum, however, exist fantastical upscale eateries such as Serie Architects’ The Tote, in Mumbai, an experience akin to walking into an IMAX film about rain trees.
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But it seems that bringing diners closer to nature is the essence behind the diversity of green design in restaurants, helping gently nudge diners toward a more sustainable and conscientious consumer experience, whether it’s high up in Pacific Environments Architects’ Yellow Treehouse Restaurant that overlooks the New Zealand landscape, or out on the waters of the Pacific aboard the School of Fish Foundation’s Plastic Dining Room. Chefs and architects continue to goad each other to achieve a more perfect sustainable dining experience, and the resulting menus are leaving customers with a healthier attitude—and body. Staying close to the source remains key to the issue of sustainability, and rooftop gardens are becoming a highly feasible and popular response to the challenge faced by restaurants in urban areas. Restaurateurs like Helena and Michael Cameron of Chicago’s Uncommon Ground are finding that going hyperlocal has already served to strengthen community ties and has opened the door to an endless wave of innovation in gardening techniques.
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‘Inspired by a cocoon or a hanging clove of garlic’ Yellow Treehouse Restaurant Maybe you had a treehouse when you were a kid, a place to get away from all the grown ups. But nowadays, even the grown ups are taking over the treetops to construct a truly unique and sustainable dining experience. Pacific Environments Architects of Auckland, New Zealand, designed the 474- square-foot, 33-foot-high Yellow Treehouse Restaurant in a redwood forest (usually zoned for rural use) in Warkworth, integrating vertical fins that allow the structure to blend in organically with its surroundings during the day. Glue-laminated timbers give the treehouse its organic form, which is inspired by a cocoon or a hanging clove of garlic, as well as support the internal handrails and facilitate ease of prefab construction, Lead Architect Peter Eising explains.
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In operation from December 2008 through February 2009, this offthe-ground eatery for 25 diners was part of a Yellow Pages Group advertising campaign. Eising says the current owners’ intentions are to reopen the treehouse as a private boutique venue. But Eising and his firm have seen the potential of such a project and have developed the concept to work independently of a tree, “using man-made trunks, where it can be used anywhere. I’ve also developed a concept for studio accommodation in treehouses, again on man-made trunks. These will be very romantic hideaways, a small footprint on the land and a unique experience,” he explains. He adds that the treehouses can even be used as lookout vantage stations in conservation parks, safari parks, or as surf watchtowers.
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a/ Sketches for Yellow Treehouse Restaurant b/ Interior view of dining area c,d/ View of bridge e,f,g/ Construction process
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‘It’s about pushing the boundaries, breaking the red tape’ Waterhouse Restaurant Dining at this elegant London restaurant is a truly inimitable experience. Why? Waterhouse has achieved what no other restaurant has: connecting its heating ventilation system to the adjacent Regent’s Canal that runs through the local Shoreditch neighborhood. As Lead Architect Anthony Thistleton, of Waugh Thistleton Architects explains, the restaurateur had requested an AC system for the space, but the architects were reluctant to add on an element that consumed an enormous amount of electricity. Instead, the firm decided to discharge the heat from the ventilation system into the conveniently located canal. “It’s about pushing the boundaries, breaking the red tape. We didn’t invent anything new, but this hadn’t been done before,” Thistleton says. Another surprising element of Waterhouse is the use of electricity for cooking instead of gas, usually the obvious choice of professional chefs worldwide. Thistleton believes that using electricity “makes you feel much freer, because using gas has sociopolitical implications.” Waterhouse’s chef was able to modify his menu to fit electric-based cooking, cooking in a way that makes electricity more relevant, Thistleton explains. “It’s a mistake to constantly be looking for innovation, when you can tweak what others are creating. What are you going to do now, once you’ve invented the wheel? We don’t need to constantly be trying to invent brand new things, but instead build on older technologies,” Thistleton says. Constructed with the backing of the Shoreditch Trust, a local, community-service organization, both Waterhouse, and another sustainably designed restaurant, Acornhouse, which opened in 2004 and is billed as London’s first truly eco-friendly training restaurant, provide job opportunities for individuals in the community.
Uncommon Ground’s roof boasts the country’s first organic urban farm.
high dining As chefs and restaurateurs across the nation embrace the rooftopgarden concept, foodies can rejoice about meals that couldn’t be more fresh, more nutritious, or more eco-friendly.
Noble Rot: Nurturing ‘Kooky Greens’ One such place is Noble Rot, a restaurant and wine bar in Portland, Oregon, where the garden consists of six steel-raised beds with legs that fit into sleeves on the roof. Owner Leather Storrs says the garden, watered by an aquifer beneath the building, produces “some kooky greens” including komatsuna, ruby streaks mustard, deer tongue lettuce, and purple shiso, which distinguish the restaurant’s food and have become signature items. What Storrs never expected and finds to be a most important dividend of the garden is the “increase in respect and care for vegetables by my cooks. They know two things: it takes a lot of work and time to grow our vegetables, and I will freak out if they ruin our produce.”
Uncommon Ground: Organic Experiment
The seamless view through window of London’s Waterhouse restaurant highlights its connection to the local community.
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As if a rooftop garden wasn’t hyperlocal enough, Uncommon Ground has opened a second location in Chicago that boasts the first certified-organic urban farm in the United States. In its third season, this 650-square-foot farm has yielded 400 pounds of food and honey, according to Co-owner Helena Cameron, inspiring a new menu each week. The farm is certainly an ongoing experiment, and problems are always being resolved, such as using bamboo screens to shield young plants from the intense winds the city is known for and reinforcing the building from the ground up to support the 6 tons of soil (plants are grown in 12 inches of organic soil). But Cameron points to fertility as the biggest challenge, requiring much attention be paid to the various soil deficiencies that can occur in each planter bed. She hopes that the farm will soon become a model for other like-minded businesses, adding that “...business is thriving. Our quality of life has improved immeasurably. We have developed a deeper connection to our community.”
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Proof On Main Proof on Main may be serious about its commitment to being green, but the popular downtown Louisville, Kentucky, eatery likes to play with various colors of light. Designed by Deborah Burke Architects out of New York City and part of Louisville’s 21c Museum Hotel, the restaurant treats guests to a subtle, constant transition of LED lighting, moving through five different ambient colors from 7 a.m., when the restaurant opens for breakfast, through 2 a.m., when the bar finally closes for the night. The idea was to “imitate or approximate the change of light you’d see in nature,” explains Stephen Brockman, a lead architect on the project. The colors transition from an initial bright yellow to sky blue at lunch time, orange at dusk, red at night, then lavender. “It’s very subtle, and the hope is that you’d never understand that the light changes,” Brockman adds. Completed in 2002, Proof on Main is an adaptive reuse of a 19th-century building, and some of the old-growth poplar beams were harvested for use throughout the space. After the milling process, what was old became new, revealing a fresh surface of the highly photosensitive poplar wood, which has already started to deepen and change to a richer, coffee brown from its original pea-green color. “The wood itself is telling us two stories: about being more than 100 years in the building and about adapting to the elements over time when exposed,” Brockman points out. Arising both from the desires of owners Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson and from the ethos of her firm, Deborah Burke says that Proof on Main was essentially about the careful selection and use of materials. “It’s how we think about architecture,” she says, “and it’s been a part of our philosophy for a long time before sustainability was chic or LEED even existed.”
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TOP: The pop-up café in Manhattan aims to brighten up public spaces. Photo: Michael Drury. CENTER, BOTTOM: The ultimate symbol of repurposing, all materials for the Studio East Dining structure were borrowed and returned upon the restaurant’s dismantling. Photos: Luke Hayes.
temporary treats Pop-up eateries are the latest trend in sustainable restaurant design In a shaky economic climate, taking a chance on opening up a new restaurant, sustainable or not, is rather risky—which is why a handful of up-and-coming chefs are playing it safe and breaking onto the food scene with so-called “pop-up” restaurants—eateries that are either very temporary or very mobile (and often very quirky) and usually take advantage of their fleeting status to incorporate elements of sustainable design and practices while making a powerful eco-statement. Below are some examples of mobile, green, edgy eateries on a mission: delivering visual drama in a green package—and good food, too.
Lobster Box Although this pop-up restaurant hails from Montréal, the Lobster Box is quite the jet-setter, recently returning home from popping-up all over Europe. Hiding within a recycled shipping container by night and unfolding in 15 minutes to seat up to 42 customers, Lobster Box serves up pizza from a wood-burning pizza oven, boasts a floor made entirely of recycled tires, and uses two solar panels to create up to 40 percent of the eatery’s energy.
Pop-Up Café Taking a step to alleviate the problem of crowded sidewalks, a new pop-up café in Manhattan—sponsored by the adjacent Bombay restaurant and Fika coffee shop and in cooperation with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYDOT)—also offers a way to brighten up public space. The café’s 14 tables and 50 chairs are spread out over four parking spaces, and will shut down later this year, but the NYDOT hopes that this temporary café’s success will inspire more pop-up eateries to open elsewhere in the city to further improve public spaces.
Studio East Dining London-based architecture studio Carmody Groarke has found a way to make the pop-up restaurant even less costly. Studio East Dining, which was dismantled after just three weeks of operation—as planned—was put together on the rooftop of the Westfield Stratford City building while it underwent construction. Conveniently, all materials for the structure of the 8,611-square-foot restaurant were only borrowed—scaffolding poles and boards and reclaimed timber for the walls and floors—and are to be returned to the site for waste-free recycling. The eatery, boasting panoramic city views, was encased in a semi-translucent membrane made of 100-percent recycled, industrialgrade, heat-retractable polyethylene, which allowed the building to glow at night.
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The Plastic Dining Room floats amidst the harbor’s boats with intimate views of Vancouver’s downtown. The 1,675 plastic bottles that comprise the raft are all placed in a row to raise awareness of sustainable seafood among young chefs.
‘You can’t get much closer [to the source] than dining on the ocean’ Plastic Dining Room This is not your ordinary cruise-ship dinner. Seated aboard School of Fish Foundation’s (SFF) Plastic Dining Room in Vancouver, British Columbia, you’ll still be treated to a luxurious meal, including fine china, biodynamic wines, and a gourmet four-course menu by Chef Robert Clark of Seattle’s well-known C Restaurant. But if you take a look down, you’ll see that you are on a raft created of 1,675 two-liter plastic bottles. The SFF was established in Vancouver by Clark and Shannon Ronalds to promote awareness of sustainable seafood among young chefs. “This idea’s time has come because we’re at a point of either getting it right or getting it wrong,” Shannon says. “With over 70 percent of seafood being consumed in food service (restaurants, hotels, etc.) in North America, we realized that with the commitment of tomorrow’s leading chefs, their decisions can translate into making sustainable seafood available to the masses. If one chef will create over a million seafood dishes in his or her career, it is better to target this one chef
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as opposed to the one million individuals.” She notes the factors that must be considered when working with sustainable seafood: over-fishing, unintended by-catch, harvesting methods, and spawning cycles. “It was important to bring them as close to the source as possible, and you can’t get much closer than dining on the ocean,” she points out. In keeping with its sustainability mission, this raft’s flooring and framing were created from reclaimed pine from the Pine Beetle-damaged forests from northern British Columbia. In addition, the bottled water sponsor, Vivreau, uses filtered city water and pre-fillable glass bottles, eliminating the need to import heavy glass and water from overseas. SFF is out to encourage culinary schools around the globe to integrate a sustainable seafood course into their curriculum, and all profits from the Plastic Dining Room go to the design and development of this course. SFF hopes to continue docking this educational eatery at other port cities around the world.
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‘Harmonious synergy with the other spaces around it’ The Tote Blending the indoors seamlessly with the outdoors, a magnificent widespread canopy of rain trees—both real and artificially constructed—hangs above those who enter into the 10,000-square-foot restaurant and bar complex of The Tote, in Mumbai, India. Located in a series of formerly disused colonial buildings on the grounds of the Mumbai Race Course, half of the space was completely conserved, while only one wing was rebuilt. The 22 artificial trees, crafted from steel columns, are integral to the design of the multifunctional space (which includes a wine bar, restaurant, pre-function and banquet facilities) and are described by Serie Architects Cofounder Kapil Gupta as “emotive as well as functional as well as structural.” He explains that the trees’ natural shade, combined with the shade from an almost 4-foot overhang of the building’s gable-end roof, dramatically reduces energy consumption. Other green features in the restaurant design include a water-harvesting system, acoustically and therefore thermally insulated walls, and an insulated roof design. An open kitchen on the ground floor of the restaurant allows for a “harmonious synergy with the other spaces around it,” Gupta adds.
a/ Host area of entrance b/ Interior view of dining area c/ Detail of skylight d/ Exploded diagram
Gupta points out that his firm tries to push its clients to find unique spots in the city, “especially in the context of India, especially places like Bombay, where a lot of older, industrial colonial architecture is being razed to the ground to make way for new buildings. These projects become a case in point of thinking about conservation and sustainability not just in terms of resources, but also in terms of cultural conservation.” Serie Architects’ next restaurant project will be the conversion of an old haveli (meaning “private mansion” in Hindi), located in a very historical part of New Delhi, into a second Blue Frog restaurant; the firm completed the first Blue Frog in Mumbai three years ago. gb&d
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League of Extraordinary Activists
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From sandy Dubai to THE sopping united kingdom, designers and architects embrace eco-activism as a powerful medium through which to tackle the grim realities of our world, including the plight of a desert land whose very inhabitability is in peril. Story_Matt Petrusek
Newness_ From a distance, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) largest city appears as if a mirage. The desert metropolis of Dubai—which rises out of a stark, desiccated landscape on the Persian Gulf’s southern coast—boasts images of exotic opulence and modern grandeur: glimmering skyscrapers in gravity-bending shapes, five-star hotels with helipads to welcome guests’ private helicopters, a marina resort that looks like a sea-immersed palm tree from the air, luxurious malls catering to the most discriminating international tastes. In other words, Dubai is a place that invites—if not celebrates—conspicuous consumption.
OPPOSITE_London Fieldworks’ Bruce Gilchrist (top), and Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian of Studied Impact Design in Dubai, UAE. ABOVE, RIGHT_Angela Palmer, the British artist behind Ghost Forest installation (above), and Jo Joelson, also of London Fieldworks.
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But to Americans Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian, the city has become an ideal, if unexpected, hub for a movement called “ecoactivism,” a design philosophy that, broadly understood, seeks to blend art, architecture, and education in order to solve both macro- and micro-environmental challenges. Ferry, a licensed architect, and Monoian, his wife and a professional artist, have been collaborating on eco-art projects in the United States ever since they first met at Carnegie Mellon University five years ago. In one example of their work, the two created a 24-hour, video art museum powered by on-site solar panels on an old industrial parking lot in Pittsburgh. But two years ago, Monoian suddenly landed a job at Zayed University in Dubai, and the pair decided to put their operations, officially called Studied Impact Design, temporarily on hold.
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Much to their surprise, however, their Pittsburgh design practice ended up making the trip with them. Ferry and Monoian quickly realized that Dubai, in addition to being a petroleum-fueled economic powerhouse, was also seeking to establish itself at the global forefront of sustainability. The powers that be (as Ferry waggishly but befittingly calls them) were hungry for fresh and innovative ideas, and the artist-architect duo was happy to oblige—plus the city’s dramatic backdrop proved to be an unanticipated source of inspiration. “When we arrived to Dubai we were inspired by the landscape, the scale of the projects going on here, and the incredible opportunity for green and sustainable design in the region,” recalls Ferry. Studied Impact Design soon resumed operations.
