Eco-Structure 2010 05-06 by KainNemesis -

ECO-STRUCTURE PUBLIC SPACES AND GOVERNMENT FACILITIES

IN PLAIN VIEW Sustainability in the Public Eye MAY/JUNE 2010

ECO-STRUCTURE.COM MAY/JUNE 2010

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Introducing

THE NEW

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ned Cramer ncramer@hanleywood.com EDITOR Katie Weeks kweeks@hanleywood.com MANAGING EDITOR Greig O’Brien gobrien@hanleywood.com ART DIRECTOR Aubrey Altmann aaltmann@hanleywood.com SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Marcy Ryan mryan@hanleywood.com

Welcome to the new IPS:

SERVICES SEND EDITORIAL TO: One Thomas Circle N.W. Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20005 202.452.0800 202.785.1974 fax SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES AND BACK-ISSUE ORDERS 888.269.8410 or ecos@omeda.com ADDRESS AND SUBSCRIPTION CHANGES eco-structure P.O. Box 3494 Northbrook, IL 60065-9831 888.269.8410

ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Lindsey M. Roberts lmroberts@hanleywood.com

SUBSCRIPTION FAX 847.291.4816

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, PRODUCTS Kimberly R. Griffin kgriffin@hanleywood.com

CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE omeda.com/ecos

New Products

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jim Schneider Laurie Grant

LIST RENTALS 203.778.8700

New Manufacturing Capabilities

ONLINE

New Look New Facility

Same Great Company At IPS, our panels offer quick and easy installation, design versatility, appealing aesthetics, energy efficiency and longevity. We also provide excellent service and support, before and after the sale. That combination of superior products and outstanding service is what sets IPS apart and gives our customers the opportunity to be successful. Look to IPS for all of your insulated metal panel needs. For more information, visit us online at www.insulated-panels.com/IPSintro or call us at (800) 729-9324.

ASSOCIATE WEB PRODUCER Jack White jwhite@hanleywood.com

MEDIA KIT Janet Allen jallen@hanleywood.com REPRINTS The YGS Group 717.399.1900

ADVISORY BOARD Lidia Berger, HDR Inc. Carlie Bullock-Jones, Ecoworks Studio Eric Corey Freed, organicARCHITECT Michael Deane, Turner Construction Bert Gregory, Mithun Sean O’Malley, SWA Group Tom Paladino, Paladino & Co. Patrick Thibaudeau, HGA Gregory Thomas, Performance Systems Development Inc.

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION/ PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES Cathy Underwood cunderwood@hanleywood.com PRODUCTION/AD TRAFFIC MANAGER Paige S. Hirsch phirsch@hanleywood.com PREPRESS MANAGER Fred Weisskopf PREPRESS COORDINATOR Betty Kerwin

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Vol. 8, No. 3. May/June 2010. ECO-STRUCTURE® (ISSN 1556-3596; USPS 022-816) is published seven times per year (Jan/Feb, Mar/April, May/June, July/Aug, September, October, and Nov/Dec) by Hanley Wood LLC, One Thomas Circle N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20005. Copyright 2010 by Hanley Wood LLC. Subscriptions are free to qualified recipients. Publisher reserves the right to determine recipient qualification. Annual subscription rates for non-qualified recipients in the U.S. $15, Canada $64 (U.S. funds), all other countries $192 (U.S. funds). Newsstand single copy price: $5.95 U.S. and $7.95 international (U.S. funds). Back copy price: $10 for U.S. residents. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

www.insulated-panels.com/IPSintro 800.729.9324 info@insulated-panels.com

Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to eco-structure, P.O. Box 3494, Northbrook, IL 60065-9831. Canadian Post International Publication Mail Sales Agreement No. 40612608. Send undeliverable Canadian addresses to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

Green is sustainability. Green is energy efďŹ ciency. Green is AkzoNobel. And we live it. For three years in a row, AkzoNobel has been recognized as one of the industry leaders in our sector by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. We believe very strongly that doing business in a sustainable way is important for the long term beneďŹ t of the environment and the success of our customers. We are constantly working to integrate sustainability concepts into our actions and deliver eco-friendly solutions. www.akzonobel.com/ccna

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COMMERCIAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION Patrick J. Carroll pcarroll@hanleywood.com PUBLISHER, COMMERCIAL DESIGN Russell S. Ellis rellis@hanleywood.com; 202.736.3310

Sometimes, it’s okay for sustainability to be beneath you.

NEW ENGLAND, GEORGIA, FLORIDA, INDIANA, OHIO Dan Colunio dcolunio@hanleywood.com; 617.304.7297

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Ron Kraft

VICE PRESIDENT/PRODUCTION Nick Elsener

CANADA D. John Magner jmagner@yorkmedia.net; 416.598.0101, x220 UNITED KINGDOM/EUROPE Stuart Smith stuart.smith@ssm.co.uk

the surface.

PRESIDENT, EXHIBITIONS Rick McConnell

EAST Nick Hayman nhayman@hanleywood.com; 202.736.3457

WEST COAST Mark Weinstein mweinstein@hanleywood.com; 562.598.5650

difference. The beauty of this system is in what happens below

PRESIDENT, MARKET INTELLIGENCE/E-MEDIA Andy Reid

VICE PRESIDENT/CIRCULATION AND DATABASE DEVELOPMENT Nick Cavnar

LIGHTING, NATIONAL Cliff Smith csmith@hanleywood.com; 846.642.9598

With Tate’s UFSD, it’s the things you don’t see that make the

PRESIDENT/HANLEY WOOD Peter M. Goldstone

NORTHEAST/SOUTHEAST Mike Lesko mlesko@hanleywood.com; 203.445.1484

MIDWEST Michael Gilbert mgilbert@hanleywood.com; 773.824.2435

Take a stand on green-build with Tate underﬂoor service distribution systems (UFSD).

HANLEY WOOD BUSINESS MEDIA

INSIDE SALES Martin Landowski mlandowski@hanleywood.com; 773.824.2444 GROUP PUBLISHING SUPPORT MANAGER Angie Harris aharris@hanleywood.com MARKETING MANAGER Lucy Hansen lhansen@hanleywood.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Mary Leiphart mleiphart@hanleywood.com

VICE PRESIDENT/MARKETING Sheila Harris EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/E-MEDIA Andreas Schmidt GENERAL MANAGER/ONLINE COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION Kim Heneghan SENIOR DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES Curtis Hine

HANLEY WOOD, LLC CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Frank Anton CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Matthew Flynn EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/ CORPORATE SALES Paul Tourbaf VICE PRESIDENT/ CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT Joe Carroll VICE PRESIDENT/FINANCE Brad Lough VICE PRESIDENT/GENERAL COUNSEL Mike Bender

A combination of modular wiring, cabling and air

delivery systems offers savings in materials and energy efﬁciency, while also improving air quality and comfort. In fact, it’s a system so full of green-build attributes, you never really walk on it, you make a stand.

All contents of this issue of ECO-STRUCTURE are copyrighted by Hanley Wood LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited without written authorization. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States. ECO-STRUCTURE

is the independent, unbiased source for green-building information. The magazine intends to foster an open dialogue about today’s vital green-building issues. HANLEY WOOD LLC is publisher of Aquatics International, Architect, Architectural Lighting, Big Builder, Builder, Building Products, Concrete & Masonry Construction Products, Concrete Construction, The Concrete Producer, Custom Home, EcoHome, The Journal of Light Construction, Masonry Construction, metalmag, Multifamily Executive, Pool & Spa News, Pro AV, Professional Deck Builder, ProSales, Public Works, Remodeling, Replacement Contractor, Residential Architect, and Tools of The Trade magazines.

To learn more, call 1-800-231-7788 or visit www.tateaccessﬂoors.com.

DISCLOSURE / ECO-STRUCTURE occasionally will write about companies in which its parent organization, Hanley Wood LLC, has an investment interest. When it does, the magazine will fully disclose that relationship. PRIVACY OF MAILING LIST / Sometimes we share our subscriber mailing list with reputable companies we think you’ll find interesting. However, if you do not wish to be included, please call us at 888.269.8410.

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The world headquarters of Heifer International has received a Platinum LEED® certification plus numerous design and environmental awards. A key element of the building’s skin involves the use of Petersen corrugated aluminum panels installed as an accent band in a horizontal configuration. Approximately 22,000 sq. ft. of .050 aluminum PAC-CLAD Silver Metallic 7/8” corrugated panels were utilized. Produced in factory formed lengths up to 55 feet, Heifer International - Little Rock, AR Owner: Heifer International Architect: Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects, LTD. Contractors: Ace Glass Co., Harness Roofing Color: Silver Metallic Profiles: 7/8” Corrugated, M-Panels, Coping Photo: Timothy Hursley

Petersen’s PAC-CLAD Panels are also available in longer lengths by consulting the factory. Our PAC-CLAD® Kynar 500® finish, covered by a non-prorated 20 year warranty, is now available in 37 colors on steel and aluminum. Most colors meet LEED®, ENERGY STAR® and cool roof certification requirements. Visit our interactive website for more information:

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See us at the AIA Show. Stop by Booth 1419 to register to win a 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid! Circle no. 79 or http://ecostructure.hotims.com

CONTENTS May/June 2010

FEATURES Good Citizenship 44 Leo A Daly shows that bureaucracy can be beautiful as well as sustainable.

Gray To Green 50 A park cultivates new life in downtown Houston.

Pool Party 56 SERA Architects makes a sustainable splash in Portland, Ore., with a LEED Platinum swim center.

On the Cover: The East Portland Community Center in Portland, Ore., designed by SERA Architects. Photo by Eckert and Eckert. MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 7

CONTENTS

DEPARTMENTS Viewpoint 10 Greenscene 12 Products 39 Deep Green 21 Two industry leaders examine the barriers to district-wide sustainability and how eco-districts are creating developments where the grass—and homes, buildings, and infrastructure—are greener.

