Building Value: How Real Estate Developers and Investors Capture Sustainability’s Triple Bottom Line
Guest editor Kay Sargent Lend Lease’s Director of Workplace Strategies
T H E
N E X T
G E N E R AT I O N O F
SUS TA I N A B L E
WO R K PL AC E S
GAF
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GENSLER
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MILLIKEN
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PERKINS+WILL
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SOM
PLANNING AND DESIGN FOR A BETTER WORLD.
www.sasaki.com Havas/Arnold Worldwide Boston Headquarters
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Flexible Solutions for the Ergonomic Workplace • Height Adjustable Workcenters • Monitor Arms • Keyboard Platforms • LED Task Lighting gb&d
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
In This Issue July+August 2015 Volume 6, Issue 34
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Typology: Hotels
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84
110
A vegetated roof tops the nation’s first nextgen sports facility just outside of San Fran
Three offices that represent the next generation of sustainable, wellnessinfused workplaces
How JDM Associates helps real estate developers and investors capture sustainability’s triple bottom line
Inside SOM’s design and renderings for the one of the world’s first netzero schools
American Hydrotech
Workplace Design
Building Value
Schooling Sustainability
PHOTO: ERIC LAIGNEL
Check out four green getaways from all around the globe
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Table of Contents July+August 2015 Volume 6, Issue 34
Up Front
Trendsetters
Inner Workings
Spaces
12 Guest Editor Kay Sargent
38 Interface The carpet company’s new
58 Boston’s Emerging Eco-District Where sustainability is
92 Higher Learning Heatherwick Studio
14 Editor’s Picks Workplace Edition 16 Product Spotlight Milliken’s Color Field Collection
46 WELL/CBRE Recap See how we brought our
March/April cover story to life in LA
51 GAF Transparency is key in
18 Notebook Sustainable startups
20 Defined Design The Zimmerman office
54 Suzy Amis Cameron The activist’s Red Carpet
22 Event Preview 2015 Every Building
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study on biophilic design
the green roofing world
becoming a way of life
thrusts a university into the future
62 Efficiency in Emergency Perkins+Will’s FIU
98 Not a Cubicle In Sight Check out Massachusetts’
largest open-plan office
stunning new home in Wyoming’s high country
Stempel Complex
66 Sustainability for Students
A new housing complex uses passive design to boost energy performance
104 Green Building, Teton Style Meet Aman 10—a
Green Dress Campaign
Conference & Expo
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PHOTO: ROGER WADE
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UP FRONT
“Hey! check out the collaborative Zimmerman office on pg. 20 of this issue!”
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Next
112 LG Electronics The recipients of the
prestigious 2015 Design for Recycling Award
114 Economic Nudge for an Ecological Gain Toronto’s “Pay as You
Throw” waste diversion program
Punch List
120 Person of Interest
MoMa’s Pedro Gadanho
122 Material World Iris Industries 125 Software Solution WeatherShift
PHOTO: JASPER SANIDAD
127 On the Spot Kay Sargent
“We’re coordinators. We have enough reach as a company that we can really help the industry move forward to become more environmentally responsible.” 52 gb&d
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UP FRONT
WHAT DO ALL OF THESE HAVE IN COMMON?
THEY ARE ALL
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Questions? Contact us at info@greenbuildexpo.com
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Editor’s Note Chris Howe
In this issue’s cover story on the next generation of sustainable workplaces, writer Brian Barth boldly asks, “The question is: where do we go from here? How will the next generation take the building blocks of sustainability and create the built environment anew?” It’s a big question, but here at gb&d, we’re working toward answering it with every new issue. And in this exciting workplace edition of the magazine, we examine our current built environment via a handful of offices that are a far cry from the droll cubicle farms of yesteryear. In that same cover feature, Kay Sargent (Lend Lease director of workplace strategy and this issue’s stellar guest editor) talks about how in the future, sustainability in the workplace will be as much about how people feel at work as it will be about whether or not their office building was constructed with sustainably sourced materials. After surveying this issue’s findings, I’d argue that the future is now: from the rock-climbing wall in the new Petzl HQ (p. 80); to the floor of water-tech company Xylem’s lobby (p. 78) with its mirrored chips designed to shimmer like the surface of water as it greets employees each day; to the 600 acres of green space outside of Milliken’s Spartanburg, South Carolina HQ that boasts more than 500 species of shrubs and trees (p. 75). As an added bonus, each of the aforementioned workplace fantasies boast an array of sustainable design elements, with LEED Gold or Platinum status adorning each (check out the feature on p. 72 for more details). Over the coming pages, Sargent walks our managing editor Amanda Koellner through the six elements of a company’s DNA that she believes must be examined in order to determine what type of office would best suit that company with the idea being that an open plan isn’t for everyone. As she put it, “To design the right solution, you have to know who you are and design to it, which means that if everybody is just giving everybody open plans, then they’re guessing, and they’re missing the boat” gb&d
(p. 21). Our piece on p. 98 on the EF Education First North American HQ proves that Wilson Architects are on the same page as Sargent with their work on the 300,000-square-foot building featuring a flexible design plan with more than 100 meeting rooms of various sizes and social gathering areas throughout the open space, as well as a 200-person auditorium, private dining, and salon. It’s safe to say that the boat was not missed here. To circle back to Mr. Barth’s earlier inquiry, I’d say, we’re doing it. Perhaps slowly, but surely, the green building community continues to change the world— in this issue’s case, one workplace at a time. Sincerely,
Chris Howe, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
ON THE COVER Gensler’s design for the new Zimmerman advertising office in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, which fosters ample communication via an open, interconnecting stair that functions as a “town square,” a command hub for social media, and a plethora of social gatherings of “living rooms” for collaborating.
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Editor’s Note Laura Heidenreich
In the 11th hour of this issue’s production cycle, as our editorial team polished up our feature on JDM Associates (p. 84), which details how the company helps real estate developers and investors capture sustainability’s triple bottom-line, we received big news from John Klein, JDM principal and co-founder. The company had just been awarded a $20 million, five-year contract to essentially improve the energy efficiency of our nation’s buildings by 20% over the next 10 years. We chose JDM to explain how companies can build value surrounding sustainable initiatives (and, quite honestly, save by doing simple things like turning off the lights when no one is working) because their commitment to sustainability is unmatched, and this breaking news only further backed our reasoning. Klein’s experience is vast—his professional history includes accomplishments like the two patents he was awarded for geothermal heat pumps—and his JDM co-founder, Deb Cloutier, has been providing consulting services in commer-
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cial real estate, energy management, and environmental sustainability for more than 20 years. Together, the two developed and launched the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program for real estate, and since 2006, they’ve achieved energy savings of almost $200 million for their clients. But sustainability offers more than just a cost-cutting opportunity; it can enhance asset value and unlock capital. The coveted triple-bottom line of sustainability is people, profit, planet, and one of the best examples I’ve seen of this being reached during my time in the industry is JDM’s work with TIAA-CREFF (a company that provides retirement plans, life insurance, after-tax annuities, mutual funds, and more to non-profit employees). JDM has increased the company’s incremental asset value by $231 million since the baseline and saved them $92 million in energy and water costs. Not to mention, TIA-CREFF has seen a 19.3% increase in the energy efficiency of its real estate holdings, which makes sense when you realize that JDM has helped the company get 18 million square feet of office space ENERGY STAR certified. We don’t have to tell you why sustainability is good for the environment, our children, and the future, but hopefully our piece on JDM teaches you something you might not have known about how sustainability can also help your bottom line and add immense value to your projects. Sincerely,
Laura Heidenreich, Associate Publisher
gb&d
Green Building & Design gbdmagazine.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Christopher Howe chris@gbdmagazine.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Laura Heidenreich laura@gbdmagazine.com MANAGING EDITOR
Amanda Koellner amanda@gbdmagazine.com ART DIRECTOR
Ravi Sathia ravi@gbdmagazine.com MARKETING DIRECTOR
Jenny Maraccini jenny@gbdmagazine.com CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR
Krystle Blume krystle@gbdmagazine.com ACCOUNT MANAGERS
Colleen Kelley, Brittany Kiley, Ryan Wampler CONTRIBUTORS
Brian Barth, Patricia Kirk, Jeff Link, Margaret Poe EDITORIAL INTERN
Vincent Caruso DESIGN INTERN
Michael Curiel MAIL
Green Building & Design 1765 N. Elston Ave. Suite 202B Chicago, IL 60642 The Green Building & Design logo is a registered trademark of Green Advocacy Partners, LLC Green Building & Design (gb&d) magazine is printed in the United States using only soy-based inks. The magazine is also available in digital formats for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play (tablet and mobile) or at issuu.com/greenbuildingdesign.
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
gb&d
12 Guest Editor
Kay Sargent
14 Editor’s Picks
Workplace Edition
16 Product Spotlight
Milliken’s Color Field Collection
18 Notebook
The Clean Energy Challenge’s sustainable startups
20 Defined Design
Zimmerman Office
22 Event Preview
BOMA Every Building Conference & Expo 2015
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UP FRONT
Guest Editor Kay Sargent
IN CONVERSATION with Kay Sargent
Kay Sargent believes that “we need to slow down a little bit, be thoughtful about what we want to do, use common sense, and be mindful.” These types of wise yet seemingly obvious sentiments—that in the reality of the design community aren’t always so obvious—cropped up frequently during our conversation here, as we discussed her career path thus far, wellbeing in the workplace, and why an open office plan isn’t for everyone. Sargent, Lend Lease’s director of workplace strategies, has been practicing interior design for 31 years, many of which were spent in Washington DC, where she worked on a plethora of government projects. “And when you do government projects,” she says, “you do everything from firing ranges to prison holding cells to evidence lockers to high-end executive’s dining rooms to press-ready rooms to military spaces.” Today, she uses that far-reaching experience to help clients at one of the world’s leading fully integrated property and infrastructure solutions providers “rethink what they’re doing from their corporate real estate to their workplace to how they’re managing everything—ultimately the entire execution.” Sargent says she’s never come across a company that whole heartedly embraces the significance of sustainability like Lend Lease does, which is just one reason (of many) why we asked her to not only serve as this issue’s guest editor but also offer her insights to our workplace design feature (p. 72). gb&d —Amanda Koellner, managing editor
FEATURES WORKPLACE DESIGN
THE NEXT GENER ATION
PHOTO: ROBERT BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY
We profile three corporate headquarters that are as intelligent in their design as the employees they hope to attract by Brian Barth
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FEATURES
BY THE NUMBERS 150 The number of years Milliken has been in business
1912 The year Milliken began investing in renewable energy
The green building industry has come a long way in the past 20 years. Building to energy efficient standards is no longer a fringe idea, but the mainstream expectation of consumers, corporations, and governments alike. Environmental design has gained steam as an economic engine of its own, spawning innovation in the supply chain and fostering competition among companies as they see who can use the fewest natural resources while they go about getting the work of society done. Plus, a new generation of designers have entered the professional world—bright young minds who don’t know how think and plan to without incorporating sustainability. The question is: where do we go from here? How will the next generation take the building blocks of sustainability and create the built environment anew? Will the word sustainability even begin to express this new image for the communities where we live, work, gb&d
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We asked Kay Sargent, pictured left, to offer her insights to our big workplaces cover story (see above and p. 72).
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complex, but employees are just as engaged with the legacy Milliken left outside the office doors: a 600-acre green space including a nationally recognized arboretum with more than 500 species of trees and shrubs. He also founded the Noble Tree Foundation to promote education about trees and their importance in sustainable development, one of the many Milliken charities in which employees actively volunteer. Milliken’s enormous reach as a company creates many opportunities to develop forward-thinking approaches to business and corporate leadership. Their New York showroom is a LEED Gold facility; they produce 46% of the energy used in manufacturing their products from a combination of company-owned hydroelectric facilities and landfill-based methane recapture; and they steward 130,000 acres of forests, which is one of the many initiatives that helped them earn the designation of a carbon-negative company from the Leonardo
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Academy Cleaner and Greener Program ever since 1998. Ultimately, Milliken’s view on pioneering the workplaces of the future goes far beyond its own office walls: by providing sustainable flooring and other products, they help other workplaces reach the same goal. Milliken has evolved their product line in accordance with LEED standards and participated in the environmental product declaration (EPD) movement and Declare transparency labels. Milliken’s latest effort to improve the environmental profile of their product line is modeled on the approach of the Living Building Challenge—they plan to certify their next generation of products as Living Products. “Much like the Living Building Challenge, the Living Product certification has different petals and parts that must be achieved, encompassing both product and company aspects,” Ivey says. “This holistic approach to sustainability aligns with our sustainability philosophy as a company.” gb&d
Sargent: During my 27 years practicing at a design firm, I did a lot of teaching as well, and I absolutely loved that. I loved what I was doing, but I wanted to do a little bit more with workplaces and get more experience. Often when you’re practicing, you get so immersed in projects that you barely have a chance to lift your head and see what’s going on. So when I had an opportunity to join [furniture company] Teknion, it was a great opportunity to travel all around the US and through Canada and even abroad. I spent a lot of time in China and India seeing what’s going on, talking with clients, spreading the word, and sharing information. The sad thing today is that most architectural firms are so focused on executing work that they don’t have a lot of resources or time dedicated to doing the research and carrying on that exploratory aspect of it.
99.8% The percentage of Milliken’s zero waste-to-landfill goal that has been attained as of 2013
13,000 The number of acres of forest land Milliken stewards
PUNCH LIST
On the Spot Kay Sargent
WASTEFUL HABIT YOU’RE TRYING TO KICK
My three vices are lots of ice tea, sweetener, and salt. MOST FULFILLING HOBBY
Walking the dog.
MOST MEMORABLE HOMETOWN HAUNT I still live in the neighborhood I grew up in, but I
do miss the drive-in theatre.
GREATEST PROFESSIONAL PET PEEVE
Those who hire talented people and then don’t trust or empower them. And Gibbs would say “You don’t waste good.” INDUSTRY JARGON YOU WOULD BANISH
THE PERFECT CITY WOULD HAVE
Collaboration and teaming, most overused works and often misunderstood.
ONE TECHNOLOGY ON THE HORIZON THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
The Middle East. It’s an age old conflict but it’s getting more extreme, and today it is fueled by technology and new age weaponry, so it will impact us all.
Access to rivers and forest; lots of greenery and parks; balanced with culture, arts and history; a place where you can work, live and play; and have the ability to walk everywhere.
Presence awareness sensors; when you walk in to a room it “senses” your presence and adjust the settings to your liking. Sound, light level, temperature, connectivity, art, aromas…all to your preference.
TOPIC IF YOU WERE ASKED TO GIVE A TED TALK
A reality check on the workplace design.
THE NEXT BIG IDEA WILL COME FROM
Our children, if we encourage them to think outside of the box, be creative, and emphasize both art and science. A CENTURY FROM NOW, HUMANITY WILL
Revere nature above all else and understand its power and impact.
PHOTO: PHILLIP ALEXANDER-COX
ONE BOOK EVERYONE SHOULD READ
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PUNCH LIST
126
gb&d: Why do you think that’s the case?
The size of the green space outside of Milliken’s corporate headquarters, which boasts 500 species of trees and shrubs
gb&d
This issue’s guest editor, head of workplace strategy at Lend Lease, answers our questionnaire and explains why you have to balance your lifestyle to live sustainably.
PHOTO: PHILLIP ALEXANDER-COX
gb&d: It seems like, at a certain point quite far into your career, you made a shift from practicing interior design toward research, development, and strategic planning. How come?
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PHOTOS: ERIC ROBERT LAIGNEL BENSON (TOP); PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN VAN DIS (BOTTOM)
WORKPLACES : 72
FEATURES WORKPLACE DESIGN
FEATURES
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PART 1 THE ROAD TO LEND LEASE
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A CURRENT EVENT WE SHOULD FOLLOW MORE CLOSELY
ENVIRONMENTAL COME-TO-JESUS MOMENT
I’m a child of the ‘70s, so the commercial with the Indian crying in a forest surrounded by litter got me. MOST COMPELLING ARGUMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
Our children.
WAY TO MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT A NONPARTISAN ISSUE
Realize we only have one planet, and in the US, we are fortunate to have fertile land and varied climates. That is not something we can take for granted. The countries that don’t have them realize it, so we better. YOUR PERSONAL DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABILITY
Architects should occasionally review their copy of the college textbook Architecture: Form, Space, and Order by Francis D.K. Ching to read about classic principles of architecture and see magnificent sketches.
Life style balancing; living in a way that has low or no impact to our natural surroundings while being as connected to it as possible, and in a way that supports our own well-being and community.
MOST MEMORABLE MENTOR OR TEACHER
Life magazine, but it did. I miss those amazing photo spreads and articles celebrating, well, Life.
My father. He taught me to love, enjoy life, be happy with what you have, and pass it forward. HARSHEST CRITICISM YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED
“No excuses. If you are the lead, anything that goes wrong is on you.” Gerald Peck to me when I was a young designer.
FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
Walking.
PUBLICATION YOU HOPE WILL NEVER DIE
SOCIAL MEDIA—HELPING OR HURTING
Hurting. For every one good post there seems to be a dozen mocking something or someone. Just not nice.
THE THOUGHT OR IDEA THAT CENTERS YOU
We are all small but can make an impact. Like dominos. gb&d
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Sargent also answered our questions and let us know that her favorite mode of transportation is walking.
IN CONVERSATION with Kay Sargent Continued from p. 21
gb&d: Do you think this is a cyclical problem? Sargent: There’s this great thing called the archetypes that talks about how there’s a 75-year turn upon which things repeat themselves. We go through this cycle of heroes, artists, prophets, and nomads. The last great hero generation was the World War II generation. There was a major crisis, and everybody rallied together for a common cause. The last artist generation was the silent generation, and the last prophet generation was the baby boomers. They questioned everything, and that led to s cietal changes that led into a new era. And the Gen X-ers became the nomads. We are living in a time of crisis right now, so if you follow the archetypes, the millennials are scheduled to be the next hero generation.
“To design the right solution, you have to know who you are and design to it, which means that if everybody is just giving everybody open plans, then they’re guessing, and they’re missing the boat.” gb&d: What do you think this means for the future? Sargent: Change isn’t made by people who accept the status quo and have low expectations. Change is made by people who have high expectations, but also by people who put their money where there mouth is and I think millennials have proven this. I have faith that they are going to great things. This means that Gen Z is slated to be the next artist generation. Now there’s a massive movement towards the maker movement and genuine products. And there’s the fact that there’s onshore manufacturing again and 3D printing, which could bear out to be a hugely significant organic maker/artist movement. That’s who, if you’re designing space, is going to come in in five years. And we’re already seeing a shift towards those values. So people need to stop thinking about the past and start thinking about what’s coming and how to prepare for that and how to get ahead of the curve. I think a lifestyle-work-play balance is going to be really important. We need to be creating environments and communities and spaces that not only support environmental and human sustainability, but support communities and connect people back together again. gb&d
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Sargent: I really believe that unfortunately, the interior design and architectural practices are quickly becoming a commodity. And it’s unfortunate because of their amazing value. We’re living in a time where design thinking is so highly valued by businesses, and executives appreciate the fact that space designed well can be a huge asset and a business tool. But, design firms are still struggling for how they can be compensated, and everybody wants everything so fast that nobody’s letting people do the research. And I think that the evolution of thought really is important. gb&d: Does this factor into why you joined Lend Lease? The conversation continues on p. 16
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UP FRONT
Editor’s Picks Workplace Edition
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IDEA PAINT
WHAT WE MAKE
WIDGET CO.
IMPACT SIGNS
MASH STUDIOS
INTERFACE
If you’ve ever wished the walls in your office could be magically transformed into a “magnetic, dry-erasable idea platform,” look no further than Idea Paint, which offers various options for turning your office into an easy-to-erase canvas to capture all of your employees’ best “aha moments.” ideapaint.com
This company uses beautiful reclaimed wood (oak, timber, pine, etc.) and sometimes concrete to create beautifully crafted custom furniture. Their pieces would make for a fabulous conference table, chic single-person desks, or even a classy lobby bench. wwmake.com
Our editorial team depends on this multi-faceted brand’s cork rolls, one of which is tacked to our office wall for reviewing the pages of this very magazine before it goes to print. The company also offers underlayment, squares, coasters, and more—all made of, you guessed it, cork! widgetco.com
What’s a company to do to stand out among its neighbors in a large office building? Get a custom sign, of course. Impact Signs offers office lobby signs, metal plaques, dimensional sign letters, and more, because (to answer Shakespeare’s question), there’s a whole lot in a name. impactsigns.com
For a [quite literally] one-of-a-kind office design, MASHstudios creates site-specific workplace environments and touts the fact that no two of their designs are ever the same. From design and engineering to upholstery, this onestop-shop can help create an efficient, stunning, next-level workplace. mashstudios.com
Interface’s Human Nature collection, pictured here, is inspired by the brand’s design team’s tendency to ask the question, “How would nature create an interior floor?” The result is a myriad of biophilic designs set to bring the outside in to your workplace. interface.com
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PHOTOS: COURTESY OF RESPECTIVE COMPANY
Clockwise from top left
UP FRONT
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UP FRONT
IN CONVERSATION with Kay Sargent Continued from p. 13
Sargent: When I had the opportunity to join Lend Lease, I thought that it was a great opportunity to take a very holistic approach because when you’re looking at it from a development standpoint, you have an opportunity to influence things up and down the project food chain. While architects have their time in the sun, and furniture manufacturers also have theirs, when you’re at a company like Lend Lease—a huge developer, huge in project management, a huge construction company with tremendous assets—we’re really looking at how we can help our clients. We rethink what they’re doing from their corporate real estate to their workplaces to how they’re managing things and ultimately the entire execution. So we’re in it for that kind of a haul, and when you have that much of a stake in the game, you tend to think about it a little bit differently.
