Bidding and Negotiation
Bidding and negotiation is an overlooked aspect of sustainable design projects during this phase, building owners, developers and design teams have to work with contractors to achieve overall sustainable objectives, within the context of the project budget and the ease of construction. Often, in a public bid situation more than a third of all LEED-NC projects are for public agencies , it's a good idea to devote a specific amount of time at pre-bid conferences to the LEED project requirements,...
Indoor Environmental Quality Questions
Since the major business case benefits of green buildings derive from gains in productivity and health, it's vital to start considering these issues early in the design effort. 1 If the building must have a large floorplate, can we design an atrium that will enhance daylight penetration and natural ventilation into all occupied areas of the structure 2 Will the massing and orientation of the building support passive solar design and or natural ventilation and daylighting strategies Fig. 10.3 3...
PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE Uga
McKinney Green Building, McKinney, Texas Completed in April 2006, the McKinney Green Building is a 61,000-square-feet, three-story speculative office building. The facility is projected to reduce energy use by more than 70 percent and reduce water use by 30 percent compared to a similar, conventional office building. A rooftop photovoltaic system comprises 152 panels that provide approximately 10 percent of the building's electricity requirements. Two cisterns, each with a 9000-gallon capacity,...
Info Sax
LOOKING AHEAD DESIGNING LIVING BUILDINGS Along with many others, Bill Reed writes about the need to continue the push for high-performance buildings into the realm of restorative and regenerative design. In a 2005 paper, Reed and his coauthors wrote the term 'regenerative' is useful because it suggests the self-organizing, self-healing and self-evolving properties of living systems.1' Rather than green design as LEED defines it , where the goal is just to reduce the damage by being less bad,...
Programming
In the programming phase, the amount of space and various uses for the individual users of the building are specified in enough detail for the designers to begin to place them within the physical structure. At this time, it's useful to pay attention to the energy and demand natural ventilation implications of space utilization in the building. Programming also specifies adjacencies, uses that need to be put close together. These decisions are often dictated by a client's organizational...
Construction
I have found it useful on LEED projects to make sure that the construction process starts with a full explanation of the LEED goals and specifically which LEED credits the construction team is charged with achieving. If the construction documents were prepared properly, all of these requirements should have been in the General Conditions, Division 1 specifications. However, it's not generally the case that everyone reads all the specifications. That's why actively managing the construction...
Getting Started with Environmental ValueAdded Analysis
Project teams should begin the green building process by identifying what Triple Bottom Line goals the project owner wants most. This ensures that the project team understands the owner's point of view for what will determine a successful project. Next the team should evaluate the various LEED credits and sustainable design solutions that support the owner's programmatic needs for the facility. Each item should be evaluated against the owners' EVA Log. The team should evaluate all impacts,...
Audubon Center at Debs Park Los Angeles California
Located 10 minutes east of downtown Los Angeles, the Audubon Center at Debs Park is a nature center within a 282-acre urban wilderness owned by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The total project cost excluding the land was 5.5 million. The design and construction of the 5020-square-foot building cost approximately 2.5 million, or 371 per square feet. Designed to use only 25,000 kWh of energy annually, the facility is operated completely off the grid all of the power used is...
Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences Incline Village Nevada
Completed in the fall of 2006, the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences houses classrooms and laboratories for programs that focus on understanding and protecting fragile alpine lakes. The three-story, 47,000-square-feet facility cost 25 million and is used by Sierra Nevada College, the University of California at Davis, the Desert Research Institute, and the University of Nevada, Reno. The facility uses 60 percent less energy and 30 percent less water than a comparable building. A variety...
Lewis Clark State Office Building Jefferson City Missouri
Constructed on the site of the former Jefferson City Correction Facility, the Lewis amp Clark State Office Building houses approximately 400 Missouri Department of Natural Resources employees. The cost for the 120,000 square-feet building was approximately 17 million. Designed to reduce energy consumption by 60 percent over a standard building, this project by BNIM Architects uses daylighting technologies, advanced electrical and lighting control systems, an efficient building envelope and...