Necessity_ Much of the reason for the city’s interest in sustainability relates to its harsh location and large population. “Part of what we’re inspired to do here is help grapple the situation that the UAE finds itself in,” Ferry says. He points out that the country is one of the highest per capita carbon emitters in the world, rivaling even the United States. The nation’s greatest resource and export—oil—has also become its greatest challenge: petroleum fuels everything from the Land Rovers zipping through the heat-hazed streets, to the electricity that cools high-rise homes, to the desalination plants that provide the parched region with potable water. But that oil also generates a lot of pollution, and it won’t last forever. Area leaders thus know that the region’s prosperity, not to mention inhabitability, will soon be in jeopardy unless they take decisive action.
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1_Lunar Cubit was the 1st place-winning entry to the Land Art Generator Initiative’s (LAGI) 2010 design competition, conceived of and managed by ecoactivist group Studied Impact Design. 2_Studied Impact’s “Forest of Light,” installed at the Ibn Al Haytham Energy Art Pavilion, is created with heliostatic fresnel lenses, and the resulting kinetic abstraction is reflected into a camera obscura room. Power is generated below the floor via concentrated photovoltaics. 3_Renderings of other entries to the LAGI design competition. Top to bottom: Sunflower by Jose Carlos de Silva and Leonardo de Silva, France; Solar Carpet by Hiroyuki Futai, Yuji Nakajima, et al, Japan; and Beach Balls by Tony Leung, China. 4_Almeisan Tower is a renewable-energy educational attraction that incorporates a solar tower to power itself and the surrounding park. Designed by Studied Impact’s Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian, visitors can enjoy the observation restaurant surrounded by ethereal beams of reflected light.
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The people who run the show here know that their time is limited with [petroleum]. They’re not in denial. Robert Ferry_Cofounder_ Studied Impact Design
“The people who run the show here know that their time is limited with [petroleum],” Ferry says. “They’re not in denial.” The pressing question, then, is what can be done about the series of complex and interrelated environmental problems that now dog the UAE. Part of the answer, Ferry and Monoian suggest, is something called “solution-based art,” one of
about environmental issues while also directly contributing to sustainability, by, for example, producing renewable energy. Sponsored by Masdar City, a zero-carbon community being built in Abu Dhabi (see sidebar), the initiative ultimately garnered hundreds of entries from over 40 countries, and the winning team was flown to Abu Dhabi and given a $15,000 check at a special event during the 2011 World Energy Summit in January. The inaugural competition proved so successful that Ferry and Monoian want to make it a biannual event. They’re already eyeing New York City for 2012.
Nexus_ Beyond managing competitions, Ferry and Monoian create and submit their own designs for adjudication and, hopefully one day, implementation. One, called the Almeisan Tower, appears almost otherworldly; it rises above Dubai’s Za’abeel Park like a sleek and luminous 110-meter-tall mushroom. The unique form is designed not only to attract and then educate throngs of curious visitors, but also to enable the tower to perform a concrete, sustainable function: 224 large,
heliostatic, polished mirrors on the structure track the sun’s position and reflect a concentrated beam of light to a central collector where a furnace containing liquid sodium is heated to extremely high temperatures to run a steam turbine. This, in turn, produces enough electricity to power the park itself and the surrounding neighborhoods. Though still in the proposal phase, the project serves as another reminder of solution-based art’s enormous potential. “It’s a new aesthetic for renewable energy and infrastructure beyond [traditional] solar panels,” Ferry says. This new aesthetic also contains another crucial component: people. Ferry and Monoian note that the harmony their designs seek to establish with the surrounding environment includes, indeed emphasizes, social harmony as well, a nexus of art, pragmatism, and their benefactors. “It’s not hyperbole,” Ferry notes, “to say that if you have a place that is designed well, it increases communication and interaction between people [and] contributes to social harmony in that there’s less ostracizing, less creation of the ‘other,’ and more encouragement to sympathize with fellow humans.”
the pillars of eco-activism. Solution-based art’s definition is embed-
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ded in the very core of Studied Impact’s existence. “Our mission,” Ferry explains, “is to create beauty at the same time that we create sustainable solutions. It’s not just educating, but doing.” Both the “educating” and “doing,” moreover, are not merely the product of an artist’s whimsy, but rather of the careful, deliberative study of how each project will affect the surrounding environment, which, in turn, explains the organization’s name: Studied Impact. “Our name comes to root at the heart of our goal,” Ferry says. “Every intervention in the world should have a studied impact in every possible way.” In this spirit, Studied Impact seeks to foster the creation of compelling and functional designs that advance environmentalism. One of their greatest successes on this front has been the Land Art Generator Initiative, an international design competition that Ferry and Monoian conceptualized and managed from start to finish. “Land art,” the pair describes, is the formation of large-scale, attractive pieces of art
that act as a place for individuals to learn
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[London Fieldworks] looks at ways in which creative practice can respond to the context of site to reimagine histories, explore alternate narratives, and examine the potential for this type of expansive practice to act as a catalyst for social transformation. Bruce Gilchrist_Cofounder_London Fieldworks
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Nature_ A few thousand miles west, far-removed from sandy and sumptuous Dubai, two British ecoactivist groups are also exploring the complex relationship between humanity, art, and the environment. Their methods differ from Studied Impact’s, but their goal is the same: protecting and advancing environmental integrity.
a truly new way of life: The vision of Masdar City
One organization, called London Fieldworks, was founded in the late 1990s by Bruce Gilchrist and Jo Joelson and has steadily gained international recognition. “[London Fieldworks] looks at ways in which creative practice can respond to the context of site to reimagine histories, explore alternate narratives, and examine the potential for this type of expansive practice to act as a catalyst for social transformation,” Gilchrist explains. The relationship between art and social transformation also has deep roots in ecology, as evidenced by a recent exhibition called Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven. In this project, Gilchrist and Joelson constructed a series of birdhouses, whose micro-architecture was inspired by the palaces of famous dictators, and attached them to Ailanthus altissima trees, an invasive species also called the tree of heaven that some ecologists fear will eventually kill off native vegetation. The Spontaneous City project was born out of a closely-related project called Super Kingdom, which also involved the installation of hive-looking birdhouse communities on trees. The spirit of the birdhouse project, the group explains in an art-journal article, “[corresponds] with concern about human transit and settlement within the region [and serves] as a metaphor for the transience of nature and culture, the ultimate non-locality of things, and the shifting negotiation between human and non-human that make places what they are.” More than taking a definitive stand on an issue, London Fieldworks’ eco-art invites those passing by to reflect on humanity’s influence on nature and nature’s influence on humanity, while simultaneously serving a legitimate function: providing a protective home for local birds.
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Behind most successful artists stand generous patrons, and eco-art is no exception. But in Studied Impact Design’s case, the benefactor, a UAE-based company called Masdar, has also served as a foundational source of design inspiration. The company is currently constructing a sustainable community in Abu Dhabi called “Masdar City.” Anchored by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Masdar City seeks not only to become a hub for international renewable-energy and environmental-technology research, but also a model for how green thinking can be put to action. “The concept of sustainable living is not only a matter of research but also a practical way of life [here],” states the city’s promotional video. A way of life, indeed—the large-scale planned community will include everything from laboratories and lightmanufacturing facilities to shopping centers, parks, amphitheaters, residences, and even an underground transport system where PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) vehicles will whisk people to and fro while pedestrians stroll along completely car-free thoroughfares above. And the goal, remarkably, is to do all of this without any net carbon production.
1_Seeming to grow from the trunk of an Ailanthus altissima, also known as the tree of heaven, London Fieldworks’ Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven means to raise awareness of local ecological issues, such as the tree species’ invasive nature, while also providing a home for birds. In a quizzical but imaginative twist, the micro-architecture of the birdhouses is based on the palaces of famous dictators.
Masdar also sponsored the Land Art Generator Initiative, hosted by Studied Impact Design, and flew the winner to Abu Dhabi as part of the 2011 World Energy Summit. Studied Impact’s Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian are as motivated as they are grateful for the support. “The most obvious example of sustainable design and development is the ambition of the Masdar City project,” Ferry says.
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Nullity_ In another tree-related project called Ghost Forest, British artist Angela Palmer has sought to awaken the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe to the grim realities of deforestation by assembling a traveling exposition of dinosaur-sized, desiccated tree trunks—the remnants of 10 commercially logged trees from a West African rainforest. Palmer has exhibited this dead “forest” everywhere from Oxford to Trafalgar Square to Copenhagen, Denmark, and it has been seen by tens of thousands of people. “[I wanted to use] the negative space created by the missing trunks as a metaphor for climate change, the absence representing the removal of the world’s ‘lungs’ through continued deforestation [as well as how] deforestation directly affects wildlife, plants, soil through erosion, and of course the livelihoods of indigenous people,” says Palmer in her project statement. The exhibition makes a stunning impact, graphically demonstrating the destruction caused by deforestation on a number of levels. Deforestation may sound like a remote problem in Dubai, just as water scarcity may appear as a less-than-pressing predicament in drizzle-soaked Britain. But eco-activism, for all the different global fronts on which it fights, finally rests on single, vitally important, and deceptively simple premise: we live, after all, in just one world. And whether they are constructing birdhouses, exhibiting colossal stumps, or creating art that in turn creates energy, groups like Studied Impact and London Fieldworks and people like Angela Palmer agree: art-inspired information, education, and public awareness—no matter what the medium and no matter what the desired impact—must ultimately end in action. gb&d
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1_On an expedition to West Africa, to select the trunks that would be used in Angela Palmer’s Ghost Forest installation piece. 2_Ghost Forest being exhibited outside Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen. 3_An appropriately haunting sketch of Palmer’s vision for the project. 4_The installation at the University of Oxford.
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[I wanted to use] the negative space created by the missing trunks as a metaphor for climate change, the absence representing the removal of the world’s ‘lungs’ through continued deforestation.
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Angela Palmer_Creator_ Ghost Forest
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THE BALANCING BARN
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O2 RESTAURANT
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LIFE LESSONS. Designed by Studio Gang Architects at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the South Pond Pavilion, with its striking silhouette inspired by a tortoise shell, functions as an outdoor classroom. Turn to p. 115 for more. Photo: Beth Zacherle. gbdmagazine.com
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/live High-tech houses
walls that do talk With some creative subcontractors in Silicon Valley, Drew Maran Construction builds stunningly beautiful, fully automated, Earth-conscious homes by Russ Klettke
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It comes as no surprise that residences in California’s Silicon Valley are sumptuous, green, and drenched in smart technology. But what might get your attention is how all the pieces and players in homes built by Drew Maran Construction, Inc. function cohesively—like an integrated circuit. “On a current net-zero-energy home, we pulled together people from 13 disciplines to discuss home automation,” says Drew Maran, founder and president of the firm. “We wanted to make sure the house would function efficiently, so things like the air conditioning, window shades, light, and security all speak to each other. For example, when we talked about heat-recovery ventilators, we uncovered efficiencies that could be monitored and controlled by one system.”
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Drew Maran Construction
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“We wanted to make sure the house would function efficiently, so things like the air conditioning, window shades, light, and security all speak to each other.” —Drew Maran, Founder & President
This is all part of building higher-end, single-family homes in a region where sustainability is valued and advanced technological features are expected. It helps that, though not an architect, Maran talks, thinks, and builds like one. About half the firm’s clients come to him first (i.e. he recommends the architect) because they have been building noteworthy, award-winning, eco-friendly homes throughout the Silicon Valley / San Francisco region for 25 years. Until recently, environmental features in homes were not such a priority, so Maran took a unique route. “We operated in stealth-green mode prior to 2005,” says Maran, describing how he would push clients to use non-fiberglass insulation and low- and no-VOC paints and finishes. “Clients said, ‘Okay—if it doesn’t cost me more.’” But now thinking has changed. Maran operates under the idea that a 3-percent increase in costs is the threshold for incorporating green features into a home. From building and sourcing experience, the company knows that sometimes the greener choice is actually less expensive from the start. Of course, certain clients are willing to look at a 10-year (versus five-year) return on their investments with sustainable features, and many also look at energy-efficient building systems as a marketing advantage in resale—“especially now that the market has flattened,” Maran notes. Of course, innovations in green-building products and technologies are continuously improving, providing options that may not have existed six months ago. The
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OPPOSITE PAGE: The living roof on this Santa Cruz home captures rainwater, while the adjoining roof captures sunlight and converts it to electricity. ABOVE: Reclaimed lumber used for the roof structure is partially exposed in the ceiling of the Santa Cruz residence.
seven-employee firm and its stable of nearly 100 subcontractors are tasked with keeping up with what’s new— and how those new things affect everything else. The process often involves an initial planning session with all subcontractors in one room, holistically devising strategies to reduce the building’s energy consumption. “Working together, we figure out how to achieve a LEED certification,” Maran says. “Their feedback brings better ideas.” Maran says there are a handful of green practices and principles that help drive almost every project. Healthier, recycled-product insulation should always be used in lieu of fiberglass. Use of FSC wood is essential. Recyclable materials can always be found—for example, reclaimed redwoods from building teardowns and railroads, or old building studs that are milled to trim doors and cabinets. “It always is nice when a homeowner can say, ‘this feature is a reincarnation of the old house,’” he notes.
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Drew Maran Construction
LEFT: High-fly-ashcontent concrete is used for floors, a structural wall, and the dining room table. BELOW: Recycled barn wood forms the siding material over the rainscreen that minimizes heat gain and maintains the integrity of the wood.
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Building higher-end, single-family homes in a region where sustainability is valued and advanced technological features are expected, it helps that, though not an architect, Maran talks, thinks, and builds like one.
ABOVE, LEFT: Bamboo flooring also forms a seating area in the lightfilled living room of this San Francisco home. ABOVE, RIGHT: Serving as a multi-use, main gathering area, this open space features bamboo flooring, Caesarstone countertops, and FSC-certified wood cabinets.