“The elephant in the room is that that everybody woke up and realized wow, sitting is killing us, and we need to take that seriously.“ PART 2 IT’S ALL IN THE DNA gb&d: What is your opinion on the healthand wellness-related changes we’ve been seeing in workplace design recently? Sargent: I think it’s really important. Four or five years ago, we had some roundtables around the country where we talked about well-being, and no one even knew what we were talking about. And today, still, a lot of people think it’s just about putting in a fit ness center. One of the biggest epiphanies for me was when I was talking to somebody who was telling me about all these wellness initiatives a few years ago, and I said, “Boy, I’d really love to see your fitness center.” And she said, “We don’t have a fitness center.” Fitness isn’t a destination; it’s a way of life. The healthiest people in the world don’t necessarily go to fitness centers. Activity is a part of their daily life. They live in environments that are designed to encourage walking. Standing is not better than sitting. The elephant in the room is that that everybody woke up and realized wow, sitting is killing us, and we need to take that seriously.
Product Spotlight Milliken’s Color Field Collection The sustainable new carpet line is designed to suit the functional purpose or aesthetic predisposition of any given room and is easy on the planet, too By Vincent Caruso
In the cluttered studio spaces of 1940’s New York City, proponents of the Abstract Expressionism art movement were busy creating a divergent stylistic relative. By withdrawing from the “action painting” methods employed by their dominant abstractionist academics, familiar names such as Mark Rothko, Frank Stella, and Morris Louis began experimenting by removing figurative motifs as subjects of their work and instead elevating the role of color to the upmost importance. “Color is freed from objective context and becomes the subject in itself,” the mantra went, defining the style that would be called Color Field painting. Milliken’s latest carpet breakthrough inherits both the name of this pivotal artistic revelation as well as its artistic principles while also utilizing signature Milliken proprietary technologies to usher the singular aesthetic to a new frontier. With a color palette composed of 64 hues spanning the spectrum from neutrals to brights and multi-colors, the potential for novel patterns and gradations is seemingly endless. “There is virtually no limit to the pattern scale we can achieve,” affirms Milliken global director of customer experience, Stacy Walker. “Color Field is an excellent illustration of the rich layers of texture that we can create through color.” The harmony of the color palette and the detailed texture of carpet tiles result in the formulation of visual layers, adding a new dimension to how a room is experienced.
gb&d: I wanted hear more of your opinions on open office trends. The conversation continues on p. 19
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UP FRONT
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MILLIKEN
Milliken’s unparalleled print technology makes an enormous spectrum of colors possible via digital printing and concentrated premium dies.
Designer autonomy is also increased within Color Field, facilitating the capacity for color scheme exploration and modular carpet tile placement to suit the functional purpose or aesthetic predisposition of any given room. In addition to the Color Field carpet being comprised of 31% Total Recycled Content, the product omits the application of PVC entirely, instead opting for a “cushion backing” that not only maximizes energy conservation via insulation but also prolongs the product’s lifespan. “Our cushion-backed carpets are designed to withstand many years of heavy traffic,” explains Philip Ivey, Milliken global sustainability leader. “This allows our carpets to be reused in new homes and continue to provide a valuable floor covering solution.” There is a hierarchy of efficacy that exists in recycling according to Ivey, and reusing sits at the throne of it. “We’re creating a more colorful world from the floor up,” Walker puts it, with green representing just one of the 64. gb&d july–august 2015
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UP FRONT
Notebook Sustainable Startups
The Clean Energy Challenge rewards young clean technology businesses for contributing fresh, cutting-edge innovations in sustainability and demonstrating that green is good for business By Vincent Caruso
WINNER Award: Wells Fargo Prize ($100,000) Company: Igor (Johnston, IA) For: Smart Building & Devices
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WINNER Award: Pritzker Foundation Prize ($100,000) Company: NETenergy (University of Chicago, IL) For: Thermal Storage
Impressively, NETenergy is an energy service provider that resulted from a student team creation at the University of Illinois. Deploying smart energy storage and management technologies, NETenergy reduces energy consumption by way of their signature intelligent thermal storage software. By utilizing “phase change composites,” cold energy is stored in the form of “latent heat” and is distributed only as needed. This enables users to shift their A/C energy consumption to simply more economical during off-peak hours. Savings of over 30% can be attained with NETenergy.
“Power Over Ethernet” is the mantra boasted by Igor to illustrate their uniquely efficient approach to lighting management. By using the Igor system, customers are able to reduce energy consumption, micromanage how their LED lighting is being used, and simplify their lighting system’s installation. The room in which the Igor lighting, sensor and data platform may be installed can vary in size, but the level of control placed the hand of the user is always optimal. With a user-friendly interface, the Igor application allows you to freely and wirelessly adjust lights, sensors, and such as needed for each specific space. By licensing its services to a host of manufacturers, Igor has achieved “80% savings toward installation and 60% savings toward energy.” gbdmagazine.com
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE CLEAN ENERGY TRUST
“We are building a thriving energy innovation ecosystem in the Midwest,” is the decree proudly crowning the front page of the Chicago-based Clean Energy Trust’s website. And as this year marked the fifth for its flagship Clean Energy Challenge, the “we” in focus extended to the participating clean-tech business startup entrepreneurs as well as prominent green industry leaders lending keynote addresses to share the secrets of their success and offer sound advice to newcomers determined to arrive at the fruitful intersection of “startup investment, technology commercialization, and energy policy” for which the nationally-acclaimed Clean Energy Trust specializes. $1,000,000 was appropriated and divided among the 10 winning startups with amounts received depending on the distinction of the specific awards. Here, we’ll take a look at the very best in the business of energy efficiency.
UP FRONT
WINNER Award: US Department of Energy Student Prize ($50,000) Company: FGC Plasma Solutions (Case Western Reserve University, OH) For: Advanced Transportation/Fuel Efficiency
WINNER Award: ComEd Female Founder Prize and Clean Energy Prize Fund ($75,000) Company: Design Flux Technologies (Maple Heights, OH) For: Energy Storage
Two electrical engineering students at the University of Akron spurred the genesis of Design Flux Technologies. Uniting out of dissatisfaction with the conventions and complexities of standard energy storage systems, the duo collaborated with the aim of devising a solution to a standard that was inefficient in its function and mediocre in terms of sustainability. And the result was an innovation that was a first of its kind. The conceptualization and patenting of “Cognicell,” a power management system implemented through software control algorithms, soon became the bedrock of the Design Flux Technologies brand. Through using their signature Cognicell system, “predictive software algorithms” are employed to systematically control all battery pack functions. Among resultant stats the company has enjoyed are a 50% decrease in battery maintenance costs, a 30% increase in battery life, and a 40% increase in energy efficiency.
IN CONVERSATION with Kay Sargent Continued from p. 16
Sargent: There is no one solution. Companies are different, and I believe that each company has their own DNA. And I believe that that DNA is made up of six elements, and if a company varies in any one of those elements from any other company, then they can have a totally different workplace solution. Open offices are part of the solution, but they are rarely the sole solution for anybody. One of the hardest things to know is to know yourself and to really understand how you work. So if you can understand your organizational structure and your DNA, then you can figure out what the right solution is, and it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. gb&d: And what are the six elements?
Jet engine fuel is not an uncommon target of criticism in debates concerning environmental woes. However, a student team at Case Western Reserve University is presently in the process of perhaps absolving users of this transit luxury of guilt. The student-led FGC Plasma Solutions are redrafting the process of fueling jet engines by applying plasma to modify the combustion reaction. This concept isn’t necessarily new, but research of this method has faced difficulty advancing this process beyond mere lab tests and studies. FGC, on the other hand, has taken the initiative of developing a new, plasma-integrated fuel nozzle that will improve not just jet-engine efficiency, but also fuel economy and safety. gb&d
Sargent: Those six things are: 1.) What industry are you in? The way that law firms should be designed should be different than a healthcare or a high-tech business. 2.) What’s your organizational structure? Anybody who assumes that the world is flat today—the bottom line is that the world isn’t flat. Hierarchy exists, and it exists for a reason, and it’s not a bad thing. If your company is very hierarchical, [an open office] is going to be problematic for you, because there’s a misunderstanding that’s happening there. 3.) Your demographics. If you’re designing for people who are coming right out of college, you’re going to have a different type of space than if you’re designing for PhD’s who’ve been in the military for 20 years who are in their 50s. And demographics doesn’t just mean age; it’s your gender, ethnic group, etc. 4.) Your working styles. If you’re doing sales and consulting work, and you’re in the office, you’re not making money. So those offices need to be designed for a high degree of mobility. If you’re in the creative field, they want you in the office every single day and they want you to live, eat, and sleep with your coworkers so that you get this synergy and you can finish each other’s sentences and that speeds innovation in a group. So depending on what type of work you’re doing, the solutions will vary. 5.) Regional influences. If your office is in downtown Manhattan versus Austin versus Denver, you’re going to have different challenges, so you need to design the office according to that because that’s going to have an impact. gb&d: And the final element?
The conversation continues on p. 21
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UP FRONT
Defined Design Zimmerman Office by Amanda Koellner
Communication \kə-ˌmyü-nə-ˈkā-shən\ (noun) The act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc. to someone else. The Zimmerman office was expressly designed to foster communication, with the open interconnecting stair linking the reception area and executive space on the fourth floor with the third’s workstations and lounge. The stair “promotes serendipitous encounters and shared experiences,” serving as the office’s own “town square.”
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PHOTOS: JASPER SANIDAD
In this issue’s big feature story on workplace design, our guest editor—Kay Sargent, director of workplace design at Lend Lease—emphasizes that sustainability in our offices will soon be just as much about how people feel at work, rather than whether or not the building they work in was constructed with sustainably sourced materials. The Zimmerman advertising office in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, designed by Gensler and made possibly by Omnicom (who purchased the agency three renovated floors in a five-story building), proves to be a prime, current day example of this prediction (though all products pictured were considered from a sustainability angle). Here, we choose three words to explore just how this workplace operates as its very own “town square” and keeps its employees happy. gb&d
UP FRONT
IN CONVERSATION with Kay Sargent Continued from p. 19
Sargent: 6.) Culture. This is a big one. What is your corporate culture? Are you very entrepreneurial and empowering everybody, or are you very controlled, regulated, and strict? Different cultures are going to have different elements and if the workplace does not reflect all six of those key elements successfully then it will be a problem and it will be a challenge. To design the right solution, you have to know who you are and design to it, which means that if everybody is just giving everybody open plans, then they’re guessing, and they’re missing the boat. Unless you can articulate why you’re doing that based on those elements and show that it’s the right solution for who you are and where you are it’s a shot in the dark, and it shouldn’t be. But I believe that workplace designers and strategists are very good at understanding that and helping their clients come to the right solutions. Economical ēkəˈnämik(ə)l/ (adj.) Marked by careful, efficient, and prudent use of resources. A number of factors led the team on this project to better the estimated construction cost of $83 per square foot to just $75 per square foot. Exceptional due diligence by structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti combined with Gensler’s design aided this cut in costs, as did the stair, which came in $250,000 under budget.
Hub \ˈhəb\ (noun) The central and most active part or place. The second floor serves as a base for the design leadership team and as a command hub for social media. When the creative team needs to review a TV commercial, they enter one of the office’s “living rooms” that serve as a part of a collaboration ribbon that also boasts breakout areas and open meeting rooms.
“To design the right solution, you have to know who you are and design to it, which means that if everybody is just giving everybody open plans, then they’re guessing, and they’re missing the boat. ” PART 3 BREAKING GENERATIONAL BOUNDARIES gb&d: I know you’ve written extensively about work-life balance and how important it is to employees today. Does this apply exclusively to young people/millennials? And how does it factor into design? Sargent: We have talked about the differences in the generations. But I think a lot of the differences are lifecycle differences and not purely generational differences. Studies have shown that the differences between the generations aren’t as extreme as they’re often portrayed, and I think the millennials are judged right now by where they are right now in their young 20s. And frankly, I wouldn’t want to be judged by how I was in my young 20s. I think the interesting thing right now is the generation that’s coming after that because anybody that’s designing anything today, in five years Generation Z will be in the workforce. The conversation continues on p. 127
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UP FRONT
25 Years of Global Engineering & Specialty Services
Event Preview BOMA Every Building Conference & Expo 2015 By Vincent Caruso
Engineering / Analysis & Testing / Central Utilities BMS / Code Consulting / Commissioning Critical Systems / Energy & Sustainability / Fire & Life Safety IT/AV/Security / Lighting Design / Special Inspections
C U S T O M A R C H I T E C T U R A L M I L LW O R K (801) 262-7741 mapleleafcabinets.com
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“Through advocacy, influence, and knowledge,” the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) represents the interests of professionals in the field of commercial real estate, and their roots in championing that mission run deep and extend far. Since its founding in 1907, the association’s standards and innovations have protracted across 17 countries and comprise of approximately 10.4 billion square feet of U.S. acreage alone. And though BOMA assists this global clientele in a variety of ways, the topical urgencies of recent years have demanded an increased focus on tackling issues concerning energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. And for the final three days of June, BOMA will set up shop in the sunshine state to cast a light on precisely that. Although the BOMA Every Building Conference & Expo 2015 will function as a site for commercial real estate property owners, developers, et al. to network and learn in an all-encompassing fashion, the green energy initiatives alone are worth one’s attention. “We call it our ‘high performance energy track’,” says Amy Chisholm, BOMA International vice presi-
DETAILS What BOMA Every Building Conference & Expo 2015 When June 28-30 Where Los Angeles Web bomaconvention.org
dent of education and meetings, noting that the segment will introduce brand new BOMA sustainability initiatives, including a fresh industry contract model called BOMA Energy Performance Contract (BEPC). The expo will also include a seminar on government affairs as they relate to sustainability and a revised version of their BOMA Energy Efficiency Program (BEEP), updating its management training from 2007 to 2015 standards. “We want it to be a place where commercial real estate professionals can go to get the education and training they need, as well as the networking and career-building relationships and knowledge,” Chisholm says of the expo, highlighting the unique importance of the three-day convention. “You can get all the education and networking in three days that it might take you months to otherwise accumulate.” gb&d gbdmagazine.com
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOMA INTERNATIONAL
www.akfgroup.com
GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
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HOTELS
26 Glad Hotel Yeouido
Peek inside this stylish-yet-sustainable Seoul spot
30 Shore Hotel
A Santa Monica hotel with an innovative energy storage installation
32 Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers
This 485-room establishment in Vietnam is sure to impress
34 Aloft Atlanta
Explore the latest keyless entry technology
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PHOTO: COURTESY OF DESIGN HOTELS
TYPOLOGY HOTELS
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TYPOLOGY
As gb&d has chronicled arduously, a sea change is occurring among commercial industries. It has become evident that as climate data and analysis travel from the laboratory to major media and the general public, companies everywhere, both large and small, are making swift revisions to their traditional business methodologies to better adjust to the urgent demand for environmental sustainability. Steadfast in this ecological evolution has been the luxury hotel wing of the hospitality industry. Here, Vincent Caruso explores exactly how acclaimed lodgings across the globe benefit by adopting a sustainability ethos.
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GLAD HOTEL YEOUIDO
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TYPOLOGY
T
he South Korean island of Yeouido serves as Seoul’s central business hub. Acting as a home to the city’s tech and finance sectors, the isle is predominately decorated with imposing modernist glass skyscrapers. More recently, a growing representation of artistically inclined, younger Koreans have begun to emerge incrementally, fostering trendy boutique stores and modest galleries. The structural façade that fronts GLAD Hotel Yeouido, however, doesn’t quite fit into either category. GLAD Hotel stands out from the architectural conformity of its peers, projecting instead a striking, brick-laden Brutalist minimalism that is inviting and awe-inspiring in equal doses. The Glad Hotel Yeouido is
PHOTO: COURTESY OF DESIGN HOTELS
ABOVE With the name of the hotel, the designer wanted to give guests a feeling of wit and friendliness, settling on a moniker that’s “readable, positive, and urban.”
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TYPOLOGY HOTELS
FACING PAGE Street signs offer directions to each and every of the hotel’s 319 rooms. LEFT While the hallway signs make the corridors of the hotel feel like streets, the designer wanted each room to feel like home with a clean, cozy design.
pany has always championed green building, and this passion is reflected in the GLAD Hotel Yeouido’s mechanical operations. In addition to opting for renewable energies such as solar and geothermal, the hotel makes optimal use of a gas heating pump system that reduces consumption substantially. Likewise, materials used in the bedding of all rooms are natural and high-quality, enhancing guest health and comfort, ensuring that “glad” will be imprinted on the minds of each overnight vacationer. gb&d
BELOW Both increasing operational efficiency and the desire for the hotel to look new influenced the designer’s decision to clad the interior in bricks.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF DESIGN HOTELS
one of the acclaimed Design Hotels firm’s more recently added members, and it matches their reputation as both stylistically preeminent and environmentally committed—so much so that the interior design is themed to represent the urban landscape outside the walls of the hotel. The lavish application of locally sourced brick on the hotel’s façade travels into the interior and is complemented by street signs offering directions throughout the hotel to all 319 rooms. Since Design Hotels’ founding, the com-
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TYPOLOGY
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TYPOLOGY HOTELS
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SHORE HOTEL
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TYPOLOGY
LEFT Designed by Gensler, this hotel combines a modern look with state-of-the-art, energyefficient systems and procedures, like this solar-heated pool.
PHOTOS: MICHAEL GARDNER (FACING PAGE); BENN GIBBS (THIS PAGE)
I
t has long been common knowledge that, in terms of profiling premier beach towns in the US, Santa Monica ranks among the crème de la crème. And, environmentally speaking, the oceanside vacation hub’s hospitality sector has done much to preserve its status as well as its ecosystem, for its business relies heavily upon both. Since 2007, for example, 83 businesses received their green certificate from the Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau (SMCVB) as part of organization’s signature Santa Monica Green Business Certification Program. This program is one of many and, as Santa Monica has found, where potential for distinction and recognition exists, the competition for such an award grows. Perhaps the most impressive product of this race toward sustainability is Shore Hotel, which recently unveiled its new energy storage installation. In collaboration with Green Charge Networks and Kia Motors, Shore has introduced a new intelligent energy storage system that will reduce demand to half its original figure and include a DC EV fast charging station. Naturally, when an EV is plugged into a charging station, electricity consumption spikes. But Shore Hotel’s exciting new features have a novel way of fixing that. The storage system defangs these potential spikes “through counteracting the peaks and valleys of a building’s variable energy use by discharging from and charging up its batteries at key moments,” explains Jon Farzam, Shore Hotel vice president. “This flattens the spikes in power usage, which reduces our demand charges by up to 50%.” It’s purely unique initiative that treads uncharted territory in the world of green energy, rendering the hotel as the first in the country to couple its energy storage system with DC EV charging. Shore Hotel’s environmental contributions to promoting sustainability have been extraordinary, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed. The hotel has earned glowing press in their community and elsewhere, and they have collected numerous awards for their efforts. The hotel obtained the gb&d
coveted LEED Gold certification and from Santa Monica’s Office of Environment & Sustainability they were awarded the SQA Grand Prize, a distinction that recognizes significant achievements in “sustainable economic development, social responsibility, and stewardship of the environment.” Evidenced by their AAA Four Diamond Rating, the sentiment that has been echoed by the affirmation of consistent customer satisfaction, reminding one that investment in the environment is returned by human happiness. gb&d
ABOVE The hotel features more than 50% of all construction waste materials produced by the leveling of the two existing hotels that previously sat in its place.
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TYPOLOGY HOTELS
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SHERATON SAIGON HOTEL & TOWERS
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PHOTOS: MR NAM BUI (THIS PAGE); IAN GIBB (FACING PAGE)
T
he colossal 485-room Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers exists enveloped in the same exotic brand of luxury it offers its guests. The multiplex downtown districts constituting Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) enjoy the serenity of rivers and canals that weave through the metropolis, the superabundant company of rows of authentic Southeast Asian cuisine, the luminous flash of alluring nightlife oases, and the steady pulse of passing crowds basking in their colorful surroundings. Local monuments such as The Reunification Palace, the Saigon Opera House, and Ben Thanh Market are among the distinguished sites within the Sheraton’s proximity. However, while the attractions of Ho Chi Minh City could surely keep one dizzyingly busy for the stretch of a week or more, the luxuries under Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers’ own roof are of equal caliber and like variety. It’s collected considerable accolades for its event spaces (the Grand Ballroom is among the largest and most expertly run in the city), and its pool, spa, and fitness center are all state-of-the-art. The warm, traditional Vietnamese ambience permeates the guest bedrooms with an air of royalty, and its assortment of fine dining and cocktail bars are an exclusive microcosm for the hotel’s host city. Perhaps the natural beauty one experiences at the hotel is its finest offering. Be it reveling in the fresh air at the rooftop wine bar or simply admiring the view of Saigon River or the city itself, it leaves one with the impression that this environment is deserving of preservation. This is why operations at the Sheraton Saigon have been forged with sustainability as the chief governing priority. Most recently, the Sheraton has reduced oil consumption by more than 55% and electrical consumption by 20%. Through the simple tasks of installing a new regulator, adjusting toilet flush, water consumption by 19%, and recycling FCU condensate, water consumption shrunk by 19%, achieving the Vietnam Discharge Grade A standard. gb&d
TYPOLOGY
FACING PAGE The Reunification Palace, the Saigon Opera House, and Ben Thanh Market are among the distinguished sites within the Sheraton’s proximity.
Most recently, the Sheraton has reduced oil consumption by more than 55% and electrical consumption by 20%. Through the simple tasks of installing a new regulator, adjusting toilet flush, water consumption by 19%, and recycling FCU condensate, water consumption shrunk by 19%, achieving the Vietnam Discharge Grade A standard.