Perspective 27 Lucia Athens, author of Building an Emerald City, discusses sustainability in the city.

Flashback 33

Ecocentric 64 A canopy walk at the Morris Arboretum puts visitors out on a limb.

ECO-STRUCTURE.COM Visit us online for more news, projects, products, and essays. Among this month’s highlights: Green Experts: • Lucia Athens explores the process of greening mid-sized and large cities. • Larry Strain and Jim Goring, principals of Siegel & Strain Architects and Goring & Straja Architects, respectively, explore the process of convincing communities to go green. • Sophie Lambert, director, neighborhood development for the U.S. Green Building Council, talks about the evolution of LEED-ND.

Previous page, top to bottom: Chris Cooper; Robin Hill Photography; SERA Architects. This page, top to bottom: Paul Warchol; Henry Obasi; Assassi Productions.

What once was on site is restored at the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center in Kansas City, Mo.

See us at booth #2271.

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VIEWPOINT About 18 months ago, I stood in a crowded, nondescript courtroom in lower Manhattan, raised my right hand, pledged my allegiance to the United States, and officially became an American citizen. The ceremony was the culmination of a two-year application process marked by bundles of paperwork and numerous visits to immigration offices that, in terms of design and architecture, were the pits: little to no daylight, harsh fluorescent lighting, fading paint, uncomfortable chairs, and stale air. They certainly were a far cry from the new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services center in Orlando, Fla., an airy, light-filled, LEED Gold-certified space designed by Leo A Daly and profiled on page 44. I’d like to think the drab spaces I encountered on my path to citizenship are becoming the exception and that well-designed, efficient, and environmentally responsible government facilities are on their way to becoming the norm. There’s certainly ample opportunity for that to be the case, with a federal building portfolio that accounts for more than 354 million square feet of space nationwide, and a presidential administration that is actively championing the green movement. And groundwork already has been laid to promote sustainability and energy efficiency in both civic spaces and facilities as well as privately owned structures. A recent report from the USGBC found that the current administration has the ability to use more than 30 existing federal programs worth $72 billion to enhance efficiency in commercial buildings and multifamily housing, with no new legislation needed. Federal support for green building initiatives and legislation and a comprehensive national policy is key in the long run, but the biggest areas of immediate opportunity may lie at the municipal level. For one example, look at Discovery Green in downtown Houston (“Gray to Green,” page 50), where the city transformed a swath of parking lots into a vibrant public space. And consider Seattle, where the city owns more than 1,000 buildings, and manages 2.5 million square feet of parking and yard space as well as 215 million square feet of green and 10 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

open space. Given these figures, it’s easy to see why it was big news in 2000 when Seattle became the first U.S. municipality to formally adopt the USGBC’s LEED standards as part of its sustainable building policy. Ten years after this decision, our Perspective column (“Taking the Lead,” page 27) checks in with Lucia Athens, the former manager of the City of Seattle Green Building Program. Now a senior sustainable futures strategist for CollinsWoerman, Athens also is the author of the recently released book, Building an Emerald City: A Guide to Creating Green Building Policies and Programs, and her feedback this issue is twofold. In our Perspective column, she discusses potential collaboration between designers and public sector officials. Online at eco-structure.com, you’ll find “Green Horizons for Savvy Cities,” which offers a few of Athens’ thoughts on the process of greening midsize and large cities. It’s one thing to integrate green practices into building codes and regulations, and another for government entities to walk the walk by making their own facilities environmentally responsible. But true market transformation and wide-spread adoption of sustainability requires more than legislation. It demands a shift in perspective that broadens the scope of focus from individual structures to larger developments. Along these lines comes LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND), which was officially launched at the end of April. While it is the seventh LEED rating system, it is the first to address sustainable design and development on a neighborhood scale. (For more information, see Greenscene, page 12.) Working on this scale requires a good set of people skills. The number of stakeholders is large, as is the potential for confusion or failure. As an architect or designer, are you prepared to mitigate any concerns that may derail your sustainable pursuits? For some advice on how to convince community members, civic leaders, and other players to go green, eco-structure.com has another Web-exclusive essay (“Green Persuasion,” available under our Green Experts section) from two Emeryville, Calif.–based architects: Larry Strain, principal of Siegel & Strain Architects, and Jim Goring, principal of Goring & Straja Architects. And

for other examples of total community buy-in, look no further than our Deep Green column (“Scaling Up,” page 21), where Ralph DiNola, principal at Green Building Services, and Rob Bennett, executive director of the Portland Sustainability Institute, explore the rise of eco-districts. For the past few decades thinking big meant designing for Costco-sized lifestyles: big cars, big homes, big box stores, and often, a big waste of space, materials, and energy. As you’ll see in this issue, however, thinking big now means thinking strategically about how the concepts of sustainable design such as smaller carbon footprints, minimal site disturbance, and a reduction in waste and energy consumption can be applied on a larger scale. In other (big) news, as noted on page 16, ecostructure’s parent company, Hanley Wood, recently announced a five-year integrated media partnership with the AIA. As part of this agreement, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2011, eco-structure’s sister publication, architect, will become the official magazine of the AIA and, we’re excited to announce, eco-structure will become an associated publication of the AIA. Through the agreement, we’ll continue to help the architecture profession push sustainable practices to the next level.

Mike Morgan

Think Big

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GREENSCENE THIS YEAR’S WINNERS ARE:

TOP HONORS THE AIA SALUTES THE YEAR’S BEST SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS. Text ECO-STRUCTURE staff

The AIA’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) has announced the Top 10 examples of sustainable architecture and design for 2010. The COTE Top Ten Green Projects program celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology. They make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants, and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, lowimpact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction materials, and design that improves indoor air quality. 12 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

1. 355 11th Street Matarozzi/Pelsinger Building, in San Francisco, by Aidlin Darling Design (For more information on this project, see eco-structure’s July/August 2009 issue at eco-structure.com.) 2. City of Watsonville Water Resources Center, in Watsonville, Calif., by WRNS Studio 3. King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by HOK 4. Kroon Hall, Yale University, in New Haven, Conn., by Hopkins Architects and Centerbrook Architects and Planners 5. Manassas Park Elementary School + Pre-K, in Manassas Park, Va., by VMDO Architects, P.C. 6. Manitoba Hydro Place, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects and Smith Carter Architects and Engineers 7. Michael J. Homer Science and Student Life Center, in Atherton, Calif., by Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects 8. Omega Center for Sustainable Living, in Rhinebeck, N.Y., by BNIM Architects 9. Special No. 9 House, in New Orleans, by KieranTimberlake 10. Twelve|West, in Portland, Ore., by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects

This year’s winners will be honored at the AIA’s National Convention in June 2010. For more information, visit aia.org. ▪

1: Richard Barnes; 2: Bruce Damonte; 3: JB Picoulet; 4: Morley von Sternberg; 5: Prakash Patel; 6: Tom Arban; 7: Tim GrifďŹ th; 8: Assassi; 9: John C. Williams Architects; 10: Tim Hursley.

2 3

5 6 7

MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 13

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD THE USGBC OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES LEED-ND.

One of the pilot projects for LEED-ND was the redevelopment of Jackson Square in Jamaica Plains, Mass. 14 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

At the end of April, the USGBC, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Congress for the New Urbanism (NCU) oﬃcially launched the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system. It is the seventh LEED rating system released by USGBC and the ﬁrst to address neighborhood design. Recognizing developments and neighborhoods rather than individual buildings, LEED-ND seeks to highlight projects that perform well in terms of smart growth, urbanism, and green building. The system promotes smart site selection that reduces vehicle miles traveled and developments that are accessible on foot or by public transit. All LEED-ND projects are

required to have at least one certified green building. Unlike other LEED rating systems, projects evaluated under LEED-ND are measured by acreage, not square footage. LEED-ND also differs from other LEED systems in that it comprises three stages of certification that are tied to the real estate development process. Stage 1 conditionally approves submitted plans that have not yet gone through a public review process. This stage is intended to help projects garner support from local governments and communities. Stage 2 precertifies the plan submitted for LEED-ND and is applicable to fully entitled projects or projects under construction. This second stage is meant to help projects secure financing, expedite permitting, and attract tenants. Stage 3 certifies a completed neighborhood development that has achieved all of its prerequisites and credits. The USGBC opened a pilot program for the rating system in July 2007. Developments recognized under the pilot program range from 1/4 acre in size to 1,000 acres, and include whole neighborhoods, portions of neighborhoods, and multiple neighborhoods. There are a total of 110 LEED-ND points available across the five categories: smart location and linkage, neighborhood pattern and design, green infrastructure and buildings, innovation and design processes, and regional priority. For more information, visit usgbc.org. ▪

Rendering courtesy Jackson Square Redevelopment Initiative

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GREENSCENE

New AIA/Hanley Wood Integrated Media Partnership SUPPORTS OPPORTUNITIES THAT ADVANCE THE ARCHITECTURE PROFESSION The agreement, eďŹ&#x20AC;ective Jan. 1, 2011, creates a portfolio of integrated media channels, editorial, events, and continuing education with a media partner committed to increasing the impact and relevance of the contributions of the AIA and its members. For complete details regarding this integrated media partnership, please visit eco-structure.com. â&#x2013;Ş

