“ROBLE VERDE” A Comprehensive Net Zero Solution for Chicago’s Near West Side
By: Irma Ayala Iara Moraes Luis Manuel Monterrubio Carmen Vidal-Hallett (with additional help from Gabriel Vidal-Hallet) Franceline Villasenor
“ROBLEVERDE” Robleverde is a visionary Living Building Community of mixed-use buildings created with the purpose of serving and attracting students of Malcolm X College, employees of the Illinois Medical District and overall residents of the Near West Side Community. The buildings and uses on site complement and interact with each other and will be integrated with the surrounding public and private open spaces, this will revitalize and energize the community at large. The main idea is to create a “green sustainable” oasis providing all possible services and becoming the starting point of a thriving larger community. The proposed development creates sustainable living building solutions related to energy production/consumption, programing, food, public transportation and urban living. Our primary Chicago biomimicry focus will be a combination of earth + water + air as natural elements essential to restore (and be inspired by) the Midwest Prairie setting. The oak (‘roble’ in Spanish) was also an important inspiration piece giving the name to our team and becoming part of our landscaping, inspiring us for the design pattern of the vertical green walls. Neighborhood and site analysis (Refer to Board 1) The 3.5 acre site is located in the Near Westside neighborhood and is currently used as a parking lot for Rush Hospital located a few blocks to the south. It is primarily surrounded by parking lots, empty lots, and scattered housing developments. There are other important community assets: to the north, the United Center Arena, a multi-use venue for basketball, hockey, circus and concerts with approx. 23,500 seats available; to the west the existing Malcolm X College and to the south the Illinois Medical District source of jobs for approx. 20,000 people. The current zoning is C1-3 (MLA 400 per dwelling unit, 300 per efficiency unit, and 200 per SRO unit) FAR: 3. Unfortunately, once an event is held here there is nothing else to do and the people will go out to other neighborhoods, creating a massive leakage and unsafe conditions in the community. In addition, the site lacks a neighborhood center, cohesive commercial/retail activities, and transportation assets are underutilized. There are also elevated crime rates in the immediate area. Proposed Site Design (Refer to Board 1) Our site design has a primary goal of integrating all proposed buildings and open spaces and maximizing the nature experience through the integration of earth + water + air elements. Following the Biomimicry principles, we have been inspired all along by the Midwest Prairie’s natural setting. The site has also been organized to open and serve primarily the Malcolm X College community with the main entry to the south west of the site. Our buildings are located on site to create a presence along the street and to restore the urban pedestrian
environment that was once there before. The (earth) open and green spaces of the development would be provided at ground and roof top levels with interconnections horizontally and vertically. Our site design approach intends to not only maintain the existing area of open space but also increase the options of interaction with nature at different levels. Our green roofs would physically connect to the ground floor proposed orchard and rain garden lagoon with attractive slopes. A recycled wood amphitheater and stairs will provide an outdoor seating area connected to a recycled wood deck over the slightly depressed rain garden area. The rain garden will collect 100% of the site rainwater and in case of heavy storms; elevated drains will collect the excess rainwater and direct it to an underground cistern that will store water for irrigation of the grounds and green roofs. The rain garden will be planted with native perennial prairie grasses and rain water plants with long roots with a variety of colors blooming at different times of the warm season in Chicago always providing a splash of color pleasant to the eyes. These plants will tolerate shade since the garden will have partial sun during the different times of the day. The paths of the entire site have been designed following the desirable pedestrian paths interconnecting the streets and entry points of all the buildings. A relevant green open space will be a community orchard at the south west corner of the site (earth). As an extension of the green space, several vertical “rain screen walls� are proposed and inspired by the native Midwest Oak (Roble) tree skin surface. During the winter, when the plants die, the rain screen metal structure will resemble the oak tree cork surface structure bringing an artistic element to the south facing facades. The rain garden central lagoon (water) will retain all the storm water from the site and will also have under it the geothermal system that will provide ⅔ of the energy for the site. The central focal point of the site would also provide a suspended platform over the rain garden/lagoon where the public can sit down and enjoy nature around the lagoon and/or the shows on the proposed outdoor screen. Commercial spaces adjacent to the main plaza will have the opportunity to spill out with tables and temporary stands giving additional life to the open space during the summer. The rain garden area could also serve as a skate rink during the winter and the outdoor auditorium could be a flexible open space for art exhibits and ice sculpture during the winter. A large orchard and a large oak tree (Roble) will be the gateway to students coming from Malcolm X. A small greenhouse and storage area on the residential adjacent building will serve and complement the orchard. The site would also include (wind) turbines which will capture not only the natural Chicago winds but also the air vacuum effect of the elevated train which crosses the site along the east side.