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TYPOLOGY HOTELS
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ALOFT HOTEL
“D
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PHOTOS: COURTESY OF STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS WORLDWIDE, INC.
ifferent by Design” is the mantra that instructs the Aloft Hotels ethos. It’s a philosophy that has helped the very first Aloft Atlanta, the state of Georgia’s first Aloft hotel, stand out amongst the plethora of flashy nightlife hotspots and grandiose fortune 500 companies that neighbor it in its perpetually buzzing downtown quarters. From the outside, Aloft Atlanta looks as if it could function as either one, or both. On the inside, it seemingly offers all the same indulgences to be found outside through the streets of Atlanta’s vivacious downtown turf. With its Re:mix Lounge and WXYZ cocktail lounges, the 24-hour-running Re:charge gym and Re:fuel eatery, as well as the outdoor Splash pool, a visitor’s Atlanta to-do list could quite sufficiently comprise a sequence of cocktail menus and mandated safety notices. The most positively “Different by Design” amenity offered by Aloft Hotels, however, is the new SPG Keyless feature. Aloft guests have the option of downloading SPG smart phone app and instead registering a digital room key for the course of their stay. The digital key works similar to the more prevalent plastic key card, except instead of sliding the card into a designated slot you simply tap your cellular device on the lock, and wait for the little green light to signal you in. “SPG Keyless is an evolution of Aloft’s Smart Check-In, which we began piloting back in 2008,” says Brian McGuinness, senior vice president of Starwood’s Specialty Select Brands (Aloft parent company). “Plus, when we learned that statistically there are over 30,000 plastic keycards manufactured for most hotels every year, we saw how this could not only make a technological advancement but an environmental breakthrough as well.”
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TYPOLOGY
In addition to the revolutionary SPG Keyless software, the company has begun to look in every nook and cranny for more novel ways to eliminate waste and promote sustainability. For instance, in-shower pumps have replaced plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles in hotel bathrooms. Likewise, Aloft Atlanta has recently instituted an incentive-based policy that rewards guests for making eco-friend-
ly choices. “We also offer Starwood’s ‘Make a Green Choice’ program, that encourages guests to make coconscious choices,” adds McGuinness. “By offering green choices without compromising a guest’s comfort, we make our eco initiatives accessible, which in turn makes the guest more likely to participate,” illustrating once again that convenience is a consequence of, not a sacrifice for, a healthy ecosystem. gb&d
“.. when we learned that statistically there are over 30,000 plastic keycards manufactured for most hotels every year, we saw how this could not only make a technological advancement but an environmental breakthrough as well.” gb&d
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19 years of vegetated roof experience... brought to life in one app.
American Hydrotech introduces the Garden Roof® Planning Guide iPad® app, a first-of-its-kind digital brochure that helps design professionals take a vegetated roof from initial concept to completion. Packed with photography, technical information and videos, design professionals can explore assembly options and components, growing media and vegetation, and learn about topics such as design considerations, economic and sustainable benefits, installation and maintenance, and much more.
Download your copy today at hydrotechusa.com/GRPG American Hydrotech, Inc. 303 East Ohio | Chicago, IL 60611 | 800.877.6125 | www.hydrotechusa.com © 2015 Garden Roof is a registered trademark of American Hydrotech, Inc.
GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
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38 Interface
A new study by the carpet company on biophilic design is incredibly telling
42 American Hydrotech
A vegetated roof tops the nation’s first next-gen sports facility
46 WELL/CBRE Recap
We brought our March/April cover story to life with a panel discussion
51 GAF
Transparency and collaboration shine in the green roofing world
54 Red Dress Green Carpet
Inside Suzy Amis Cameron’s sustainable fashion campagin
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TRENDSETTERS
BIOPHILIC DESIGNERS
Interface Outside-In: A recent study by Interface reveals that the solution to stifled professional productivity could be right outside your window—if your office happens to have one By Vincent Caruso
According to the United Nations’ 2014 revision of the World Urbanization Prospects report, the number of people living in urban areas has reached 54%. And though the seemingly sudden, epoch-making reality of urban populations representing more than half of the world’s whole has invited a host of socio-environmental projections, the volume of certain hypotheses
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has tended to drown out others. For instance, with urbanization on the upswing, human detachment from fundamental components of nature has traced it. Based on key findings from a recent study commissioned by Interface, the world’s biggest designer and producer of carpet tile, this trend is advancing to the detriment of our workplace stability and productivity. And though the
concept of “biophilia” still might be a relatively esoteric one, the carpet brand’s Human Spaces Global Report indicates that it is an idea well worth our collective embrace, deserved of the adoption of the design and architecture communities. Led by award-winning psychologist Sir Cary Cooper, the study surveyed thousands of office workers from 16 different countries. The regbdmagazine.com
TRENDSETTERS
THIS PAGE A custom rug installation spotlights Interface’s oceanic Net Effect collection while incorporating carpet tiles in a wide variety of patterns, textures, and shades from other collections.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF INTERFACE
sults point to consistencies in benefits of nature-integrated (or –simulated) office environments contrasted with workplaces devoid of such. The crucial takeaway from the study was that, in workplaces that had palpable connections to the natural world, Cooper’s team found a 6% employee productivity increase, a 15% spike in overall creativity, and a 15% greater sense of well being. “Concepts like biophilia are at the core of Interface’s sustainability journey,” insists Nadine Gudz, director of sustainability strategy at Interface. “Biophilia is the biological need that humans have to connect with the natural world.” But an industrial division between human beings and their natural environs has interrupted this harmony, explains Gudz. Indeed, human subjection to nature as a necessity might seem initially like an obvious biological given. However, significant findings in the study reveal that considerable portions of our lives are spent deprived of such basic organic essentials. According to the Human Spaces Global Report, 64% of offices in the US aren’t penetrated by natural light while 70% are devoid of decorative plants and greenery (globally, the figures are 47% and 58%, respectively). Nearly a third of Canadian workers reported not having windows. “The average office worker in the United States currently toils in a windowless, largely sensory deprived envi-
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TRENDSETTERS
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Interface that our customers were evolving in their understanding of sustainability and green building,” says David Gerson, senior director of Americas marketing and global activation. “Our clients were becoming increasingly concerned about indoor environmental quality and employee well being.” It’s a revelation that has spurred action across the globe, Gerson has observed, noting, “In some parts of Scandinavia, it is the law that every employee has access to daylight and views.” In theory, largescale application of this model could lead to economic gains. “The fact is,” Gerson says, “if we think about incorporating biophilic design up front, workers will be more productive, more creative and ultimately, have a higher sense of well-being.” Biophilic design is not a one-sizefits-all panacea, however. The study did reveal that measurable cultural differences are present in preferences concerning how a given country will choose to pursue biophilic design on its own volition. Varying tastes notwithstanding, though,
ABOVE An installation of Interface’s latest collection, Near & Far, paired with the company’s Human Nature carpet tiles.
the concept itself is universal and is gradually, however incrementally, being accepted and advanced. Kellert has taken notice. “There appears to be growing recognition of the need to create more nurturing and satisfying built environments consistent with people’s inherent need to affiliate with natural systems and processes,” he affirms. And Interface seems to be enthused in positioning themselves as first among the aforementioned creators. Gudz expounds, “I am excited about the potential for Human Spaces and biophilic design to help deepen our conversations about our connection with nature. Biophilic design has the potential to help take conversations and practice beyond ‘green’ and deepen the connection between health and well-being with sustainable design.” gb&d
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF INTERFACE
ronment devoid of forms and features of the natural environment,” inserts Stephen Kellert, Tweedy Ordway Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology and Senior Research Scholar at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Kellert is a leading thinker in the emerging field of biophilia and has even produced a documentary on the subject, entitled Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life. He invokes additional studies that show nature-deficient spaces resulting in “boredom, fatigue, illness symptoms, and absenteeism”—hardly the kind of sensibilities an employer would deem sustainable, much less ideal. And though urban industrialization has proven to effectively thwart the relationship between human beings and Mother Nature, our instincts appear to be signaling to us what it is we’re missing. A third of those surveyed stated explicitly that workplace design that integrated contact with nature would influence their decision to work for a company. “It was evident to
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TRENDSETTERS
Near & Far skinny plank carpet tiles lend textural diversity to an office space.
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S U S TA I N A B L E R O O F E R S
American Hydrotech A vegetated roof tops the nation’s first next-gen sports facility By Patricia Kirk
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TRENDSETTERS
The 25,000-square-foot American Hydrotech Garden Roof Assembly is a lightweight green technology that supports a living garden of drought-tolerant indigenous plants.
PHOTO: TERRELL LLYOD
While it seldom rains in sunny California, when it does, it pours. But San Francisco 49ers’ fans visiting the National Football League’s (NFL) new ecofriendly Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California will have the opportunity to reap the benefits of American Hydrotech Inc.’s Monolithic Membrane 6125 (MM6125) and the Hydrotech Garden Roof Assembly, which created a green, living rooftop that helps cool the stadium. “By integrating a hardscape space with the vegetated roof, the stadium was able to accomplish several goals: a first-class amenity deck that also provides stormwater management benefits,” says Dennis Yanez, American Hydrotech national marketing manager. He notes that his company offers design teams, engineers, and landscape architects full, project-specific documentation to assess roof contributions to meeting both municipal and LEED stormwater requirements. A total of 426,000 square feet of MM6125 Hot Fluid Rubberized Asphalt was used to waterproof the 350,000-square-foot concourse and 60,000 square feet of below-grade applications, as well as the garden roof and amenity deck. This 68,500-seat stadium sports unparalleled sustainable design and technologies. Touted as the first “next generation” sports facility to come online, Levi’s Stadium has garnered awards recognizing its sustainable features, including the 2014 Forest Stewardship Council Leadership Award, 2014 WateReuse Customer gb&d
of the Year Award, and American Institute of Architects Kansas City 2014 Merit Award—Sports Venue. It is also the first pro-football stadium that the US Green Building Council has certificed as LEED Gold. “We wanted this to be the ‘best of the best’ with respect to environmental sustainability,” says Jack Hill, 49ers project executive for the stadium development. “California codes are stringent, and a lot of what we did exceeds California’s building standards and LEED (Gold) standards.” A GARDEN ROOF IS A BOOST TO NET-ZERO ENERGY The stadium design takes sustainability to a new level for sports facilities, with every facet of operations aimed at energy and water efficiency or involving clean/green technologies, materials, and processes. The stadium’s impressive, stateof-the-art photovoltaic system, which includes three solar-array covered bridges, and a solar canopy above the 18,000-square NRG Solar Terrace over a tower with 9,000 luxury suites, produces more energy than is used during games. A feature that boosts the solar system’s ability to achieve net-zero energy status is the 25,000-squarefoot American Hydrotech Garden Roof Assembly, a lightweight green technology that supports a living garden of drought-tolerant indigenous plants, as well as 23,000-square-feet of Ultimate Assembly pavers that help create an inviting deck space for fans to gather and socialize while enjoying the game. “Pavers installed in an open joint configuration that can be set level on fixed-height and adjustable pedestals, regardless of the slope at the level below,” Yanez explains. “This allows water to drain off july–august 2015
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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FANS AND THEIR CULTURE Levi’s Stadium is designed to provide fans the best experience possible. The 49ers’ owner and co-chair John York and CEO Jed York wanted an open, transparent design that allows fans to stay connected to the game from all points within the stadium, from concessions to premium club and concourse areas, notes Timothy Cahill, vice president and national director for design at Kansas City, Missouri-based HNTB Companies, the stadium architect. He says it was also
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their idea to stack the 9,600 luxury suites in a tower on one side and majority of club seats in the lower bowl in order to keep fans close to the action. They wanted the stadium to incorporate 49ers tradition and branding, but also to reflect California and its culture, Cahill continues. “It’s in the Silicon Valley, so it needed to suggest the region’s food and wine culture and have the highest level of technology and sustainability [available].” Hill concurs, noting that the concession contractor serves only healthy and organic food options, as well as exclusively offers regionally produced wines, because that “was the responsible thing to do.” gb&d
The green rooftop and amenity deck offers fans an aesthetically pleasing environment but also reduces stormwater runoff, catching 50 to 90% of rainfall.
PHOTOS: TERRELL LLYOD
the paver surface and quickly flow to concealed drains below.” This green rooftop and amenity deck offers fans an aesthetically beautiful, therapeutic, and peaceful environment, but most importantly it reduces stormwater runoff—typically catching 50 to 90% of rainfall— and heat gain on the roof, boosting energy efficiency to decrease energy use. Cooling the rooftop helps regulate the building’s indoor ambient temperature and eliminates unhealthy effects associated with the “urban heat island” phenomenon on hot days, improving air quality by processing toxins and re-oxygenating air. The urban heat island effect creates a heat dome that traps air pollution and smog and raises indoor air temperature, resulting in poor air quality and higher energy demand and costs to cool a building.
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Green through & through
GRAPHICS: ARTHUR SHLAIN (WATER DROP & LIGHT BULB), BRIDGET GAHAGAN (PLANT), NORBERT DE GRAAFF (WOOD PLANK), JULE STEFFEN & MATTHIAS SCHMIDT (BICYCLE)
Other sustainable features that conserve energy and water and help to reduce the stadium’s carbon footprint include:
A solid waste program that allows the stadium to sort and process all garbage and recyclable materials onsite, while organic materials are composted and collected
Use of native, drought-resistant plants for landscaping throughout
Recycled water, which is used for toilets, irrigation, and the cooling tower, accounts for about 85% of all water used, setting a new standard for sports facilities
A building management system that conserves energy usage through HVAC monitoring, lighting, distribution, and automatic sensors
LED lights with a sophisticated control system that mitigates heat gain and provides maximum efficiency
Use of 100% reclaimed wood for the interior of the Citrix Owners Suites and renewable, non-toxic materials throughout
Convenient bicycle parking and 12 electric car-charging stations
Ample bike parking is available at the stadium, and certain parking lots even offer bicycle valet services.
many more sustainable features
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AG E N T S O F T H E H E A LT H Y W O R K P L AC E
The International WELL Building Institute and CBRE
By Patricia Kirk
ABOVE The CBRE headquarters, located in LA, was the first commercial office space to achieve WELL Certification thanks to its healthy indoor environmental design.
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The headquarters for CBRE, a global real estate brokerage and advisory firm, is a poster child for creative offices, as it’s not just an open space bathed in natural light that invites collaboration and socializing, it’s also healthy for its employees. Located on the top two floors of a 12-story building in downtown Los Angeles, the company’s new headquarters was the first commercial office space to achieve WELL Certification. This performance-based building rating system, which was developed by Delos Living in collaboration with scientists and physicians from Columbia University Medical School, architects, engineers, and other experts (and that also served as the subject of gb&d’s March/April Humans and Health issue cover story), focuses on healthy indoor environmental design that incorporates ideas across seven categories that affect human health: mind, comfort,
fitness, light, nourishment, water, and air. CBRE’s Workplace360 design by Gensler architect Lindsay Malison incorporates architectural elements that achieved both WELL Certifications and LEED Gold and also created a “wow” factor that includes a glass atrium running the length of the 48,000-square-foot office space to create a sky garden. LEED VS. WELL Speaking at CBRE in March during a panel discussion designed to bring our very own March/April cover story to life with experts on the topic, Kamyar Vaghar, strategic advisor at Delos’ International Well Building Institute (IWBI), pointed out that 90% of an individual’s life is spent indoors, but 70% of buildings have poorer air quality than the outdoors. He noted that IWBI has partnered with the Certification Institute gbdmagazine.com
PHOTOS: W ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
We teamed up with the USGBC’s LA chapter to bring our March/April cover story to life with a panel discussion sponsored by the International WELL Building Institute
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(GBCI) to provide third-party WELL Certification in collaboration with GBCI. He also explained that there is a 20 to 30% overlap between LEED and WELL and that the two are designed to work harmoniously. In fact, WELL’s biophilic design elements that bring nature inside are similar to criteria for LEED Gold and Platinum buildings. As we noted in our March/April feature, WELL differs from LEED, however, in that it is fundamentally about the people in buildings. “We continue to monitor the health of the inside environment,” Vaghar adds, pointing out that WELL requires recertification every three years to ensure a space continues to meet the WELL standard. POSITIVE EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK Fourteen months after opening its new space, CBRE conducted a survey to gather employee opinions about the new office design, which resulted in exceptionally positive feedback. Going forward, CBRE plans to redesign and WELL Certify its offices globally, and has also become a thought leader for healthy design, advocating its benefits to clients worldwide. The WELL Certified office standard, which includes more than 50 wellness amenities and innovations, prescribes technology enhancements and performance-based measures to address 23 health pathways to improve quality of indoor air, water, light, nutrition, and comfort. Among CBRE’s wellness innovations and amenities is ergonomic furniture that offers employees the option to sit or stand, a treadmill workstation, mats that cushion feet and encourage proper posture, flexible dual monitors, water hydration stations every 50 feet, and circadian LED lighting, as well as wellness edgb&d
ABOVE Beth Moore, CBRE director of workplace strategy, speaks at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
ucation and fitness activities, such as yoga classes. Beth Moore, CBRE director of workplace strategy, reported that some 83% of CBRE employees say the company’s new office space makes them feel more productive, 92% feel the space is having a positive impact on their health and well-being and would not go back to the old way of working, and 90% would recommend the Workplace360 approach to colleagues and friends. FEATURES GARNERING HIGH MARKS A notable workplace feature highly valued by survey participants was the free-address, activity-based work environment, which allows employees to move around to different work areas to encourage teamwork, creativity, innovation, leadership, and a drive for excellence. They also mentioned the adjustable desks, which provide the ability to stand at will, as well as the easy access to water at hydration stations. Employees also reported that the sky park has had a positive influence on their health and well-being, citing natural light and views of the downtown skyline as sources of this effect. “This is our park—we eat and work out here,” Moore commented, gesturing to the surrounding atrium where the event was held. “We love the opportunity to connect with nature.” “There’s interest across the board to bring the outside inside with plant material,” commented architect Carlos Posada, a principal at Gensler. The sky park space, which contains more than 1,000 drought-resistant plants, also serves as a hub for co-working, meeting with clients, and socializing, and includes a café and large-screen monitor to facilitate interactive media and teleconferencing. Moore also stressed the impor-
tance of lighting on health and productivity. Studies have shown that lack of natural light during daytime hours and blue-rich light from glowing screens and other sources at night both disrupt metabolic function, immune response, cognitive performance, and even genetic expression. The circadian adaptive LED lighting used in the CBRE office space emulates nature’s cycles to restore the natural 24-hour cycle of the human body and helps to lessen strain on eyes and headaches. Posada explained, for example, that color temperature of the lights softens after sunset, when the space is used for socializing. THE PATH TO THE WELL WAY With an audience composed largely of architects, members of the panel offered suggestions for getting started on WELL Certified projects. Moore explained that the WELL program dictates who needs to be involved and when. “It makes it simple and intuitive,” she said, “but from the start, you need a qualified consultant to walk you through the process.” Even if the schematic design is 100% complete, simple adjustments can still be made, Posada noted, pointing that the hydration stations were an add-on. He stressed, however that you need a commitment from the contractor from the start. “With CBRE the contractor came in on day one, and so was a part of the team.” WHY WORKPLACE DESIGN MATTERS Stressing that both employers and employees benefit from a healthy work environment, Moore observed that millennials, who will comprise 40% of the workforce by 2020, are making decisions about where they work based on their values. Their expectations for a workplace environjuly–august 2015
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ment plays a significant role in this choice, she continued, emphasizing that employers that meet their expectations will attract the best talent. With onsite fitness classes, the liberating free-address work system, and a variety of places scattered throughout the office space for socializing, connection, interaction, collaboration, and employee engagement, Moore suggested that the Workplace360 environment is a good fit for millennial values and expectations. She suggested that these types of amenities and innovations can help retain employees and keep them happy and productive, noting, on the other hand, that time and money invested in training are lost when employees leave unhappy. Vaghar also pointed out that various studies have shown that a healthy work environment improves productivity by reducing employee absenteeism and improving worker comfort, morale, and attitude. He noted that even a 10% boost in productivity is significant. VERIFYING HEALTHY CLAIMS “IWBI is currently working with a committee of medical scientists to develop studies that will provide empirical data on the health benefits provided by WELL features,” Vaghar said. Separately, IWBI’s parent company Delos recently partnered with the Mayo Clinic to design, develop and operate a WELL Living Lab, which will simulate realistic living and working environments, including gb&d
homes, offices, schools community facilities, and hotels to test, monitor and identify the efficacy of wellness-based interventions. Located adjacent to the Mayo campus in Rochester, Minnesota, this lab is the first of its kind dedicated exclusively to research, development, and testing of new and existing technologies and other innovations designed to improve the health and well-being of occupants in various built environments. It will begin operations in October of this year. PAYING IT FORWARD Vaghar also noted that, as a benefit corporation (B-Corp), IWBI has launched a “payback” initiative that will direct 51% of net profits from WELL Certification fees to projects that otherwise may not be able to achieve WELL Certification. Over the past year, IWBI assisted Brad Pitt’s Make It Right program in building a green, healthy home for a low-income family in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. Additionally, Delos and IWBI founder Paul Scialla partnered with the US Green Building Council to build the William Jefferson Clinton Children’s Center, a LEED-certified and WELL-certified orphanage and children’s health clinic in Haiti. Delos has also partnered with TECHO, a non-governmental organization based in Chile that trains and organizes youth and the community on projects to overcome slum poverty, to build 200 affordable housing units in Haiti. And so, it seems, IWBI is just getting started. gb&d
FACING PAGE A panel discussion at CBRE brought our March/April cover story to life with experts on the WELL Building Standard. THIS PAGE Panelists discussed the fact that IWBI has partnered with the U.S. Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) to provide third-party WELL Certification in collaboration with GBCI.