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GREENSCENE

Climate Debate Continues

On May 12, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman presented to the U.S. Senate the American Power Act, legislation designed, according to the bill, “to secure the energy future of the United States, to provide incentives for the domestic production of clean energy technology, to achieve meaningful pollution reductions, [and] to create jobs.” The bill, which is available for download in its full form at kerry.senate.gov, has received support in its introduction from organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the United Steelworkers, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Nuclear Energy Institute, as well as from companies such as Nike and General Electric. Several building manufacturer alliances, however, have issued formal responses raising concerns about the proposed legislation. In its response, the American Materials Manufacturing Alliance (AMMA)—a group that includes the Aluminum Association, the American Chemistry Council, the American Forest & Paper Association, the American Iron and Steel Institute, The Fertilizer Institute, and the Portland Cement Association—notes

that, while the bill includes funding for energy efficiency and clean energy sources and technology, it is not at the level required to keep American manufacturing competitive. According to them, “we believe that compared with past bills, the legislation released … invests more in U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. However, in several key areas, more must be done to ensure the global competitiveness of [energyintensive, trade-exposed] EITE industries.” The AMMA raises concerns that the bill does not address increased energy costs, nor does it create a single national program for regulating greenhouse gases. The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) also issued a response that states that the proposed climate bill will undermine efforts to build green structures and improve the efficiency of the nation’s infrastructure, and raises concern about the authority vested in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the amount of funds allocated to updating aging infrastructure through the proposed legislation. In response, the AGC proposes following measures identified in its “Building a Green Future” plan, which is available for download at its website, agc.org. ▪

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Actions speak louder than words. At CENTRIA, we build on your concern for the environment and blend it into everything we do. Whether it’s maximizing product life cycles through the purchase of materials with high-recycled content or minimizing jobsite waste by custom-engineering our products for each project, we’re taking action to help you build for tomorrow.

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5/5/10 3:56:42 PM

Scaling Up

DEEP GREEN

Text Ralph DiNola and Rob Bennett Illustration Henry Obasi

A small but growing handful of “eco-cities” around the globe are developing demonstration green neighborhoods to showcase the latest in green technologies and practices. These eco-cities or “ecodistricts” expand on the one-building-at-a-time approach to effect greater change. Canada, China, Korea, Scandinavia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States all have transformative projects that integrate a variety of energy, water, transportation, and waste management strategies on a neighborhood scale. While many international green district models are iconic demonstrations that help advance best practices, most of these projects are greenfield or brownfield developments organized by local public agencies or master developers. In addition to these projects, strategies that address existing neighborhoods are needed, and green development business leaders and the City of Portland, Ore., are rising to this challenge. The EcoDistricts Initiative, led by the nonprofit Portland Sustainability Institute (PoSI), seeks to accelerate neighborhood-scale sustainability in existing neighborhoods throughout Portland. This effort, along with others around the globe, is highlighting the need for a new set of partnerships and enabling tools to address sustainability at this larger level. Let’s take a look at several of these needs. Comprehensive Assessment Tools Existing rating systems at the neighborhood scale are designed primarily for developers. LEED for Neighborhood Development identifies metrics associated with sustainable community practices, but stops short of creating a roadmap and tools that cities and stakeholders can utilize to work together toward a common purpose. Comprehensive district assessment is fundamental to inform decision making and develop implementation strategies. Eco-districts need to establish baselines on existing and expected performance, evaluate site conditions, and inventory community assets. To address this need, PoSI is developing metrics and protocols for setting goals, baselining performance, and prioritizing projects and community action over time.

TWO INDUSTRY LEADERS EXAMINE THE BARRIERS TO DISTRICTWIDE SUSTAINABILITY AND HOW ECO-DISTRICTS ARE CREATING DEVELOPMENTS WHERE THE GRASS— AND HOMES, BUILDINGS, AND INFRASTRUCTURE—ARE GREENER. MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 21

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH Eco-district developments are under way around the globe. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Designed by Foster + Partners, Masdar City (masdarcity.ae) is a 6-square-kilometer cleantechnology cluster on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi that will be anchored by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. The first batch of completed buildings is scheduled to open this fall. Sustainable objectives include carbon-neutral construction with 98 percent of construction waste diverted from landfills, and carbon-neutral operation with 100 percent of the city’s operating power coming from renewable energy. Greensburg, Kan. Profiled in ECO-STRUCTURE in January/February 2008 (eco-structure.com/green-communities/ the-emerald-city.aspx), the Kansas town (greensburgks.org) devastated by a tornado in 2007 has committed to rebuilding green. The nonprofit organization Greensburg GreenTown (greensburggreentown.org) is leading the charge with a team of donors drafted to create 12 model homes showcasing green building techniques.

Hamburg, Germany Eco City is a creative-industrial complex being developed on the city’s harbor (ecocity.de/en). The 10-building project, spearheaded in design by TecArchitecture and Arup, is seeking the highest possible rankings from the USGBC, the United Kingdom’s Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, and the German Sustainable Building Council. Malmö, Sweden This Swedish metropolis (malmo.se/English/ Sustainable-City-Development.html) is aiming to have the entire municipality running on 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Leading the way are two pilot projects, Bo01/Western Harbour and Ekostaden Augustenborg.

2 China is developing a number of eco-districts, including ﬁve separate developments in the works with SWA Group (1), where regional government funds initiate the development of infrastructure before the land is sold to private developers who must follow prescribed green guidelines. In Sweden, Bo01/Western Harbour (2) is transforming an industrial park and shipyard into the “City of Tomorrow,” a sustainable neighborhood with 600 dwellings as well as oﬃce and retail space. It is one of two national pilot projects under way.

22 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

Portland, Ore. The city is developing five pilot eco-districts—Lloyd District, Gateway, Lents, South Waterfront-North Macadam, and Portland State University—through four phases: engagement and governance, assessment and strategy development, feasibility and project implementation, and ongoing monitoring. The Portland Sustainability Institute also maintains a list of precedent-setting developments on its website, pdxinstitute.org. Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia In 1991, Vancouver’s city council issued a challenge to create a model of sustainability and the response is Southeast False Creek (vancouver.ca/commsvcs/southeast/index.htm), an 80-acre industrial site being transformed into a mixed-use sustainable community. In Victoria, Dockside Green (docksidegreen.com) is striving to be greenhouse gas neutral and is targeting LEED Platinum certification.

Engagement and Local Governance Local ownership, buy in, and stakeholder engagement in the development and decisionmaking process are essential to an eco-district’s success. The community must take a leading role in actualizing the vision and meeting goals to reduce the environmental impact of auto trips, to conserve energy, to create habitat-friendly landscapes, and to compost and recycle. New types of district governance models are needed to help the community meet ecodistrict performance goals, guide investment, and manage success over time. One such strategy is the creation of sustainability management associations. Modeled after the transportation management associations that have been used successfully throughout the nation to minimize district congestion, this tactic shows promise in creating the robust governance structure needed to manage performance over time. Scalable Investments While geography doesn’t determine the viability of an eco-district, cultural and social perceptions do impact its ability to get funding. Access to capital combined with investment across property lines are significant hurdles to eco-district implementation, especially in the U.S., where cities rarely make district-level investments or take an integrated, long-term approach to resource management. European nations invest more in eco-district-type projects, like Bo01/Western Harbour in Malmö, Sweden, because their long-term view supports funding for green infrastructure. China also is making significant investments. Sean O’Malley, managing principal of SWA Group’s Laguna Beach, Calif., office, is working on five new eco-cites in southern China. There, regional government funds the initial infrastructure, then sells the land to private developers who must follow prescribed green guidelines. “Although new, the eco-city builds on the existing industries, so it becomes a marriage between the city, industry, business, and universities,” O’Malley explains. Local Policy Support Eco-districts cannot succeed without significant public policy intervention to reduce obstacles and encourage innovation in the private sector. New performance-based zoning regulations and green building codes and incentives are critical to institutionalizing green districts’ best practices. At Southeast False Creek in Vancouver, British Columbia, the city updated and created new policies to support its ambitious sustainability goals. These goals encourage passive building design and district stormwater management, and they legalized in-building rainwater harvesting, which was previously illegal. As the neighborhood becomes the fundamental scale on which sustainability goals are measured, we will have new opportunities to rethink

1: Rendering courtesy SWA Group; 2: Anneliese Sitterly.

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interactions between individual behavior, buildings, and infrastructure. How do we move forward? Drawing upon lessons learned from international examples and local innovation, the Portland EcoDistricts Initiative is developing a set of recommendations to address existing barriers and incentives for distributed utilities; building and zoning codes; performance disclosures; enhanced demand management; and privacy. The ﬁrst draft framework was published in March 2010, available online in the resources section at pdxinstitute.org. ▪ Ralph DiNola is a principal at Green Building Services, in Portland, Ore. He can be reached at ralph@greenbuildingservices.com. Rob Bennett is the executive director of the Portland Sustainability Institute. He can be reached at rbennett@pdxinstitute .org. To view a slideshow of eco-districts around the world, visit eco-structure.com.