The proposed project is assuming that parking could be negotiated with the surrounding numerous parking lots and those developers would also negotiate outside of the project limits facilities for a shared car system. Parkways will be planted with bioswales and native trees and sidewalks will be constructed with permeable pavers throughout. Exterior lighting with be installed to illuminate only the pedestrian path and enhance certain development highlights and commercial signage. Proposed Buildings’ Program (Refer to Board 1) Robleverde includes four buildings: A residential mixed-use building along Wood St. This building includes 47 residential units, (24) 560 Sq. Ft. studios, (15) 700 Sq. Ft. one bedrooms and (8) 900 Sq. Ft. two bedrooms. There will be 16 units on the 2nd and 4th floors, and 15 on the 3rd floor. To serve the new and surrounding community we are proposing a Bookstore with approx. 7,000 Sq. Ft. and a Fitness Facility (1st floor) 12,530 Sq. Ft. + (2nd floor) 6,530 Sq. Ft. = 19,060 Sq. Ft. The green roof will be accessible to residents with a total of 6,724 Sq. Ft. The top level of this building will connect with the proposed movie theater building with a bridge in order to give the residents access to the theater building at the third floor. The gym on the first and second levels will be accessible to the public and in-house residents. The gym will have a unique generation of energy. The customers while using the treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes will be able to produce electricity. For example, one hour of stationary biking can produce 50 to 150 watts which gives enough energy to run a TV for one hour. While it is understandable the equipment will not be used at all times, the energy will be stored at interior batteries and used for the overall establishment. The design of the building resembles soft rolling hills and is graciously connected to the theater building and the plaza by elegant curved roof lines that minimized the structures impact and maximize the landscaping green environment and the intention to bring back the prairie Midwest landscape. A residential + retail + business incubator building along Ogden Ave. This building will provide all sorts of amenities and services on the first floor including an organic grocery store, a restaurant overlooking a recycled wood deck. A recycled wood amphitheater is proposed to be attached to this building and adjacent to the proposed deck in order to give comfortable seating space to watch movies projected on the outside wall of the movie theater building. On the remaining space of the second and third floors there will be (18) incubator business spaces of 417 Sq. Ft. each. Incubator spaces will give the opportunity for young professionals to start their own business and
to stay in the community. The idea is to get City and Federal subsidy to start a professional independent life. The third floor will be provided with (18) one bedroom units. By creating a live-work building where people can have their own apartment and business in the same building but with separate spaces we are eliminating many transportation trips and expenses and revitalizing the neighborhood. It also has been proven that a 24-hour occupied area with mixed uses will reduce the crime rates and increase safety. The total area for this building is (1st, 2nd and 3rd floors) approx. 19,450 Sq. Ft. X 3 = 58,350 Sq. Ft. At the rooftop level (19,450 Sq. Ft.) We are providing the installation of photovoltaic panels to power the entire building. The power production will exceed the daily needs so there is capacity to store energy for the days that the solar energy is not sufficient. There will also be the possibility of getting energy from the proposed wind turbines or the geothermal system proposed in the development. The entrance at the front elevation for this building along the street was created with a green wall that becomes a green roof wrapping around the rooftop created with a curvilinear design language that relates to the other buildings on site and expresses again the intention to create rolling prairie hills. Located along Ogden Avenue, this mixed-use building will have no setbacks in order to provide a more interesting ambience for pedestrian and bike traffic coming from the south (CTA station) and east (existing Malcolm “X� college) Bike station building at the intersection of Ogden and Adams To promote a healthy life-style, the development includes a bike station that will provide 300 bike storage spaces for the residents and the surrounding community, 84 outdoor bike racks and 76 bikes available for rent. The idea of the bike rentals assumes the City of Chicago’s plan for a bike sharing program throughout the City will be in place and that a person will be able to rent in one station and deliver the bike at the next station. The building includes a (1st floor) with 13,700 Sq. Ft., and a (2nd floor) 14,964 Sq. Ft. Chicago is the 10th most bike friendly City in the US, our site is surrounded by four bike lanes. The second floor with 14,964 Sq. Ft. will be used as a green-house producing fruits and vegetables all year long for the grocery store and for the restaurant on site. As a measure to promote physical activity bikes will be rented at discount prices for residents and signs will be posted throughout the buildings to encourage the use of stairs as opposed to elevators indicating the amount of calories you lose.