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GREEN ROOFING EXPERTS
GAF Transparency and collaboration are the keys as the roofing industry defines its role in the green building movement
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF GAF
By Brian Barth
A roof is one thing that every building has in common, making the roofing industry one of the great fulcrum points for advancing the sustainability agenda. But that simple fact obscures another of even greater consequence: roofing is the largest single component of a building that is replaced at least once throughout the lifespan of most structures, making it the ultimate opportunity for a green retrofit. “For all of us who are promoting green building, there is an elephant in the room,” says Martin Grohman, the executive director for sustainability at GAF, “which is that we don’t reach existing buildings very well.” There are roughly 130 million existing homes in the US, while annual housing stats hover around 1 million, explains Grohman, so “by that math, you’re looking at 130 years to turn them all over. But all of those homes are going to need a new roof at some point in their life, so it’s a good opportunity.” As the largest manufacturer of roofing products in North America, GAF is well-poised to make green roofing happen on a mass scale. Although the general public might associate the term green roofing with a roof that has succulents and grasses growing out of it, Grohman emphasizes that the entire bundle of environmental benefits available through using the right roofing products provides a more apt definition of the term. Choice in roofing material affects the energy use of gb&d
a building by how well it insulates, how tightly it maintains the thermal envelope, and how much it reflects the heat of the sun. There is also the matter of product life cycle, including the environmental costs associated with producing roofing materials, disposing of them, and the danger that the chemicals used to create them poses to people and the environment—all things green builders must consider every time they decide which materials to specify. GAF also offers a line of materials for garden roofing, the term that has become more common in the roofing industry for a vegetated roof. “When they can be done within the limits of the economics that make sense for the building, vegetated roofs are a beautiful, beautiful thing,” Grohman says. “It’s a nuanced point, but … a well-designed, well-insulated, reflective roof with a good chemical profile is just as green as a vegetated roof.” GAF has been researching and developing the standards for sustainable roofing products for well over a decade. The company is widely known in the construction industry for its flagship product, the Timberline line of asphalt shingles, which became the first Energy Star-rated shingle in the industry in 2001. Timberline shingles have a healthy percentage of recycled content, containing up to 30% of blast furnace slag in the headlap (the covered area of the shingle), depending on grade of the product.
Martin Grohman, executive director for sustainability at GAF, is dedicated to helping his industry become more environmentally responsible.
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“We’re coordinators,” Grohman says, “we have enough reach as a company that we can really help the industry move forward to become more environmentally responsible.” MARTIN GROHMAN, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR SUSTAINABILITY, GAF
For large commercial buildings, GAF’s TPO roofing (thermoplastic polyolefin roofing) takes the cake for environmental performance. The white reflective surface results in drastically lower cooling costs inside the building and the polypropylene material it’s made from “has a really benign environmental profile as far as plastics go,” according to Grohman. Also quite remarkable is the toxicity of the flame retardant used, or rather its lack of. Magnesium hydroxide, also known as milk of magnesia, is the primary ingredient that helps prevent EverGuard TPO roofing from combusting. GAF also makes “solar ready” roofing as part of the EverGuard product line. The premise of their approach to the roofing/solar panel interface is partly about having a roofing product that can withstand the increased demands that a photovoltaic installation places on a roofing system. “There are more people on the roof, more penetrations
into the roof material that have to be done right,” Grohman says. “You can’t just go up there screwing solar panels to the roof … you have to consider wind and snow loads, egress, and access for firefighters and maintenance personnel.” But Grohman believes that even more important for making a happy marriage between roofs and solar panels is GAF’s efforts to partner with solar installers, providing training and technical assistance and nurturing the dialogue between the two industries. Brokering productive partnerships among industry groups is a strategy that the company applies to other sustainability initiatives, as well. They sponsor ShingleRecycling.org, a non-profit initiative that promotes landfill diversion in the roofing industry, and have been huge supporters of the health product declaration movement (HPD) ever since becoming the first major roofing manufacturer to sign on with the HPD Collaborative
BY THE NUMBERS
#1 GAF is the largest manufacturer and distributor of roofing products in North America.
130M The number of existing homes in the US, that at one point in their life, will need a new roof.
2001 The year GAF’s Timberline line of ashphalt shingles became the first Energy Star-rated shingle in the industry.
30% The percentage of blast furnace slag in the headlap of GAF’s Timberline shingles, depending on grade of the product.
500 The number of contractors trained for GAF’s Certified Green Roofer training program.
24 The number of manufacturing plants GAF operates. Four of which have now pursued certification for their landfill diversion percentage.
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PHOTOS: COURTESY OF GAF
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in 2011. GAF now has six HPDs on the books—including one for the Timberline Cool Series shingles—and many others in the works, making it easier for designers of LEED and Living Building Challenge (LBC) projects to specify their products. “We’re coordinators,” Grohman says, “we have enough reach as a company that we can really help the industry move forward to become more environmentally responsible.” Grohman is most proud of the company’s efforts with shingle recycling and waste reduction. Thanks to their outreach efforts—as well as the Certified Green Roofer training program they offer (with over 500 contractors trained so far)—GAF has been instrumental in turning the idea of shingle recycling into an economically viable reality. Around the country, more and more roofing contractors are hauling their used shingles to recyclers, where they get made into asphalt, rather than gb&d
taking them to the landfill. “Everyone through the process generally either saves money or makes money,” he says, On the production side of the equation, four of GAF’s 24 manufacturing plants are have now pursued certification for their landfill diversion percentage. This work is done by either Philadelphia-based Green Circle, or Chicago’s UL Laboratories, and is a comprehensive look at the entire manufacturing facility. Initially, when the company set out to streamline its factories to achieve zero waste, there was no standard to go by, so they in fact worked with UL to develop one, another example in which the company is paving the way to sustainability within the roofing industry. “Our role has been to step in and make those connections,” says Grohman, beaming. “I’ve been really pleased with this process and am so proud of our plants.” gb&d
FACING PAGE GAF’s TPO roofing (thermoplastic polyolefin roofing) takes the cake for environmental performance, as the white reflective surface results in drastically lower cooling costs. THIS PAGE GAF is widely known in the construction industry for its flagship product, the Timberline line of asphalt shingles, pictured here.
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H O L LY W O O D I N F L U E N C E R
Suzy Amis Cameron
By Amanda Koellner
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As Suzy Amis Cameron toured the world’s red carpets in support of her husband’s (director James Cameron) 2009 blockbuster, Avatar, the sustainability activist realized the potential opportunity in front of her to change the way Hollywood views high fashion. Today, her fashion campaign, Red Carpet Green Dress (RCGD), challenges young designers to create a red-carpet-worthy dress and now, tuxedo, in an environmentally responsible way with sustainable fabrics and materials. The organization then gives the winners the opportunity to be mentored by an established fashion brand and get his or her designs worn on the Academy Awards’ red carpet with all profits from entry fees benefitting California’s MUSE School. Now six years running, notable names involved include designer Vivienne Westwood and actor Kellan Lutz. We chatted
with Cameron to learn more. gb&d: I understand that touring the world’s red carpets with your husband in support of Avatar inspired you to create the contest. I also know that the two of you have been huge players in the realm of environmental causes for quite some time. Have you always incorporated green fashion into your own wardrobe, and is there a specific memory you have related to when the idea for this contest arose?
ABOVE Environmental activist Suzy Amis Cameron started a fashion campaign to encourage young fashion designers to incorporate sustainable practices into their pieces.
Amis Cameron: When I reflect on the moment that I started thinking more consciously about the clothes that I wear every day, I go back to my modeling days when I started to make my own money and invest in clothes. For the most part, I purchased things of very high quality with simple designs that I could wear over and over. I still have clothes that I purchased while liv-
PHOTO: ANDREEA RADUTOIU
The activist’s Red Carpet Green Dress campaign aims to encourage sustainability in high fashion
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THIS PAGE Actor Kellan Lutz wears a tuxedo designed as a part of the Red Carpet Green Dress competition on The Oscars red carpet.
ing in Paris from the ages of 17-21 that I wear regularly. I now am very careful about what I purchase. I choose very classic and simple lines so that I will be able to wear them when I am 80. While it is still very difficult, I am hopeful that designers become more aware and there is more demand for green fashion, so that I can find great environmentally friendly clothes to wear very day. gb&d: Can you explain this part of the contest in more detail: “The winning designers are mentored by an established fashion brand within the fashion industry to get his or her design worn on the red carpet by a surprise actress and actor”? What does that mentorship look like in practice? Amis Cameron: The winners are taken under the wing of the designer and given guidance on the construction and, in some cases, physically assisted. You have to remember these are young students winning, so the mentorship element is important to help ensure the gown or tuxedo delivered are made to The Oscars red carpet standard. The mentor is supposed to take a background supportive role to the students—it is still all about the winners and their design concept.
PHOTO: COUTRESY OF A.M.P.A.S.
gb&d: Do you think eco-consciousness in the fashion industry is an issue at large? What changes do you hope to see in the future? Amis Cameron: Obviously, yes. We all have a long way to go, but projects like RCGD are important steps in the right direction when it comes to awareness and educating on the possibilities in a range of areas from safe dyeing to the use of recycled or repurposed materials and getting sustainability in more mainstream conversations—all aspects we hope to see vast improvements in for coming years. gb&d gb&d
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Be COOL
Get COOL As North America’s largest roofing manufacturer, no one offers more COOL roofing options than GAF. Whether you have an existing building that needs a new roof or a newly constructed building, GAF has a COOL roofing option to meet your long-lasting needs—including TPO, PVC, asphaltic, and coating options. We’re proud to offer products that have earned NSF/ANSI 347 certification and completed the requirements of the Health Product Declaration Open Standard, as well as four plants that have been certified for Landfill Diversion. GAF gives you the flexibility to evaluate your specific roofing needs and find the right energy-efficient roofing solution for years to come.
gaf.com
EverGuard Extreme® TPO • EverGuard® TPO • TOPCOAT® Liquid-Applied Roofing • EverGuard® PVC • EnergyGuard™ Polyiso Insulation • Master Flow ® Ventilation
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GREEN BUILDING TRENDSETTERS & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
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58 Boston’s Emerging Eco- District
Where sustainability is becoming a way of life
62 Efficiency in Emergency
Inside Perkins + Will’s Florida International University Stempel Complex
66 Sustainability for Students
A new housing complex uses passive design to boost energy performance
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PROJECT Location Boston, MA Client The Mount Vernon Company Size 84,551 ft ² (plus 13,182 ft ² parking garage) Completion August 2013 Program 79 rental apartments Certification LEED for Homes Platinum Certified Cost $17.5 million
TEAM Architect Prellwitz Chilinski Associates General Contractor Cranshaw Construction Owner’s Project Manager Waypoint Construction Consultants, Inc. MEP/FP Engineer AKF Group Structural Engineer Roome & Guarracino LLC Landscape Architect UBLA
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INNER WORKINGS
Boston’s Emerging Eco-District In the Allston Green District, home to The Edge Apartments, sustainability is a way of life
Until recently, part of Boston’s Allston neighborhood was known as a gritty place, characterized by crumbling one-story warehouses, auto body shops, and a few dive bars. But about five years ago, the Mount Vernon Company, a local developer who had been assembling property in the neighborhood, launched a plan to transform the area into a model for sustainable living. Former Mayor Thomas Menino was intrigued by the idea and made it official by designating a two-block area the Allston Green District. “It’s a unique place unlike anything that had been done in the city of Boston before,” says David Snell of Prellwitz Chilinski Associates (PCA), the architectural firm that was engaged to plan the district and design several of its buildings. by Brian Barth
COMMITTING TO SUSTAINABILITY
All of the new construction in the
When residents move into one of the
Allston Green District incorporates sustainable practices, and PCA has worked to create a unified yet visually varied aesthetic among the apartment facades and retail sites that are opening up. One of the most striking buildings in the district, however—both visually and in terms of sustainability—is The Edge, a 79-unit LEED Platinum mid-rise. The Edge includes all the bells and whistles you would expect in a LEED Platinum building, but it also has a lot of soul. Huge floor-to-ceiling windows are found in every unit, for example, a rarity in mid-market apartments. They’re top of the line in terms of efficiency, but they create a biophilic vibe of “bringing the outdoors in,” says Snell.
new apartment buildings in the Allston Green District, they sign a Green Declaration as part of their lease. This states that they commit to minimizing energy and water use, separating recyclables and organic waste and using alternative transportation, among other eco-conscious practices at the household level. “If you’re a member of the Green District, you need to walk the walk,” Snell says. “You can build a building sustainably, but if the people who are living in it aren’t living that way, you’ve only made it half way.”
PHOTO: WARREN JAGGER
THE EDGE
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SUPPLIERS
PHOTOS: WARREN JAGGER (THIS PAGE)
HVAC Aqua Therm Windows Inline Fiberglass Cabinets Metropolitan Cabinets Counters Silestone Roofs Carlisle Doors Woodgrain Doors Lighting Fixtures Reflex Lighting Paints and Sealants Sherwin Williams PV System Solect
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INNER WORKINGS
GETTING THERE
WATER CONSERVATION AND CULTURE
The Allston Green District is on Commonwealth Avenue, a major Boston thoroughfare with numerous bus and transit options. There is an MBTA stop at the entrance of the district, and the city recently added a “Hubway”—one of Boston’s bikeshare stations— in response to the influx of alternative transportation-oriented residents. There is bike storage for every unit at The Edge, and with a small grocery store, restaurant, and other shopping destinations opening up, the bones of a walkable community are falling into place. “It’s really amazing to see where it was and where it is today,” Snell says. “There are interesting people here who really care about the vision.”
The Edge has low-flow toilets and other water-saving plumbing components, but unlike most apartment buildings of its size, tenants pay their own water bills. “Because the developer wants people to be conscious of the amount of water they’re using, they decided to individually meter the water in each unit,” Snell says, adding that “the owner hates plastic water bottles, too, so we’ve installed hydration stations on every floor, so you can get filtered water right from the wall.” Not only that, but when you sign the Green Declaration upon moving in, you get a water bottle branded with the Green District logo. “It’s not on the LEED checklist,” says Snell, “but it’s more about a mindset.” PHOTOVOLTAIC INCENTIVES AT WORK
PHOTOS: ELISIF BRANDON (TOP LEFT); WARREN JAGGER
KF Group, a renowned internaA tional engineering firm known for its work on LEED projects of varying scales and complexity, served as the mechanical engineer for The Edge, helping to design the HVAC system and other behind the scenes gadgetry. One important component that residents don’t see, but certainly appreciate, is the 35-kilowatt rooftop photovoltaic array. The PV system, which was designed and installed by Solect, produces 60 to 70% of the energy used in the building’s common areas. With two federal tax credits available and two state level incentives, the system was planned to pay for itself within four years. But, according to Matt Shortsleeve of Solect, energy prices have gone up 30% since the system was installed, cranking down the payback period even further. With the convergence of incentives for solar and high energy prices, “business is brisk,” says Shortsleeve. gb&d
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FACING PAGE The city recently added one of Boston’s bikeshare “Hubway” stations to the district to add travel choices in addition to the nearby MBTA stop and additional options. THIS PAGE The Allston Green District is a budding walkable community with a new grocery store, restaurant, and additional shopping for residents and visitors.
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Efficiency in Emergency Perkins+Will sustainably designs a Florida International University complex where differing majors spearhead responses to major catastrophes
RENDERING: PERKINS + WILL
by Vincent Caruso and Amanda Koellner
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INNER WORKINGS
Where technology has succeeded in rendering the passing of information democratized, it has too, by way of smart mobile gizmos, made the presence of it essentially ubiquitous. Likewise, as the increased urgency of environmental maladies has made permanent the imperative of sustainability, a subject of news reporting and public discussion, we’re confronted daily with its gloomy repercussions. And so, we look to experts and officials for answers. To provide such answers, Perkins+Will designed Florida International University’s Stempel Complex that will house the Extreme Events Institute, an interdisciplinary research team devoted to the development of hard-nosed, controlled responses to the most dire of natural disasters.
PROJECT Location Miami, FL Client Florida International University Size 121,500 ft ² Completion June 2014 Program College of Public Health, Extreme Event Institute, Earth and Environment, College of Social Work Cost Witheld
TEAM Contractor Skanska Engineering & Consulting Walter P. Moore Consulting Engineers BR+A Landscaping P+W Landscaping
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LIGHTING THE WAY One of the strongest features of the complex is how conducive
the design of the building is to the utilization of daylight. It preserves a satisfying level of comfort and serenity while eliminating strenuous energy consumption. Copious daylight harvested from the high-performance glass invites natural warmth, while the “ripple effect” of the south façade functions as a self-shading structure. The sunlight is sourced from the large courtyard space that the totality of the Stempel Complex encircles, allowing the flow of sunbeams to permeate throughout the transparently open floor plans of each level. “The building almost breathes in a way,” as Bosch puts it, observing the fluidity in which natural warmth moves in and the building’s natural cooling supplants it. “It’s art meets science.”
“The building almost breathes in a way. It’s art meets science.” Pat Bosch, principal design architect, Perkins + Will
SYNERGY SERIOUSLY “It’s not the old-school mentality,” Pat Bosch, prin-
cipal design architect on the project (and design director of Perkins+Will’s Miami office), says in reference to the traditional university model where certain colleges (e.g., school of business, school of medicine, et al.) have the breadth of their studies compact in one designated building. On the contrary, the interconnectivity between departments housed within the Stempel Complex enhances the fruits of their work. Contributions made by the College of Public Health and Social Work, the College of Earth and Environment, and the College of Medicine are among the lot that brings a composite perspective approach to flourish. Bosch notes the range of individual angles involved, “from the physical cause and effect of earth and environment studies to a lot of the social consequences that occur from that in terms of public health and social work and also from the basic health sciences perspective.”
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THIS PAGE High-performance glass invites ample daylight from the large courtyard space into the Stempel Complex, while the building’s natural cooling supplants the resulting warmth.
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INNER WORKINGS
Within the complex lies a a very particular conference room that can be used as a war room for any government institution or partner.
BUILDING WITH YOUR BRAIN Perhaps it could be suggested that the most
sensible way to inspire smart research is to shelter it with smart building. It’s one thing to devise educational curriculums that elucidate the importance of sustainability as a critical societal investment, but it’s another to do so while exemplifying its implementation in the construction hall in which it’s taught. “We planned and used a lot of software such as Ecotec to modulate and model a lot of the energy consumption during the process of design,” Bosch illustrates. The team also employed a chilled beam system that enables self-regulated cooling while minimizing ductwork, which Bosch notes is particularly handy in typically high-consumption rooms such as laboratories. AN A FOR ADAPTABILITY “You don’t duplicate facilities, you make them more
PHOTOS: ROBIN HILL
flexible and nimble,” decrees Bosch, sharing her team’s guiding design philosophy when it comes to the most suitable conditions for the Stempel Complex’s needs. Thus, many of the spaces that comprise the complex are designed to serve as easily transformable multi-purpose rooms. Training sessions can be conducted, team-based projects can be performed, and, at any particular moment, proper emergency procedures in the wake of any sort of cataclysm. “These rooms also morph into areas where in the case of an extreme event they can have a lot of media housed in there for broadcasting or gathering of information,” Bosch explains. “There is a very particular conference room that can be used as a war room for any government institution or partner.” gb&d
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INNER WORKINGS
Sustainability for Students A new housing complex uses passive design to boost energy performance by Patricia Kirk
Glen Mor 2, an 800-bed student apartment complex on the University of California, Riverside campus, stands out among student housing projects not only with regard to sustainability, but also for integrated planning, landscape restoration, independent campus living, and marketability. Designed by Watertown, Massachusetts-based Sasaki Associates, the LEED Gold-seeking project champions sustainability, creates a green amenity from an eyesore, links disparate areas of the campus
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community, blurs the border between campus facilities and the community at large, and improves pedestrian circulation. The four-bedroom design is aimed at retaining upper-division students and attracting transfer students who desire an independent living arrangement, combined with dynamic residential life programs, dining opportunities, academic support, and campus proximity. Completed in 2014, the project’s five, five-story buildings are now 100% occupied.
THIS SPREAD The design combines calibrated overhangs and vertical shading fins, so when units are stacked, windows have optimal passive solar response.
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PROJECT Location Riverside, CA Client University of California, Riverside Size 343,000 ft ² (plus 202,000 ft ² parking structure) Completion July 2014 Certification LEED Goldseeking Cost $115 million
SUPPLIERS
PHOTOS: BRUCE DAMONTE
Windows Peerless Curtain Wall & Storefront Arcadia Cabinets Stolo Cabinets, Pionite, Formica Counters Corian, Avonite, Ceasarstone, Trend Q Doors Arcadia, Timely, Lynden Door Glass Oldcastle, Skyline Design Exterior Materials Sto, Cement Board Fabricators, Pacific Clay Products, Inc. Integrated Aluminum Sun Shades Arcadia Insulation Owens Corning, Thermafiber, Johns Manville
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BELATED CONSTRUCTION
A TUNABLE FAÇADE THAT OVERCOMES CLIMATIC
Delayed due to the economic downturn of 2008,
CONDITIONS
this is one project that actually benefitted from the Great Recession, suggests Tim Stevens, AIA, LEED AP, a former Sasaki principal now with the San Francisco office of Solomon Cordwell Buenz, noting that the lapse in time between its conception and start of construction removed the biggest challenge to sustainability. Initially university administrators weren’t exactly onboard for a sustainable project, he explains, but by the time the project was bid in 2011, “there was a lot of maturation to this ideal at the university [administrative] level.” With the transition in attitude, administrators had developed an understanding of the benefits of sustainability and a willingness to fund the extra costs, says Sasaki Principal Fiske Crowell, FAIA, LEED AP. He points out that the highest initial cost item was a solar domestic hot water system, which offsets approximately 45% of natural gas demand while addressing one of the highest residential energy use targets—hot water for showers.