1: Courtesy Enrico Dagostini; 2: Rendering courtesy TecArchitecture

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PERSPECTIVE In her book Building an Emerald City, Lucia Athens guides readers through the process of developing a municipal green building program. She speaks from experience: An early advocate of sustainability, she was part of the initial development team for the City of Austin’s Green Building program in Texas, and spent 10 years overseeing the creation and operation of Seattle’s Green Building Program, the nation’s first LEED-specific municipal program. Now a senior sustainable futures strategist for CollinsWoerman, a Seattle-based planning, architecture, and interior design firm, Athens recently spoke with eco-structure. Given your municipal experience, how can the design community work with local governments to push sustainability forward? Try to build a positive relationship. It’s worth thinking about how to forge long-term working relationships that are constructive, forward-thinking, and solution-oriented. Think about how architecture and design firms can be involved in government affairs and public service. You can attend public meetings to give feedback on proposed projects. If there’s public comment on proposed energy code changes, think about how that public commentary can include constructive critique as well as ideas about how to solve the problem differently. I also encourage people in the design profession to run for public office. We’ve had some very effective public leaders in Seattle who had a design background. Former Mayor Paul Schell was a developer and the dean of the architecture department at the University of Washington before he took office, which he occupied when we adopted our green building program. What are some key steps to building support for green design and construction? Building support has to happen on multiple levels. There needs to be broad education that is accessible. When I was at the City of Seattle, we developed Green Home Remodel Guides that were accessible by anyone. They explained green building concepts and how they could be implemented, and broke it all down into easy steps and digestible information. We also partnered with Whole Foods to put on local workshops to connect with community members who were interested in natural foods and might have crossover interest in green building. It’s also important to educate elected officials—such as mayors, city council members, and department heads—so they are fluent in what’s possible and what’s happening elsewhere. We can bring together public and private entities to develop pilot projects that test the boundaries. The lessons

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MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 27

PERSPECTIVE

learned [from these projects] can then be cycled back into the design process, building codes, and development processes. We also have to give ourselves more permission to experiment—not at the cost of public health, welfare, and safety, but to explore new solutions. We have to be honest about what works and what doesn’t work so that we can learn and improve as we go. This also builds credibility. I think a lot of public sector oﬃcials are trying to understand how the regulatory environment is inhibiting innovation and what

can be done to remove barriers. It’s important to have constructive dialogue around this in order to uncover the barriers and figure out creative solutions to them. For example, Portland, Ore., studied code barriers to the Living Building Challenge. New York City created a NYC Green Codes Task Force that recently published a comprehensive report examining energy codes, land-use codes, and other green building barriers, as well as a robust set of recommendations on how to get rid of these barriers. In creating a municipal green building program, do you think it is most effective to offer financial incentives, institute code requirements, set voluntary green building targets, or use a combination of these tactics? You really need all of those approaches combined. Mandatory requirements aren’t the best place to start right out of the chute. You really need to go through a process to prepare the building community, where you offer incentives, such as cash incentives or things like accelerated permitting or technical assistance. Simultaneously, you should do a barrier review to see what regulatory institutions are impeding innovation. Once those things are happening, you can move toward mandatory requirements. It’s also important to realize that while you can create mandatory requirements for base levels of green building, you also want to have incentives to go beyond those baselines. As technology advances, standard practices and what is considered innovative are moving targets. You can’t just go through the code process once, get rid of the barriers at that time, and think you’re through with the green building process.

CIRCLE NO. 31 or http://ecostructure.hotims.com

The City of Seattle was the first municipality in the U.S. to adopt LEED Silver targets for its own major construction projects. In developing the program, what were the biggest surprises? One thing that was more of a lesson than a surprise was the realization that not everyone is going to be ready for change at the same time. It’s important to focus on the early adopters within city government and work closely with them to ensure success. The people that aren’t as big risktakers will come along, but they first need to see those early successes so that they feel comfortable enough to follow. If you try to force someone to change before they are ready, they’ll find a way to sabotage you. You have to be realistic about what you expect people to do and in what time frame you expect it to occur. One thing that was interesting to see was that as we picked up steam and green building began to catch on, we had some competition among elected officials in terms of who would be associated with which initiatives. You can see it now on a national level since green is such a buzzword. Who will be the thought leader attached to what legislation? However, I consider that to be a good thing overall.

Circle no. 86 or http://ecostructure.hotims.com

PERSPECTIVE

Are there any unique challenges in adopting sustainability on the municipal level as a whole? One challenge is dealing with election cycles. Any major public initiative runs up against this. If an elected official who is strongly associated with green building is voted out of office and the person coming in considers that cause to be the flavor of the day for the now-former official, it can be challenging. Election cycle turnover also creates a period of time where it’s difficult to get things done until everyone knows how things will fall out. Another unique thing is proving the nexus of public benefit and investment in green building.

continued from page 142 Albert leaned toward him and asked, “But what about a roof that is all rusted over? You know, like a metal roof. What then?” Without missing a beat Todd answered, “Mule-Hide A-300.” They both sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity and an hour until Albert drew in a breath and started to speak, only to be cut short by Todd who again said, “Mule-Hide A-300.” “So you’re trying to tell me,” said Albert incredulously, “that I can cover up my existing metal roof and improve its appearance without reroofing?” He began to stand up as if he couldn’t control himself any longer. “You’re telling me that this coating can extend the life of my existing roof?” “Yup,” said Todd, “in fact, it’s truly elastomeric nature allows it to expand and contract as temperatures shift?” He rose slowly to encourage Albert to keep his cool. “It maintains its integrity by remaining flexible and resisting blistering at temperatures ranging from 45 degrees below zero all the way up to a sweltering 200 degrees Fahrenheit. And in this part of the country, that could make much difference.” “I’m sure it takes days to install,” said Albert as if attacking Todd’s support of the elastomeric coating.

“Wrong again, my friend,” replied Todd. “In fact, it’ll save you money. The bright white finish reduces energy consumption. It’s CRRC® rated and ENERGY STAR® listed; and you can lower cash outlays and minimize tax expense allowances by expensing roofing systems versus capital depreciation.” “Hold it! Now you’ve lost me. Say that once again,” said Albert. Todd turned to look Albert squarely in the eyes and repeated, “You can lower cash outlays and minimize tax expense allowances by expensing roofing systems versus capital depreciation. It’s simple! You save money, you save time, and you save your existing roof.” “Well, in that case,” said Albert with a smile, “you save Saturday morning and you can give me a hand.” They both let out a hearty chuckle and stood up from the table. “Waitress,” called Albert, “check please. I’ve got this one, Todd. Thanks for your advice.”

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You’re often investing taxpayer dollars, and you have to prove that those taxpayers are getting something out of it. There is a huge amount of scrutiny on how projects perform once they are complete. Were they good investments? It’s important to do postoccupancy analyses and learn from the buildings. This can be tricky, however, because if something is wrong, it raises the question of who is responsible to fix it. You now are a senior sustainable futures strategist at CollinsWoerman. What are the biggest differences in working on the architecture end of the sustainability dialogue? It’s not different when you look at implementing green building on a project level because, at the end of the day, it’s about being able to have a dialogue with whomever is funding the project. In the case of working at a firm, you have that dialogue with clients. At the city, you’re having that dialogue with people trying to get their buildings designed and through the permitting process. In both cases,

“We also have to give ourselves more permission to experiment—not at the cost of public health, welfare, and safety, but to explore new solutions. We have to be honest about what works and what doesn’t work so that we can learn and improve as we go.” I am trying to encourage people to adopt more innovative solutions. What’s diﬀerent is when I was at the city, I had a role in crafting policy and building code direction so we could make some of those innovative things more attractive or more doable for the private sector. Overall, the next wave of challenges will be things like zero energy, zero water, and restorative design, where a project gives back more than it consumes. Scale also will be interesting to watch. We’re beginning to ﬁgure out how to do green building on a site scale, but how do we solve things at the larger scale of a neighborhood or a community? That’s where it’s going to get really interesting. ▪ For more of Athens’ thoughts on bolstering municipal green building initiatives, visit eco-structure.com to read her essay, “Green Horizons for Savvy Cities.”

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Natural Centerpiece Text David R. Macaulay Photos Assassi Productions

WHAT ONCE WAS ON SITE IS RESTORED AT THE ANITA B. GORMAN CONSERVATION DISCOVERY CENTER.

Only minutes from downtown Kansas City, Mo., lies an urban oasis: 11 acres of prairie, wetlands, and wildlife habitat surrounding the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center. Completed in 2002, the 38,600-square-foot Discovery Center serves as an urban centerpiece for the Missouri Department of Conservation, providing a rich mix of sustainable design along with a strong community connection. Visitors arrive in a parking area that is surrounded by bioswales and native landscaping. On any given school day, busloads of schoolchildren parade past photovoltaic arrays and reclaimed brick walls, and into an energy-eﬃcient interior that is ﬁlled with daylight and fresh air. There,

they experience ﬁrsthand the wildlife, soil, plants, and broader ecosystems unique to Missouri. The building program emphasizes education from the lobby exhibits, 240-seat auditorium, and meeting spaces to six hands-on classrooms. These classrooms include “Nature’s Garden,” which features native plants for landscaping; “Woodworking for Wildlife,” which provides visitors an opportunity to build nest boxes and feeders; and “Nature’s Aquarium,” where visitors study water quality. The Discovery Center’s design was intended to be used as a teaching tool. Inspired by successful interactive exhibits at other nature centers, the architect of record, Kansas City, Mo.–based BNIM, wanted to create a transformative place for learning. “We had an opportunity here to start dreaming about an environment within which you could immerse kids and adults and expose them to a larger view of life,” explains Bob Berkebile, one of BNIM’s founders and the principal in charge. “While we had achieved similar designs before, this was a chance to create an entire facility— the landscape and the building—that became pedagogical and therefore part of the teaching.” As a result, the building form and orientation optimizes daylighting. A geothermal heat pump for heating and cooling and four PV arrays with a total of 74 collectors reduce annual energy use by 33 percent and 1 percent, respectively, over conventional systems. Every space features environmentally friendly materials such as calcium-silicate masonry MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 33

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CIRCLE NO. 37 or http://ecostructure.hotims.com Surrounded by restored wetlands and wildlife habitat, the Discovery Center provides hands-on learning experiences from the moment visitors arrive. For a slide show of these and additional photos, visit eco-structure.com.