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Solar-fed, radiant heating systems also are generally less costly to install than forced-air ductwork. And a photovoltaic cost-benefit analysis should always be conducted—between the 25-percent rebate and other tax credits from the California Solar Initiative, the ROI is shortened such that “almost always the client buys into it,” he explains. Finally, an efficient use of water, such as rainwater catchment and greywater-recycling systems, addresses a growing consciousness that California’s water resources are seriously overtaxed. “We are too big a state, with population and agriculture competing for reduced snowmelt,” he mentions. Fortunately, some clients want to go beyond these principles. Scheduled for completion in 2011 is a 6,000-square-foot home in Palo Alto that will exceed the city’s mandatory Green Point Rating certification standards by 40 percent. In addition to about 30 baseline sustainability features, the home will have a radiant
cooling system, incorporating cool-water plastic tubing in the ceilings—a technical challenge that necessitated several disciplines. The home’s heating program relies on air-to-water heat recovery, radiated through the floors. An all-electric Los Gatos home, slated for completion in 2012, is aiming for LEED Platinum. It will capture solar energy with photovoltaics paired with passive features such as surface materials and massing that can hold heat from the day to be used at night. This net-zero-energy home will generate enough electricity to feed all household needs, including charges for an electric car. “It’s a very smart house,” Maran admits. Just like those he builds that use systems that talk to one another—and little surprise in a region that companies like Apple, Google, HP, Intel, and Oracle call home. gb&d
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Skyline Forest Modern
comforts on the coast Carmel Building & Design takes a no-nonsense approach to sustainability as it finds the sweet spot between traditional and modern living
by David Hudnall
“You have to start by talking about the fact that the house is a system that you live in, and that everything relates to each other and affects each other.” Rob Nicely, owner of Carmel Building and Design, is talking about his firm beliefs in the idea of consumer education, particularly as it relates to sustainable projects. “Here in California, a lot of people immediately think of PV panels when they want make their homes green. They think they’ll just do PV and make their own electricity and thus become green,” Nicely continues. “I would say that you should make sure the perimeter of your building isn’t wasting a ton of energy before spending $30,000 for solar panels. And make
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ABOVE: From its path to the main entry, the Skyline Forest Modern boasts a strong geometry within a natural, wooded environment.
sure you have well-constructed floors, walls, ceilings. We encourage doing things in a holistic, smart, strategic way.” It’s an increasingly common sentiment these days—not exactly a backlash to items like solar panels and windmills so much as a back-to-basics approach to efficient building processes. Insulation, tight building envelopes, and framing jobs aren’t the sexiest items on a green home’s portfolio, but they’re often the most important. Nicely says he didn’t possess much experience in sustainable building practices until about five years ago, but in the years since, he has immersed himself in it, taking classes from Build It Green, becoming a Green Points rater (“I use their prescriptive method to create the baseline for my projects,” he notes), and hiring a specialist in environmental science. “I figured out that I needed to get educated, develop capacity, and then develop demand. So I put a lot of effort into finding and developing resources and figuring out how to indoctrinate it into our culture here at the firm,” he says. A project of Carmel Building and Design’s, known as the Skyline Forest Modern, offers an instructive view of the firm’s approach to sustainability. “It’s one where the concept lent itself to taking advantage of sustainable practices, even though that wasn’t the overt intent of the client,”
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Carmel Building & Design
“[Skyline Forest Modern] was one where the concept lent itself to taking advantage of sustainable practices, even though that wasn’t the overt intent of the client.” —Rob Nicely, Owner
The firm occasionally tackles historic work. One recently restored home was built around 1910 in Carmel, where many houses are a part of the historical register. The home was drafty and poorly ventilated—unable to retain heat. Carmel Building and Design installed structurally insulated panels and used spray-foam insulation to make it more airtight and drive down energy use. “We’re just a beach town, really, so these homes tend to be like elaborate cabins,” Nicely says. “People want these houses to look the way they used to look and feel like they used to feel. But they also want comfort. So we try to strike that balance.”
Nicely says. The home, situated on a slope in a wooded area, required close attention to siting. “Because of the slope, we wanted to make sure there weren’t contaminants running down into the ocean,” he says. Inside the house, the building envelope was a combination of BATT insulation and spray-foam insulation. “There were also a lot of finishes indoors that we didn’t paint,” he says. “We’d color-in plaster so you don’t have to put a layer of paint on the wall.” When the home was completed, it surpassed the state’s minimum energy code by 30 percent, and the native plants both reduce water usage and connect the residence to the surrounding vegetation. Advanced framing techniques were also used for the high-performance home.
Remodeling Industry and serves as a board member for the local chamber of commerce. He’s also involved with the Leadership Monterey Peninsula, a nonprofit that offers programs to strengthen stewardship and sustainability in the community.
BELOW: The home’s rear deck, made from sustainably harvested hardwood, extends useable living space.
Nicely is currently working on designing a net-zero, passive home; he says a lot of the ideas he has about sealing a house come from a passive-home mindset. He hopes to do more projects along those lines. “We’re starting to turn the corner,” he says, “to where we can make sustainable work a bigger part of our gross revenue.” gb&d
The 25 employees at Carmel Building and Design provide design, drafting, permitting, project management, and construction for clients predominantly on the Monterrey Peninsula. “It’s a small population, so we do most of the work in the area,” Nicely says. “Our core competency is providing a high-end service. This is a high-dollar area. There are a lot of wealthy people here who want excellent service, and that’s what we’ve set ourselves up to do.” Projects are split roughly 50/50 between new builds and renovations, and though Nicely has a team of carpenters, he also subs out work to a select group of contractors. The company was originally exclusively a general contractor but modified its approach in response to market demands. “Sometimes clients need a small job done, and they don’t want to pay separately for the design and the build,” Nicely explains. “It’s just seen as an extra layer. Over the years, we’ve expanded into proactively seeking design jobs. Nicely also mentions that green features are easier to incorporate for a design-build firm. “I’ve been doing more design lately, mostly to meet the needs of clients who want green features,” he says. “Carmel is still mainly a construction company, but I find myself spending a lot of time in design space these days.” Nicely is also spending time in the community: He is currently president of his local chapter of the National Association for the
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Designed by Jeane Swemba-Kest Photography: Giovanni Photography
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last indefinitely and can be recycled,” he says. That kitchen, Mohr says, also included FSC-certified Zebrawood cabinet veneers, a locally produced glass bar made from 85-percent post-consumer recycled glass, backsplash tile made from 22-percent post-consumer recycled content, LED recessed lighting, no-VOC paint, Energy Star appliances, an energy-efficient induction cooktop, and built-in recycling and composting bins.
Residential kitchens
nutrition facts The top designers at Kitchens by Meyer know their niche, and they say prices are coming down, green options are growing, and consumers are wising up
Those materials aren’t uncommon. Helen Choi, another designer with Kitchens by Meyer, says she’s getting similar requests from clients, and recently designed a Palo Alto kitchen with a number of similar green features. She also recycled much of the existing kitchen, installing the old kitchen cabinets in the homeowner’s garage and reusing the existing kitchen tile as accent tile in the homeowner’s garden. “Sometimes clients ask for green options, and sometimes we suggest them,” Kendall says. “I’d estimate that around 25 percent of our customers now want green kitchens and baths, most often those in the middle-to-higher price ranges.” gb&d
by Julie Schaeffer
Four years ago, homeowners had few options when it came to green kitchens and baths, and those options that did exist were significantly more expensive than traditional options. But that’s changed in the past four years, according to Laurie Kendall, a designer with Kitchens by Meyer. “At first there weren’t a lot of green options, and it was more money to do a green kitchen—about 20 percent more,” Kendall says. “Now there are many choices, and the price has come down.” A big factor in that change is cabinetry, which is a significant part of any kitchen or bath design. “Today, most manufacturers have incorporated the production of green cabinets into their fabricating processes so they don’t have to manufacture them as a special order,” Kendall explains. “As a result, the price has come down, and green cabinetry is becoming more mainstream. Every cabinet company we deal with—including Aristocratic, Columbia, Crystal, Diamond, and Hallmark—has a green option. One of our custom-cabinet manufacturers, Hallmark, ships cabinets wrapped in reusable moving blankets, which are sent back with the truck after the cabinets are unloaded at our job site.” Other green products are also now available for a reasonable price, says Kendall, who designs kitchens and baths with sustainable wood floors (bamboo and lyptus), low-flow plumbing fixtures, low-VOC paints and adhesives, and even green wall insulation. Durability of materials is also important. For example, Kitchens by Meyer Designer Steve Mohr recently used a Zodiaq Quartz countertop in a kitchen. “We think the durability of this product makes it a green choice, as it will
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What makes a cabinet green? Cabinets are a big part of kitchen and bath design, and in order for cabinets to be considered green, they must meet several requirements: / Boxes must be constructed from plywood or particleboard with no added urea formaldehyde. / The hardwood in the door and frame (if applicable) must come from sustainable forests.
OPPOSITE PAGE: This simple and inviting, midcentury, modern open kitchen and dining area, uses energy-efficient lighting to achieve its welcoming feel. Tubular LEDs above the sink are functional, striking display art forms. And clear alder from sustainably managed forests is used for the cabinets.
/ Glues used to bond wood and veneers must have no added formaldehyde. The issue of low-VOC finishes is one of debate. According to Mohr, low-VOC finishes have, in recent tests by three of the firm’s vendors, not worn well over time. As a result, most cabinets the firm uses at this time are still being finished with catalyzed conversion varnish (CCV). “The amount of formaldehyde present in the CCV finish evaporates away 95 percent in 24 hours, 99 percent in 14 days, and close to 100 percent in six months,” says Steve Mohr, Kitchens by Meyer designer. “In this case, durability is more important because you don’t want to be refinishing cabinets in a client’s kitchen five years from now.”
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Photos: Peter Giles
Kitchens by Meyer
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spaces/live Kennebunk Residence
maine character TFH Architects works harmoniously within the Northeast’s architectural history for renovations that transform “drafty homes” into models of sustainable design
by Courtney Boyd Myers
BELOW: A solar array tops the 1790s historic residence in Kennebunk, Maine. TFH Architects specializes in using local materials to naturally restore the region’s homes, some of the oldest in the country.
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T. Scott Teas, the principal and lead designer at TFH Architects, has been intrigued and delighted by nature since he can remember. Combining inspiration from his father, an engineer, and his older sister, an artist, Teas decided to become an architect and founded TFH Architects in Portland, Maine, 38 years ago with a congenial commitment to sustainable design. “Once I started designing buildings, it seemed only natural to be respectful to the natural environment,” Teas says. TFH Architects operates mostly in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts and relies heavily on regional
renewable materials including white pine, oak , maple, granite, and local brick and block, combined with highrecycled-content steel. Educated in an era when modern glass buildings pumped full of air conditioning were in vogue, Teas, who’s always been sensitive to energy consumption, bucked the norm. “It fundamentally seemed irresponsible and wasteful to simply rely on current technology,” he admits. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Teas was way ahead of the game when designing Portland’s Metro Transit facility by harnessing passive-solar energy. South-facing, translucent garage doors and a mechanical system that allows the district to purchase electric energy off of peak usage times and store heat in the Earth resulted in buses that can start up easily without the entire garage needing to be heated. “Now, things are different. Everything we know about reducing the carbon footprint of a building is commonplace,” Teas says. “Sustainability has been a part of our office culture since its inception, so we’ve been poised to embrace the green-building movement and are now seeing more receptivity from our clients.” In 2007, one such client approached TFH Architects, saying, “I am most concerned how we, as a community in Maine, are impacting the natural environment. I am not interested in just discussing it—I want to do
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“What used to be a drafty, uncomfortable, 200-plus-yearold home is now suddenly very comfortable.” —T. Scott Teas, Principal & Lead Designer
something about it.” He asked the firm to analyze all the energy consumption in his home, which was built in the late 18th century in Kennebunk, Maine, and provide recommendations for how to reach a net-zero-carbon level. “In many ways he was the ideal client,” Teas says. “We didn’t have to sell him on anything.” On the exterior, the historic home looks just as it did before. TFH Architects designed a special seal for the high-performance, low-e storm panels made of coated glass that were used in conjunction with the double-hung windows. Photovoltaic panels were installed on the roof of the attached barn and “the ell,” which is the local word for the extension of the house that connects the main house to the barn. The eighty-three 225-watt solar panels offset a projected 60 percent of the electric energy cost used in the home. For heating, TFH proposed two, standing, geothermal wells and revamped the entire mechanical system to include radiant heating under the native pine flooring. “What used to be a drafty, uncomfortable, 200-plus-year-old home is now suddenly very comfortable,” Teas says. The total energy costs are further brought down by an occupancy-based heating-control system. The systems and building modifications were completed in 2009 at a cost of approximately $500,000. TFH Architects is currently developing conventionally financed, affordable, loft-style apartments within five minutes of downtown Portland. The units are simple, clean, and basic; an open space with a cone consisting of a kitchen, toilet, and laundry. It is also working on restoring and creating a contemporary addition to The Waterville Opera House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Teas says one of the most challenging parts of his job is “convincing clients that alternate forms of renewable energy including biomass, wind, PVs, solar, and geothermal are all viable energy sources, and they should be selected not on the basis of how many years its going to take to pay back but about doing the right thing and what will be meaningful for future generations.” gb&d
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Sustainable Architecture + Design Raymond Cox AIA 2370 W. Highway 89A Suite 11, LB 480 Sedona, AZ 86336-5349 Phone 928.649.6009 Fax 928.649.1207
2370 W. Highway 89A | Suite 11, PMB 480 Sedona, Arizona 86336-5349 P: (928) 649-6009 | F: (928) 649-1207 | www.coxdurango.com See our article in the March 2011 issue of Green Building and Design
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spaces/live River’s Side at Washington Square
urban component Mogavero Notestine Associates is creating catalysts for the elusive but cherished “community component” of design through urban infill projects
by David Hudnall BELOW: River’s Side at Washington Square, in West Sacramento, consists of zero-lot-line, three-story, single-family homes, a mixed-use building, and affordable apartments above retail space.
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David Mogavero realized early on in his career that transportation—automobiles, to be specific—presented the biggest hurdle to a more eco-friendly world. “Nearly half of the greenhouse gases in California are transportationrelated,” he says. “So I’ve long approached things from the perspective of, ‘We need to get people driving less, using their cars less.’ And we’ve had a green, sustainable focus at the firm since our inception that reflects that.”
Mogavero founded his architecture firm, Mogavero Notestine Associates, in 1979. Based in Sacramento, California, it offers architecture, urban planning, and development services, and given Mogavero’s outlook on automobiles, it stands to reason that his firm’s primary focus is urban infill—projects that reduce the need for travel and stabilize existing downtowns and neighborhoods. “Urban infill is by far the most important piece of the green equation,” Mogavero says. “A green building out in the middle of nowhere that you have to drive 45 minutes to is an oxymoron. We feel strongly about that.” “Holistic” is a word that gets bandied about rather loosely when discussing green building and design, but it seems an especially appropriate word to describe Mogavero Notestine Associates’ vision. The firm’s design goals transcend individual buildings and building components and rather concern themselves with sustainable communities and integrated building design. “We really focus on the integrated aspects of sustainable design,” Mogavero says. “We’re engaged with things like linoleum versus vinyl flooring, recycled content, and lowVOC products, but we focus on broad, complex integration issues such as daylighting, passive solar, natural
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Mogavero Notestine Associates
“A green building out in the middle of nowhere that you have to drive 45 minutes to is an oxymoron. We feel strongly about that.” —David Mogavero, Founder & Senior Principal
spaces/live three principals—Mike Notestine, Craig Stradley and Mogavero, who work together to set the agenda—the firm works primarily in Northern California and plans to expand south in the future. Much of its recent work has been publicly financed. “There are a lot of funds for affordable housing right now, so that’s been an area that’s opened up for us lately,” Mogavero notes. Mogavero says the firm will continue to seek out projects where its designs can supplement—or in some cases spearhead—smarter, more responsible, more sustainable urban redevelopment. “Architecture is the center of what we do, but it’s always approached in a context of urban planning, and we’ll continue doing planning and consulting for cities and redevelopment agencies,” he says. “It’s important to us that the communities in which we work function in a proper, sustainable way.” gb&d
ventilation and cooling, thermal mass, electrical generation, and other factors that come together and impact the character and geometry of a building.” One infill project is the River’s Side at Washington Square redevelopment in West Sacramento. Set on a previously vacant lot, the 40,000-square-foot mixed-use project includes market-rate and affordable-housing residential units and nearly 2,000 square feet of commercial retail space. It includes a cool roof, natural ventilation, operable windows, and recycled-content insulation. Its goal is to provide a catalyst for community interaction. “The community component is integral to creating sustainable green development,” Mogavero says. “That includes a variety of considerations: how to cultivate interaction, how to enhance the [green] knowledge culture of a business, how to incorporate urban farming, and how to orient front doors and common spaces and outdoor play environments to nurture relationships.” Mogavero has been an active, vocal advocate of wise landuse and urban transit issues, lecturing and writing extensively about eco-friendly urban development. He’s served as president of the Environmental Council of Sacramento, on the board of California’s Planning and Conservation League, and is a strong proponent of high-density transit complemented by pedestrian-oriented design.