To achieve LEED Gold criteria for building per-
formance, the team had to address the region’s most pervasive environmental influences: an arid climate and intense sun exposure. Their innovative approach to this challenge is one aspect that truly makes this project unique. The passive design strategy includes a “tunable façade” created with a modular bathroom and kitchen core, set against multi-layered exterior walls. This flexible arrangement allows mass areas void of windows—closets and kitchens—to be tuned, or oriented—based on solar exposure. “This is an important strategy to get heat gain handled,” Stevens stresses, pointing out that with no windows facing south there is 100% horizontal shade on the glazing layer, and windows facing north capture more natural light. The project’s most exposed building façades also feature a ventilated barrier wall assembly, created with furring channels between the primary wall assembly and fiber cement board cladding to form a ventilated air cavity that dissipates solar heat gain, equalizes air pressures, and vaporizes moisture. This ventilation structure, along with shading, low-e glass, and optimized wall and roof insulation, contributes to a higher-performing building envelope.
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With no windows facing south, there is 100% horizontal shade on the glazing layer, and windows facing north capture more natural light.
PHOTOS: BRUCE DAMONTE
The outboard bedroom closets at the upper levels of student housing act as vertical shading fins on the bedroom windows.
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INNER WORKINGS
PASSIVE DESIGN THAT REFLECTS AESTHETIC
CREATIVE PLANNING FOR VISUAL INTEREST
NEGLECTED ARROYO TO COMMUNITY AMENITY
CHARACTER
Building setbacks were used to retain a mature,
An overgrown natural arroyo, which serves as a
“The tunable façade becomes an aesthetic
lush, oasis-like landscape on the southern edge of the site, which creates a transition between the adjacent residential neighborhood and campus facilities and blurs the campus border with the community at large. The eastern border is the site’s most distinct landscape with a ridge that gradually rises from the west and follows the arroyo. The design team capitalized on the topography, stepping Glen Mor 2 structures up the hill with a series of terraces to create a buffer to the east that conceals the parking structure and softens the effect of apartment buildings in neighboring communities and provides sweeping views of the campus and arroyo from upper terrace structures.
drainage channel for the campus, was reclaimed as open space on the northern edge of the site. An indigenous landscape transformed it to a sustainable greenway with pedestrian pathways alongside that connect disparate areas of the campus community and improve student mobility. Two pedestrian bridges across the arroyo join Glen Mor 1—a, 500bed student apartment complex also designed by Sasaki—with Glen Mor 2 to create a unified community that shares communal and lifestyle amenities, including fitness facilities, a pool, and multipurpose rooms and gathering places for hosting social activities. gb&d
character of the project and sets it apart from other student housing projects,” Stevens continues, noting that the design combined calibrated overhangs and vertical shading fins, so when units are stacked, windows have optimal passive solar response. Using this innovative approach resulted in individual expression of building façades based on their orientation that enhanced the character of the living environment, as well as building energy performance. The combination of a passive design, high-performance materials and the solar thermal mechanical system boosted energy performance 48% above California’s 2014 Title 24 energy mandate. Title 24 requires all buildings to reduce energy consumption 25% below 2008 levels.
Study and meeting rooms are prominently located to highlight entrances and provide views of the campus and the Box Spring Mountains.
With more than 45 feet of grade change between the lowest and highest points of the Glen Mor 2 site, the design team was able to capitalize on the topography by creating distinct, yet connected spaces throughout.
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NATURALLY DRAWN
INNER WORKINGS
From nature’s calendar to the artist’s studio, from the outside to the inside, creative minds have joined to create three designs drawn from nature and reinterpreted through artistic expression. Watercolor Lesson, Drawing In Ink, Hand Sketched and Hand Sketched Transition, each one lovingly crafted through its artist’s medium: watercolor, ink and pencil sketch. Four designs, each with a story to tell.
www.millikenfloors.com 800.824.2246
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
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72 Workplaces: The Next Generation
We profile three corporate headquarters that are as intelligent in their design as the employees they hope to attract
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An exclusive look at how JDM Associates helps real estate developers and investors capture sustainability’s triple bottom line
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WORKPLACES : THE NEXT GENERATION
PHOTO: ROBERT BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY
We profile three corporate headquarters that are as intelligent in their design as the employees they hope to attract by Brian Barth
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FEATURES
Water technology provider Xylem received a 70,000-square-foot LEED Gold retrofit of its Rye Brook, NY HQ with a design that plays off the theme of clean water with a series of bright, refreshing spaces that illustrate the hydrologic cycle.
The green building industry has come a long way in the past 20 years. Building to energy efficient standards is no longer a fringe idea, but the mainstream expectation of consumers, corporations, and governments alike. Environmental design has gained steam as an economic engine of its own, spawning innovation in the supply chain and fostering competition among companies as they see who can use the fewest natural resources while they go about getting the work of society done. Plus, a new generation of designers have entered the professional world—bright young minds who don’t know how to think and plan without incorporating sustainability. The question is: where do we go from here? How will the next generation take the building blocks of sustainability and create the built environment anew? Will the word sustainability even begin to express this new image for the communities where we live, work, gb&d
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their sense of community, of their sense of place in the world. “When we look at developments, campuses, and even how we’re building individual buildings, it’s all about trying to create an ecosystem of places where people have a variety of choices that support a variety of activities,” says Sargent. “And that variety of activities can be a blend of personal and professional activities.” Sargent, who sits on the board of the International WELL Building Institute, also emphasizes that in the future, sustainability in the workplace will be as much about how people feel at work, rather than just whether or not the building was constructed with sustainably sourced materials. “For a long time, we’ve been so focused on making sure that our buildings are sustainable, but the bottom line is that sitting stagnantly in the space is killing us faster than anything else,” she says. “So we really need to start focusing on the whole concept of well-being, and then even beyond well-being we need to focus on the community element of that, because if people are coming to the office and they are stressed out, or they are financially overburdened, or they’re not connected to things, they’re not going to work well and they’re not going to be healthy.” In the end, Sargent says that the most
Milliken (whose HQ is pictured above) set a goal for zero waste-to-landfill in 1990, a goal that has been 99.8% attained as of 2013.
successful workplaces of the future are those that do not pretend to know what the future will bring, but are designed to adapt to changing conditions. “One of the biggest challenges we have right now is an aging infrastructure of buildings that are out of date and very fixed,” she says. “They are monuments to a time, an era, that we’re evolving away from. Moving forward, it’s about embedding maximum flexibility so that we can sustain these buildings for the long term no matter what the needs are because our needs are rapidly changing.” As is often the case, clues to the future lie in the hands of those who will craft it. Here, we specifically look at workplaces as a portal into what the coming generations of workers—those who are building the future day by day—are creating. Three forward-thinking companies have recently opened new HQs in the United States, each of which showcases a kernel of what the workplace of the future might look like. gbdmagazine.com
PHOTO: ERIC LAIGNEL
and play? Some in the green building industry take the view that a better word for sustainability might be adaptability—how well buildings adapt to the needs of their users and the uncertain variables of climate change, as well as unforeseen changes in technology, culture, and the political economy. Kay Sargent, this issue’s guest editor and the director of workplace strategies at Lend Lease, one of the largest property and infrastructure firms in the world, sees flexible, multi-use office buildings within mixed-use districts as the emerging manifestation of this trend. In particular, she points to the desire of young workers to blur the lines between work and the rest of life, rather than exist in the compartmentalized worlds that underwrote the design of workplaces in the previous generation. “When we look at the workplace of the future, we’re actually kind of evolving beyond that title—it’s the lifestyle of the future that we’re looking at,” Sargent says. “There is truly a blending between work and life.” Sargent reasons that this shift in worldview comes from a desire for a sense of place, to go through life feeling like you’re part of something larger, something positive, something integrated—something we might call community. Workers today don’t want a workplace that robs them of
FEATURES
MILLIKEN
PHOTO: ERIC LAIGNEL
Various Locations
The textile industry is not the first that anyone associates with sustainability, but Milliken is not your average textile company. They’ve been in business for 150 years and seem to have mastered the culture of innovation as the engine that keeps them moving and thriving. “In 1900, Milliken published its first recycling policy and began investing in renewable energy in 1912,” says Philip Ivey, the global sustainability leader for Milliken’s floor-covering division. Ever since, sustainability—in the broadest sense of the term—has been integral to their way of doing business. “We believe that the facets of sustainable excellence, manufacturing excellence, and safety excellence go hand in hand,” Ivey says. “For one to evolve, so must the others.” In considering how Milliken approaches the workplace of the future, its past is a great indication. Roger Milliken, the com-
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pany’s former CEO who recently retired, established the company’s formal Global Environmental Policy in 1990, which set a goal for zero waste-to-landfill, a benchmark that has been 99.8% attained as of 2013. Goals like that—and successfully achieving them—are a big part of what drives the company culture. “Culturally, our management structure is designed to empower each associate to own their role at Milliken, their impact on the environment, and their influence in the local community,” Ivey says, connecting the dots between work life, community life, and personal fulfillment. “The results compel our associates to ‘do good’ for the world in every aspect of their work.” Interestingly, Mr. Milliken was also a master gardener. He oversaw the development of the corporate headquarters in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which boasts a very comfortable LEED-registered office
Milliken’s New York and Chicago showrooms are LEED Gold facilities, and 46% of the energy used in manufacturing their carpets is renewable.
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ABOVE Milliken’s commitment to sustainability goes back to 1900, when the company published its first recycling policy; they also began investing in renewable energy in 1912. LEFT The company’s Spartanburg, South Carolina HQ boasts a nationally recognized arboretum with more than 500 species of trees and shrubs.
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PHOTOS: ERIC ROBERT LAIGNEL BENSON (TOP); PHOTOGRAPHY ARBORETEUM PHOTO COURTESY OF MILLIKEN
FEATURES WORKPLACE DESIGN
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BY THE NUMBERS 150 The number of years Milliken has been in business
1912 The year Milliken began investing in renewable energy
600 The size of the green space outside of Milliken’s corporate headquarters, which boasts 500 species of trees and shrubs
complex, but employees are just as engaged with the legacy Milliken left outside the office doors: a 600-acre green space including a nationally recognized arboretum with more than 500 species of trees and shrubs. He also founded the Noble Tree Foundation to promote education about trees and their importance in sustainable development. Milliken’s enormous reach as a company creates many opportunities to develop forward-thinking approaches to business and corporate leadership. Their New York and Chicago showrooms are LEED Gold facilities; 46% of the energy used in manufacturing their carpets is renewable, from a combination of company-owned hydroelectric facilities and landfill-based methane recapture; and they steward 130,000 acres of forests, which is one of the many initiatives that helped them earn the designation of a carbon-negative family of companies from the Leonardo Academy Cleaner gb&d
and Greener Program ever since 2005. Ultimately, Milliken’s view on pioneering the workplaces of the future goes far beyond its own office walls: by providing sustainable flooring and other products, they help other workplaces reach the same goal. Milliken has evolved their product line in accordance with LEED standards and participated in the environmental product declaration (EPD) movement and Declare transparency labels. Milliken’s latest effort to further the environmental profile of their product line is modeled on the approach of the Living Building Challenge—they plan to certify their next generation of products as Living Products. “Much like the Living Building Challenge, the Living Product certification has different petals and parts that must be achieved, encompassing both product and company aspects,” Ivey says. “This holistic approach to sustainability aligns with our sustainability philosophy as a company.” gb&d
99.8% The percentage of Milliken’s zero waste-to-landfill goal that has been attained as of 2013
13,000 The number of acres of forest land Milliken stewards
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XYLEM HEADQUARTERS BY AMENTA EMMA Rye Brook, New York
Located in Westchester County about 30 miles north of Manhattan, the new Xylem headquarters by Amenta Emma is a case study in design elegance. Xylem is a water technology provider focused on developing drinking and wastewater systems that improve the quality of aquatic resources worldwide. It’s a company with a social mission, the kind of place people feel proud to work for because they’re making a difference in the world, not just earning a living. The design plays off the theme of clean water in a series of bright, refreshing spaces and illustrates the hydrologic cycle with an unfolding display of imagery, words, and artistic flourishes along the wall panels. The 70,000-square-foot LEED Gold retrofit in an existing office park uses locally sourced materials to create the ambiance desired by the client. For example, the floor of the reception area has mirrored chips in it, so it shimmers like the surface of the water. It sets a calm, imaginative mood when employees enter the space each day, but the lead architect on the project, Charles Cannizzaro, went to great lengths to find a nearby supplier for this and other unique
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PROJECT Location Rye Brook, NY Client Xylem Size 70,000 ft ² Completion 2014 Program Headquarters Relocation Certification LEED Gold Awards Best of BOMA Westchester, Signanture Award for Best Tenant Fit Out Cost $9 million
TEAM MEP Edwards & Zuck, PC Structural Engineer DeSimone Consulting Engineers Information Technology & Audiovisual Syska Hennessy Group, Inc. Acoustics Jaffe Holden Sustainable Design Viridian Energy & Environmental
PHOTOS: ROBERT BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY
SUPPLIERS Furniture Bene Parts, Bernhardt, HBF, Keilhauer, Knoll, Touhy Acoustical Ceiling Tile Armstrong Carpet Milliken, Tandus Stone Stone Source Fabric Wrapped Panels Carnegie Stretch Ceiling Grupa DPS
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details: “The client wanted all the materials to portray their message, as well as be sustainable,” he says. Another big push from the client was to find a site that was within the existing urban fabric, rather than in a sterile office park in the suburbs. They looked at 17 different locations before settling on the site in Rye Brook. The existing building they adapted to their needs “had the right proximity to high density housing, public transportation and all the things that you need to achieve a higher level of LEED certification that you can’t necessarily design in or buy,” Cannizzaro says. Every employee in the Xylem headquarters received a sit-stand desk, but the com-
pany leadership was also very clear that the design should invite employees to leave their desks throughout the workday to commingle with their colleagues and have a bit of fun. There is an assortment of open spaces intended to promote this, including what has become a very popular ping-pong zone. “A lot of times you see ping-pong tables sitting there empty because no one wants their bosses to see them playing,” says Cannizzaro, “but they really encouraged it—there are tournaments; it’s very lively. Culturally, Xylem has managed to cause a shift that enabled people to feel comfortable actually going in there and using these amenities….it’s good to get people up and moving.” gb&d
TOP LEFT & RIGHT Every employee in the Xylem HQ received a sit-stand desk, and leadership encourages everyone to mingle about the office. MIDDLE The ping-pong zone is a popular spot to hang out at the Xylem HQ, along with a plethora of other open spaces.
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PETZL HEADQUARTERS BY AJC ARCHITECTS Salt Lake City, Utah
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FEATURES
PHOTOS: ALAN BLAKELY PHOTOGRAPHY
Tristan Shepherd of ajc architects says that when Petzl, the renowned French climbing gear brand, hired them to design the company’s new North American headquarters, “there was a mandate from the beginning; they said, ‘We’re a company about our people. We make good products, but we’re nothing without good employees,’” he says. “So making a space they could be proud of was important for them.” For Tristan and the team at ajc, a firm based in Salt Lake City and owned by Jill Jones, Petzl was a dream client. They wanted a space that did it all and spared nothing to support a highly creative design process and demanded that the highest environmental standards and best practices were carried out from the site planning process through to the furniture and wall finishes. Above all, they wanted everyone—the designers, the suppliers, the contractors—to feel good about what they were doing. The assumption was that the spirit would be contagious and a fabulous work environment would be the end result. By all measures, Petzl got what they were after. The LEED Platinum facility is masterfully designed with a rust-toned exterior that echoes the plate-like rock formations of a red rock canyon and an interior courtyard that creates a warm wintertime microclimate and a cool summertime respite. The park-like grounds are extensive and beautiful with a dog run (yes, employees are encouraged to bring their canine companions to work), a community garden, volleyball net, and picnic areas. A path leads down to a nearby lake and wetlands. Inside, the environment is just as pleasant with numerous clerestory windows that bring natural light throughout the building. There are bike storage lockers and a bike maintenance room for the cyclists in
The new Petzl North American HQ features a rust-toned exterior that echoes the plate-like rock formations of a red rock canyon, incredibly fitting for a climbing gear brand.
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Because Petzl also trains construction professionals and rescue teams on climbing equipment, the spine of the building is a vertical training center with a 55-foot climbing wall.
the company. Shepherd says the two employee kitchens are designed for communal eating and are “much nicer than the average employee break room,” though his words are clearly a case of an architect’s understatement of his own achievement. The headquarters houses the corporate offices for Petzl’s North American operations, but it’s unusual in that it also houses its primary distribution center on the continent, an integrated warehouse with skylights that are hooked to a GPS system so that they rotate automatically to track the sun across the sky through the seasons. But Petzl is also in the business of training construction professionals, rescue teams, and others in the use of climbing equipment, so they chose to design the central spine of the building as a vertical training center. In addition to the 55-foot climbing wall, there are classrooms, a kitchen, and a variety of flex spaces that will allow the training cen-
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“THERE WAS A MANDATE FROM THE BEGINNING. THEY SAID, ‘WE’RE A COMPANY ABOUT OUR PEOPLE. WE MAKE GOOD PRODUCTS, BUT WE’RE NOTHING WITHOUT GOOD EMPLOYEES,’” TRISTAN SHEPHERD, AJC ARCHITECTS
ter to be used in ways that may not have been imagined yet. Of course, employees are also welcome to use the climbing wall in their free time. Gregg Pereboom, general manager of Mapleleaf Cabinets, the architectural millwork company who engineered the stunning reception desk in the entryway and much of the other fixed furnishings in the facility, also commented on the unique collectivist culture he encountered while working on the Petzl project. “There is more longevity in a project like Petzl because of the close partnerships between the client, the architect, the general contractor, and the other subcontractors that are part of it,” he says. “There are so many dependencies in any job, but I think it’s emblematic of long term sustainability when everybody realizes how dependent they are on everyone else and really tries to work together for the common benefit.” Shepherd agrees. “They’re a pretty impressive client,” he says. “They really dedicated a lot to making their people happy.” Perhaps that is the single best way to define the workplaces of the future: places that make people happy. gb&d gbdmagazine.com
PHOTOS: ALAN BLAKELY PHOTOGRAPHY
FEATURES WORKPLACE DESIGN
FEATURES
PROJECT Location West Valley City, UT Client PETZL Size 81,183 ft ² Completion June 2014 Program North American Headquarters and Distribution Center Certification LEED Platinum Cost $14 million
TEAM Architect ajc architects Interior Design ajc architects Construction Management/ General Contractor Sahara Construction Civil Engineer NV5 Structural Engineer BHB Structural MEP CCI Mechanical Electrical Engineer Hunt Electric Testing/Special Inspection Firm CMT Engineering Laboratories
SUPPLIERS Millwork Mapleleaf Cabinets HVAC/Plumbing/ BAS CCI Mechanical Landscaping Ace Landscape Acoustical Panels and Ceilings Mitchel Acoustics GFRC Panel Installation Nicolson Construction Window Treatments TRT Intall Flooring Wall2Wall Overhead Doors Wasatch Doot Company
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FEATURES BUILDING VALUE
BUILDING
JDM Associates helps real estate developers and investors capture sustainability's triple bottom line by Jeff Link
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the late 1970s, a young real estate broker and developer named John Klein was running out of money. He’d built several speculative warehouse buildings adjacent to the Great Valley Corporate Center in suburban Philadelphia. He was trying to find tenants in a lean, Carter-era real estate market. That’s when inspiration struck. “When we finally got tenants for the building, it was almost impossible for them to pay their heating bills. That’s when I had an epiph-
IN
any,” Klein says. “If you are not concerned about the operational costs in the buildings that your tenants occupy, you can’t keep them.” One of Klein’s early mentors was James Rouse, founder of The Rouse Company—a real estate developer credited with building the Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie, Maryland (the first enclosed shopping center east of the Mississippi River)—who planned residential communities such as the Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore and the entire city of Columbia, Maryland. From Rouse, Klein took another important lesson. “The most important thing I learned at a young age from Jim Rouse was always take care of gbdmagazine.com
PHOTO: COURTESY OF JDM ASSOCIATES
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your people, because your people will take care of your properties. Properties can’t take care of properties, your people can.” So how did Klein take this advice to heart? In 1976, when he was developing a small office building in Paoli, Pennsylvania, his great interest in the space program resulted in the desire to place solar panels next to a fountain outside of the building as something to attract attention and hopefully tenants. It worked—after he was able to get his bank to agree to additional funding. A few years later when he was building the speculative warehouses, his funds ran low thanks to high interest rates and a difficult market. He needed to heat the uninsulated warehouses on his shoestring budget, so he installed the most inexpensive heat delivery mechanism possible: ceiling-mounted propane heaters. Unfortunately his tenants struggled to pay their heating bills during a brutal winter, and as a result, Klein lowered the rent. “That’s when I had the epiphany, which was, ‘build buildings that are different in a positive way, but at the same time, always care about the operational costs of the tenants,’” he says. “It’s a win-win because the solar panels taught me differentiation was wonderful, and while later lowering those rents wasn’t fun, I learned that if you don’t think about what it costs tenants to operate in your space, you reduce their ability to pay rent and you reduce the attractiveness of your space.”