units and glue-laminated beams, along with countertops, paints, carpet squares, and restroom stall partitions that contain post-consumer recycled materials. Yet the central attraction is the facility’s Living Machine. This wastewater system reclaims all water from the building’s toilets, sinks, showers, and drinking fountains for treatment within an exposed greenhouse setting and for later reuse in flushing toilets and to recharge the outdoor wetland. Designing the center in 1997 was equally transformative for BNIM as a firm. At the time, the firm applied many of the building’s concepts to another project, Montana State University’s Epicenter, a LEED pilot project. BNIM’s architects also were beginning to incorporate the input of clients, engineers, subcontractors, and other key stakeholders as a critical part of the design process. The project architect, Laura Lesniewski, notes how this established a precedent for BNIM, “particularly for high-performance buildings. The importance of having an integrated team has been a constant since then.” The power of storytelling also drove many design decisions. “At that time, we were going beyond the normal considerations of buildings, while taking a systems approach to understanding the place,” Berkebile recalls. BNIM used Lewis and CIRCLE NO. 29 or http://ecostructure.hotims.com

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Clarkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1804 expedition along the Missouri River â&#x20AC;&#x153;as a lens to reveal a new approach to materials, resources, and issues,â&#x20AC;? he adds. For Lesniewski, the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story opened up a new way of design thinking: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I became more aware of this connection and that, 200 years after Lewis and Clark, we need to be more conscious of our limited resources. I had never before spent so much time on each material in the building to decide whether it was appropriate.â&#x20AC;? Today, the Discovery Center is busier

than ever, booked solid with school group and community programs about rain gardens, outdoor photography, and more. And after nearly 10 years, the mission of this urban conservation campus remains vital: to connect Missourians to nature and their past. â&#x2013;Ş David R. Macaulay is the author of Integrated Design: Mithun and the blog Green ArchiTEXT, greenarchitext.com.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Understanding this urban site and building as a living systemâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and then visualizing what we now see there todayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;was our biggest challenge. Our vision was never this ambitious before,â&#x20AC;? says BNIMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bob Berkebile. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So the value of an overarching set of principles and organizing goals to align all stakeholders became essential to the design process. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a lot better at it now.â&#x20AC;? In addition,

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Laura Lesniewski, BNIMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s project architect on the Discovery Center, points to several lessons learned with the project that continue to influence the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work: â&#x20AC;˘ Address building commissioning, early and often. In addition to thorough testing and balancing once construction is complete, commissioning should occur regularly to optimize building efficiency and make adjustments as needed. â&#x20AC;˘ Incorporate energy monitoring from day one to ensure the building is performing as designed. In conjunction with the Missouri Department of Conservation, the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owner, BNIM is now tracking energy usage, working with the mechanical engineer to fine-tune heating and cooling, and considering regular post-occupancy evaluation on the center. â&#x20AC;˘ Create a more rigorous material selection process. The Discovery Center design in 1997 has had a profound influence on BNIMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s selection criteria and specifications for

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PRODUCTS Text Kimberly R. Grifﬁn

KI Lyra ▪ The Lyra collection is KI’s newest offering in lounge seating. A modern take on a classic design, Lyra uses a combination of low-VOC–emitting wood, steel, and fabric to accommodate a variety of settings and qualify it for Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certification. The foam cushioning material is made from a blend of 15 percent pre-consumer soy product, while the wood is FSC certified. A variety of sustainable fabrics are available. ki.com; 800.424.2432. Circle 100 ecostructure.hotims.com

Interiors Shaw Contract Mix It Up ▪ Shaw’s Mix It Up collection of carpet is available in broadloom or modular tiles. The broadloom variety is available in two face weights—Eclectic (shown) and Meld—and eight colors. Both broadloom options weigh 24 ounces, are made with Eco Solution Q nylon, use ClassicBac backing, and contain nearly 10 percent pre-consumer recycled content. The modular tiles come in Cataylist and Hybrid styles, each in eight earthtoned colors. The tiles weigh 17 ounces, use EcoWorx tile backing, are made of Eco Solution Q nylon, and contain as much as 40 percent recycled content. shawcontractgroup.com; 800.257.7429. Circle 101 ecostructure.hotims.com

MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE

PRODUCTS

Coalesse Freestanding Topo Collection ▪ Designed by EOOS, the Topo office system is now available with freestanding components to allow for greater flexibility. The new additions are made with sustainable materials including Steelcase’s water-based topcoat Clarity, which is SCS Indoor Advantage certified, VOC-free adhesives, and recyclable powder-coated steel or clear anodized aluminum. All of the components are designed for easy disassembly and end-of-life recycling, and contribute to LEED points for recycled content, regional materials, and low-emitting materials. coalesse.com; 866.645.6952. Circle 102 ecostructure.hotims.com

Kimball Office Campos ▪ Campos is an ergonomic seating option that includes features often found in high-end office chairs, but at a lower price point. The BIFMA e3-certified Campos incorporates a synchronous mechanism and tension adjustment for a seat slider or backrest. The chair also includes large casters, backrest height adjustment, a choice of 2D or 4D armrests, and a polished aluminum or black plastic base. Nine Interstuhl upholstry options are available. Campos is certified SCS Indoor Advantage Gold and 98 percent of its materials can be recycled. kimballoffice.com; 800.482.1818. Circle 103 ecostructure.hotims.com

COOL ROOF

WHAT MAKES ONE ROOFING MATERIAL COOLER THAN ANOTHER? High solar reﬂectance + High thermal emittance = Lower energy demand AIA and CSI members: earn Sustainable Design

Do your part to reduce the urban

credit online with “Cool Rooﬁng: A Solution to

heat island effect. Learn more at

National Energy and Environmental Challenges”

WWW.VINYLROOFS.ORG

CIRCLE NO. 71 or http://ecostructure.hotims.com

2010 EVERGREEN AWARDS CALL FOR ENTRIES

ECO-STRUCTURE’S ANNUAL EVERGREEN AWARDS RECOGNIZE EXCELLENCE IN BUILDING DESIGN AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE. ALL WINNING ENTRIES WILL BE FEATURED IN THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER ISSUE OF ECO-STRUCTURE.

FOR CATEGORIES AND TO ENTER

eco-structure.com/evergreen

PRODUCTS

Outdoor Vast Enterprises Composite Pavers ▪ Vast Composite Pavers are now available in a 4-inch-by-8-inch size, making them better suited for commercial hardscapes, such as parking garages, walkways, and plazas, says the company. The composite blend is made up of 95-percent recycled car tires and plastic containers. The new pavers weigh less than 9 pounds per square foot and come in a new grid system, made from the same material as the pavers, that enables contractors to more easily align and set the pavers. According to the company, the new pavers reduce the number of pieces needed per square foot by 44 percent, compared to Vast’s original 3-inch-by-6-inch pavers. vastpavers.com; 612.234.8958. Circle 104 ecostructure.hotims.com

Atlas Block Century Stone ▪ All of Atlas Block’s concrete masonry units and veneers now contain as much as 30 percent post-consumer recycled glass. The glass comes from local recycling programs and helps products such as the Century Stone veneer (shown, in slate) contribute toward LEED credits. Atlas crushes the glass into a fine powder and refines it into lightweight pellets that expand and generate a fine-poured granulate, which the company then uses to produce its concrete mix. Century Stone is available in 16 color blends, including Baja, maple, and sandstone, and three texture options: classic, rock-face, and tumbled. Sizes include 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-inch stone and brick blocks. atlasblock.com; 800.461.4380. Circle 105 ecostructure.hotims.com 42 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

Architectural Area Lighting Largent ▪ Architectural Area Lighting’s (AAL) Designer SSL series includes an LED version of the Largent, one of the company’s most popular designs. The outdoor area light is equipped with the company’s MicroEmitter LED technology encased in a post-top luminaire. MicroEmitter control and beam angle are designed to limit glare while maintaining wide pole spacing, resulting in 50 percent less glare, according to AAL. LED upgrade kits are available to those already employing Largent, and include a full EmitterDeck assembly with drivers and 20 LED MicroEmitters (60 diodes). The Designer SSL series also includes LED versions of AAL’s Providence and Universe lights. aal.net; 626.968.5666. Circle 106 ecostructure.hotims.com

ETwater Systems SmartWorks Replacement Panel ▪ For those who already have traditional irrigation controllers in place, the ETwater SmartWorks replacement panel promises the beneﬁts of ETwater Systems’ Smart Irrigation Technology with plug-and-play installation. According to the company, a SmartWorks panel provides 20 percent to 50 percent water savings, paying for itself in less than two years. The panel automatically adjusts watering schedules based on local weather, while a Web-based interface provides setup, scheduling, and irrigation history. An optional ﬂow-monitoring device is available. Compatible irrigation systems include RainBird, RainMaster, and Irritol controllers. etwater.com; 800.438.3400. Circle 107 ecostructure.hotims.com

Filtrexx BioSoxx ▪ BioSoxx is Filtrexx International’s first 100-percent biodegradable cotton material for compostsock and filter-sock applications. Designed for erosion control and other landscaping projects, the mesh replaces traditional plastic or burlap sacks. Over time, BioSoxx naturally dissolves, eliminating the need to return to the site and remove the netting. filtrexx.com; 440.926.2607. Circle 108 ecostructure.hotims.com

MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 43

GOOD

LEO A DALY SHOWS THAT BUREAUCRACY CAN BE BEAUTIFUL AS WELL AS SUSTAINABLE. Text Lydia Lee Photos Robin Hill Photography