Harris & Sloan Consulting Group, Inc. (HSCGI) is a California Corporation specializing in structural engineering for building structures. HSCGI was founded to provide a high level of client service and structural engineering to contractors, developers, and architects throughout the western United States. Founded in 2002, HSCGI’s dedicated staff has completed over 2500 projects consisting of single family custom housing, production housing, affordable and market rate apartments, condominiums, wineries, mixed use, retail, and office projects.
The firms’ development expertise also helps to serve its clients more completely. Mogavero Notestine Associates can consult on financial analysis, feasibility studies, entitlement processes, contractor selection, lawyer selection, loan closings, and marketing—or “soup to nuts,” as Mogavero says. The firm avoids industrial and single-family home designs but is open to any public or private project that accompanies a potential mixed-use development. Currently a 20-person organization with 2295 Gateway Oaks Dr., Ste. 165 • Sacramento, CA 95833 (916) 921-2800 • www.hscgi.com
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spaces/live built on stilts, which reacts well with the natural, sloping, wooded site. Checa designed a 100-square-foot addition, which relied on two concrete piers, used for structural support. The entire project required only minimal construction, thus embracing the ecology of the land. The home features an oversized copper roof with an oversized downspout, the bottom of which acts like a catch basin with a drain that allows water to flow into the gardens. LCA won the 2003 AIA/DC Presidential Citation for Sustainable Design for the Treehouse.
The Treehouse
peruvian roots Lorena Checa Associates works from a fierce love of natural imagery to create residential designs that evoke both that love and nature
Two of her most recent projects are a gut rehab and an addition, both in Arlington, Virginia. For the $1.4 million gut rehab, Lorena started designing in April 2006, and construction is now substantially complete. There were substantial changes, including the relocation and redesign of the main staircase. The existing brick home was “deconstructed” rather than demolished, salvaging most of the building materials for reuse—either for this project or donated to nonprofit centers. LCA implemented a geothermal HVAC in combination with hydronic radiant floors. Extremely energy-efficient Loewen windows and doors were used throughout the house, as well as EcoStar’s polymeric, slate-tile roofing system, made of recycled tires.
by Courtney Boyd Myers
Lorena Checa is a 40-year veteran of Washington, DC, but her heart, mind, and sense of design grew out of her childhood spent in Peru. With summers spent at the family farm in the northern region of Peru, she developed a fierce, respectful love for being outside. Now, as the founder of Lorena Checa Associates (LCA), her 18-year-old architecture firm specializes in whole-house renovation and additions, and each project overflows with references to nature. In 2002, LCA was assigned to renovate a couple’s home located on a beautiful, 10,000-square-foot lot that abuts a forest preserve with a creek running behind the property. Known as the Treehouse, phase one of the $1 million project in McLean, Virginia, a wealthy suburb of Washington, DC, was started in 1992, and construction on the final phase was completed in 1999. “I brought out the best the site had to offer, but in very subtle ways,” Checa says. Having grown up in a climate with very temperate weather, Checa is used to spaces that have a sense of nature entering interior spaces. With the forest of 100-year-old oak trees as inspiration, LCA designed the house to be
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From 2003 to 2006, Lorena Checa Associates worked on a whole-house renovation with a deck addition and screened porch for a family of four in a double townhouse in Washington, DC. The $1.3 million project included a renovation of the entire basement, first floor, second floor, and third floor guest quarters. LCA implemented a solar-thermal system on the roof, which provided most of the hot water in the house, maple and mahogany wood for a custom kitchen, several landscaped rain gardens and Oceanside tile in the master bath, which is made of 100 percent recycled glass. The design team also maximized daylight with large, energy-efficient windows, skylights, and glazed doors. “One of my strengths,” says Checa, who rarely works with interior designers, “is maximizing natural daylight.” She does this with daylighting and some energy-efficient artificial lighting. “I’m a very good lighting designer,” she says, “only because I love a well lit home.” She also designs windows and walls to maximize cross ventilation and uses ceiling fans to augment the natural movement of air.
ABOVE, OPPOSITE: Lorena Checa’s Treehouse. The Virginia home’s style echoes Checa’s Peruvian upbringing and absolute love of nature. It won the AIA/DC Presidential Citation for Sustainable Design in 2003.
Checa’s most recent project, a 1970s contemporary rambler, located in Arlington, was an interior rehabilitation. The project cost less than half a million dollars and was completed in May 2010. LCA used hydronic radiant floors, LED lights, cork flooring, and cabinets made out of dark, chocolate-brown bamboo. And when LCA completes a house, it does everything. “Every last towel bar and ceramic tile is selected by us,” Checa says. “What’s fun for me is educating clients and opening them up to a whole world of design they didn’t know before.” gb&d
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Lorena Checa Associates
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space The Treehouse location McLean, VA square footage 10,000 completion 2002 unique features Very little construction was performed, out of respect for the local ecology; features that were added include a large downspout and catch basin to direct rainwater to the gardens unique fact The architects won the 2003 AIA/DC Presidential Citation for Sustainable Design for the project
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spaces/live Timbercreek House
homes on parade William Peck & Associates partners with the Department of Energy’s “Building America” program to design a net-zero demonstration residence that defies expectations by Joyce Finn
BELOW: The great room of TimberCreek Zero Energy House. Stained concrete floors run throughout the house, ceiling heights help define spaces, and the stone wall in the dining room adds texture and warmth to the room.
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Bill Peck used to be a trim carpenter and construction manager. So when he entered the field as an architect in 1982, he brought this knowledge of details to his designs and field supervision. In addition to his eye for detail, Peck had a vision for green building, but when he first tried to persuade clients to go green 15 years ago, he found that no one cared. But he persisted, and now the people of William Peck & Associates are specialists in sustainable design for residential and commercial clients. Included in the long line of sustainable design projects completed by William Peck & Associates are five LEED
Platinum homes. The firm recently completed its first net-zero home, TimberCreek Zero Energy House. Some of the products and systems for this 2,500-square-foot residence include a 9-kilowatt photovoltaic system, an AAON 3-ton HVAC system with a digital scroll compressor, a 5,000-gallon rainwater-collection system, FSC-certified woods, and low- or no-VOC paints and stains. TimberCreek is also a demonstration home for the Department of Energy’s “Building America” program. Since 2007, William Peck & Associates have teamed up with Greencraft Builders to build four homes for specific clients that are also on display to the public for a month free of charge. “It’s done to help educate the public about sustainable design and to show that an energy-efficient house doesn’t have to look like a geodesic dome,” Peck says. Three of the demonstration homes have their own websites. TimberCreek’s, timbercreekzeroenergyhouse. com, includes videos showing every stage of construction; according to Peck, the website has already recorded 1.2 million hits. Another energy-efficient demonstration home, known as the Colleyville Eco House (colleyvilleecohouse.com) was completed in 2009. The owners of this 4,800-square-foot home wanted to show that it was possible to have a larger
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William Peck & Associates TOP: TimberCreek Zero Energy House’s southfacing roof is angled and sized to provide optimal location for the photovoltaic system. BOTTOM: The outdoor living area’s columns are reclaimed wood formerly used used in oil and gas drilling. The fountain in the lower right sits above the 4,000-gallon, underground, rainwater storage tank.
“[Demonstration homes are] done to help educate the public about sustainable design and to show that an energy-efficient house doesn’t have to look like a geodesic dome.”
for Humanity (10-year board member), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Sustainable Living Council (founding member), and the Trietsch Memorial UMC Building Committee. Within the firm, he and his team complete between 10 and 25 projects—ranging from 900 to 50,000 square feet but 99 percent of which are green, Peck estimates— throughout Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado each year depending on the size of the project and the current economy. When Peck talks about the economy, he says, “One of our saving graces to weather the recession is that we’ve been doing energy-efficient designs for a number of years. About five years ago, people realized we knew how to do it and started coming to us, and that gave us an edge on the competition when the economy turned south.” The good news about the market is that it is finally acknowledging the benefits of energy sustainability, Peck says; soon it will be reflected throughout the whole housing stock. “One of my clients, a realtor, wanted to sell her old house and build an energy-efficient home,” Peck recounts. “She believes that in the not-too-distant future, green homes will become the standard, and ‘leaky’ homes will become harder and harder to sell.” gb&d
Millwork Visions, LLC
—Bill Peck, Owner & Founder
home and still be energy efficient. This property has, among other sustainable features, 51-percent fly-ash replacement in the poured concrete; a geothermal, ground-source heat pump with an energy-efficiency rating of 28; a pool that is used as an additional HVAC cooling source; recycled-glass countertops; and reclaimed flooring. To ensure that planned-for efficiency becomes a reality, William Peck & Associates partners with a third party, Building Science Corporation of Westford, Massachusetts, to monitor the efficiencies of each property for a year after the homeowner moves in.
Terry K Cargill
5705 Hart Street
cell: 214.543.3780 off: 817.932.1034 tcargill@millworkvisions.com
Ft. Worth, TX 76112 fax: 817.887.5579 www.millworkvisions.com
Milwork Visions reflects the convergence of 30 years of classic millwork artisanship and current computer technology for both drawing and cutting. Your vision comes to live in 3D drawings during the planning phases Detailed planning makes your cabinets completely custom CNC technology compresses the labor involved to keep costs down Our skilled artisan craftsmen take pride in your products
Peck’s belief in sustainability continues into his community involvement. He is active in the local architectural and design community with appointments to or involvement with the Denton County Senior Housing Task Force, the Old Town Preservation Society (president), Habitat
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CARB compliant eliminating products that contain urea formaldehyde or VOC’s
With our Wood Dove Green Cabinet line, we strive to respect our environment, to save precious natural resources, and to use renewable resources to construct the cabinetry and millwork that goes into your home.
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Existing homes
strategies for the south bay and beyond Young and Borlik Architects works to foster a positive evolution of the country’s built environment through San Francisco’s existing homes
by Kelsey Higginbotham ABOVE: A historic Palo Alto remodel, an extensive renovation to the existing 80-year-old home, which included adding a full basement below the structure. It was Green Point Rated and commended for its historic-preservation efforts inside and out.
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“Design is a careful balance between many goals and priorities...function, lifestyle, budget, aesthetics, zoning and city approval requirements, building code standards, consultant recommendations, neighborhood context, solar orientation, site sensitivity, resource and energy efficiency, and many more.” Dan Rhoads, a senior project manager at Young and Borlik Architects, Inc., is illustrating design’s complexity, adding that “a careful balance of all these considerations” is what brings success.
The architects at Young and Borlik put their beliefs in green building and design into practice as they serve the San Francisco Bay Area, with an emphasis on the peninsula and the South Bay. The majority of their projects are remodels of existing homes in established neighborhoods. “That establishes some limits on the overall approach, such as things like site design, solar orientation, and neighborhood context,” Rhoads explains. Yet the greening of existing homes is a big player in a transformation of the country’s built environment. Whether 25 or 50 years old and with varying degrees of performance, making these homes more efficient and better performing is an important task and a thriving business. Remodeling has less of an impact on resource usage, compared to tearing down and starting from scratch. “This point of view is not universal, and opinions vary as to the correct cost/benefit balance,” Rhoads says. “With the state of property values currently, people are more conservative with investing in their homes, so remodeling could become more prevalent than building new homes going forward.
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“Strategic remodeling may be the best place to have the biggest impact on our built environment for our planet,” he continues. “The construction and development industry represents such a large part of the world energy use that there are many ways to make improvements and make and a positive impact.” The firm has employed photovoltaic systems for several projects, including on the home of one of its principals, Steve Borlik. “Results are easily seen in the clients’ reduced electricity bills,” Rhoads says of this achievable strategy. The firm also utilizes specialty installers and engineers to design and integrate its sustainable systems. “When working up the best sustainable solution for each project, orientation, shading, and aesthetics are the most important considerations,” he adds.
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The firm has seven certified Green Building Professionals on hand to guide each project through the necessary steps to achieving the most successful result. The firm is a member of Build It Green, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote healthy, durable, energy- and resource-efficient buildings in California. Rhoads says the firm became a member of the organization because the word “green” was becoming overused. Untested or dishonest claims were hurting the industry and its practitioners. “Lately the word green is getting tossed around a bit loosely,” he says, “with lots of claims by many products and companies that have tended to dilute its effectiveness to describe overall impact on sustainability. “As an independent organization, Build It Green has put together a very sensible measuring stick for evaluating how green a project is,” continues Rhoads, adding that many local jurisdictions have adopted it as part of city ordinances to promote higher-performing construction. “Their point-based checklist covers practices in energy efficiency, indoor air quality, resource and material usage, water efficiency, and community design.” gb&d
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
earth tones The Earth House Estate L채ttenstrasse by Vetsch Architektur in Dietikon, Switzerland, is a true subterranean treat. The earthcovered houses are centered around a small artificial lake with the entrance almost completely hidden and integrated at the side of the settlement. The residential community consists of nine houses of varying sizes. The daytime areas are situated toward the south, and the nighttime areas face north. Tucked in the middle are the bathrooms and connecting stairs to the basement. All the bathrooms are bathed in natural light, courtesy of rooftop windows. Outdoor living spaces flank both the house on either side. While the basement and parking lot are constructed with conventional techniques, the ground floor exemplifies the unique earth-home construction principle of sprayed concrete. The isolation consists of recycled glass, and the water protection is added directly on the sprayed concrete. On top of the isolation is a protective layer with natural earth, which can be used to grow grass or plants on the rooftop. Photos: Vetsch Architektur.
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
multifaceted micro home! Proof that good things come in small packages, Atelier Tekuto’s intriguing Mineral House, in Tokyo, is a study in innovative small-space design. With its faceted façade and sharp angles, the 474-square foot home draws the eye with its quirky exterior. Inside, however, strategic daylighting and an abundance of opaque and transparent surfaces create the illusion of a much larger space. As people move inside the house, or as light enters from changing angles, the facet’s presence appears to change, creating a dynamic ambiance. The building’s form and the overall design scheme was guided by the abstract notions of “mineral” and “reflection,” hence the project’s name. The relationship with the surrounding environment is expressed in the small plaza on the ground floor, which opens up to the street. Photos: Makoto Yoshida.
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/work UFCU Ben White Boulevard Branch
In 1975, before there was Jackson & McElhaney Architects, Robert Jackson founded an architecture firm on his own in Austin, Texas. Thirteen years later, Michael McElhaney joined the team because he appreciated the “focus on good design and common sense environmental construction.” And then, after 16 years of what McElhaney describes as a “rewarding collaboration,” the two formed Jackson & McElhaney Architects in 2004.
cents and sensibility Jackson & McElhaney Architects advocates for smart design and common sense as exemplified by its one-of-a-kind credit-union project in Austin, TX by Zipporah Porton
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BELOW: The southeast façade of the facility shows the pedestrian courtyard near the entry and the 9,000-gallon rainwater cistern that supplies water for irrigating landscaping and flushing toilets.