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ast forward four decades, and Klein is now principal and co-founder of JDM Associates, a consulting company founded in 2005, that advises many of the world’s largest institutional investors and developers of real estate—including TIAA-CREF, Principal Real Estate Investors, Prudential Real Estate Investors, JPMorgan Chase, UDR, and CalPERS—on the financial, energy, and environmental performance of their real estate assets. The firm has offices in Falls Church, Virginia and the US Virgin Islands, and staff located throughout the United States. Klein’s fellow principal and co-founder is Deb Cloutier, a commercial real estate and energy management expert who has been providing consulting services in commercial real estate, energy management, and environmental sustainability for more than twenty years. “I’m the kite and she’s the string,” Klein jokes. Together, they comprise a formidable team. Klein and Cloutier helped to develop and launch the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR program for commercial real estate by leveraging his network of CEOs and CFOs from leading real estate organizations. He was gb&d
"Our deep experience has proven that you can often improve the situation through simple operational fixes and greater awareness by building operators and owners." John Klein, JDM Associates principal and co-founder JDM SERVICES Benchmarking: assessing baseline performance levels PROPERTY ASSESSMENT: outlining a strategy to reduce the environmental footprint of that property's operations Technical assistance: guiding proper teams as they implement the recommended measures
FACING PAGE Just some of TIAACREF’s 31 million square feet of office space. JDM has helped the investment and development company save $92 million in energy and water costs.
awarded two US patents as a result of developing technology for geothermal heat pumps and fire protection systems with onsite water storage and distribution. Cloutier, for her part, began her career at the American Institute of Architects supporting the Committee on the Environment, where she served as liaison to architects and the general public regarding environmentally preferred building materials and environmentally friendly design; she also supported the Greening of the White House under the Clinton Administration. The clients contracted by JDM have achieved energy savings of almost $200 million since 2006, and received industry and federal recognition for their leadership in sustainability and energy efficiency. The advice JDM Associates gives clients, while uncommon, isn’t necessarily revolutionary. The consulting firm reminds businesses of helpful tips that the CEOs and CFOs of these companies probably already know, like, for example, the importance of turning the lights off when no one is working. But little things such as modifying hours of operations, making small tweaks to energy management systems, or recalibrating light and thermal sensors can greatly improve building performance. Depending on the building, and the operational and market circumstances for each real estate asset, JDM recommends green building improvements to help recover costs. That could involve, for instance, lighting technology upgrades, better HVAC equipment, or new insulation. However, most firms can identify those big-ticket, obvious items. What differentiates JDM, Klein contends, is the company’s ability to find the unobvious behavioral, operational, and maintenance solutions that don’t require a lot of capital to implement, but yield high-value, fast returns. “I’ll give you a specific example,” Klein says. “We often see issues with managing a building’s outside air-intake and pressurization. When and how you bring in fresh air to a building, condition it, and distribute it has a tremendous impact on its energy consumption and tenant comfort. july–august 2015
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Too often, we see buildings need to reduce air-leakage or mitigate “stack-effect”—air rushing through a building—leading to inefficient operations and uncomfortable tenants. Many other firms look first to finding a capital-intensive, equipment-replacement solution. Our deep experience has proven that you can often improve the situation through simple operational fixes and greater awareness by building operators and owners.” The interesting thing is that when applied consistently across a range of properties, small energy efficiency measures can pay major dividends, not only lowering a company’s operating costs, but also improving their net operating income and enhancing the value of their real estate assets. “We encourage our clients and everyone else to do all of the things that should have been done for a long time. These are not new concepts; they are a return to a fundamental approach to profitability and proving that you are more green, while adding green to the bottom line,” Klein says. “We work with our clients to identify and prioritize cost-effective, high-return investments that enhance their bottom line, asset value, and sustainability—all in conjunction with the investment strategy of the property or the fund, the hold-period, or other financial considerations.”
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ne of the clients that has witnessed a direct benefit from JDM’s consultation services is TIAA-CREF, a $620 billion global asset manager—the vision of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie—that provides retirement plans, life insurance, after-tax annuities, mutual funds, and other financial services to non-profit employees. In 2001 when Klein was recruiting and training partners to join the EPA’s online benchmarking system, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, he approached TIAA-CREF and enticed them to join. Later, in 2007, TIAA-CREF launched its Global Real Estate Sustainability Initiative, and Nicholas Stolatis, senior director of Global Sustainability and Enterprise Initiatives at TIAA-CREF, impressed with the results of the ENERGY STAR program, sought out JDM for guidance and support. Broadly speaking, JDM’s services are broken out into three key phases, no matter the size of the building, property, or portfolio. First is benchmarking, or assessing baseline performance levels. Next, JDM outlines a strategy to reduce the environmental footprint of that property’s operations. In this phase —what is called
"We encourage our clients and everyone else to do all of the things that should have been done for a long time. These are not new concepts; they are a return to a fundamental approach to profitability and proving that you are more green, while adding green to the bottom line." John Klein, JDM Associates principal and cofounder
a Property Assessment — a JDM team visits the property and does a walk-through, spending time with the property team, inventorying technologies in place, reviewing operational practices, and seeking ways to run the building more efficiently. Lastly, acting as both cheerleader and coach, JDM provides technical assistance and guidance to property teams as they implement the recommended measures. “Our engineering team is the best in the United States at identifying no- and low-cost opportunities to reduce operating costs, and typically we find 10 to 30% or more in quick return utility and cost savings opportunities,” Klein says. Those cost savings have played out for TIAA-CREF. Over an eight-year period, TIAA-CREF has seen a 19.3% improvement in the energy efficiency of its real estate holdings, which include 31 million square feet of office space, 4 million square feet of retail space, and 15,000 units of high quality multi-family housing. That translates to a reduction of 122 million kilowatt hours of energy consumption and $14 million in annual energy savings. “JDM has been a huge support to help us make and verify these calculations. It all starts with the ENERGY STAR data. We’re fortunate to have worked with both principals who have a deep knowledge and familiarity with this tool that forms the basis of all our metrics and EPA analysis,” says Stolatis. The Portfolio Manager software, which both Klein and Cloutier helped the EPA develop, also allows building owners and property managers to enter data about their building’s energy consumption, hours of operation, number of occupants, and location. Real estate owners can compare the performance of similar buildings across the country and gain insight into how well buildings are designed, maintained, and operated. Additionally, for the benefit of their clients, JDM developed and uses a proprietary software called BenchSMART. This innovative platform facilitates more in-depth monitoring of energy, water and operational performance in buildings. Most of the savings, Stolatis readily admits, are the result of basic operational tweaks—turning the lights off, setting back the temperatures, checking air filters, decreasing a building’s hours of operation— which are applied on a portfolio-wide basis. TIAA-CREF asset managers and third-party property managers use the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to track and input data monthly, with three principal objectives: improving building efficiency in energy and water consumption.
NEWSWORTHY: Just as this article was going to print, it was announced that JDM has been awarded a $20 million, five-year contract to provide strategic support on the Better Buildings Initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energy (EERE). JDM will provide the leadership role in working with corporate leaders, utilities, universities, states, municipalities, government officials, commercial real estate investors and others to improve the energy efficiency of our nation’s buildings by 20% over 10 years.
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PHOTO: COURTESY OF JDM ASSOCIATES (THIS PAGE & BOTTOM LEFT ON FACING PAGE)
FEATURES BUILDING VALUE
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When it comes to capital investments, TIAA-CREF focuses on the low-hanging fruit, replacing inefficient fluorescent tube lighting with LED tubes, for instance, to cut costs and improve building energy efficiency, Stolatis says. Projected savings from capital projects are carefully tracked against actual performance to ensure they are worthwhile investments. In some cases, simple facilities upgrades such as installing low-flow aerators in sink faucets can lead to substantial savings. Other times, savings are captured through close resource monitoring and reporting: installing a meter to measure the amount of water a property is allocating for landscaping purposes, as opposed to drinking waste water. Applied across a company’s real estate holdings, these energy savings quickly add up. According to JDM’s website, “JDM has helped TIAA-CREF to save more than $92 million in energy and water costs, enhanced the incremental asset value since the baseline by $231 million (using a 6.5% capitalization rate), certified over 18 million square feet of office space as ENERGY STAR, assisted TIAA-CREF in obtaining four of the first ever multifamily ENERGY STAR Certifications, reduced portfolio-wide energy consumption by over 19.3%, and avoided over 427,000 MtCO2e.” Based on these efforts, TIA A-CREF earned the prestigious 2008 and 2009 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awards for energy management, as well as the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award. “This is not lip service or a casual effort. We have clearly identified this partnership as an opportunity for best practices, and it is showing an environmental and economic benefit, attributable to a focus on the ENERGY STAR tool for benchmarking resources, JDM’s expertise, and a dedicated asset management gb&d
FACING PAGE John Klein, principal and co-founder of JDM Associates. THIS PAGE Deb Cloutier present at the launch of the Better Buildings Initiative in 2011 with Presidents Obama and Clinton.
team that is supportive of energy efficiency,” Stolatis says. “All of this contributes to EPA’s goals and demonstrates our leadership in the space.”
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IAA-CREF is not the only client to look to JDM for guidance in capturing value for the energy efficiency of their real estate assets. At the same time investment firms like Metlife, Principal Real Estate Investors, GID, and others are looking to JDM for assistance in streamlining their portfolios by cutting energy and water costs and diverting waste. Sustainability’s value is being recognized in the global real estate market, both in the price of energy efficient buildings and, more broadly, in the portfolios of investment firms and fund managers. Cloutier says investment is especially strong abroad, where the Dutch Pension Fund and Japanese Pension Fund are leading the charge of an increasing number of financial firms who recognize sustainability performance as a proxy for overall management quality and a key part of a company’s value proposition. In fact, a new measure of a company’s self-reported sustainability policy, management, and implementation, the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) is now being recognized by investors as a key determinant of a company’s likelihood for growth and success, Cloutier says. Along with the newfound engagement of the brokerage community, decade-old government policies and growing demand
685 Third Avenue, one of the many real estate holdings of TIAA-CREF, has benefited from the services of JDM and recently completed a variety of capital improvements including a new entrance, lobby, elevators, and a new one-of-a-kind pocket park.
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& $92
JDM TIAA-CREF M
The amount of money JDM has helped TIAA-Cref save in energy and water costs
What it does:
%
the percentage Improvement tiaa-cref has seen in the energy efficiency of its real estate holdings
$231
M
The amount JDM has enhanced the incremental asset value by since the baseline
M sf 2
The amount of office space JDM has helped the company energy star certify
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provides retirement plans, life insurance, after-tax annuities, mutual funds, and more to nonprofit employees
Its real estate holdings include: 31 million square feet of office space, 4 million square feet of retail space, and 15,000 units of high quality multi-family housing
Its green recognitions include: the prestigious 2008 and 2009 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awards for energy management, as well as the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award. ABOVE Aspira, a high-rise residential building nestled in downtown Seattle, is one of many TIAA-CREF’s residential holdings.
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Inside TIAA-CREF
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"JDM has been a huge support to help us make and verify these calculations. It all starts with the ENERGY STAR data. We're fortunate to have worked with both principals who have a deep knowledge and familiarity with this tool that forms the basis of all our metrics and EPA analysis." Nicholas Stolatis, senior director of Global Sustainability and Enterprise Initiatives at TIAA-CREF
for energy efficiency in buildings among residential tenants are driving swelling interest in sustainable construction—in some cities making it a de facto requirement before a shovel enters the ground. “Class A
"We're helping make the business case for our clients to the community and investors that sustainability is a proxy for overall management quality." Deb Cloutier, JDM Associates principal and co-founder
office space is now defined as including sustainable office space,” Cloutier says. “No building is going up in Manhattan, or in any of the top 15-20 major markets, that isn’t LEED certified. To build in those areas at all, you have to be LEED certified and you have to have ENERGY STAR.” Moreover, Cloutier points to an EPA report titled, “Summary of The Financial Benefits of ENERGY STAR Labeled Buildings,” which suggests that a business’s ability to demonstrate sustainable practices is more likely to show strong management capabilities in other business areas, such as corporate governance, hiring, and leasing. The EPA report further documents that “ENERGY STAR labeled office buildings are one-third more efficient than average US office buildings, and have annual energy bills that are, on average, at least $0.50 per square foot lower per year, or 35% lower than the average building.” It describes a number of other benefits of ENERGY STAR labeled office buildings, such as direct energy savings, the persistence of energy performance and savings over time, a higher occupancy rate reported by managers of real estate investment trusts with large ENERGY STAR portfolios, and higher building valuation. “We’re helping make the business case for our clients to the community and investors that sustainability is a proxy for overall management quality,” Cloutier says.
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nd, indeed, JDM prides itself on the assistance it provides to firms to help them “tell their story.” Key to this, Klein says, is establishing an internal reporting methodology, with demonstrable metrics and data showing energy and water savings, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and cost savings. This information helps clients draft project bids, marketing materials, website copy, tenant engagement letters, investor relations reports, conference presentations, and white papers. Clients are encouraged to apply for and get recognized by industry programs like ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, the GRESB, or the United Nations Principles of gb&d
Responsible Investing (UN PRI). Yet many firms, Klein says, are inexperienced with such communication tools and could be missing out on important themes they could be emphasizing to market the value of their green assets. While first-order value—saving energy and water—is a direct way to save dollars, there are other more indirect ways in which sustainability benefits the bottom line. Consistent cost savings boost net operating income, which is a key metric in the asset value of a building. Depending on the capitalization rate, those cost savings get multiplied into an increase in the value of a real estate investment. Klein draws an interesting hypothetical: a property owner saves $100,000 per year on a multi-family building due to cost savings from more efficient and reduced energy and water use. Based on a 5% capitalization rate, for the owner that translates to a $2 million increase in incremental asset value. This is a second-order level of value. But, increasingly, the value of sustainable buildings is being examined through other aspects of the financial model of a building, Klein says. “Tenant demand for green buildings, faster absorption, reduced risks to regulatory pressures, investor interest, improved competitive positioning, greater tenant retention, and reduced turnover costs are all ways that sustainability increases the value of a property. These ‘third-order’ effects are sometimes the most compelling, and drive a lot of decision making in the industry,” Klein says. Stolatis also lauds the financial and environmental benefits of the so-called “triple bottom line,” but views these perks in light of their service to a firm’s social mission. “When you consider the triple bottom line—‘people, planet, and profit’— saving millions of dollars in energy costs, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, making properties attractive to tenants, achieving all these things that socially conscious investors are looking for, energy efficiency is absolutely an essential component of an organization that views itself as socially responsible.” gb&d july–august 2015
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
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Heatherwick Studio thrusts a Singapore university into the future
Check out Massachusetts’ largest open-plan office
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104 Green Building, Teton Sytle Meet Aman 10—a stunning new home
in Wyoming’s high country
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HIGHER LEARNING
A UK-based design studio thrusts a Singapore university into the future By Amanda Koellner and Vincent Caruso
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When Heatherwick Studio was awarded the task of drafting the “Learning Hub” for Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Ole Smith wasn’t interested in simply redesigning the classroom—he was interested in redefining it. Smith aimed to ensure that the design of the hub positively influenced the condition of its occupants and fundamentally enhanced their interactions with each other and with the technologies at their disposal. We recently spoke to Smith to pick his brain about the significance of shapes, sizes, and colors. gb&d: I understand the university asked you and your team for a design better suited for contemporary ways of learning versus the more traditional design of a box-like lecture room. How did you guys come up with the idea for the concept of these 12 towers with the rounded rooms?
PHOTO: HUFTON AND CROW
Smith: The rounded rooms came after a visit to the university, which was designed in the ‘80s when this structuralist design style was quite modern. We designed with certain curvatures and used different pigments as well as a retardant. So once we started working on the building, we started using metric modeling to reduce the number of curvatures, because each of the classrooms are unique. We got something like 57 classrooms with different shapes. Then we had 1,050 panels with different façade pedants, so we decided to reduce the number of curvatures to 10 curvatures. Then we developed a system where you could inlay rubber strips in different positions to generate shapes and basically did each of the 1,050 panels onsite, based on our elevation switch.
The client on this project, a university, asked the architects to design the classrooms for a more modern approach to learning that speaks to collaboration, instead of a traditional box-like classroom.
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gb&d: This building introduced several first-of-their-kind environmentally friendly features and solutions. Any that you’d like to speak on? Smith: We got a lot of plants. We got two trees on the seventh f loor, and we have lovely greenery. In Singapore, if you plant the right things, they will grow, and they’ll grow really tall. Levels seven and eight are both green roof gardens. On all balconies, we’ve got money plants, which are quite large. Then we’ve got a certain part of the façade panels that is made with reused aggregate to amplify the sustainable building message where we could. We designed the building so that it’s
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kind of stepped upwards, and one of the reasons for that is we wanted to shade the light coming into the classroom because that just heats up the classroom and requires even more cooling. All the glazing is facing the atrium, so it’s more about the building being opened onto itself and onto the other users so that all of the students in the building at the same time can communicate with each other across the atrium and around it, instead of looking out onto the other buildings—mainly because we wanted to minimize the sun coming in through the windows. That’s why the windows faced on the façade are quite small and the slab above them are always stepping out as a shading measure. We avoided having any
shading system for the windows because we designed the building to create the shading itself. gb&d: Can you talk a bit about the rooftop area? On the eighth floor, we’ve got the green roof garden, which consists of two classrooms, and the rest is greenery and study space. On level seven we’ve got 23 trees, study space, and rooftop gardens. It’s quite nice and windy up there. gb&d: What other sustainable design elements are at play here? Smith: The mesh you see on the staircase gbdmagazine.com
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PROJECT Location Singapore Client Nanyang Technological University Program University learning hub Size 21,527 ft² Certification Green Mark Platinum
TEAM Design Consultant Heatherwick Studios Project Lead Ole Smith Lead Architect CPG Consultants Project Lead Vivien Leong Main Contractor Newcon Builders Sustainability Consultants CPG Consultants Mechanical and Electrical Engineers Bescon Consulting Engineers Civil and Structural Engineers T.Y. Lin International
LEFT The building is designed to be stepped upward because the designers wanted to shade the light coming into the classroom to avoid hot indoor temperatures. ABOVE The Learning Hub shatters traditional notions of what a classroom should look like and how it should be organized.
PHOTOS: HUFTON AND CROW
RIGHT Twelve openings between the 12 towers generates cross-ventilation and allows for a nice breeze.
is a bronze, and it’s called phosphorous bronze, which is slightly stronger than normal bronze. We were offered many types of bronze lookalikes that wouldn’t need treatment to keep it the way it was but we wanted to use bronze because it will age beautifully as bronze does. That was something new for the Asian market—letting them age and not covering them to keep them shiny. Bronze gets kind of dark brown, and it’s nice like that. The paving on the f loors are quartz and are in a kind of fan pattern. That’s kind of a pattern offset from the different classrooms, so it kind of interweaves. We’re quite pleased that we managed to get quartz stone in the end. gb&d gb&d
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A gleaming new Massachusetts building is considered the largest entirely open-plan office in the state
PHOTOS: ANTON GRASSL, ESTO
by Brian Barth
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A glass “waterfall” cascades down the 10-story atrium of this building.
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It’s fitting that a glass “waterfall” cascades down the 10-story atrium of EF Education First’s North American headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So much about the space is fluid, thanks to the open plan design. The flexible workspaces were designed to boost collaboration among the nearly 1,000 employees—and impress potential talent, according to Mark Allen, principal of Boston-based Wilson Architects, the architect of record on the project. The 300,000-square-foot building, located within the NorthPoint development along the Charles River, was completed in October 2014. In addition to office and conference spaces, a 200-person auditorium, private dining, restaurant, and salon comprise the headquarters for the international educational organization, which has more than 500 schools and offices in 50 countries. Allen explains that the flexible design, which is complemented by more than 100 meeting rooms of various sizes and social gathering areas throughout the office, “enhances team-based work and is a tremendous draw for talent.” Talent is also drawn to EF Education First’s commitment to sustainability. Through raised floor air distribution, acoustic ceiling insulation, and daylight tuning, the facility reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 38% and overall energy usage by 34%. In addition, the headquarters feature a bicycle room, showers, and an electric car charging station. The stormwater management system, made up of rain gardens, subgb&d
surface water retention, and recycled water for toilets and irrigation, treats or diverts 90% of the average annual rainfall. The project, which was designed to meet the LEED Silver certifiable standard, is one of the first in Cambridge to be built under the new Stretch Energy Code, which requires greater energy reduction than the state code. Project manager Breana Werner says the facility is perfectly attuned to the organization’s green philosophy. “EF Education First has a longtime commitment to energy reduction goals—it is embedded in their culture and how they
ABOVE An open-plan design leads to a fluid office space for this company’s more than 1,000 employees. BELOW On top of perks like this pingpong table, the workplace also has a private restaurant and salon.
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The steel beams on the high ceilings were treated with a K-13 spray application, which reflects natural light downward.
PHOTOS: ANTON GRASSL, ESTO
operate their buildings,” she says. “They were interested in an environment that would be sustainably designed and provide comfort to employees, with high-quality lighting and individual thermal controls.” Allen explains that the 16-inch raised flooring, which provides heating and cooling, forms the backbone of the flexible arrangements. Workers can individually control the temperature in their area through the HVAC outlets, which are mounted directly into low-VOC carpet and integral hardwood flooring, made from 90% timber reclaimed waste. “This system works particularly well in densely planned environments, where cooling is provided, low and heat generation is drawn off in return air points at the ceiling,” Allen says, adding that it’s highly efficient. The high ceilings’ steel beams were treated with a K-13 spray application, which reflects the natural light and helps control the acoustics. Thanks to the abundance of sunlight coming through the low-e argon-filled glass windows, the project team was able to reduce the lighting density to less than 0.7 watts-per-square-foot. A perimeter daylight sensor system further reduces the need to rely on the LED lights, leading to additional energy savings. Throughout the space, the view of the Charles River and the Boston skyline is always emphasized. “We used glass walls on the interior to keep your eye looking through the space and out toward the view,” Allen says, adding that the team worked to ensure that the interior stayed clutter-free by building designated spaces for everything. “Without private offices, there is a greater need to control clutter. The workplace is a shared community space, and we had to take advantage of every square foot possible elsewhere for coats, lunches, copy machines, and storage—the material that would quickly bog down the workplace if not planned for behind closed doors.” For Werner, the drama of the 10-story atrium is the highlight of the gleaming new facility. “The changing sun angles create a play of shadows from the structure on the largely white atrium walls,” she says. “These unrestrained moments of change happen in the more playful common spaces.” Adds Allen, “EF Education First is a dynamic organization, and they challenged the design team to keep the workplace flexible, connected, and engaging. We collaborated with Wingårdh and EF London interior designers on concepts that reflect the EF culture; it was a fantastic exchange of ideas and led to innovations in the look, feel, and performance of the spaces.” gb&d
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Sunlight also flows through the low-e argon-filled glass windows.