46 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

The grim halls of Ellis Island may be part of American history, but it’s not as if recent immigrants have been greeted with the warmest of welcomes. In many of the old Immigration and Naturalization Service centers, holding cells for deportees were in the same complex as the interview booths for immigrants. But the two functions were decoupled in 2003, creating a new bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This development also paved the way for new, customer-oriented centers, complete with self-service kiosks and expansive waiting areas. One of the first of the new USCIS centers, in Orlando, Fla., shows that it is possible to create a 43,000-square-foot space that is stylish, comfortable, and sustainable—as well as capable of withstanding the wear-and-tear of 300 visitors per day. “This was a very different type of building for us—no more gray walls and blue carpet,” says Jennifer Killeen, facilities project manager at USCIS. “We wanted to create a facility that was very welcoming.” The development team included architecture firm Leo A Daly, which had experience designing government buildings as well as significant LEED chops (14 certified and 48 registered projects, to date). The U.S. General Services Administration mandates that new federal buildings have LEED Silver certification as a goal, and encourages projects to aim higher; the building Leo A Daly designed received LEED Gold. “This project gave us the opportunity to see what different green aspects worked best for a customer-service facility, such as the natural materials and the natural lighting,” says Killeen. “We’ve been inspired to incorporate similar solutions in other facilities.” “It was a real pleasure to work with [Leo A Daly], and the person who handled the documentation and certification for LEED was in-house, which really benefited us as an agency,” Killeen continues. “We’d run an idea by them and they were able to process it much more quickly, and we got certified more quickly.” The development team proposed a site that was adjacent to a wetlands preserve but near major roads, which satisfied USCIS’s requirements for an accessible yet secluded location. The site is adjacent to a protected wetland, so the architects placed 30 feet of paving between the building and the edge of the site to form a runoff buffer zone. The most critical design decision that the architects made was to optimize natural lighting—which would create a welcoming feeling as well as boost the project’s LEED score. In preparation for its new centers, USCIS had created a building template, which specified the different functions and spaces. But the layout was rather monolithic, with a row of offices that wrapped around the waiting area. The team at Leo A Daly essentially “unwrapped” that block of offices, creating a wing that juts out on one end. The waiting area now has a view of the outdoors that overlooks a courtyard planted with palms.

“The challenge was with the solar exposure, because with all the sunlight hitting the building there were pretty significant heat loads,” says project architect James Leach. “So we elongated the building to increase the north and south exposures. But the best thing we did was to peel open a section to create a nice daylit lobby, since that’s where the clients spend a majority of their time, waiting for their appointments.” To shield the spaces from direct sunlight, the team added a butterfly roof with a wide overhang. It gives a commanding presence to what could have easily been a dull, utilitarian building. Inside, every space, even those without windows, has natural lighting: There are Solatube tubular daylighting modules throughout the space, at least one in every interior office, and a bank of offices near the center has two north-facing roof monitors, commonly used in factories, to let in a view of the sky as well as light. The interior finishes also were chosen with an eye towards their aesthetic friendliness, as well as their eco-friendliness. Exposed concrete floors and steel framing have an elemental beauty and require no extra finishes. In the lobby, a ceiling of FSC-certified Douglas fir warms up the otherwise cold palette of concrete, steel, and glass. In the lobby’s waiting area, the team experimented with something new for a government building: a cork floor. “We were looking for something that had sound-control properties similar to carpet, but was also extremely durable and easy to clean,” says interior designer Nancy Novak of Leo A Daly. The USCIS’s Killeen testifies that after two years, the cork has held up extremely well. Other thoughtful touches include the use of deep red as an accent color: Many of the immigrants to this part of the country are Hispanic and red is a welcoming color in many Latino cultures. In addition, a bold clay masonry wall that defines the entrance to the building is a reference to the Spanish Colonial architectural heritage of the Orlando area. Leo A Daly staff also came up with the idea of creating a large “mural” out of wood—FSC-certified, of course—from trees native to each of the six populated continents. The piece provides a rich textural element in the waiting area while beautifully underscoring the process of immigration. “Everyone on the team talked about how they wanted the experience to be memorable for people who were coming here to become citizens,” Novak says. “We wanted to create a building that had some sense of value and dignity, a building that would represent the nation well.” ▪

A bold clay masonry wall defines the entrance to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) building (previous spread and above), and is a reference to the Spanish Colonial architectural heritage of the Orlando area. The development team proposed a site that was adjacent to a wetlands preserve but also near major roads, which satisfied USCIS’s requirements for an accessible-yetsecluded location. The building is separated from the edge of the site by 30 feet of paving that forms a runoff buffer zone to the protected wetland.

Lydia Lee writes about architecture and sustainability from Menlo Park, Calif. To see a slide show of the Orlando USCIS bureau, visit eco-structure.com. MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 47

“This project gave us the opportunity to see what different green aspects worked best for a customer-service facility, such as the natural materials and daylighting,” says Jennifer Killeen of USCIS. Abundant windows (1) on the two-story structure flood the interior areas (2, 3) with natural light, which is augmented by Solatube modules in the ceiling (4). The butterfly roof (5), which shades the southern exposure, helps the structure read as two interconnected elements instead of one big building. As a result, it feels more approachable and less monolithic. Inside, exposed concrete floors and steel framing lend an elemental beauty and required no extra finishes. 48 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

GRAY TO GREEN A PARK CULTIVATES NEW LIFE IN DOWNTOWN HOUSTON. Text KJ Fields

MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 51

Left, 1, 2, 4: Chris Cooper; Previous spread, 3: Gollings Photography.

A few years ago, a field and a line of oak trees was the only visual relief amid a swath of surface parking lots next to Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. Even the nearby addition of Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros baseball team, and the Toyota Center arena and entertainment facility in the early 2000s could not enliven the forlorn parcel wedged in the high-profile spot. “Walking from the convention center to the central business district was like walking across the surface of the moon,” recalls Guy Hagstette, president of the Discovery Green Conservancy. When the landowners of the field decided to sell in 2004, former Houston mayor Bill White forged a public-private partnership to acquire the site and combine it with city-owned land. The goal was to create an ambitious 12-acre park called Discovery Green that would serve the entire city. Hagstette’s Discovery Green Conservancy was formed as a nonprofit organization to develop and operate the park. In all, the $125 million project includes a range of park amenities, art, and gardens; a café, a restaurant, and a park administration building; and a 600-space underground parking garage. A Houston park demands shade, so an existing row of trees on site was saved and supplemented with trees transplanted from a nearby site that was being redeveloped into multifamily residences. Landscape architects Hargreaves Associates in San Francisco and Houston-based architects PageSoutherlandPage collaborated on the site plan to place buildings adjacent to the trees. The conservancy planned to draw the community to Discovery Green with abundant programming, which posed a challenge to the creation of a green oasis. “Intensive programming usually equates to a lot of paved space,” explains Mary Margaret Jones, senior principal at Hargreaves Associates, “so we concentrated all the major activities on the spine of a tree-lined promenade, which allowed us to keep green spaces in the outlying areas.” As plans evolved, the partnership decided to shape the park into a model for green practices. The park as a whole is LEED certified. The designers placed the Grove restaurant, the Lake House café, and the administration building (all of which achieved individual LEED Gold certifications) along the site’s north-south axis to take advantage of optimal shade and capture maximum daylight. For protection from Houston’s blazing sun, the architects added deep, shady porches on the buildings’ south sides. The buildings themselves act as shading elements on the north façades and the roof lines slope up to let light in. Atop the Grove, a vegetated roof offers insulation, a reduced heat island, and herbs that are used in the kitchen. The restaurant has a series of patios, decks, and terraces, and the café has an extensive outdoor dining space. Lawrence Speck, principal of PageSoutherlandPage, oriented the buildings to benefit from the southeast prevailing breezes in order to create passive ventilation. “Wherever we could make outdoor space, we did,” says Speck. “These environmentally treated spaces maximize the amount of time the buildings can go without air conditioning, which is extremely important in a hot, humid climate.” Passive strategies are combined with renewable energy features. The café and administration buildings’ porches sport two photovoltaic arrays comprising a total of 256 solar panels that provide a combined power generation of 49.9 kW, enough to supply roughly 8 percent of the park’s total energy needs. (The solar panels’ generation rates can be tracked online at my.sre3.com/discoverygreen.) In addition, solar hot water panels on the café’s roof provide hot water to serve the two buildings. Discovery Green’s replacement of the surface parking with the underground garage significantly reduces the site’s heat island effect. Another positive urban design element took shape over the parking garage entry. The team covered the slope above the descending concrete ramp with earth and grass so that it now provides casual seating space for performances on a nearby stage. The green roof is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, and the stairwell that emerges from the garage is composed of long, thin art pieces. Groundwater from the underground parking structure is collected in a drainage system that pumps it into the park’s lake rather than the city’s stormwater system or sewage drain. There, natural agitation and plants biofiltrate the groundwater to clean it, minimizing the need to purchase potable water to replenish the lake. Another consideration in site planning was Houston’s location in the Central Flyway—a migratory route for numerous birds between Canada and Mexico. Jones says a mosaic of native plants and gardens supports the diversity of bird species on their journey from north to south (and vice versa), and that the habitat also draws butterflies. The park attracts economic activity as well. Convention center bookings increased by 18 percent in 2008, the year the park opened, and three projects are under way adjacent to Discovery Green: a 347-unit residential highrise, a 262-room hotel, and an 800,000-square-foot office building that was fully leased during construction. The park also is a hit socially, despite initial fears that a park located in a business-centric locale wouldn’t entice families and local community groups. On the contrary, more than 400 events now are held on site each year, from Pilates classes and bicycle repair workshops to farmers’ markets, organic gardening classes, lunchtime concerts, and arts exhibitions. “The project shows how the public and private sectors can work as a team to really get it right,” asserts Hagstette. “Each partner contributed what it does best, and we are all proud of the results.” ▪ KJ Fields writes about sustainability and architecture from Portland, Ore. To view a slide show of Discovery Green, visit eco-structure.com.