Averaging about 10 employees, the firm focuses on a diverse range of projects. “We don’t have a special niche,” McElhaney says. “We keep things interesting by working on all types of projects, from homes to banks to spas to transit stations. We believe this diversity is beneficial to our clients as well, since it exposes us to a variety of design challenges, which keeps our talents well exercised.” McElhaney didn’t mention banks as a hypothetical project type. Despite the firm’s diverse portfolio, the University Federal Credit Union’s Ben White Boulevard Branch in Austin, Texas, stands out. The owner’s desire to build green coupled with the firm’s design
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Jackson & McElhaney Architects Top Photos: Casey Dunn Photography. Bottom, Opposite Photos: Thomas McConnell Photography.
name UFCU Ben White Boulevard Branch location Austin, TX size 4,000 square feet completion 2009 features Six drive-through teller lanes, full line of credit-union services, and remote teller stations on the interior for security green features Rainwater-collection system to flush toilets and supply irrigation, precisely commissioned HVAC systems, lowVOC interior finishes, Energy Star reflective roofing, dual-flush toilets, construction-waste recycling, and daylighting
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OPPOSITE PAGE: The credit union project features ample daylighting and fabric sunshades on the curved, east façade; high-performance, low-E glazing; locally quarried-limestone benches; and native landscaping. RIGHT: The east façade utilizes a double layer of sunshades. Downspouts along the drivethrough lane route rainwater to the collection cisterns.
“We keep things interesting by working on all types of projects, from homes to banks to spas to transit stations. We believe this diversity is beneficial to our clients.” —Michael McElhaney, Principal
philosophy of responsible, site-specific architecture and led to the creation of an Austin Energy Green Building 5 Star rating. Completed in 2009, the project utilizes a 25-kilowatt photovoltaic system for electricity generation, a rainwater-collection system to flush toilets and for landscape irrigation, Energy Star reflective roofing, and dimming lights that respond to daylight levels. A high amount of the construction waste was recycled, and the new materials boasted high recycled content and/or were sourced regionally. Throughout the years, Jackson & McElhaney has strived to incorporate such sustainable features in all of its projects. “Our focus on a project’s site and the building’s connection to the site, sun, breezes, etc., sets up the basics for a sustainable building that are paramount to consecutive decisions, which in the end are cumulative and make a successful project,” McElhaney says. Currently, he and one staff member are LEED APs, and more are interested in pursuing the designation. Among the eco-friendly features the firm considers for each project is the positioning of the building for optimal
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sun, breeze, and view orientations. Also, roof overhangs, various window types, and quality insulation are passive energy elements that aid in the designs. High-efficiency HVAC units, tankless water heaters, and lighting controls are often used as well. And perhaps most importantly, future expansion is designed into the plan for a long-term approach. Up next, Jackson & McElhaney has two separate projects in the design phase which will be built on ranchland that is controlled under conservation easements. “These are challenging, yet exciting projects. Since the focus of the land is conservation, the buildings should tread lightly and not try to compete with the natural surroundings,” McElhaney says, explaining that one project will be a residence and the other a conference center. “We feel that our past experience with environmental learning centers built on nature preserves has helped us hone our skills.” gb&d
A MESSAGE FROM AUSTIN ENERGY GREEN BUILDING Only the second project ever to receive a five star commercial rating from Austin Energy Green Building, the University Federal Credit Union (UFCU) Ben White Branch team reduced building energy use by 41percent, recycled 99 percent of the waste generated during construction and reduced indoor potable water use by more than 90 percent. But the branch is not only a high performance building; it has been a catalyst for change in the UFCU corporate culture. The project was so successful that UFCU plans to use green building strategies in all new branches opening in the coming years.
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Issaquah Maple Street Fire Station 72
form, function, and fire For the newest project within its fire-facility niche, TCA Architecture Planning bows first to the needs of the fire-response team, then to those of sustainable design
by Jennifer Hogeland
Some business decisions are a matter of choice. Others are a necessity. More than a decade ago, Seattle-based TCA Architecture Planning was thrust into sustainable design because of the ecological restrictions of a sensitive project site. The architecture firm has since embraced the green movement, becoming a member of the USGBC, requiring staff to become LEED APs, and incorporating sustainable practices into all designs. Although the firm has diverse offerings, it is nationally recognized for its design of fire facilities. An estimated 80 percent of its business derives from this niche. Projects range from fire stations and administrative buildings to training facilities and emergency operation centers.
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ABOVE: Rendering of the Issaquah Maple Street Fire Station 72; set to be completed sometime in 2011, the facility will take advantage of geothermal systems and solar energy. OPPOSITE PAGE: Interior rendering of the station. TCA understands that emergency facilities must be100-percent functional before they can be green.
When the City of Issaquah, Washington, aspired to be at the forefront of sustainable design, it turned to TCA for its Fire Station 73. The facility was in a critical aquifer area of the city. TCA was challenged to design a facility that wouldn’t negatively impact the aquifer while being sensitive to the community. Fire Station 73 became the first LEED-certified fire station in the country, meeting LEED Silver standards. Fast forward nearly 10 years, and TCA is approaching the completion of another fire station in Issaquah—Issaquah Maple Street Fire Station 72. The facility is an 11,300-square-foot, two-story substation and is scheduled for completion mid-2011. “We started the facility with the notion that it is going to be one of the best-performing fire facilities from an energy perspective,” says Brian Harris, AIA, LEEP AP, and principal at TCA. “We looked at load reduction and ways to efficiently design the facility to architecturally support that notion.” The firm explored passive technologies, solar hot water, photovoltaic arrays, natural ventilation, and ground-source heating. It looked for ways to recover and reuse elements to get double or triple the usage out of the building’s systems. Design charettes laid out the world of possibilities before them. Fire Station 72 ended up with ground-source heat pumps with geothermal wells, solar photovoltaics, solar hot
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TCA Architecture Planning
“First and foremost, Station 72 had to be completely operational—the best it can be from a fire-response perspective.” —Brian Harris, Principal
water, and a 10,000-gallon rainwater capture system to be used for irrigation, apparatus washing, and toilet flushing. To minimize energy loss the facility is super insulated—R-75 on the roof, R-30 in the walls, and R-15 underneath the slab. “The notion is if we can minimize the heating and cooling load on the exterior of the building while controlling interior energy demands, we’ll be able to save a significant amount of money over the life span of the building,” Harris explains. TCA designed Fire Station 72 to meet the Architecture 2030 Challenge. Optimizing energy reduction brought design complexities. The firm incorporated exterior shading devices, triple glazed windows were used, cladding system attachments were designed to minimize conductance, and roof pitches were altered to maximize the benefit of the solar array. “First and foremost, Station 72 had to be completely operational—the best it can be from a fire-response perspective,” Harris says, noting that though energy efficiency came in a close second, systems were not to compromise the operational features of the facility. “Because of the energy goals and everything incorporated from an operational perspective, we are going to end up with a high-rating LEED Platinum facility under the USGBC’s LEED v3.” At any given time TCA is working on 10 or more firefacility designs. “We’ve done well over 180 fire facilities,” Harris says. “After a while, we stopped counting because the number has gotten somewhat irrelevant.” The firefacility niche is especially appealing to TCA because it is a diverse building type within itself. Harris suggests it integrates desirable qualities of architecture—institutional-style design, which inherently has a longer life span; the ability to add a residential touch by accommodating the needs of users, who consider the stations their second home; and technical requirements, which are continually changing. “It is a building-type that we felt we could shape as time went on and really make a meaningful impact on what these facilities could become,” Harris says. “We strive to be a driver in this industry. There is a big shift in terms of what goes into the design of fire facilities, and we intend to stay at the forefront of those changes.” gb&d
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CONSULTING ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS
POWER, LIGHTING AND COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN FOR COMMERCIAL, INDUSTRIAL, MULTI-FAMILY, HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATIONAL 10614 Beardslee Blvd, Suite C Bothell, WA 98011 Phone: 425-402-9400 Fax: 425-402-9402 www.CaseEng.com APRIL 2011 99
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Colgate-Palmolive Headquarters
corporate charette To achieve cost-effective solutions with wide corporate appeal, Conant Architects keeps itself people oriented and includes everyone—even clients—in the design process
The corporate solutions require a variety of methods, including adding sustainable materials, reusing furniture and supplies, and choosing energy-efficient systems. The mix of methods and the firm’s relationships with consultants, associations, and resource providers help it develop innovative solutions for clients that meet green goals but also keep costs low.
by Meghan Boyer
For many large companies, the decision to implement green solutions often centers on a single aspect: costs versus savings. This means that encouraging corporations and nonprofit organizations to implement sustainable-design aspects in their workplaces requires creativity, dedication to the cause, and affordable ideas. The challenge is to overcome the misperception that LEED projects must be expensive, says Peter Conant, managing principal of Conant Architects. This is a firm that is known for its ability to deliver sustainable solutions to corporate and nonprofit clients utilizing budget-conscious means. “We look for products and solutions that are cost effective,” Conant says. “We all need to buckle down and develop green solutions that are efficient and effective long term.”
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In its 10 years in business, the company has designed LEED executive offices for many corporations that are also household names, including Citigroup, ColgatePalmolive, and J. Crew. “We bring green initiatives to corporate America. That’s what we aim to do,” says Conant, who explains that the breakdown of the firm’s work is two-thirds corporations, one-third nonprofits. “The not-for-profit projects all are different from each other. There’s quite a variety there.” Case in point, the company recently completed housing for multiply impaired blind individuals.
ABOVE: Lobby views of the new, Conant Architects-designed ColgatePalmolive headquarters. Nearly 500,000 square feet of furniture was refurnished.
For the Colgate-Palmolive headquarters, the firm implemented a furniture program designed to focus on providing refurnished pieces for the office space rather than new ones. The goal was achieved, and now the furniture has a new life instead of ending up in a landfill. Colgate-Palmolive, with nearly 500,000 square feet of old furniture, worked with Davies Remanufacturing to get remanufactured product, Conant says. “As a floor of old furniture becomes available, it is sent to Davies and becomes part of an inventory of product that is remanufactured,” he explains.
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from within a 500-mile radius of the site. Also critical in achieving certification was the use of 92-percent-efficient Energy Star equipment, low-flow water fixtures, and sustainable materials like bamboo, cork flooring, Shaw C2C carpeting, and low-VOC paint. Conant diverted more than 82 percent of demolition materials and reached a 34-percent reduction in lighting-load levels. The firm’s current success can be traced back to an early project, the reworking of a 1980s office building, which was retrofitted for a high-tech operation for T-Mobile. “We were awarded the project just over a year after we had started the firm,” Conant notes. A decade later, it is more equipped than ever for such complex projects—technologically, environmentally, and personally. gb&d
“We bring green initiatives to corporate America. That’s what we aim to do.” —Peter Conant, Managing Principal
The firm has roughly 10–12 active clients at any one time, and roughly 80 percent of clients are repeat customers. Conant and six other architects at the firm are LEED accredited and actively share concepts and ideas on each other’s projects. The firm likewise works collaboratively with its clients, using multiple resources and contacts to create the most-effective solutions. “We’re very people oriented,” Conant says. “We work collaboratively in the studios. Bottom up and top down, we charette together to brainstorm concepts and ideas.” Ensuring staff members are informed and engaged in the architecture and green industries is important to Conant Architects, which pays for both employees’ LEED accreditation exams as well as exams through other programs. The firm also pays for professional organization memberships. “That kind of commitment at a firm level to our professional development is really key,” Conant says. Conant recently used a combination of mechanical upgrades and sustainable materials for two floors of Citigroup’s offices, which are targeting LEED Silver certification. The firm reused materials and sourced them
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spaces/work Yahoo! Corporate Campus
mind meld In Yahoo!, RMW architecture & interiors has found a client that sees eye to eye on sustainability as it undertakes one of the largest corporate campuses in Silicon Valley
by Zipporah Porton
RMW architecture & interiors may have been founded on April Fools’ Day in 1970, but the firm’s award-winning work for high-caliber clients is no joke.
BELOW, OPPOSITE: Site plans for the new Yahoo! campus; 60 percent of the area is devoted to green space. As a corporation, Yahoo! has internal green-building standards.
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RMW began when college buddies Matthew Mills and David Robinson joined forces to start a new company. A few years later, David Williams joined the two—hence the firm’s initials. What began as a small team working out of San Francisco has since grown to a large-scale company with anywhere from 65 to 75 employees operating out of three different California offices: San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento.
Though a self-described California firm, RMW has performed work around the country and internationally, in locations such as Scotland, Germany, and China. “The philosophy of the partners has never been driven by seeking out markets, but rather focusing on solid relationships with clients,” says Russ Nichols, a principal at RMW. “We’re a regional firm, but we’ll work anywhere our clients want us to go.” Such dedication to clients earned the firm the opportunity to design Yahoo! Inc.’s new corporate campus, which didn’t require traveling far. “Yahoo! is the perfect client because internally they have their own green-building policy in practice, giving us an audience that’s driven and interested in collaborating,” Nichols says. The 48-acre site in Sunnyvale, California, is a series of 13 six-story office buildings. Sixty percent of the land will be used for outdoor landscaping and public spaces. Sustainable features include high-performance mechanicals, daylighting, and greywater systems, and the photovoltaic arrays across the roof are made to accommodate anywhere from 7 to 10 percent of the entire campus’ electrical needs. Though Yahoo! mandated green, RMW is devoted to designing every project to LEED standards, with or without
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everyone’s mind,” says Steve Stenton, director of sustainability. “Energy conservation and sustainable practices have always been a natural part of the equation, and the progressive focus has been an evolution that follows the firm philosophy of doing the right thing and following responsible design practices.” The first project that can be considered green was the Fort Mason Cultural Center in San Francisco, designed in 1978. It was an adaptive reuse of a historic maritime building, and RMW introduced wind turbines of various sizes and focused on harvesting sunlight by bringing in photovoltaics. Since then, the firm has increased its focus on sustainability, and according to Stenton, RMW has completed 24–25 projects that are either LEED certified or designed to LEED guidelines. “I think we’ve always been ahead of the curve by having a culture that embraces sustainability,” McClelland says. “This is reflected in the fact that more than half our staff are LEED APs.”
“Yahoo! is the perfect client...giving us an audience that’s driven and interested in collaborating.” —Russ Nichols, Principal
client demands, and with or without certification. “I think part of the reason our clients seek us out is not only because we are sustainable, but because we are believers that design makes a difference in the workplace,” says Principal Bart McClelland. Nichols agrees, but also sees success forming from client relationships. “One thing that makes us successful is our strong history and reputation of credibility with our clients,” he says. “We’ve always collaborated and listened to their strategy, and our clients believe in us.” Despite having recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, RMW has been observant of sustainable practices since its inception. “Sustainability is one of those things the firm always looked at before it was in the forefront of
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Robbin McDonald, a partner with RMW, believes that the location of the company has encouraged its sustainable focus. “We’re fortunate that everyone in California embraces the notion of going green,” she says. “Our clients are receptive of the value and what it means to have not only a green environment, but also to maintain the health and wellness of the building.” Important milestones of the firm include its first LEEDcertified project—the State of California OB-10 in Sacramento (LEED Silver rating and the first major renovated office building to be LEED certified)—and the Marin Health and Wellness Campus, a LEED Gold renovation in an underserved neighborhood that consisted of five clinics and 10 organizations within one campus. Currently, RMW is working on the new 565,000-squarefoot headquarters for Brocade Communications Systems. Aiming for LEED Gold, RMW was recently informed by PG&E that the campus’ data center will receive the largest energy credit ever given out. Sustainable features include drought-resistant landscaping using reclaimed water, rooftop photovoltaics, and waterless urinals. gb&d
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Space exploration. There’s no limit to what you can do. For real people and real work. For businesses on the move. And for true sustainability. Stride takes it further.