PROJECT Location Cambridge, MA Client EF Education First Program North American headquarters for 985 employees Size 300,000 ft² Certification LEED Silver equivalent; Stretch Energy Code Cost $125 million
TEAM Architect of Record Wilson Architects Design Architect Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB Interior Design EF London Lighting Design Sladen Feinstein Integrated Lighting Integrated Lighting Contractor Contractor Skanska USA Engineer AKF Group Landscape Architect Zen Associates Acoustic Consulting Acentech Development Advisor Redgate
SUPPLIERS Flooring Tate Access Floor Acoustic Ceiling Treatment International Cellulose Corporation
The space boasts more than 100 meeting rooms of various sizes and social gathering areas throughout.
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Green Building, Teton Style Meet Aman 10—a stunning new home in Wyoming’s high country that blends seamlessly with the surrounding landscape by Brian Barth
Perched on East Gros Ventre Butte overlooking Jackson Hole, Wyoming sits one of the most refined resorts in the rocky mountain region. Amangani, as the resort is known, means “peaceful home.” It is a serene environment where guests find that all of their worldly needs are met. It is also a place where the environment has been carefully tended to, in terms of the sensitive high desert ecosystem of the Grand Tetons and the off-site impacts of the development. Located near the gateway to Grand Teton National Park, the resort sits at an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet amid a landscape of priceless beauty. One of Amangani’s environmental stewards is Mitch Blake of the Jackson-based architectural firm Ward + Blake. Blake’s
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firm has designed many of Amangani’s villas, the private homes that form part of the resort community. Describing his firm’s approach as “a contemporary execution of traditional materials,” Blake says that in the Amangani projects, as with all of the firm’s work, “we take our cues from the land and try to respect it as much as possible and develop the architecture around it.” One of Ward + Blake’s most recently completed projects at Amangani, a house known as Aman 10 (which was commissioned by an orthopaedic surgeon from Ohio) is a compelling example of Blake’s fine touch as an architect, as well as his environmental ethics. A passive solar approach with triple glazed windows, super insulation, a ground source heat pump, and
an ultra-tight building envelope all conspired to make Aman 10 a home that can withstand the oscillation between intense heat and cold, high winds and blistering UV rays that characterize the Tetons, while providing a luxurious retreat for its owners. Nestled into a hillside of native high desert vegetation, Blake used the slope of the Aman 10 site to his advantage to capture views of surrounding peaks, maximize solar gain, and steer storm water runoff toward infiltration basins and away from areas that were vulnerable to erosion. A palette of sandstone and cedar runs throughout the interior and exterior spaces of Aman 10, with copious glass surfaces mitigating the connection between the cozy living areas and the dramatic landscape outside. Vertigbdmagazine.com
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PROJECT Location Jackson, Wyoming Client Daryl and Deborah Sybert Program Energy-efficient, single-family house conforming with Homes of Amangani covenants Size 5823 ft² Completion October 2013 Cost Witheld
TEAM Architect Ward + Blake Architects Structural Engineers McNeil Engineering Consulting Engineers Beaudin Ganze Landscape Architect David Weaver & Associates Interior Design Grand Design Group Contractor Andrew Parker Construction
SUPPLIERS
PHOTO: ROGER WADE
Cabinets, Entry Door, & Interior Doors Falls Cabinet Tile & Countertops West Valley Tile & Marble Windows & Exterior Doors Peak Glass, Jeld Wen Sod Roof Membrane FiberTite roofing membrane with American Wick Drain Corp. “Amerigreen RS 50” drain mat HVAC Climate Master, Triangle Tube, Grundfos Plumbing Kohler, Grohe, Delta, Mirabelle, Elkay, Zuma, Zurn Appliances Wolf, Subzero, Asko, Bosch, Maytag
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Let
b e your g u ide
“We used to call it the crackpot factor because people thought we were out of our minds to put sod roofs on homes—now they call it sustainability,” Mitch Blake
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cal wood slats front or overhang of the glazed surfaces creating the dappled effect of a brise soleil, while reducing heat absorption on the south-facing exposures. As you pull up to the house, the first and most striking impression is the series of sod roofs that seem to cascade down the hill, blending the residence into the surrounding landscape. Aman 10 boasts nearly 6,000 square feet of living space, though it barely makes a dent in the picture perfect horizon that surrounds it. “Sod roofs are a really nice way to make garages disappear,” Blake says. “By burying them into the hillside and putting a sod roof on them, they kind of go away and the rest of the features of the house can come forward.” Of course sod roofs also help soak up the intense downpours that are common in this part of the country and add a thick layer of insulation to the home. There is a reason that cold climate cultures—from Iceland to Norway to American pioneers in North Dakota used sod as a building material. For Ward + Blake, sod roofs are a good fit
2015-05-27 8:49 AMmany
for their high-elevation design practice. The firm designed their first sod roof more than two decades ago, and over time it has become a prominent feature of their signature style. “We used to call it the crackpot factor because people thought we were out of our minds to put sod roofs on homes—now they call it sustainability,” says Blake. From an engineering perspective, sod roofs are heavy. The steel and wood frame of the home handles the load with ease, but was also designed with sustainability in mind, explains Matthew Roblez of McNeil Engineering, the Sandy, Utah-based firm who was responsible for the structural components of the house. “Steel is almost the most sustainable construction material there is,” he says. “When you build a steel building, you’re using old cars, chopped up rebar and other recycled metal products.” Roblez has a similar perspective on the structural wood used in Aman 10. The plywood web joists and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) he specified come from sustainable tree farms, gbdmagazine.com
PHOTOS: ROGER WADE
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SPACES
not old-growth forests. Dimensional lumber of a sufficient size to use for structural purposes is hard to come by from tree farm sources because the trees are harvested at such a small diameter. Instead, the technique is essentially to chop them up in small pieces and compress them back together into structural grade wood products. “People tend to think that timber isn’t sustainable, that it’s chopping down forests, which is a misconception,” Roblez explains. Peak Glass, another local company, supplied the windows and doors for Aman 10— high-quality, energy-efficient products from Jeld-Wen’s Custom Line. A representative of the company notes that they’re “seeing gb&d
more and more demand for high efficiency glass products in higher market areas like Jackson.” Mitch + Blake has designed and built nearly a dozen Amangani villas so far, many with the help of McNeil Engineering and, increasingly, with doors, windows and other components from local suppliers like Peak Glass. Jackson Hole is a small town kind of place with a big vision, and it’s increasingly turning toward sustainable design. The Teton County government has gotten involved, offering significant incentives for energy efficient buildings—the Aman 10 building permit was essentially free as a result. “And those permits are normally really expensive here,” says Blake. gb&d
A palette of sandstone and cedar runs throughout the interior and exterior spaces of Aman 10, with copious glass surfaces mitigating the connection between the cozy living areas and the dramatic landscape outside.
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
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110 Schooling Sustainability
Inside SOM’s design for one of the world’s first net-zero schools
112 LG Electronics takes Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to Heart
The recipients of the prestigious 2015 Design for Recycling award
114 Economic Nudge for an Ecologic Gain
Toronto’s “Pay as You Throw” waste diversion program
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Schooling Sustainability One of the world’s first net-zero schools will hit Staten Island this fall with an advanced design by SOM By Amanda Koellner
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pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. The school complies with The SCA’s Green Schools Guide in lieu of LEED; as SOM managing director and project manager on the project Christopher McCready says, “We had no choice, it’s what the SCA follows instead of LEED.” It will serve as the SCA’s first “sustainability lab” and will offer an energy-use reduction of 50% over an SCA standard public school. The new design of the courtyard-shaped building provides both ample sunlight and photovoltaic arrays on the roof and south façade. It also boasts an ultra-tight high-performance building envelope, daylit offset-corridors, low-energy kitch-
en equipment, a greenhouse and vegetable garden, energy-efficient lighting fixtures, a geo-exchange system, energy recovery ventilators and demand-control ventilation, and a solar thermal system for hot water. Ample outdoor spaces such as a running track and playground will accompany clean and crisp hallways and classrooms, punctuated by bright and welcoming primary colors, according to SOM renderings. Luckily for students, teachers, and people worldwide, McCready believes P.S.62 will be far from the last of its kind. “We’re already seeing more net-zero energy schools on the boards,” he says. “This is definitely a trend in the K-12 and higher-education worlds.” gb&d
ABOVE The site boasts a greenhouse and vegetable garden, just two of a plethora of impressive, sustainable features.
RENDERINGS: SOM, COURTESY OF THE SCA
When the New York State Legislature established The School Construction Authority in 1988 to build and manage the design, construction, and renovation of new projects in New York City’s more than 1,200 public school buildings, they couldn’t have predicted SOM’s innovative design for P.S.62 in Staten Island. Slated for a fall completion date, it will be the first net-zero energy school in New York City and the Northeastern United States—and one of the first of its kind worldwide. The same amount of energy it uses on a yearly basis will be harvested from renewable on-site resources as it serves 444 students, ranging from
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P.S.62 will offer an energy-use reduction of 50% over an SCA standard public school.
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LG Electronics takes Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to Heart We go inside the company’s recent achievement: the prestigious 2015 Design for Recycling award
LG Electronics, based in South Korea, has garnered the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI)’s 2015 Design for Recycling (DFR) Award, for designing television products for recyclability throughout their life cycles. This is ISRI’s highest honor and recognizes manufacturers with the forethought to proactively incorporate DFR principles into their product designs and processes. ISRI president Robin Wiener presented the award, applauding LG’s commitment to sustainability. “The initiatives they have undertaken to increase product recyclability, improve resource efficiency, and expand the use of recycled materials
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within the manufacturing process made LG a perfect selection for this year’s award.” Nandhu Nandhakumar, Ph.D., senior vice president at the LG Technology Center of America, accepted the award, saying, “Our Design for Recycling initiatives represent a key element of LG’s Green Product Strategy, under the company’s strategic roadmap to develop products that reduce negative environmental impacts throughout the life cycle, especially when they are ready for recycling.” The LG 4K ULTRA HD OLED and LED televisions, recognized by the ISRI, embody the company’s strategic direction toward manufacturing
Although LG makes a myriad of electronics, its recyclable televisions are what caught the attention of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.
products with green features to reduce their negative impact on the environment and reduce waste with easy part identification and access, disassembly, and material recyclability. These television products feature mercury-free display panels; recycled and recyclable plastics; PVC and BFR-free components; small, light packaging made from recycled pulp content; easy disassembly and label/ seal separation; and standardized materials and connection types. John Taylor, vice president of public affairs and communications at LG Electronics USA says, “The TV is probably the biggest focus of designing for recyclability, but we gbdmagazine.com
PHOTO: LG ELECTRONICS USA
By Patricia Kirk
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Award Eligibility Requirements Contain the maximum amount of recyclable materials
— Be easy to recycle using current or newly designed recycling processes and procedures
— Be cost effective to recycle, not exceeding the value of its recycled materials
— Be free of non-recyclable hazardous materials or impede the recycling process
are looking at making major appliances recyclable too.” He points out that while there is a lot of value in recycling materials in appliances, like stainless steel and plastics, the process can be more complicated. For example, the refrigerant and insulation in refrigerators need to be handled with extreme care. “Designing for recyclability is an intense process,” Taylor continues, noting that engineers look at the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. All design decisions address three core areas: human, energy, and resources. Taylor explains, for example, that LG has made leaps in reducing size of TVs, which are thinner and lighter and use less materials and resources.
Using this strategy, LG has identified eight areas for response and 21 core tasks designed to expand products with greener features, improve green communication, and strengthen green partnerships. Besides designing products with sustainable features, LG promotes events locally to urge consumers to consider energy efficient, recyclable products when upgrading their electronics, Taylor says. “Designing for recycling is an industry message, but our dealers are interested in looking at whether this concept resonates with consumers,” he continues. “We do a lot of consumer research. When people buy a TV they look for best picture quality and other factors, but environmen-
tal interest has been increasing, especially in terms of energy efficiency and brands with more environmental focus on recycling.” LG’s efforts to design sustainable electronics have also been recognized with the Environmental Protection Agency 2015 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for Sustainable Excellence and Climate Communications, as well as three 2015 “Green” Edison Awards for the LG OLED TV, LG EcoHybrid heat pump dryer, and LG Art Cool Gallery air system. The company also was cited as a top-tier CEA e-cycling “Initiative Leader” for achieving 125% of CEA recycling goals and among the 2015 Global 100 World’s Most Sustainable Corporations. gb&d
— Minimize time and cost to recycle the product
—
Reduce use of raw materials by including recycled materials and/or components
—
PHOTO: ISRI
Provide a net gain in the overall product recyclability, while reducing negative impact on the environment THIS PAGE LG received ISRI’s highest honor, recognizing manufacturers with the forethought to proactively “Design for Recycling.”
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Economic Nudge for an Ecologic Gain Toronto’s “Pay as You Throw” waste diversion program charges residents based on their garbage generation By Jeff Link
BELOW Four sizes of blue bins handle recycling in Toronto: plastic bottles, egg cartons, junk mail, laundry detergent tubs, and the like. Other colored bins tackle organics, yard waste, trash, etc.
years, and the real issue was finding a way to motivate residents to divert their waste to recycling and organic bins, where it could be reused or composted. So, as part of their long-term waste management plan, Toronto began a volume-based waste disposal service, with the goal of boosting their residential waste diversion rate—42% in 2006—to 70%. After investigating similar services in cities such as Vancouver, San Jose, Seattle, and San Francisco, commonly called “Pay as You Throw” (PayT) programs, Toronto launched a waste disposal service that charges residents based on how much garbage they are generating. Here’s the gist: recycling, Green Bin organics, yard waste, appliances, household hazardous waste, and
bulk waste are collected at the curb for free. Four sizes of blue bins handle recycling: plastic bottles, egg cartons, junk mail, laundry detergent tubs, and the like. Green bins handle organics. The city takes a bunch of other materials at transfer stations. Grey bins for non-recyclable, non-organic stuff, however, come with a price. Residents can pay for one of four sizes, beginning with a one-bag bin at $8.71 per year, all the way up to the largest 4/12 bag bin at $281.45 per year (amounts here in USD). Throw away more garbage, you pay for it. Across the United States and Canada, as landfills fill up and close, as tipping fees increase, and as growing concerns about carbon emissions make incineration a less attractive option, more and more cities are
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE CITY OF TORONTO
The more electricity you use, the higher your electric bill. The more gas you consume, the higher your gas bill. Why should waste disposal be any different? That’s a question Toronto city officials were asking as far back as 2003, when, at its peak, the city was delivering 142 truckloads of garbage a day to the Carlton Farms Landfill in Michigan. That’s well over half a million tons a year. Not exactly the kind of international trade a city wants to be known for. But, there was a plan. Beginning on January 1, 2011, all of Toronto’s waste requiring landfill disposal— about 874,131 tons annually—was to go to the Green Lane Landfill, located in Southwold Township southwest of London, about 124 miles from downtown Toronto. But even Green Lane had a life expectancy of 17 to 28
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initiating some version of PayT. In fact, a 2006 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report found that approximately 7,100 communities in the United States use some kind of PayT, including 30 of the 100 largest cities, making it available to approximately 25% of the country’s population. According to the EPA’s report, PayT programs have had a huge impact on diversion—reducing residential disposal by about 17%, leading to the diversion of 6.5 million tons of municipal solid waste per year, and contributing to annual reductions of 2.1 to 3.8 million metric tonnes of carbon equivalents that would otherwise accelerate the pace of climate change. PayT programs also have had a significant financial impact. San Jose, a city of nearly one million people, started a PayT program in 1993 known as Recycling Plus. Through “front-end” curbside diversion on the part of conscientious citizens, gb&d
7,100
The number of communities in the U.S. using some type of PayT.
30
The number of the 100 largest U.S. cities that use PayT.
25%
Chunk of American citizens with access to PayT.
6.5m
The amount of municipal solid waste in tons, diverted per year thanks to PayT.
lucrative contracts with private recycling and composting companies, and “back-end” sorting at material recycling facilities, the city has reduced its annual disposal costs by more than $4 million dollars a year. One of the things that sets Toronto’s program apart is a robust public education effort that makes clear to residents where their garbage actually belongs—and how they can save money by diverting it. “Our main tool that is the bible for how to recycle and divert waste is an annual calendar for every family. It tells you when garbage day is and how to divert it. We also have an online Waste Wizard, where you can type in an item for collection and learn which bin it goes in, along with a 311 service that you can call for instructions,” says Beth Goodger, manager of Solid Waste with the City of Toronto. Most garbage, as it turns out, is not actually garbage. The average Toronto single-family household
Toronto has been devising a longterm waste-management plan for some time now and began its Pay as You Throw Program to charge residents based on how much garbage they generate.
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Toronto’s Waste Disposal Breakdown
Blue Bins: Three sizes for recycling: plastic bottles, egg cartons, junk mail, laundry detergent tubs, etc.
“[The program] is putting individual accountability in the hands of residents so they can make choices while increasing their awareness about environmental impact.” Beth Goodger, manager of Solid Waste with the City of Toronto
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dumps about 440 pounds per year. City curbside audits show that twothirds of this can be diverted: 38% is organic waste, 15% is recyclable, 2% is electronics, 3% is yard waste, and so on. Basically, people throw away things they shouldn’t because they don’t know any better or because, until recently, there was little incentive to take the time to sort it out. So is Toronto’s program working? In short, yes. A total of 484,159 tons of residential waste was diverted from landfill in 2013, and the city reports a 53% waste diversion rate in 2014, not yet at the 70% target but moving in the right direction. “It is putting individual accountability in the hands of residents so they can make choices, while increasing their awareness about environmental impact. Council’s support for these programs has been a key for setting high diversion targets and recognizing waste as utility,” Goodger says. gb&d
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Green Bins: Organics
GRAPHICS: COURTESY OF THE CITY OF TORONTO
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Grey Bins: Non-Recyclable, non-organic, which cost from $10.63 to 343.60 per year gb&d
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GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN
Up Front Typology Trendsetters Inner Workings Features Spaces Next Punch List
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120 Person of Interest
Pedro Gadanho
122 Material World
Iris Industries
125 Software Solutions
WeatherShift
126 On the Spot
Guest editor Kay Sargent
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Person of Interest Pedro Gadanho
“I contend that architecture is not only a serviceproviding practice, but it’s also a cultural protection,” says Pedro Gadanho, curator of contemporary architecture at The Museum of Modern Art. “I was always interested in what sort of effects architecture has on people and of course the creative aspects of how it’s a discipline that informs a certain way of thinking and doing.” Interview by Amanda Koellner
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This outlook has guided the architect-turned-curator, specifically as he spearheaded MoMA’s recently closed exhibition, “Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities,” which will next be shown in Vienna. The exhibition looks at the fact that, as the world’s population climbs to a staggering eight billion people, “over the next years, city authorities, urban planners and designers, economists, and many others will have to join forces to avoid major social and economic catastrophes, working together to ensure these expanding megacities will remain habitable.” Taking a break from his role at the museum and his now “hobby” of practicing architecture, the Portuguese architect sat down to talk to gb&d about himself, his new gig, and the future. gb&d: You’ve now been at MoMA since 2012; what’s the best part about this role? Gadanho: Certainly for me there was the discovery of a whole new area that I haven’t been involved with before, which is the collection. It was very exciting to come to work with such a fantastic collection of architecture and design. There are also other aspects that continue things I was already doing before, like working with emergent practices. And the young architects program has provided a platform to get to know many important young practices not only in the United States but also Asia, South America, and Europe. This has helped understand what sort of themes people were dealing with, what sort of materials they were exploring anew, and what sort of strategies would come up, which has been very rewarding as well. And of course, there’s Uneven Growth, which was more of a research project and more of a protection of new ideas that continued certain curating trends that I was experimenting with before I came to MoMA.
gb&d: I was just going to ask if Uneven Growth was your brainchild. What was the process of curating that exhibit like? Gadanho: It was a very interesting process. I don’t think many people actually know about the complexity and the time that is involved in conceiving an exhibition. For Uneven Growth, I had to select the cities I wanted to look at after presenting the idea to the exhibition committee. I started thinking about what could be interesting questions to address in a situation in which architects are asked to produce ideas in a workshop environment. I thought this could be a good follow-up piece in MoMA’s series, which had previous themes of climate change and the economical and social problems of the foreclosure crisis in the US. For this one, I thought we should go global. In 2008, for the first time in history, 50% of the population was living in cities, and I also learned that 2/3 of the urbanites would be poor, which also presents enormous challenges that you could see as catastrophic. It was a question of raising awareness of a certain issue and at the same time, proposing design scenarios of what could be envisaged not as solutions but as least as ideas to be debated in regards to the problem. gb&d: How did you choose the cities you would focus on? Gadanho: We showed the cities that we thought would represent different levels or different moments in historical development of inequality as expressed in distribution of resources, special differences and segregation, exclusion and inclusion, and so on. So what would be the cities that, around the world, would represent the stages of those processes? Then we looked for teams in each city that were somehow already dealing with these questions or perhaps just discovering the problem. We paired the local teams with international research teams that were dealing with urban issues on gbdmagazine.com
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a more global level, and that chemistry of having these teams work together was something that was very important as a curatorial experiment to see how local and global knowledge could interact and produce something that was very specific and idiosyncratic for each city. So we got people together through workshops for a year, and they would eventually produce ideas for the catalogue that was presented here.