4 Spread across 12 acres in downtown Houston, Discovery Green (seen from above in the previous spread) includes three LEED Gold-certified facilities: the Lake House café (1), the Grove restaurant, and the Alkek building, an administrative space. To the north, both the Lake House and the Alkek building border Kinder Lake (2), which is filled with recycled stormwater, while to the south, they line Jones Lawn (3). Underneath the lawn is a parking garage that can hold 600 vehicles. At Discovery Green’s edge, the main vehicular entry way to the garage (opposite) is nestled under a land berm that sports a green roof, which offers seating space during outdoor concerts. Two pedestrian-only entry points to the garage (4) are highlighted with powdercoated aluminum boxes crafted by Elgin, Texas-based sculptor Margo Sawyer.

MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 53

Garage stairs

Alkek building

Site Plan

Jones Lawn

Kinder Lake

The Grove

The Lake House

DISCOVERY GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

95,141kWh $13,319.74 TOTAL ENERGY GENERATED FROM 2007*

SAVED ON ELECTRIC BILL FROM 2007*

EQUIVALENT TO AVOIDING

181,720 LBS OF CO2*

The Grove restaurant (1, 2, 3, and 4) features a long thin dining room facing an alley of pre-existing oak trees. The existing trees were augmented by several other mature oak trees transplanted from a nearby development that also was being redeveloped. The upper level of the restaurant provides outdoor dining that is accessible via broad staircases at the east and west ends. With the use of higheﬃciency HVAC equipment and high-eﬃciency glass, as well as the implementation of deep roof overhangs, it is estimated that the Grove, the Alkek building, and the Lake House building save 18 to 20 percent more energy than conventionally designed buildings. * As of May 21, 2010 1: Gollings Photography; 2, 4: Chris Cooper; 3: Eric Laignel.

54 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 55

SERA ARCHITECTS MAKES A SUSTAINABLE SPLASH IN PORTLAND, ORE., WITH A LEED PLATINUM SWIM CENTER.

POOL PARTY MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 57

Text Mimi Zeiger Photos SERA Architects, Eckert and Eckert

Site Plan

Water conservation measures are a key design component of the LEED Platinum–certified addition to the East Portland Community Center. In addition to low-flow fixtures, a sophisticated pool filtration system saves more than 1 million gallons of water per year. The barnlike addition (previous spread and opposite page) also is estimated to be nearly 75 percent more efficient than ASHRAE standards for a natatorium. Its sloped roof sports an 87-kW photovoltaic grid to lessen energy costs and large clerestory windows on the north and south sides of the building bring in natural light to the leisure pool area (opposite page), reducing the need for artificial lighting. 58 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

An indoor swimming pool. It’s hard to imagine a less likely example of sustainable design. It may be fun for doing the backstroke, but a natatorium is a challenging ecological conundrum. The water in the pool needs to be constantly treated, filtered, and heated, and the entire facility has to be properly lit and temperature controlled. The HVAC complications alone are enough to send the most experienced designer to the kiddie pool. But despite the odds, Portland, Ore.–based SERA Architects dove in and recently competed an aquatic center addition to the East Portland Community Center (EPCC), which was awarded a LEED Platinum certification. The city of Portland is known for its progressive approach to sustainability. In 2008, it was named the top green city in the United States by SustainLane (sustainlane.com) for its strict land-use policies, urban growth boundary, and sustainable development. And its 2001 Green Building Policy mandates that city-owned buildings follow the USGBC’s LEED rating system (with a 2005 revision mandating LEED Gold compliance), which covers not just the building envelope, but overall energy use, stormwater management, and water conservation—three issues that are integral to an aquatics center. SERA’s design adds a 22,000-square-foot aquatics facility to the existing 32,000-square-foot community center. The original structure, designed by TVA Architects, was completed in 1998, prior to the creation of the city’s sustainability guidelines. According to Kurt Schultz, who was the principal in charge for TVA during the project and now is an architect at SERA, it was one of TVA’s first community centers for Portland Parks & Recreation, and while the department wanted a swimming pool at the time, there just wasn’t enough money in the budget. The barnlike new expansion tucks a leisure pool (complete with a brightly colored water slide and play features), a spa, and a four-lane, 25-yard lap pool under its pitched roof. “The facility serves a wide variety of people during the day, from young toddlers to older folks,” says Doug Brenner, Portland’s east services manager and former head of the Portland Parks & Recreation’s aquatics program. The EPCC addition also includes revamped locker rooms and event spaces for the public, as well as some hefty mechanical spaces that house a cutting-edge pool filtration system. Traditionally, pool water has to be drained and filtered once or twice per week; a typical system uses 7,500 gallons each time this is done. Not only does this water have to be discharged into the sewers, the new water going into the pool to replace the drained water has to be chemically treated and heated up to temperature—a big problem if you are trying to conserve water and energy. The SERA team installed a Defender automatic regenerative media filter, which uses only 300 gallons of water once per week. “The filter proved the biggest challenge,” says SERA project manager Lisa Petterson. “The idea first came about because of the city’s infrastructure, which has combined sewers (sanitary and storm). We didn’t want to overwhelm the old pipes, [and] we found that this system could save an estimated 1.2 million gallons of potable water each year.” “You’d notice the light, but you’d never know about the filters,” notes Brenner, referring to the daylight that pours into the natatorium. With the knowledge that maximum daylight is the first step to reducing lighting loads, the SERA team made sure to take advantage of the building’s east-west orientation. Floor-toceiling windows on the north and south façades open up the facility to views of the outside, while north- and south-facing clerestory windows bring in light over the surfaces of the pools. The architects worked with experts at University of Oregon’s Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory to study the effect and impact of natural light. Using a scaled physical model, they were able to determine the size of the windows that would be just the right size to light the room. When needed, the team used energy-efficient light fixtures such as high-efficiency T8 and metal halide lamps, which are controlled by zone. Because it is difficult to change luminaires over the pool, they chose fixtures with the longest lamp life possible. The facility is estimated to be nearly 75 percent more efficient than ASHRAE standards for a natatorium, and one of the biggest contributions to the EPCC’s energy savings is 5,500 square feet of solar panels. The building’s south-facing roof’s 21 percent slope is perfect for producing optimal amounts of solar energy; the team developed the array with Portland’s Commercial Solar Ventures. According to the architects, the 87-kW photovoltaic grid offsets 17 percent of the natatorium’s energy cost demand. Additionally, a solar thermal array provides hot water for the showers, and a heat exchanger extracts heat from the exhaust air coming out of the facility’s mechanical system and repurposes it to heat the pool water. It also was important to the SERA team that the general public has an awareness of the building’s environmental success in rethinking how pool facilities perform. They’ve included a kiosk in the center’s lobby where members of the community can go online and see how much energy the center is producing. “It’s all part of an educational process,” explains Brenner. “We want the public to see that this is an environmentally friendly facility. Portland parks have always been a leader in sustainability, now we’re leading as aquatic industry gets up to speed.” ▪ Mimi Zeiger writes about architecture and design from Brooklyn, N.Y.

MAY/JUNE 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 59

SPECS

Interior designer, the Grove: Candice Schiller, Schiller Del

Construction manager/general contractor: Lease Crutcher

Grande Restaurant Group, schiller-delgrande.com

Lewis, lewisbuilds.com

Landscape architect: Lauren Griffith, Lauren Griffith

Geotechnical engineer: GeoCon, geoconinc.com;

Associates, laurengriffithassociates.com

Professional Service Industries, psiusa.com

Prime firm, park planner, landscape architect: Mary

Landscape architect: Mayer Reed

Margaret Jones, Hargreaves Associates, hargreaves.com

LEED consultant: Brightworks, brightworks.net

Site /garage electrical engineer: Larry Hunt, Hunt & Hunt

Mechanical engineer, electrical engineer: Interface

Engineering Corp., hhecorp.com

Engineering, interfaceengineering.com

Structural engineer: Jamison Smith, Walter P Moore,

Pool subcontractor: The Pool Co., thepoolcompanyinc.com

www.walterpmoore.com; Elaine Rogers, Henderson &

Solar provider: Commercial Solar Ventures, c-s-v.com

Rogers, hr-structural.com

Structural engineer: ABHT, abht-structural.com

MATERIALS AND SOURCES

Art, the Grove: Eduardo Ortiz

Acoustical system: Performance Contracting Group, pcg.com

Bar, the Grove: 3Form, 3-form.com

Adhesives, coatings, and sealants: Tnemec, tnemec.com

Carpet: J&J/Invision, jj-invision.com

Appliances: GE, geappliances.com

Ceilings: Armstrong, armstrong.com;

Building management: DDC United, ddcunited.com

Acoustical Concepts, aciceiling.com

Carpet: Interface, interfaceglobal.com

Flooring: Daltile, daltile.com

Ceilings: Armstrong

Glass: Ranger Specialized Glass, rangerglass.com

Cladding: Skyline Sheet Metal, skylinesheetmetal.com

GREEN TEAM

Insulation: Firestone Building Products; Certainteed Corp.,

Flooring: Expanko, expanko.com

Architect, civil engineer, electrical engineer, interior

certainteed.com

Glass: Northwestern Industries, nwiglass.com

designer, mechanical engineer, structural engineer:

Interior walls: Elgin Butler Co., elginbutler.com

HVAC: Oregon Cascade Plumbing & Heating, oregoncascade

Nancy Novak, Michael Brady, Jessica Errett, Mike Ginsburg,

Lamps, the Grove: Lighting Unlimited, lulighting.com

.com; Des Champs, munters.us; Carrier Corp., carrier.com

Andrew Johnson, Kelly Carman, Elizabeth Hunter,

Masonry, concrete, and stone: St. Joe Brick Works,

Insulation: Performance Contracting;

Leo A Daly, leoadaly.com

stjoebrickworks.com

Firestone Building Products

Client/owner: Jennifer Killeen, GSA, gsa.gov

Metal: Berger Iron Works, bergeriw.com

Lighting control systems: Cooper Controls, greengate

General contractor: W.G. Mills, wgmills.com

Millwork, the Grove tabletops: Joshtom Millwork,

.coopercontrols.com; WattStopper, wattstopper.com

Geotechnical engineer: Nodarse & Associates, nodarse.com

joshtommillwork.com

Lighting: Elliptar Lighting, elliptiparlighting.com; Lithonia

Landscape architect: Anderson Lesniak, andersonlesniak.net

Paints and finishes, the Grove:

Lighting, lithonia.com; Kim Lighting, kimlighting.com

Sustainability coordinator: Chris Rupert, Leo A Daly

Sherwin Williams, sherwin-williams.com

Locker room and restroom furnishings: Bobrick, bobrick

Pavers: Dreyfus Construction Co., dreyfusconstruction.com

.com; ComTec and Tufftec, scrantonproducts.com

MATERIALS AND SOURCES

Photovoltaics: BP, bp.com

Masonry, concrete, and stone: Davidsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Masonry,

Carpet: Constantine Commercial, constantine-carpet.com

Roofing: Alcoa, alcoa.com; Gulf Star Roofing and Sheet

davidsonsmasonry.com; Mutual Materials, mutualmaterials

Ceilings: Armstrong, armstrong.com

Metal, gulfstar.com

.com; LevelOne Concrete Construction, leveloneconcrete.com;

Cladding: Alucobond, alucobondusa.com

Room Divider, the Grove: Janus et Cie, janusetcie.com

Knife River Corp., kniferiver.com

Curtainwalls: United States Aluminum, usalum.com

Seating, the Grove: Max Design; Janus et Cie; Crate and

Metal: Insta-Fab

Flooring: poured-in-place concrete; Unicork, Tomkt.com

Barrel, crateandbarrel.com; Kartell, kartell.com; Artisan

Millwork: Burgenerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Woodworking,

Glass: PPG Industries, ppg.com

Upholstery; Design Within Reach, dwr.com

burgenerswoodworking.com

HVAC: Trane, trane.com

Signage: Neon Electric, www.neonelectric.net

Paints and finishes: Reichle Painting; Miller Paint Co.,

Lighting control systems: SESCO Lighting, sescolighting.com

Site and landscape products: Landscape Forms,

millerpaint.com

Lighting: Solatube International, solatube.com

landscapeforms.com; Surface America, surfaceamerica.com;

Photovoltaics: EC Co., e-c-co.com; Sanyo, us.sanyo.com

Masonry, concrete, and stone: Sandkuhl Clay Works,

Fences Unlimited, unlimitedfences.com; American Rubber

Plumbing and water systems: Oregon Cascade Plumbing &

sandkuhl.com

Technologies, americanrubber.com

Heating, oregoncascade.com; Kohler Co., kohler.com; Sloan,

Millwork: Environ Biocomposites, environbiocomposites.com

Structural systems: Standley Steel

sloanvalve.com; Acorn Engineering, acorneng.com

Roofing: Firestone Building Products, www.firestonebpco.com

Tables, the Grove: Joshtom Millwork, Chrome

Pool equipment: Neptune-Benson, neptunebenson.com;

Umbrellas, the Grove: Janus et Cie; Ralph Lauren,

Paco, pacopumps.com; Engineered Treatment Systems,

ralphlauren.com

ets-uv.com; Strantrol/Siemens, water.siemens.com;

Upholstery, the Grove: Place Textiles, placetextiles.com

Pulsar, archchemicals.com; Grate Technologies

GREEN TEAM

Window treatments, the Grove: MechoShade,

Pool tile: Daltile

Architect, commissioner, LEED consultant, MEP engineer:

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Renewable energy systems (excluding photovoltaics):

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DISCOVERY GREEN John Cryer III, Lawrence W. Speck, Jeff Bricker, Robert

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Owens, Aaron Jones, Marcus Martinez, Joanna Yaghooti,

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Huszka and Bill Chalmers, PageSoutherlandPage,

EAST PORTLAND COMMUNITY CENTER

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GREEN TEAM

Signage: Architectural Metal Crafters, amcrafters.com

Client: Guy Hagstette, Discovery Green Conservancy,

Architect, interior designer, lighting designer:

Site and landscape products: NW Wetland Restoration

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Structural systems: North Star Industries,

Environmental consultant: Timothy Crump,

Civil engineer: Roberts Consulting & Engineering,

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TGE Resources, tgeresources.com

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Windows and storefront system: Columbia Contract

General contractor: Julia Odell, Miner-Dederick

Client/owner: City of Portland, Bureau of Parks &

Glazing, cglazing.net

Construction, minerdederick.com

Recreation, portlandonline.com/parks

Doors: Chown Hardware, chown.com

Jonathan Vaughan, George Logan, Cyril Unger, Mike

60 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

Firestone Building Products; Skyline Sheet Metal, skylinesheetmetal.com; AEP Span, aep-span.com

Annual Design Review

CELEBRATING THE BEST IN AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE ELIGIBILITY Projects must have been completed after June 30, 2009, and must have been built in the United States or designed by a U.S. ﬁrm.

PUBLICATION

ARCHITECT’s Annual Design Review is a juried competition of the best U.S. architecture completed in the past 12 months. Judging is blind, to give every project an equal opportunity to win, and awards will be given in six project-type categories.

Winners in each category (selected by a jury) will be published in the November 2010 issue of ARCHITECT.

CATEGORIES WORK Oﬃce, Government, and Commercial Mixed-Use PLAY Sports, Hospitality, and Retail LIVE Multifamily Housing, Single-Family Housing, and Residential Mixed-Use GROW Education, Science, and Healthcare MOVE Infrastructure and Transportation BOND Institutional, Cultural, and Religious DEADLINES July 9, 2010: regular submission deadline (postmark) July 14, 2010: late submission deadline (postmark, additional fee required)

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SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC Page 23 Circle No. 60 www.sereply.com (800) 789-7038

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VT Page 26 Circle No. 63 www.vtindustries.com

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ECOCENTRIC

A Walk in the Trees Text Murrye Bernard Photos Paul Warchol

64 ECO-STRUCTURE.COM

A CANOPY WALK AT THE MORRIS ARBORETUM PUTS VISITORS OUT ON A LIMB. Many architects found their calling while building childhood treehouses, but Metcalfe Architecture & Design landed the dream project of designing a soaring canopy in the trees. “Out on a Limb” is a new permanent exhibit at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The Arboretum sought to attract a younger audience, but getting kids excited about trees is no easy feat. However, focus groups revealed that interjecting elements of risk and danger pique children’s interest, and a canopy walk proved the ideal solution. Principal Alan Metcalfe and partner Aaron Goldblatt worked with Arboretum staff to select the site, a steep ravine that would allow an ADA-accessible 450-foot walkway to project above the terrain. Visitors enter via a wood hoop tunnel into the Tree Pavilion, a safe haven for acrophobics. Inspired by Chinese garden design, a moongate transitions from solid ground and frames a 250-year-old chestnut oak, the ostensible linchpin of the structure. Next, visitors choose between a slightly swaying suspension bridge to the “Bird’s Nest” or a metal grated walkway to the “Squirrel Scramble.” The Bird’s Nest hangs by a chain from two chopstick-like columns and is woven from sustainably harvested branches. The enclosed space contains “eggs” that double as seats, allowing children to feel safe while taking in a bird’s-eye view of the forest. The Squirrel Scramble features rope netting that surrounds two trees. Though it’s completely safe, the experience of lying suspended 50 feet above ground is thrilling. Trees guide the form of the canopy walk, and zigzagging switchbacks, also borrowed from Chinese garden design, draw visitors to different corners of the forest. At the end of the platform, breathtaking views shift with the seasons; trees form a solid wall in the summer, but winter brings clear perspectives of the valley and creek beyond. Although local woods, including black locust and ironwood, form portions of the canopy walk, the architects selected recycled galvanized steel for the structure to avoid competing with the trees. Fabricated off-site, it was boomed into place by cranes to avoid disrupting the landscape. An arborist helped determine locations for a system of “micropiles,” 6-inch-diameter pipes driven as much as 100 feet into the earth, without disrupting roots. Unlike traditional treehouses, no structural elements actually touch any trees. On the ground, protective wood slat casings were installed around the trees to protect them during construction and extensive layers of mulch with stabilizing fabric insulated many of the roots from foot traffic. Metcalfe Architecture & Design’s canopy walk successfully answered a call: Since the exhibit opened in 2009, the number of visitors to the Arboretum has increased 66 percent. ▪

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Opening Up The Opportunities With VP’s Open Web Framing Open Web Advantages Include…

Building Efficiency

For projects that require clear spans approaching 100’ or greater, open web trusses may be a natural choice. Clear span trusses have the ability to carry heavy roof loads more economically than other framing options. Additionally, projects that do not require heavy roof loads may sometimes benefit with a truss frame design, especially in design/build projects where the builder can control roof height and clear height requirements. Plus the fact that the open web design allows for better light distribution and air circulation helps to make the building more efficient.

Architectural Appeal

Open web trusses have an architectural look that gives building interiors an attractive, open structural appearance. Further, the latticed design of the rafter allows building mechanicals and ductwork to be located within the web, allowing for more clearance beneath the bottom chord.

Erectability

One of the erection advantages of an open web frame is the fact the frames are relatively light compared to alternatives. This allows for easier lifting and bolt-up in the field. When projects are being erected with supersets (bays assembled on the ground then lifted into place) these light but rigid assemblies can be erected faster and safer.

See How Open Web Framing Can Be An Opportunity For You Open web framing is one of the unique building solutions available through Varco Pruden Builders. Varco Pruden Buildings is a recognized leader in providing quality steel building systems throughout North America. For more information about our innovative products and our network of more than 1,000 Independent Authorized VP Builders, call us at 800-238-3246 or visit www.vp.com.

BUILD SMART

BUILD GREEN

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