A movie theater along Adams St. The movie theater building has been created as a public recreational attraction; the main purpose is to create a destination for the community throughout the year. The building will include (8) screening rooms distributed within two floors: (1st floor) 20,660 Sq. Ft. (2nd floor) 25,587 Sq. Ft. and a screen attached to the southern façade facing the public plaza that will be enjoyed during summer and winter seasons. The rooftop will have (not including the portion connected with the residential bldg.) 31,873 Sq. Ft of green roof. This roof will include the proposed wind turbines for the development. Specific Details about Sustainable Approaches (Refer to Board 2) Parking and Transit access We intentionally didn’t include any parking on site to promote public transportation since there are several CTA train stations and bus lines serving the site within walking distance. We assume that since there are so many mostly empty parking lots around the site (22 parking lots surrounding the site) anyone that wants a parking space should be able to get it. There is also the assumption that a share car station adjacent to the site could be negotiated in nearby lots as part of the development implementation. The impervious surrounding parking surfaces comprise of approximately 57 acres of underutilized area that only contributes to the exacerbation of the urban heat island. To this effect, our project does not include parking spaces, but proposes to create a shared parking agreement with the surrounding owners. This is an opportunity to increase ridership on the existing CTA systems (bus and train) and use alternative modes of transportation such as bikes! Hence, we designed a bike station, described in detail above. Geothermal energy system We are proposing a geothermal system to serve the site with a loop field capacity of 65 tons/780,000 Btu’s. For a load of this size, the development will have roughly (30) 400’ deep standard u-tubes or 15 hybrid Rygan bores. Both systems would have the bores spaced 20’ from each other so it will expand between 6,400 or 25,600’ square feet underground of the central open space. The cost of installing the geothermal system is roughly the same as a traditional forced air gas system inside the buildings. The cost to install the loop field would be additional. However, the geothermal system inside and outside portions become eligible for a 10%-30% tax credit.