PHOTO: MARTIN SECK
gb&d: Fascinating process. So, there are a large number of people who understand the implications of what a massive population boom by 2030 can mean and what even growth will look like, but do you think there’s a general lack of understanding of the severity of these problems within the public and even perhaps within the architecture community? Gadanho: There are certainly two answers for that question. One is that yes, I don’t think that the general public is aware of how the forces of inequality— which sometimes you recognize on an everyday basis but you manage to keep at a distance—could be evolving toward a catastrophic situation. I don’t think people realize that if you’re in an American city—although there is Baltimore and Occupy Wall Street and so on—I don’t think people really interiorize the possibility of things becoming worse and in that sense, I think the discussion is needed so we can anticipate what could be the dystopian scenarios and start a conversation about what needs to be done. And actually I think using a platform like MoMA gives the extreme advantage of the impacts of such a discussion really becoming mainstream rather than very specialized. When we’re talking about the specialized audience, then that’s a different story. I do think that architects were engaging ideas of social responsibility by the beginnings of modernism. By the 1920s, they were thinking of mass housing as a problem that should be addressed. But I then I think that was lost through the century, and many times architects actually became these service providers responding more to those who have the economic power to build than to real social issues. And I think there was a need for a call for social responsibility again, and I do think that in fact was also felt. I must say that I see now more now than one year ago universities organizing seminars and classes around topics like inequality in cities, and I think that issue was already there but became much more topical. gb&d gb&d
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Material World Iris Industries
By Amanda Koellner
When Jen Carlson and her husband Josh Shear reunited in Nebraska after going to high school in the state together, they eventually married and decided they’d build a straw-bale house. “We were looking for green materials, and at this point in 1999, in the middle of the country, there was nothing going on for green building,” she recalls. “So we decided to start a business carrying green building supplies.” For a while, they sourced other people’s sustainable materials, which were, for the most part, imported. But when a stockpile of scrap paper laminates from the fabrication installation they were doing at the time accumulated, they adapted it into a new tile product called Slate-ish, which can be used in place of natural stone, ceramic tile, and even wallpaper—all 100% recycled material, handmade in the USA. They’ve
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now expanded their offerings to include textiles (Denimite and Marblus, made from blue jeans and recycled cotton-poly scrap, respectively) and paper fiber (Magazite and Billium, made from magazines and US currency), all created in a small shop in Lincoln, Nebraska. We chatted with Carlson, who shares many hats with her husband in the business, to learn more. gb&d: Was Denimite the first product you made under Iris Industries? Carlson: Denimite was the first. When you look at the textile industry, it’s enormous worldwide. Our current mindset is that clothing is sort of a throwaway thing, so there’s a huge market for textiles, generally speaking. If you have something that somebody uses and it goes to a thrift store and it sells, that’s great. If it doesn’t sell or if it’s not in good enough condition to be sold, then you can’t make it into new clothing again, so it hits the end of its life. We don’t want to use something that’s still useful to somebody else if we can help it. If we’re stopping it from being able to be used because we’re putting it into our product and it still has another version or two of its life it can go through, then we try and steer clear of that if we can. There
are some other really interesting composites made in the world, and it’s hard because there are things where they’re interrupting a recycling stream to make their product. So once they’ve encased it in whatever they’re encasing it in, it can’t be recycled anymore, so we’re trying to stay away from that aspect of things. gb&d: I understand that the binding, adhesive, ink removal, etc. in magazines is all quite tricky to recycle. Did you know that going in and decide you were going to figure out a way to do it yourselves or did you decide you wanted to work with magazines and later found these difficulties? How did you navigate that? Carlson: The way that we research raw materials is that it all sort of goes handin-hand. First we have to make sure we can get a clean stream of the waste materials, and the difficult thing about magazines is when all of your recycling containers, including magazines and newspapers and everything, goes to the recycling, they don’t separate that in a way that’s useful to us. It’s all mixed together. So trying to get just magazines is much harder than it sounds like it should be, so we have to consider some of those logistics like how we gbdmagazine.com
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF IRIS INDUSTRIES
This young company blends renewable biobased components with recyclable materials to create new composites
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DENIMITE RECYCLED BLUE JEANS AND BIO-BASED RESIN COMPOSITE
Denimite, a cotton fiber bio-composite that is highly moldable, is made with recycled denim fiber material. Each sheet of Denimite takes approximately 13 pair of jeans to produce. Lightweight and tough, with no offgassing of toxic chemicals, Denimite can be used for automotive and aerospace applications along with other custom production.
IRIS-INDUSTRIES.COM
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BILLIUM SHREDDED US CURRENCY AND BIO-BASED RESIN COMPOSITE
The Federal Reserve bank creates a large amount of shredded currency each month. These bills are pulled from circulation because of damage, defacing, or age and instantly shredded. Billium utilizes this shredded material and combines it with a bio-based resin composite to create counter tops and other products. Billium uses about 2.5 pounds of shredded currency per square foot.
IRIS-INDUSTRIES.COM
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MAGAZITE RECYCLED MAGAZINES AND BIO-BASED RESIN COMPOSITE
Near and dear to gb&d‘s heart, Magazite takes magazine recycling to the next level. To keep paper material from being shipped overseas or added to the landfill, IRIS Industries takes magazines, shreds them in “The Disintegrator,” and processes the paper scrap to remove staples and any other contaminants. The result is a mix of colors in “random chaotic awesomeness.”
IRIS-INDUSTRIES.COM
Six times stronger than actual slate, Slate-ish tiles can be used in the place of natural stone, ceramic tile, and even wallpaper. Handmade from 100% reclaimed material, Slate-ish can be applied in a variety of creative ways. There is nothing in the world quite like it.
Ms
MARBLUS RECYCLED COTTON/POLY SCRAP AND A BIO-BASED RESIN COMPOSITE
The material used for sheets, clothing, and various other fabric products is often difficult to recycle, and these blended materials are more than plentiful. Taking advantage of this surplus of trimmings, IRIS Industries shreds and blends the scrap to create a wonderful blue/gray and white tone material, looking much like Carerra Marble.
IRIS-INDUSTRIES.COM
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Iris Industries’ Slate-ish (pictured on the walls here) is six times stronger than actual Slate and can be used in a variety of ways.
gb&d: Billium really jumped out at me as being incredibly interesting. How did you arrange to get that shredded currency to be sent to you? Carlson: Years ago, there was another company that has since gone out of business that was making a product with shredded currency, so we knew that the product existed through our green retail days. There’s definitely a process. You have to apply and tell them what you’re using it for. We had to contact the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Once you get approval, you’re on your own to go talk to the Federal Reserve Banks—there are a handful around the country and they all work differently and independently, so we knew there was no way that this was going to go super easily. We did end up getting ahold of the person that runs that portion of the
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bank and was super helpful and loved the idea of recycling because they were literally just sending that down the street to a burnwaste facility. gb&d: What are some examples of some things you thought would maybe be a golden idea to turn into a composite that didn’t pan out? Carlson: So we’re in Nebraska, and this is the corn husker state, so we talk to the University of Nebraska on the campus that deals with a lot of the agricultural aspects of things. We talked to them about what types of materials we could get, which included cornhusks, and that sounded awesome. So we took the cornhusks from them after that meeting and came back, and Josh made a few samples out of it. It looked just like OSB—a common building material that’s used all the time. It’s not a super pricey product at all because it’s used for sheeting and flooring. It just didn’t look pretty or interesting anyway, so we decided against that one. gb&d: What are some other materials you’re hoping to use?
Carlson: Well, we got other raw material in the line of things we’d like to introduce. One of the products we started to make with our other four early selections was one made of sunflower seed shells. And the material itself is amazing, and it really looks very interesting; it’s very organic and natural looking. The hard part about it is that when we’re sourcing sunflower seed shells, the last batch that we got had so many seeds still in the shells. So that product has taken the back seat while we figure out how we’re going to do that because we can’t introduce a product that has so many seeds that it’s affecting the material. gb&d: I understand the company is just a couple of years old, have you begun to sell the products yet? Carlson: Yes, we have. Whole Foods in Chicago opened a couple of stores that used Denimite and Magazite. We’ve had a couple of local banks use materials here, too. We’ve had a lot of interest internationally and are in the process of shipping materials to the UK, although we hope to soon get into production over there rather than shipping it. gb&d gbdmagazine.com
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF IRIS INDUSTRIES
can collect it and where it’s going to come from. At the same time, we’re researching issues with the material, where and how it’s recycled, what the useful life of that is before it gets to us, etc. There’s a research phase, and sometimes we’ll run some test products.
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Software Solution WeatherShift This new software application projects future climate weather data in order to help smarten up our infrastructure design By Vincent Caruso
As our CO2 output increases and our planet’s weather habits continue to swing to new extremes, new variables have emerged that building and design professionals must consider in order to do their jobs. To fill the void, Argos Analytics and multi-dimensional firm Arup have teamed up to develop a nifty new tool. The new collaborative WeatherShift software application projects future climate weather data with the aim of influencing smart infrastructure design. We caught up with Argos president and founder Robert Dickinson and Arup energy and resource sustainability business leader Cole Roberts to talk software specifics. gb&d: What can we ultimately expect from WeatherShift? What are the general goals of the software? Roberts: In general, we expect better buildings and city infrastructure. Specifically, by using better data to inform our design, buildings will be better able to manage higher temperatures, cities will be better able to manage changed rainfall. The outcome will be improved public health, more resilient city services, and lower cost of responding to future climate hazards.
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ARUP
gb&d: How far into the future can WeatherShift collate and quantify climate data? Dickinson: The WeatherShift weather file tool is designed to adjust the weather files that are used to model energy needs for buildings for the effects of climate change. The adjustments are based on projections from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment (AR5) that was completed in 2014. These projections run through the end of the 21st century and the current implementation of the tool provides projected gb&d
weather data for mid-century and the end of the century. gb&d: In technical terms, how does the software work? How are emissions levels estimated? Dickinson: There are two major components: the computation of offsets between current and future climatic conditions and the use of those offsets to adjust or “morph” the weather files. Since future conditions cannot be accurately predicted, a group, technically referred to as an ensemble, of projections is analyzed to provide information on the range of possible conditions. The results of this analysis are presented in the form of a cumulative frequency distribution for the offsets. gb&d: What are some examples of how you suppose WeatherShift might inf luence urban planning/how future developments in architecture might be approached? Roberts: Most urban planning today is done with little attention to climate or undertaken assuming the climate won’t change. We have seen that when WeatherShift data is applied to urban planning
The goals of WeatherShift include informing better infrastructure design, allowing for buildings to manage higher temperatures, and helping cities handle changes in rainfall.
in select cities, the conclusions point to a need to proactively consider climate in the future. Examples can be a more open relationship to cooling breezes, open and shaded spaces to reduce heat islands and encourage areas of sanctuary, removal of heat rejection equipment from dense urban areas, changes to traditional patterns of building, etc. gb&d july–august 2015
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On the Spot Kay Sargent
This issue’s guest editor, head of workplace strategy at Lend Lease, answers our questionnaire and explains why you have to balance your lifestyle to live sustainably.
WASTEFUL HABIT YOU’RE TRYING TO KICK
My three vices are lots of ice tea, sweetener, and salt.
MOST FULFILLING HOBBY
Walking the dog.
MOST MEMORABLE HOMETOWN HAUNT
I still live in the neighborhood I grew up in, but I do miss the drive-in theatre. GREATEST PROFESSIONAL PET PEEVE
Those who hire talented people and then don’t trust or empower them. And Gibbs would say “You don’t waste good.” INDUSTRY JARGON YOU WOULD BANISH
Collaboration and teaming, most overused words and often misunderstood. THE PERFECT CITY WOULD HAVE
Access to rivers and forest; lots of greenery and parks; balanced with culture, arts and history; a place where you can work, live and play; and have the ability to walk everywhere. ONE TECHNOLOGY ON THE HORIZON THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
Presence awareness sensors; when you walk in to a room it “senses” your presence and adjust the settings to your liking. Sound, light level, temperature, connectivity, art, aromas…all to your preference.
TOPIC IF YOU WERE ASKED TO GIVE A TED TALK
A reality check on workplace design.
THE NEXT BIG IDEA WILL COME FROM
Our children, if we encourage them to think outside of the box, be creative, and emphasize both art and science. A CENTURY FROM NOW, HUMANITY WILL
Revere nature above all else and understand its power and impact.
ONE BOOK EVERYONE SHOULD READ
Architects should occasionally review their copy of the college textbook Architecture: Form, Space, and Order by Francis D.K. Ching to read about classic principles of architecture and see magnificent sketches.
PHOTO: PHILLIP ALEXANDER-COX
MOST MEMORABLE MENTOR OR TEACHER
My father. He taught me to love, enjoy life, be happy with what you have, and pass it forward. HARSHEST CRITICISM YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED
“No excuses. If you are the lead, anything that goes wrong is on you.” Gerald Peck to me when I was a young designer.
FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
Walking.
gb&d
A CURRENT EVENT WE SHOULD FOLLOW MORE CLOSELY
The Middle East. It’s an age old conflict but it’s getting more extreme, and today it is fueled by technology and new age weaponry, so it will impact us all. ENVIRONMENTAL COME-TO-JESUS MOMENT
I’m a child of the ‘70s, so the commercial with the Indian crying in a forest surrounded by litter got me.
MOST COMPELLING ARGUMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
Our children.
WAY TO MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT A NONPARTISAN ISSUE
Realize we only have one planet, and in the US, we are fortunate to have fertile land and varied climates. That is not something we can take for granted. The countries that don’t have them realize it, so we better. YOUR PERSONAL DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABILITY
Lifestyle balancing; living in a way that has low or no impact to our natural surroundings while being as connected to it as possible, and in a way that supports our own well-being and community. PUBLICATION YOU HOPE WILL NEVER DIE
Life magazine, but it did. I miss those amazing photo spreads and articles celebrating, well, Life.
SOCIAL MEDIA—HELPING OR HURTING
Hurting. For every one good post there seems to be a dozen mocking something or someone. Just not nice.
THE THOUGHT OR IDEA THAT CENTERS YOU
We are all small but can make an impact. Like dominos.
IN CONVERSATION with Kay Sargent Continued from p. 21
gb&d: Do you think this is a cyclical problem? Sargent: There’s this great thing called the archetypes that talks about how there’s a 75-year turn upon which things repeat themselves. We go through this cycle of heroes, artists, prophets, and nomads. The last great hero generation was the World War II generation. There was a major crisis, and everybody rallied together for a common cause. The last artist generation was the silent generation, and the last prophet generation was the baby boomers. They questioned everything, and that led to societal changes that led into a new era. And the Gen X-ers became the nomads. We are living in a time of crisis right now, so if you follow the archetypes, the millennials are scheduled to be the next hero generation.
“To design the right solution, you have to know who you are and design to it, which means that if everybody is just giving everybody open plans, then they’re guessing, and they’re missing the boat.” gb&d: What do you think this means for the future? Sargent: Change isn’t made by people who accept the status quo and have low expectations. Change is made by people who have high expectations, but also by people who put their money where there mouth is and I think millennials have proven this. I have faith that they are going to do great things. This means that Gen Z is slated to be the next artist generation. Now there’s a massive movement towards the maker movement and genuine products. And there’s the fact that there’s onshore manufacturing again and 3D printing, which could bear out to be a hugely significant organic maker/artist movement. That’s who, if you’re designing space, is going to come in in five years. And we’re already seeing a shift towards those values. So people need to stop thinking about the past and start thinking about what’s coming and how to prepare for that and how to get ahead of the curve. I think a lifestyle-work-play balance is going to be really important. We need to be creating environments and communities and spaces that not only support environmental and human sustainability, but support communities and connect people back together again. gb&d
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gb&d Exchange Your go-to resource guide for incorporating sustainable practices into your business. INTERESTED? Contact Krystle Blume at krystle@gbdmagazine.com
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Directory & Index
ADVERTISERS
A AKF Group, 22, 132 akfgroup.com 800.945.1497 American Hydrotech, 36 hydrotechusa.com 800.877.6125 ASLA, 129 asla.org 888.999.2752 C Construct Show, 4 constructshow.com 866.920.0208 E Elkay, 116, 117 elkay.com 630.574.8484 G GAF, 56 973.628.3000 gaf.com Greenbuild, 8 greenbuildexpo.com 866.606.7765 I Interface, 131 interface.com 800.634.6032 M Mapleleaf Cabinets, 22 mapleleafcabinets.com 801.262.7741 Mash Studios, 108 mashstudios.com 310.313.4700 McNeil Engineering, 106 mcneilengineering.com 801.255.7700 Milliken, 70 millikenfloors.com 800.824.2246 P Peak Glass, 106 peakglass.com 307.733.1769 Passive House, 15 naphc2015.phius.org 312.561.4588 S Sasaki Associates, 2 sasaki.com 617.926.3300
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W WELL Certified, 50 wellcertified.com 202.650.0369 What We Make, 90 wwmake.com 331.442.4830 Workrite Ergonomics, 3 workriteergo.com 800.959.9675
PEOPLE & COMPANIES
# 2015 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award, 113 A AAA Four Diamond Rating, 31 AJC Architects, 81 AKF Group, 61 Allen, Mark, 101 Allston Green District, 59 Aloft Atlanta, 34 Aloft Hotels, 34 Aman 10, 104 Amenta Emma, 78 American Hydrotech Inc., 43 American Institute of Architects, 85 Argos Analytics, 125 Arup, 125 B Billium, 122 Blake, Mitch, 104 BOMA Energy Efficiency Program, 22 BOMA Energy Performance Contract, 22 BOMA Every Building Conference & Expo 2015, 22 Bosch, Pat, 64 Buenz, Solomon Cordwell, 67 Building Owners and Managers Association, 22 Bureau of Printing and Engraving, 124 C Cahill, Timothy, 44 CalPERS, 85 Cameron, James, 54 Cameron, Suzy Amis, 54 Cannizzaro, Charles, 78 Case Western Reserve University, 19 Carlson, Jen, 122 Carnegie, Andrew, 86 CBRE, 46 Clean Energy Challenge, 18 Clean Energy Trust, 18 Cloutier, Deb, 85 Columbia University Medical School, 46 Cooper, Sir Cary, 38 Crowell, Fiske, 67 D Delos Living, 46
Denimite, 122 Design Flux Technologies, 19 Design for Recycling, 112 Design Hotels, 27 Dickinson, Robert, 125 Dutch Pension Fund, 87 E Ecotec, 65 EF London, 102 EF Education First, 101 Energy Star, 51 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awards, 87 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award, 87 EverGuard, 53 Extreme Events Institute, 62 F Farzam, Jon, 31 Federal Reserve Banks, 124 FGC Plasma Solutions, 19 Florida International University’s Stempel Complex, 62 G GAF, 51 Gensler, 46 Gerson, David, 40 GLAD Hotel Yeouido, 27 Glen Mor 2, 66 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, 87 Goodger, Beth, 115 Green Charge Networks, 31 Green Circle, 53 Green Schools Guide, 110 Grohman, Martin, 51 Gudz, Nadine, 39 H Heatherwick Studio, 95 HPD Collaborative, 53 Human Spaces Global Report, 38 I Igor, 22 Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, 112 International Well Building Institute, 74 Interface, 38 International Panel on Climate Change, 125 Ivey, Philip, 17, 75 Iris Industries, 122 J Japanese Pension Fund, 87 JDM Associates, 85 JPMorgan Chase, 85 Jeld-Wen, 107 K Kellert, Stephen, 40 Klein, John, 84 Kia Motors, 31 L LEED Gold, 34 LEED Silver, 101 Lend Lease, 13, 74 Leonardo Academy Cleaner and Greener Program , 77 Levi’s Stadium, 43 LG Electronics, 112
LG Technology Center of America, 112 Living Building Challenge (LBC), 53 Lutz, Kellan, 54 M Make It Right, 49 Malison, Lindsay, 46 Mapleleaf Cabinets, 82 Marblus, 122 Mayo Clinic, 49 McGuinness, Brian, 34 McNeil Engineering, 106 McCready, Christopher, 110 Magazite, 122 Menino, Thomas, 59 Metlife, Principal Real Estate Investors, GID, 87 Milliken, 16, 75 Milliken, Roger, 75 Moore, Beth, 47 Mount Vernon Company, 59 MUSE School, 54 N Nandhakumar, Nandhu, 112 Nanyang Technological University, 95 National Football League, 43 NETenergy, 18 Noble Tree Foundation, 77 O Omnicom, 20 P Peak Glass, 107 Perebroom, Gregg, 82 Perkins+Will, 62 Petzl, 81 Posada, Carlos, 47 Prellwitz Chilinski Associates, 59 Prudential Real Estate Investors, 85 P.S.62, 110 R Red Carpet Green Dress, 54 Roberts, Cole, 125 Roblez, Matthew, 106 Rouse, James, 84 S San Francisco 49ers, 43 Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau, 31 Santa Monica Green Business Certification Program, 31 Sargent, Kay, 13, 74 Sasaki Associates, 66 Scialla, Paul, 49 Shear, Josh, 122 Shepherd, Tristan, 81 Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers, 32
ShingleRecycling.org, 52 Shore Hotels, 31 Shortsleeve, Matt, 61 Smith, Ole, 95 Snell, David, 59 Solect 61 SOM, 110 SPG Keyless, 34 Starwood, 34 Stevens, Tim, 67 Stolatis, Nicholas, 86 Stretch Energy Code, 101 SQA Grand Prize, 31 T Taylor, John, 112 The Edge, 59 The Oscars, 55 The Rouse Company, 84 The School Construction Authority, 110 TIAA-CREF, 85 Timberline, 51 U UDR, 85 UL Laboratories, 53 Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities, 121 University of Akron, 19 University of California, Riverside, 66 University of Illinois, 18 University of Nebraska, 124 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 115 U.S. Green Building Council, 43 U.S. Green Building Certification Institute, 46 V Vaghar, Kamyar, 46 Vietnam Discharge Grade A, 32 W Ward + Blake, 104 Walker, Stacy 16 WeatherShift, 125 WELL Certification, 46 WELL Living Lab, 49 Wemer, Breana, 101 Westwood, Vivienne, 54 Wiener, Robin, 112 Wingårdh, 102 William Jefferson Clinton Children’s Center, 49 Wilson Architects, 101 World Urbanization Prospects Report, 38 X Xylem, 78 Y Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 40 Yanez, Dennis, 43 York, Jed, 44 York, John, 44 Z Zimmerman, 20
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A Foundation For Beautiful Thinking. gb&d
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