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Rose Young and Meg Ryan Young Office Solutions 733 Front Street, Suite C1 • San Francisco, CA 94111 415.399.5300 • www.youngoffice.net 104 APRIL 2011
Take your environment further. allsteelstride.com
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
banking on the barrio Plans for a distinctive, sustainable corporate headquarters for the Banco Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, are in full swing as of press time. The bank headquarters marks industry giant Foster + Partners’ first office development project in the South American country. The building will occupy an entire city block in the neighborhood of Parque Patricios, and is designed to echo its park-side setting with landscaped courtyards and shaded walkways. The scheme occupies the whole site to create an internal campus of “villages,” which are connected by circulation routes and external landscaped patios and are unified by a flowing roof canopy. The plans are part of a wider regeneration initiative in the barrio of Parque Patricios, a formerly light industrial area to the south of the city center. The design, targeting LEED Silver certification, incorporates a number of sustainable features. These include utilizing the exposed thermal mass of concrete soffits with chilled beams for cooling, reducing energy demands through shaded façades, which are oriented according to the path of the sun, and encouraging natural ventilation.
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/play light box
What began as a single-person architecture firm 18 years ago has since expanded to Wayne Troyer Architects, a firm with a staff of six that completes about nine projects per year, projects that move the horizon of architectural possibility forwardâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;projects like Light Box.
mixed media With a new digital-arts center, Wayne Troyer Architects gives the New Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans an ecospace full of opportunities by Zipporah Porton
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Below: Light Box is a digital-arts lab and movie house in New Orleans that offers a user-friendly environment to introduce digital technology to the community while simultaneously providing a dynamic space for media arts.
Light Box is a digital-arts lab and movie house in New Orleans that offers a user-friendly environment to introduce digital technology. The goal is to retrofit the existing building, achieve a net-zero-energy footprint for the residential portion, and make the commercial space as green as possible. In addition to the environmental nature of the project, Light Box also provides the neighborhood of New Marigny with a space full of positive activities and local access to media arts. Light Box will target net-zero energy through natural ventilation and shading devices; a thermal-barrier, rainscreen cladding and high-performing windows; a thermal chimney; photovoltaic panels and a solar-hot-water heater; and low-flow plumbing fixtures.
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Wayne Troyer Architects
In addition to the environmental nature of the project, Light Box also provides the neighborhood of New Marigny with a space full of positive activities and local access to media arts.
Wayne Troyer Architects, which also goes by studioWTA, has always had an interest in the environment. “With every project, it is our goal to incorporate sustainable design elements and take into account the location and orientation of the site and built structure[s],” says Wayne Troyer, who founded the firm and carefully oversees material choices and construction practices.
If sustainability isn’t the client’s main goal, Troyer still believes in not only incorporating environmentally conscious features, but also taking the time to instruct the client along the way. “While we are always interested in pursuing projects that specifically name green building as a priority, it is also the responsibility of the designer to take an active role in educating the client on sensible construction choices and incorporating these elements into any project in which we are involved,” he states. Fortunately, the Sustainability Center in the Lower Ninth Ward’s Holy Cross neighborhood is meant to exude environmental consciousness. The commercial project, currently under construction, will be one of the first in the city to combine techniques from historic deconstruction, historic preservation, and sustainable design. Upon completion in early 2011, the facility, which is aiming for LEED Platinum certification, will serve as a neighborhood community center and teaching tool for sustainable building and living.
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Avegno, Bailey, & Associates, Inc. Avegno, Bailey, & Associates, Inc. Avegno, Bailey, & Associates, Inc. Structural and Civil Consulting Structural and Civil Consulting Structural and Civil Consulting New Construction and Historical Restorations New Construction and Historical Restorations New Construction and Historical Restorations
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Michael R. Bailey, P.E., SECB Michael R. Bailey, P.E., SECB 2916 Robert Street Michael R. Bailey, P.E., SECB 2916 RobertLAStreet New Orleans, 70125 2916 Robert Street New Orleans, LA 70125 Phone: (504) 895-6691 New Orleans, LA 70125 Phone: (504)895-6693 895-6691 Fax: (504) Phone: (504)895-6693 895-6691 Fax: (504) Email: mrbailey1@bellsouth.net Fax: (504) 895-6693 Email: mrbailey1@bellsouth.net Email: mrbailey1@bellsouth.net www.avegnobailey.com
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Unique features include an aggressive landfill-diversion strategy with careful deconstruction of the site’s original 100-year-old-structure; passive survivability
Troyer says it is the innovative design and collaborative relationships that have led studioWTA to such success. “We believe design is a process of integrating building systems and structure to resolve problems while also revealing new and positive experiences to engage the user,” he says. “This approach yields the most dynamic final result, and we have many repeat clients due to their satisfaction with our design, encompassing strategy, and process.” gb&d
OOO
Though environmentally conscious from the start, Hurricane Katrina raised the firm’s awareness. “Eventually, it will be common knowledge to incorporate passive and active green-building elements into a project,” Troyer says. “This is already in the works worldwide, but everything that we can do to further this practice—especially in New Orleans during this period of rebuilding after hurricanes Katrina and Rita—is important.”
techniques that allow for critical life support in the event of a hurricane; a high-efficiency exterior wall that includes R-13 rigid insulation and a vented rain screen; and drought-tolerant landscaping and a naturally irrigated rain garden.
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New Flamingo
an eco-tourist’s dream Smith Dalia Architects lays the groundwork for the responsible redevelopment of a hurricanedamaged portion of Everglades National Park
A year before, SDA designed headquarters for the nonprofit Trees Atlanta, which is dedicated to preserving the future of trees in the Atlanta region. Trees Atlanta just planted its 80,000th tree in Atlanta. The headquarters development garnered LEED Platinum certification despite being completed on a nonprofit budget. The project, the adaptive use of a disused warehouse on an acre of land in a transitioning Atlanta neighborhood, incorporated numerous sustainable features including geothermal heating and air, upgraded insulation, high-efficiency lighting with a focus on daylighting, rainwater used to flush toilets and irrigate landscaping, reflective hardscape, and three different kinds of green roofs. The design for the high-performance building, which doubles as an office and an educational facility, carefully incorporates simple, off-the-shelf technology in a smart way resulting in a low-maintenance facility. Energy consumption is about 30 percent of a typical office building, and the tenants have documented a 70-percent savings on utility bills each year.
by Courtney Boyd Myers
After early work on high-profile restoration projects in New Orleans, principals Tom Dalia and Markham Smith founded Smith Dalia Architects (SDA) in 1987. The firm, which operates mostly in Atlanta and the Southeast, concentrates on local sustainability, keeping historic buildings intact, and transforming deteriorating communities into new developments. “I believe in serving the communities we live in and making them a better place,” Smith says. Smith Dalia’s design process blends the old with the new, seamlessly and sustainably; its practice reflects a career focus of work in regional and national parks and on urban projects. The firm has restored some 75 historic buildings, 50 of which are on the National Register and a substantial number of which, in the past decade, have become LEED certified. In 2009, the National Park Service (NPS) hired Smith Dalia to re-establish a hurricane-damaged area within the Everglades National Park as the “New Flamingo,” an eco-tourism destination with a greater variety of visitor services and sustainable design guidelines in compliance with the Environmental Policy Act. The environmentally diverse and vulnerable Everglades National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recently listed by UNESCO
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as “in danger.” Costs for the master plan and design program are estimated at $77 million. The original, midcentury modern buildings date back to the historic 1950s Mission 66 program in the National Parks. Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma destroyed many of the facilities and damaged the rest. Since then, there has been growing community and NPS incentive to breathe life back into the 600-acre Flamingo. In the new building plans, SDA included a two-story lodge with a restaurant facility and an outdoor swimming pool, a set of cottages for yearround use, and redeveloped campgrounds with eco-tents.
BELOW: A cottage rendering, based on Florida’s architectural vernacular for the Everglades’ Flamingo area, which was badly damaged by a hurricane.
Since 1995, Smith Dalia has restored multiple buildings in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, which dates back to 1896 and was masterplanned by the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted. In 2008, SDA was hired by the Piedmont Park Conservancy to restore and adapt “Greystone,” a 1926 Bathhouse
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Smith Dalia Architects space New Flamingo location Everglades National Park, FL site area 600 acres unique features Sustainable design guidelines in compliance with the EPA and a redeveloped campground area with eco-tents unique fact The original modern buildings date back to the historic 1950s Mission 66 program
“I believe in serving the communities we live in and making them a better place.” —Markham Smith, Cofounder
building (made from granite and comprising 9,000 square feet) that now serves as an aquatic center and was receiving a 5,000-square-foot addition. With a construction value of $6 million, the restored Greystone’s runaway success as a popular community asset is clear. More people swam at Greystone in the first two weeks of 2009 than in the entire previous season. Due to an integrated design process that began early on, the project achieved LEED Gold. Greystone was also honored with the 2010 Atlanta Urban Design Commission’s Award of Excellence and is a finalist for the 2010 Atlanta Urban Land Institute Development of Excellence Award. The aquatic center was designed using high-efficiency controls and a state-of-the-art filtration system, which saves both energy and 200,000 gallons of water per swim season. The design includes various-sized meeting rooms, a kitchen, and elegant reception space, enabling the facility to double as an events facility and an income generator. Greystone represents Piedmont Park’s first substantial integration of new sustainable building initiatives, which were developed with assistance from SDA. Key to SDA’s success is its tenet that a community is best served through responsible rehabilitation and sustainable design. Its awards reflect consistent service to its local communities, making contributions to greener, more aesthetic, and self-sustaining places. gb&d
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
balancing act Modern architecture in the countryside? Why not? The Balancing Barn, situated on a lovely site adjacent to a small lake in the English countryside in Suffolk, references the local building vernacular through its traditional barn shape and reflective metal sheeting. The interior is an elegant and exciting counterpart to the outside. The Barn is 30 meters long, with a 15-meter cantilever over a slope, plunging the house headlong into nature. The reason for this spectacular setting is the linear experience of nature. As the site slopes, and the landscape with it, the visitor experiences nature first at ground level and ultimately at tree height. At the midpoint the Barn starts to cantilever over the descending slope, a balancing act made possible by the rigid structure of the building, resulting in 50 percent of the barn dangling in â&#x20AC;&#x153;free space.â&#x20AC;? The structure balances on a central concrete core, with the section that sits on the ground constructed from heavier materials than the cantilevered section. The insulated holiday home is ventilated by a heat-recovery system and warmed by a ground-source heat pump, resulting in a highly energy-efficient envelope. Designed by MVRDV. Photos: Edmund Sumner.
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
mexico’s new menu An underground plaza and parking lot in Mexico City has found a new life as an ingenious garden restaurant deeply rooted in sustainability. Designed by Garduño Architects, the former basement and empty concrete parking lot now is home to the O2 Restaurant with terraces, fountains, chimneys, and seating areas; a gourmet store; a jewelry shop; a bakery; and a flower shop. Both terraces are immersed in a microclimate of diverse plant life, a “designer garden.” They were built around a central chimney and watered through micronebulization. The firm built a water-purifying plant, visible on the terrace, and designed a water bottle made of a recycled wine bottle to eliminate the use of bottled water. All the furniture, made out of certified wood, was designed by the same team and made in Mexico. Every disposable product used is biodegradable, including the paper used for printing menus, bags, and straws. A curatorship was set up to so young artists can use the space as a way of showcasing their work. And even the mezcal offered is made in Oaxaca in collaboration with and for the direct benefit of the local farmers. The end result is a truly eco-conscious, dynamic, and thoughtful space that lives up its lofty mission.
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/learn The Rice Center
a ‘sitely’ structure For the first phase of a project on the James River, Train & Partners Architects creates a modern building that is strategically subservient to the site
by Peter Fretty
As a well-rounded design firm, Train & Partners Architects consistently focuses on delivering designs with a mix of rhythm, proportion, harmony, and balance whether it’s designing a home, office, or school, and incorporating the common-sense concepts of sustainability has been a natural byproduct. “As clients have embraced LEED principles, it has allowed us to expand our breadth,” Principal Kirk Train says. “Our philosophy is that successfully incorporating sustainability is never a challenge—it is an opportunity to best utilize the resources afforded to you.” This approach shines through when looking at one of the firm’s signature projects, the Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences, also known as the Rice Center. The LEED Platinum educational building is the first phase of the planned complex and houses offices, classrooms, and a multipurpose center. Though now an award-winning success, the project was an uphill battle. Obtaining LEED Platinum required all involved parties to operate on all cylinders, Train says. “Because of the location, we started losing points almost immediately. Although we built on a site southeast of Richmond, it is very rural location without transportation, amenities, or any other services anywhere near the building,” he explains. “However, the location was significant since the James River and the site’s acreage are the laboratory. One of the highlights has been the ability to meet energy-efficiency expectations. Upon design, we projected a 58-percent energy savings, and after a
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Train & Partners Architects
Inside the Rice Center / A highly efficient envelope is achieved via glazing, poly-soy insulation, SIPS, and a recycled steel frame / Rainwater retention allows for effluent conveyance / The building features a vegetated roof, rain gardens, and pervious gravel paving for storm-water management / Ground-source heat pumps are utilized for direct cooling and heating / Significant daylighting reduces lighting needs while solar shades reduce heat gain / Drought resistant native plants require no site irrigation / Rapidly renewable and local materials with high recycled content were used / Solar photovoltaic panels provide partial energy production / Bird-safe glazing strategies protect wildlife
“Because of the location, we started losing [LEED] points almost immediately. ... It is very rural location without transportation, amenities, or any other services anywhere near the building.” —Kirk Train, Principal
Center is that of an articulated chain, allowing the building to move in relation to the site axis and specific site context—to sit lightly upon the land. This articulation retained all major hardwoods with the removal of only three cedars, which were harvested, milled, and used in the interior of the new structure. “There was a significant support from the university and the donor to incorporate everything possible, while making sure we created a ‘teaching building’ that wears sustainability on its sleeve,” Train says. “As a result, systems are exposed as much as possible, especially in situations where a teaching opportunity presents itself.” gb&d
year, real counts showed savings in the low 50s—even with more use than anticipated.” VCU also adopted an accelerated schedule, with the goal of completing all design and construction within one year. In reality, design took less than 30 days, working drawings came in less than five months, but the contractor took a little longer than initially hoped. “In a rural county, it was difficult to secure subcontractors willing and capable of working with the systems required as part of this project,” Train says. “It was the first time they ever saw or heard of some of these items.” With construction completed in April 2008, the Rice Center is located on a 343-acre rural campus south of Richmond on the James River in Charles City County. The architecture is intended to be identifiable, modern, and sustainable, while simultaneously being subservient to the site, the program and nature. “Conceptually, we have recognized the site as the dominant theme; in choosing the prow of the bluff for the site, with its river views, we have expressed that the site is the object occupying the place and not the building,” Train says. “The architectural subthemes reinforce how the architecture interacts with the site, allowing a clear understanding of the natural and the man-made.”