Solar energy system The photovoltaic system will be installed on the building along Ogden Ave. including 306 panels (69 X 39 in ~ or 18.7 Sq. Ft. each panel) and producing 220 W/hr are produced by Sq. Ft of panels. The total area coverage of PV is 5,722 Sq. Ft., therefore, the total amount produced per hour ideally will be 1,258, 884 W per hour or 1,258 Kw/Hr. Building Materials All buildings will be constructed with concrete containing fly ash, rapidly renewable wood, recycled wood or forest certified wood. We would like to include on site (using some of the incubator spaces) a place to educate the future residents and teach them about green finishes such as “0� VOC paints and sealants and also to learn how to buy recycled kitchen cabinets and furniture. The building envelope will be insulated and the windows will be double pane and low e. We anticipate that the green roofs and vertical walls will increase the insulation capacity as well. We were conscious about using local materials and companies to help the environment by reducing shipping costs, pollution caused by transportation and to help the local economy. Conclusion We anticipate that between the comprehensive energy systems including solar, geothermal, wind turbines and the energy producing exercise machines will make this development energy self-sufficient and potentially selling energy back to the grid. The food production in the proposed green houses and orchards will also be relevant bringing to the community a sense of healthy eating habits. The contact with nature at all levels (ground floor, roof tops and vertical walls) together with the storm water collection and rain garden prairie landscape will become a perfect example of an ecologically responsible community and will bring back to the site the green environment that Biomimicry Chicago intends to restore. The proposed development has been designed to be an inspiring beautiful development to attract new people. We have carefully investigated all the alternative energy uses and those will be easily verifiable and feasible once we move ahead to the more detailed construction documents phase becoming a reality project. Robleverde is a net-zero biomimicry multi-purpose hub of activity, spanning from residential to commercial, entertainment and civic. It will bring together area residents, students and visitors alike and has the potential to restore much-needed life and vitality to a critical Chicago neighborhood that could be replicable in many other needy areas of the City.
Irma Ayala Luis Monterrubio Iara Moraes Carmen Vidal Hallett Franceline VillaseĂąor Copy Rights 2013!
Roble Verde
PUBLIC COLLECTIVE
A comprehensive net zero solution for Chicago’s Near West Side
1.6 miles to CBD
Accesible via Public Transit & Bike lanes M
The existing site is a previously developed parcel, currently used as a parking lot. The objective, is to create a robust space that also provided indoor areas that embodied good health and productivity. Each building strives for proper air quality, thermal control, and visual comfort. Every occupiable interior space of the project has operable windows that provide access to fresh air and natural daylight.
UIC
Entertainment, Retail & Plaza
M
Summer winds N 5-12 MPH
IMD
United Center
LBCC Site Malcolm X College
New Sustainable Structures
M
The site becomes a sociable atmosphere by becoming a walkable, pedestrian-oriented community. Residents and visitors alike can congregate to the central water feature, enjoy an out door movie in the warmer months or watch a movie inside the theater, as well shop the local merchants, and dine all while feeling safe. Additionally, since the focus is on the pedestrian rather than the automobile, people are encouraged to use public transportation or bike rentals.
SITE CONTEXT The LBC challenge site is located in the Near West Side Community Area just 1.6 miles away from the Central Business District of Chicago. The site is accessible through a variety of public transportation modes and even by bicycle. Some of the great assets that surround it include the Illinois Medical Center (an employment center for approx. 20,000 people), Malcolm X College and the United Center (capable of hosting diverse events for over 23,500 people). This 3.5 acre site represents an opportunity to provide the community residents and newcomers with a comprehensive and sustainable solution to the lack of pedestrian connectivity and prevalence of car oriented uses in the area. The amount of public investment already made in the Near West Side, makes the competition site a potential opportunity to create uses that address the need for new affordable rental opportunities, business incubators, entertainment venues, public open space, places to eat and much more. Roble Verde is a proposal that includes a distinctive varitey of uses and green technologies to achieve the first Living Building Certification in Chicago.
Green Technologies ROBLE VERDE COMMUNITY
Residential Units Fitness Center In order to create a Net Zero neighborhood all buildings are configured based on the capacity of the site: harvesting sufficient water to meet the needs of the population in regards to the natural hydrology of the land and the water needs of the ecosystem it inhabits. The integration of a reliable and decentralized power grid, is founded on renewable energy which will supply each of the efficient buildings.
Retail Bike Station Business Incubator
Native Plants A VISION FOR THE PUBLIC PLAZA, ORCHARD & OUTDOOR MOVIE THEATER
PROPOSED SITE PROGRAM
Landscaping with native plants improves the environment. Once established, native plants do not need pesticides, fertilizers, or watering. Not only is this good for the environment, it reduces the demand for nonrenewable resources and improves the water and air quality as well as enhancing the biodiversity of the area. The native plants increase our connection to nature, help educate our neighbors, and provide a beautiful, peaceful place to relax.
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