Building with Integrity Since 1946 Rentenbach Constructors Incorporated 2400 Sutherland Avenue Knoxville, Tennessee 37919 www.rentenbach.com 865-546-2440
According to Train, the predominant material is wood with abundant glazing so that the integration of internal spaces and functions is seamlessly bonded to the exterior and the site. In addition, the composition of the Rice
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round rock campus
One such company, Sematech, took root in Austin, and their need for office and manufacturing space was significant. GS&C found a new place for its talents and interests: in the very complicated and competitive semiconductor world. Its role in Sematech was closely followed by projects for Motorola, AMD, Applied Materials, and Samsung Semiconductor—all key factors in Austin’s economic viability.
austin’s academic cultivation Graeber, Simmons & Cowan helps build a burgeoning community of higher-education institutions in Texas’ capital city by Jamie Morgan
When Graeber, Simmons & Cowan, Inc. (GS&C) was founded in 1978, Austin was a small Texas city of 275,000 residents. Back then, GS&C designed for the city’s major industries—government entities and the University of Texas. As the city grew, GS&C’s founding principal, David Graeber, was influential in developing parts of Austin’s old commercial core into an interesting and thriving entertainment district. The city logically and rapidly grew beyond its status as the capital of Texas and home of the renowned university by attracting numerous semiconductor design and manufacturing companies.
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ABOVE: Austin Community College’s Round Rock Campus is its newest and is expected to achieve LEED Silver certification. Graeber, Simmons & Cowan’s work for the college represents the firm’s roots: since it was founded, much of its work has been for the state’s higher-education clients.
All of these government and commercial endeavors have propelled Austin’s growth; now a city of nearly one million residents. And as more industries move into the city, GS&C is there, ready and able to design to specific needs. It’s even been at the forefront of the green revolution with its own internal group, G3 (Green: Global: Growth), which hosts monthly meetings to discuss new sustainable technologies and promote green programs that can be implemented in the office, projects, and around the city The firm also has designed more than 17 sustainable projects and has 18 LEED APs on staff. “We are a multidisciplinary firm,” says Principal Larry Moseley. “We offer our clients flexibility to speed up a project if needed, because our size allows us to match work demand.”
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But through all these trends, changes, and oncoming of new sectors, the firm’s president and CEO, Tom Cornelius, says the firm has not abandoned the clients that gave GS&C a start in business in the first place. “Throughout this time we have never forgotten our roots,” Cornelius says. “Our roots have been in our learning environments. We’ve done an enormous amount of work for the university systems of Texas and particularly Texas State Universities. In most recent years, we’ve been working with Austin Community College.” In fact, Austin Community College (ACC) recently opened up its newest campus in Round Rock, Texas, which was designed by GS&C. It’s ACC’s eighth and largest campus and is in its first phase. The school is already enrolled to capacity with 5,000 students. Ron Pergl, an associate with the firm who manages design projects for GS&C’s higher-education clients, says the school plans to expand in the future to house 11,500 students. The campus was designed and constructed to achieve LEED Silver certification. Construction practices—like recycling more than 75 percent of debris—and design features—like a purple-pipe irrigation system for receiving greywater—will all help to achieve the project’s desired rating. The campus is comprised of four main buildings with brick, natural-stone, and metal-panel facades. Building 1000, the central focus of the campus, houses the library and hybrid classrooms that combine computer labs with traditional classrooms—a first for ACC. Building 2000 holds classrooms and a student commons area, bookstore, and more. The other two buildings are career oriented, with health sciences and nursing occupying building 3000 and applied technology in building 5000, which prepares students for the construction, welding, and automotive industries. Pergl says the area is turning into a major medical community that GS&C has helped to create. Not only is the firm responsible for the new ACC campus, but it also designed the nearby Texas State University administrative building—an initial part of its masterplanned campus— and the Texas A&M Health Science Center, again an initial building within the masterplanned development. “Whatever the industry, we build environments that cultivate community,” Cornelius says. “So whether that’s a learning, healing, or working environment, big or small, we’re able to remain a multidisciplinary firm by specializing in designing environments that will bring people together.” gb&d
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TOP: A classroom at the Round Rock Campus, which offers courses in health sciences and nursing. CENTER: With a shaded public gathering space in the foreground, one can see the materials used for the school’s four buildings: brick, natural stone, and metal panels. BOTTOM: The bright, joyous employment of color for this classroom is fitting for an institution whose newest campus has already reached enrollment and has plans to expand.
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
lessons from mother nature The South Pond Pavilion, completed in 2010 by Studio Gang Architects at the Lincoln Park Zoo, in Chicago, reimagines a picturesque urban pond from the 19th century into a modernday ecological classroom buzzing with real-life lessons. Inspired by the tortoise shell, its laminated structure consists of prefabricated, bent-wood members and a series of interconnected fiberglass pods that give the surface a striking curvature. Yet there is function hidden inside the shellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shape as well: Studio Gangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new design enhances water quality, hydrology, landscape, accessibility, and shelter in the rich, urban setting. A new boardwalk circumscribing the pond passes through various educational zones that explicate the different animals, plants, and habitat found in each. A pavilion integrated into the boardwalk sequence provides shelter for open-air classrooms and healthy activities like yoga. Photos: Beth Zacherle, Studio Gang Architects/Spirit Of Space.
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solutions
The true substance of Master Specifications “Drawings alone do not provide sufficient information to construct a project,” says Mark Kalin, FAIA, FCSI, president of Kalin Associates. Kalin parlayed his experiences from other architectural companies and started his own firm in 1984. The Newton, Massachusetts-based company provides construction specifications for commercial and institutional projects. Since the company’s inception, it has provided architectural specifications for more than 3,000 projects and 150 LEED projects nationally and internationally, with an ongoing focus on sustainable design.
FACT/
Masdar City specs: The first six buildings of the Masdar City that opened in September 2010 use 50 % less electricity and water than the typical Abu Dhabi building of comparable size. About 30% of electricity demand is provided by rooftop photovoltaic panels, and 75% of the buildings’ hot water is provided by rooftop thermal collectors.
backgrounder/ In 2008, Kalin Associates was selected by a competitive proposal process to prepare the master specifications for Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which is designed to rely entirely on renewable energy sources and has set goals of zero-carbon and zero-waste ecology. challenge/ Provide master specifications that comply with Masdar City’s goals for regional materials, low-embodied carbon, and high performance.
solution/ The firm’s largest project yet, Kalin Associates approached the Masdar City design with the highest sustainable and regional implementation standards in mind. “The Masdar sustainability group set goals for regional materials, recycled content, lowembodied carbon, and high performance,” Kalin says. As specification writers, product selection is always a key component to a successful spec manual. The city, which aims to run on renewable energy sources, is set to be a global hub for renewable energy and clean technology. Intelligent design includes shaded walkways and narrow streets that reduce glare and solar gain; orientation of streets and public spaces that take advantage of cool breezes; and commercial buildings and residences that reduce the need for artificial lighting and air conditioning.
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solutions/specs
Kalin Associates
TOP, CENTER: Streetscape renderings of Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Kalin Associates prepared 5,200 pages of specs for his mind-boggling project. BOTTOM: Aerial view of Masdar City, expected to be completed by 2016, is designed to be carbon and energy neutral.
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solutions/specs
“And instead of suggesting international manufacturers, we stayed with Masdar’s mission and sought the highest-quality products locally.” ––Mark Kalin, President
To accomplish the set environmental performance requirements, the firm worked for 18 months writing 425 master specs sections, totaling more than 5,200 pages. “We organized the specifications using the MasterFormat numbering system of the US Construction Specifications Institute, with metric units,” Kalin notes. Specifications are critical for engineers, contractors, and architects in that it controls time, cost, and quality of the project. And according to Kalin, a complete specification manual assures the owner that the project can be constructed to meet the set goals and gives the architect the tools needed to enforce the product selections. Partnering with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, Kalin Associates incorporated Masdar’s sustainable design goals for the architects and engineers. Ultimately, the architectural and engineering design teams fulfill the vision for zero carbon. However, the specifications deal with the implementation and monitoring of products and systems suggested. An expert in LEED specifications, Kalin says his team strategically pursued local manufacturers that carried sustainable resources. “Each specification manual was broken into sections, such as tiling and painting,” he notes. “And instead of suggesting international manufacturers, we stayed with Masdar’s mission, and sought the highest-quality products locally.” Other Masdar teams held competitions and evaluations between local producers for most of the project’s resources. For example, for the reinforcing steel, Masdar teams evaluated the recycled content and embodied energy from three regional producers, and
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entered into a supply agreement with the selected firm, Kalin details. With completion set for 2016, the epic project still keeps Kalin Associates at the forefront of the construction phases, altering specifications for green updates, and collaborating with architecture firm Smith + Gill for the Masdar Headquarters. International projects such as Masdar City have challenged Kalin Associates to graduate to linking specifications to BIM, which is an advanced specification approach to a facility’s life cycle. However, he admits that it’s inevitable that specifications will evolve into a new BIM format. “Ultimately, we want to keep doing exactly what we do now,” Kalin says. “Assist designers with product selection and document those choices through specifications to the contractors who are responsible for constructing the projects.” —by Kaleena Thompson
A MESSAGE FROM DUNCAN GALVANIZING Duncan Galvanizing is a “green” company and has been on the cutting edge of metal corrosion protection since 1890. We provide environmentally friendly hot-dip galvanizing and high-tech liquid and powder architectural finishes for ANY metal substrate, including galvanized steel, uncoated steel, and aluminum. All our processes meet VOC regulations and LEED requirements. We are honored that the architectural and specification community has recognized our processes and has chosen to specify them in their projects.
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Duncan | 69 Norman Street, Everett, MA 02149 P: 617-389-8440 1-800-638-1011 | F: 617-389-2831 www.duncangalvanizing.com | Since 1980
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solutions/storage
The Safekeeping of Archeological Treasures “We are a solutions-driven company, not a product-selling company. We go in and look at all of the variables, including work flow, budget, and storage requirements, and we have the ability to utilize a number of different vendors to provide the best possible solution. We work with the client’s architects from conception to implementation of a project.” So says Dave Cagle, a design consultant at Southern California-based McMurray Stern, a provider of specialized storage systems for a variety of different applications. The company is also the exclusive Spacesaver contractor in the Los Angeles area.
FACT/
McMurray Stern has installed more than 8,000 Spacesaver shelving systems in a variety of markets.
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backgrounder/ In 2006, McMurray Stern began work on the Hemet, California-based Western Science Center, formerly known as the Western Center for Archaeology & Paleontology. The museum and learning center, which has become the first LEED Platinum museum in the nation, was inspired by a local discovery: some of the world’s largest intact mastodon skeletons were uncovered during an excavation for a reservoir in the 2000s. The museum was then built to display these and other archaeological treasures. challenge/ Install the newly developed Spacesaver Eclipse-powered system in alignment with the center’s goal of preservation, interpretation, and presentation of archaeological and paleontological artifacts and fossils for the 70,000-square-foot, 70-acre campus. This involved providing and installing high-density shelving and other storage solutions for the 6,500-square-foot archaeological collections repository and 4,500 square feet of space devoted to research and teaching labs, receiving bays, and curation labs.
solution/ After working with the center’s architect and submitting its proposed solution in competition with another vendor, McMurray Stern was awarded the storage contract for the Western Science Center. “It was deemed that our solution was the most cost effective and efficient even though we weren’t the lowest bid. We presented a better design and a layout where we considered not only workflow in the building and their storage requirements but also how the system would work for those accessing the collection,” Cagle explains. “The system that we installed consists of racking and wide-span storage for large specimens…they literally have large dinosaur bones laying on the [racks]. … We also installed open shelving and museum-grade cabinets for archaeological specimens.” McMurray Stern included green features such as low-VOC materials and did not use any wood for this project, instead choosing rails that were recessed directly into the concrete slab. In addition to the recyclable materials and LEED compliance, the company says that its high-density
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McMurray Stern
solutions/storage
RIGHT: For the Western Science Center Building, storage solutions company McMurray Stern provided the most efficient and accesible plan, earning the company the job, though it wasn’t the lowest bid.
“By implementing a highdensity system, the client was able to use only half the storage space that would have been required by a traditional stationary shelving system.” ––DAVE CAGLE, DESIGN CONSULTANT
solutions for storage are its greatest contributions to sustainable design since the storage systems allow clients to centralize and compact their storage, thereby helping them optimize space and eliminating the need to expand or build a new facility that would consume significant amounts of
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additional energy. “We look at the overall project to see how we can economize space so clients don’t have to move to larger facilities,” Cagle says. For this project, the company achieved maximum storage density by taking advantage of technology at their fingertips. “We differed from our competitors in that we went with an electrically assisted system,” Cagle explains. “They walk up, push a button, and the aisle they want opens. Other vendors suggested hand crank-type systems, but it would have been a nightmare for the museum staff to use a handcrank system because of the enormity of the system.” Still, even with the smart solution, there were plenty of challenges when it came time to install the system—one in particular. “The room had radiant heat and cooling in the floor,” Cagle notes. “One requirement from the architect was for system rails for the Spacesaver system to be recessed into the existing slab, but they did not make provisions for those troughs that the rails would be installed in, so we had to go into that floor with concrete saw
cutters.” The team had to create troughs that are typically blocked out and formed when the new slab is poured. But because the floor had hundreds of tubes of pressurized water, they had to be extremely careful when cutting. The rails require wedge anchors that are imbedded into the building slab, so the company had to drill upwards of 800 holes into floor, being very careful each time not to penetrate the radiant tubes. “We did the entire installation and hit only one tube, which was easily repaired by the general contractor,” he says. “It was kind of like walking in a mine field.” In the end, the storage system became a showpiece, adding to the building efficiency and maximizing capacity in the room. This also meant achieving a sustainable, eco-friendly collections and research space. “By implementing a high-density system, the client was able to use only half the storage space that would have been required by a traditional stationary shelving system,” Cagle says. “Our high-density system played a very important part in reducing the footprint of the building and still providing the collection capacity that was required.” —by Kelly Matlock
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Contact Contact us us for for a a storage storage specialist near you. Contact us for a storage specialist near you. specialist near you.
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solutions/hvac systems
the ‘leeding’ role of certifiably innovative hvac systems Pacific HVAC Depot is a woman-owned enterprise based out of San Leandro, California, that is also the West Coast’s only LEED-accredited HVAC distributor. Phyllis LaVoy, the company’s CEO, learned the business working alongside her father throughout her childhood. “At the time, all I wanted to do was hang out with my friends or go to the movies rather than work,” she recalls. “Today, I’m so thankful for the skills and the discipline that I gained over those years.” The heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and sheet metal wholesale distributor offers valuable LEED insight to builders and contractors. “Most manufacturers just tell them that the products are LEED and that they should buy them,” she says. “I help my clients understand why the product is LEED and how a specific product or HVAC system will improve the overall project, such as adding an innovative point.”
FACT/
Facilities in which proper HVAC maintenance is completed will use approximately 15-20 percent less energy than those where systems are allowed to deteriorate.
backgrounder / In 2000, Pacific HVAC Depot began work with LDI Mechanical on construction of the KB Homes Preserve in Redwood Shores, California. The community, 25 miles south of San Francisco and 27 miles north of San Jose, is Green Point rated and Energy Star Qualified. challenge/ Provide LEED-certified HVAC equipment for the neighborhood of three-story, 1,473to 2,198-square-foot townhomes.
solution/ Pacific HVAC Depot’s reputation as a top distributor of LEED-compliant products made the company a natural choice for the one of the first LEED projects initiated by KB Homes. While LDI Mechanical had ordered LEED-compliant duct sealants and insulation, LaVoy also suggested including MERV 13 filters since they are one of the most important components for a LEED-compliant project. MERV 13 filters allow the HVAC filtration system to control respirable-size particles, including most bacteria, as well as airborne mold spores. When the LEED inspector arrived to review the project, one of the first LEED requirements he looked for was the installation of MERV 13 filters. While local codes allow buildings to obtain occupancy with standard MERV 8 filters, for a project to be certified LEED, it must have MERV 13 filters before anyone steps into the building. Thanks to the proactive work of Pacific HVAC Depot, the filters were there along with all the necessary documentation to
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back up the MERV 13 classification. The result: an immediate sign-off from the inspector and the building’s occupancy permit. Over the years, LDI Mechanical and Pacific HVAC Depot have worked hand-in-hand on many different projects— LEED and otherwise—and LDI Mechanical always knows that their orders will be filled correctly to meet each unique job requirement. With home prices at KB Homes’ Preserve community starting in the $600,000 range and a slow housing market, being able to avoid costly building delays and achieve occupancy was an extremely valuable benefit to the builder and its contractors. “To most people outside of the industry, they’d think these filter issues were minute details since it’s not life threatening, but it’s important to not deviate from the LEED rules,” she says. “It’s why I worked so hard to earn my accreditation to be able to help builders and contractors choose the right materials—the first time—to achieve their projects’ sustainability goals.” —by Anne Dullaghan
A MESSAGE FROM SHURTAPE After years of promise, green is a reality. Today building codes require environmentally-friendly building materials that qualify for green points. Specifying engineers and construction contractors who know which materials qualify for green points, get the job. Shurtape can help your projects earn points from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), because Shurtape has HVAC tapes that contribute to LEED® points. Our HVAC tapes are right for your job, and right for our environment.
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material world
bamboozled Bamboo’s popularity is raging and people are getting intensely creative. Should we be cheering or booing? by Kelly Matlock
Bamboo, a group of perennial evergreens in the grass family that grows in climates that range from jungles to mountainsides, is used for decoration and utility across the world, found in everything from food and fodder to clothing, furniture, and building materials. International trade in products from cultivated bamboo, which presents itself in 1,200 different species, was valued at $7 billion in 2009. It is expected to be worth $25 billion by 2012. Countless companies have begun using bamboo as a green material in order to become environmentally savvy. Although the regenerative aspects of bamboo often make it an ideal choice for many applications, it is not without controversy. So gb&d chose to examine the benefits and drawbacks of the material, as well as some of its most unique uses. First, regarded as one of the most eco-friendly alternatives to hardwood because it matures within five years, bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world. It is also recognized for its ability to detoxify water and treat soil by absorbing heavy metals and greenhouse gases, and there are a number of initiatives being implemented that involve sustainable bamboo harvesting and water or soil treatment by bamboo. One such project, Urban Biofilter, creates bamboo forests on brownfields that are fed with wastewater. The harvested bamboo treats the wastewater and
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Rooftop Installation American artists and photographers Doug and Mike Starn created a temporary installation at the Metropolitan Museum’s 2010 Roof Garden called Big Bambú, which was on display from April through October 2010. The sculpture—100 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 50 feet high—featured a complex network of 3,200 interlocking 30- and 40-foot-long bamboo poles, which were lashed together with 30 miles of nylon rope. The installation was animated by rock climbers. Photos: © 2010 Mike and Doug Starn / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
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material world
COMMUNAL LIVING Australian designer Esan Rahmani worked together with Mukul Damle to design a bamboo pavilion as a communal shelter for disadvantaged populations around the Indian Ocean Rim. The structure is entirely made from bamboo and utilizes a sloped roof that acts as a funnel to capture rainwater and direct it to a collection basin.
RAINWATER
Water drum
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material world
“Some species [of bamboo] grow stronger and harder than oak in just five years. Why wouldn’t we want to build with a strong natural fiber that takes five years to grow instead of 20, 40, or 80 years?” —Robert Henrikson, Author & Entrepreneur
SOLAR HOME Tongji University’s Bambu House, presented at the 2010 European Solar Decathlon, is a house made of bamboo featuring traditional Chinese architecture combined with cutting-edge technology. The house derives all its power via solar energy and can generate 9 kilowatts of electricity. The house was built by a team of students from various departments at Tongji University and shipped to Madrid for the 2010 Europe Decathlon Competition in June 2010.
Pros/Cons OF BAMBOO (+)
(–)
+
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Bamboo is a rapidly renewable, natural resource.
+
Unlike cotton, bamboo does not require harsh chemical pesticides and fertilizers to grow—in fact, it improves soil quality. Bamboo plants sequester four times as much carbon dioxide as hardwood trees (taking in 62 tons of carbon dioxide per 2.4 acres versus a tree’s 16 tons per 2.4 acres) and produce 35 percent more oxygen.
+
+
Not all bamboo products use chemical processes. Some companies, like Boston-based Greenyarn, are finding more eco-friendly means to turn bamboo into fabric. Other companies are using closed-loop systems, where 99 percent of the chemicals used are captured and reused.
+
Bamboo is sometimes referred to as “green steel.” Its hardness rating is three times greater than most hardwoods. It has great dimensional stability; once the material has acclimated to the ambient environment, it has a much lesser tendency to warp or shrink in hot or cold weather. Bamboo also doesn’t swell or contract as much as most woods, which works well for a kitchen or bathroom where higher moisture levels are present.
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Bamboo is harvested in Asia and therefore, like most products, needs to be shipped to the United States, although shipping via cargo ship has less of an environmental impact than other transportation methods.
–
The process of converting bamboo to fabric or other materials for various products can involve harsh chemicals that are toxic to factory workers and consumers who breathe the gases.
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Inferior bamboo floors can warp, cup, de-laminate, dent, etc., especially if immature bamboo or cheap glues, poor milling, inferior finishes, or poor presses are used. It is also important for the bamboo to be grown in the right soil, climate, and altitude.
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The product may not be bamboo. Some companies claim a product is bamboo when it is made of Rayon, a manufactured cellulose fiber that is neither fully natural nor totally synthetic.
–
Overharvesting of bamboo has become such a problem that many species of the plant are on the verge of extinction.
also creates income in areas that are otherwise neglected through sustainable bamboo harvesting and timber production. Bamboo as a construction material boasts a number of advantages. “There are three good reasons for choosing bamboo homes,” says Robert Henrikson, an author and green business entrepreneur with more than 30 years experience in the sustainable development of natural resources. “The first reason is environmental. It takes an acre of trees to build a typical home, but because bamboo grows so fast and dense, bamboo grows in an area the size of the house itself. The second reason is structural. Bamboo exceeds the strength of construction wood by several times. It is durable, resilient, and long lasting. The third reason is aesthetics. Bamboo has a tradition dating back thousands of years because it is considered a beautiful material with such a luxurious ambiance.” “Low carbon is the simple matrix for survival. Bamboo can play a very important part as a major path to the goal of a low-carbon future, particularly in the rural areas of China and the world,” says David Greenberg, an ecological designer and advisor to the INBAR Global Bamboo Housing Program and creator of the 2001 International Treehouse Competiton. Despite the growing popularity of bamboo, the pros and cons (see left) paint a truer picture. In the end, it will be up to individuals to decide their definitions of sustainability and how bamboo plays into it. gb&d
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designer to watch
Markus Earley Fully in love with his spatial art form, the founder of earleylight discusses the intertwining spirals of good lighting and sustainability
by David Hudnall
Though he incorporated his firm, earleylight, in 1998, founder Markus Earley has spent more than 25 years in the lighting industry, as both a designer and educator. His experience has instilled in him an awareness of the importance of energyeffective lighting design, and LEED-certified projects constitute an increasing portion of earleylightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business. Here, he discusses the evolving role of sustainability at his firm.
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designer to watch
What led you to the lighting business? When I enrolled in an architectural design program and realized that lighting design was an actual field that existed in the world of architecture, I was immediately drawn to it. It’s such a spatial art form. Light defines space and affects people in ways that can be easily overlooked, and the challenge of working with such a powerful design medium really appeals to me. What were your first lighting projects? I started out in New York City, at Howard Brandston’s lighting-design office, doing retail stores, corporate interiors, and exhibition spaces, plus some public park and street lighting and high-end residential projects. Today, we still handle a wide range of projects and all critical aspects of the lighting design: conceptual design, custom fixture design, mockups, lighting details, product selection and specifications, and review submittals, plus site visits to write punchlists, aim adjustable lighting, program lighting scenes, etc. What is your philosophy when it comes to things like LEED and sustainability as they relate to lighting design? There’s always been an inherent responsibility in architectural lighting design: there is an energy cost involved. Whether it’s a LEED project or not, the use of energy-effective lighting should go hand in hand with the design process. I’ve always been cognizant of the fact that there is a correlation between light level and watts per square foot. For example, the quantity—and quality—of illumination from one watt per square foot of uplight is inherently different than one watt per square foot of downlight. It’s all about what one needs (and wishes) to see and how to achieve that result in a sustainable manner. However, the environmental need for sustainable lighting does not replace the human-factors considerations necessary for good lighting to occur. Good lighting and sustainability are of equal importance, but they are different things, like two, intertwined spirals.
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EARLEYLIGHT HIGHLIGHTS. This 1962 laboratory building at Brown University now boasts a new, six-story glass tower, which uses indirect illumination as a compositional element. Inside, the luminous vertical lighting is detailed to express the contrast between the original structure and the new intervention. Architectural Design: LLB Architects. Photos: Warren Jagger.
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Markus Earley
What about LED lighting? Especially for applications where visual effects or wayfinding is key, white or RGB LED systems can get the light where it needs to be—like in a fancy lobby, where a stone wall or piece of art is the focal point. LEDs can bring things to life yet still be low-energy usage. It depends on the materials the light will strike, as well as fixture location, throw distance, aiming angle, ambient light level, luminance ratios within the visual field, etc. I’m on a constant quest to find the best-quality products specific to each application. LEDs are great, but not always the best option. For example, fluorescent lighting is still an excellent light source for broad-area lighting, but of course that will evolve in the near future, as LED and OLED (organic LED) light sources are further developed. One must think methodically about lighting, rather than just go for the lowest wattage or the newest gizmo on the market. You recently started teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). How has that experience been so far? Yes, 2009 was my first year as an adjunct [professor] in the RISD Interior Architecture program. It’s been wonderful to get back into it. I’d taught architectural lighting in New York at Pratt and Parsons for eight years, so it’s rewarding to again give something back and inspire the next generation of designers about the importance of good lighting and sustainable design. I enjoy taking my students on field trips to show them real architectural spaces and new light sources. Do you consider it an exciting time to be in lighting right now due to rising consciousness regarding energy efficiency? It’s definitely a great time for the industry. There’s this convergence between state-of-theart light sources and the need for a more sustainable environment that really excites me. Also, the general public seems to be receptive to emerging lighting technologies. The idea of a digital lighting system is easier to sell to a generation of people who grew up with digital media. They seem to have an easier time understanding the importance of good lighting and why sustainable lighting is better for the environment.
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designer to watch
“The idea of a digitallighting system is easier to sell to a generation of people who grew up with digital media.” —Markus Earley, Owner
What does earleylight have on the horizon? We’re about to embark on a new school project, a restaurant, and some gallery renovations for The Museum of Art at RISD—people will be excited to see the re-lighted art. That’s the ultimate feeling: to see others enjoying a space you’ve lighted. When nobody notices the lighting, that’s how we know our job is done. I just stand back, smile, and remember, “Oh, right, this is why we deal with all the energy codes, budgets, and paperwork.” gb&d
Leucos is America’s most influential Italian lighting manufacturer. Leucos presents a versatile and sophisticated line of specialty products, including recessed, pendant, wall, table and floor lamps. Leucos USA, Inc. 11 Mayfield Avenue Edison, NJ 08837 Tel: 732-225-0010 Fax: 732-225-0250 www.leucosusa.com
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last look THE LIVING PRINCIPLES—A DESIGNER’S ROADMAP
the living principles
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
How do designers define the ever-evolving notion of sustainability? Launched in 2010 by the AIGA, the professional association for designers, The Living Principles (livingprinciples.org) concept aims to tackle this question. Distilled from decades of collective wisdom on the elusive subject, the framework attempts to clarify the different yet related dimensions of sustainability, all while encouraging dialogue and action within the design community.
ARTIFACTS... MESSAGES... SERVICES
Y
EC ONOM
PEOPLE
The Living Principles are endorsed by many global organizations, including Cumulus, Design Ignites Change, Design Management Institute (DMI), GDC Ontario, Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), o2 Global Network, Organic Exchange, The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, and Winterhouse Institute.
ENVIRONMEN
C UL TURE
T
ASPIRATIONS... HABITS... CHOICES
Graphic adapted from Adam Wercbach, Strategy for Sustainability and The Living Principles. DESIGNER
PROSPERITY
INDIVIDUALS
*In the next issue… Museums have emerged as grounds zero for some the most innovative sustainable building techniques and practices. gb&d profiles a number of the most inspirational in the world. plus… an in-depth look at Auburn University’s Rural Studio and its noble quest to improve the living conditions of rural Alabama through architectural design.
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PLANET
SOCIETY
BUSINESS
Four Streams of Integrated Sustainability ENVIRONMENT
Actions and issues that affect natural systems, including climate change, preservation, carbon footprint, and restoration of natural resources.
PEOPLE
Actions and issues that affect all aspects of society, including poverty, violence, injustice, education, healthcare, safe housing, labor and human rights.
ECONOMY
Actions and issues that affect how people and organizations meet their basic needs, evolve, and define economic success and growth.
CULTURE
Actions and issues that affect how communities manifest identity, preserve and cultivate traditions, and develop belief systems and commonly accepted values.
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A-VAL
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www.a-val.com Tel: (914) 662-0300 gbdmagazine.com
Fax: (914) 662-0199 APRIL 2011 131
A Desire to Make a Difference Over three decades, Knoll has set standards in policies and practices designed to protect the biosphere, conserve natural resources and reduce waste. Today, our environmental sustainability programs focus on three principal areas: climate change; third-party certification; and environmentally-friendly materials, products and processes.
Innovation meets sustainability. Award-winning Antenna™ Workspaces furniture and the Generation by Knoll™ work chair reflect our commitment to sustainable design, including our providing Forest Stewardship Council certification. Designed and developed to meet Knoll Design for the Environment Guidelines, these products optimize material efficiency, reduce the amount of energy and material used in assembly and minimize manufacturing waste. Generation has earned a Sustainable Platinum rating under the SMaRT© Consensus Sustainable Product Standard, which requires a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). And both Antenna and Generation have acheived level™ 3 sustainability certification, the highest rating under our industry guidelines.
Visit knoll.com to learn more about Antenna Workspaces and Generation by Knoll.
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