Heifer International Little Rock Arkansas
Heifer's mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. The organization's 94,000-square-feet, five-story headquarters building was completed in February 2006 at a cost of 17.4 million. Heifer expects to reduce energy consumption by 40 percent compared to a conventional building . Only 62 feet wide, the orientation and curved shape allow natural light to penetrate the building, reducing the need for artificial light. Rainwater from the permeable parking lot is collected in...
Soft Costs For Green Building Projects
The 2004 GSA study mentioned earlier also looked at soft costs, costs for things that are not part of building construction. The study estimated soft costs for additional design and documentation services ranged from about 0.40 to 0.80 per square foot 0.2 to 0.4 for the courthouse and 0.35 to 0.70 per square foot 0.3 to 0.6 for the office building modernization project. One caution the added percentage of total cost may be higher for smaller projects. Therefore, each building team should look...
Chartwell School Seaside California
A private organization that helps children overcome learning disabilities, the Chartwell School serves children aged 6 to 14. Located in the California coastal climate zone of Monterey Bay, the Chartwell School followed the protocols set by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, in addition to the LEED Platinum requirements. A 30-kW photovoltaic system produces 53,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and offsets the production of 27 tons of CO2 annually. The project expects to...
An Architects Perspective
Bill Reed writes about the importance of using charrettes to get people on the building team to change practice habits. In his view, the purpose of integrative design is to get people to change entrenched patterns that inhibit creativity, systemic thinking, and innovative designs. The most successful process we've employed to help people to change is this at the first goal-setting charrette, we map out a design process that shows how people are going to be integrating and communicating, when...
Getting Consistent Results
Let's take a look at how one owner, the University of Washington, tackles the issue of getting LEED certification on every project. Clara Simon was hired a few years ago as the first sustainability director for the Capital Projects Office. She relates her experience with LEED projects. Currently most of our LEED projects are state-funded projects. In the state of Washington there is a requirement that we need to achieve at least LEED Silver on all of our projects. Through early 2008, the...
General Sustainable Design Questions
At this stage, it is often useful to take a step back and see where we are and whether earlier project goals need to be reexamined. We might also take a meeting or two to look at new opportunities that might have surfaced through the analytical efforts of the early design stages. 1 Has the project changed its green goals at this stage, and have we listed these in a way that all stakeholders are aware of them 2 What are our goals for using life-cycle costing and life-cycle assessment methods for...
EnergyUsing Systems
We also have to get very specific about the energy-using and energy-supply systems for the project. This activity is especially important as projects move toward zero net energy goals. A good example is an enthalpy wheel Fig. 12.1 designed by Alfa Tech Cambridge Group of San Francisco, for the Ohlone College Newark Center for Sciences and Technology in Newark, California. Principal in charge Michael Lucas spoke about how this design element evolved. We presented a number of mechanical concepts....
Financing Green Projects
Whether public or private, raising money for new and renovated projects is always an issue. For private developers, raising both debt and equity capital is typically the challenge. The rise of socially responsible property investing promises to reward those developers who build green. Investing in green buildings has begun to attract considerable attention as a form of responsible property investing RPI , a practice which is growing faster than overall investing. One expert, Professor Gary...
Renewable Energy Questions
Ultimately we will want to make up a certain percentage of projected building energy use with onsite renewables, especially solar electrics. How we go about thinking through this opportunity can often determine whether it's realized in the project. 1 Are we allowing for future solar installations on the building in terms of designing roof surfaces and roof pitch Can we integrate photovoltaics into the south-facing shading of the building 2 Are there ways we can assure of providing at least 5 to...
EnergyRelated Questions
In another context, the poet William Blake once wrote that Energy is an eternal delight and he that desires, but acts not, breeds Pestilence.' This is a good introduction to the overriding issue today in high-performance building design, which is to realize our desire to dramatically reduce energy use in building design, construction, and operations. The pestilence in this case would be global warming from a continuing growth of global carbon dioxide emissions, nearly half of which come from...
Info Aaf
In the conceptual and schematic design phases, the high-performance design team typically investigates major systems alternatives for the project, looking at free natural resources such as solar, wind, and geothermal climate control schemes fa ade alternatives, building, massing, and orientation on the site. At this stage, the team can make some back of the envelope calculations of energy use and energy savings alternatives. The team can make a rough stab at costs, but doesn't know enough for...
Conceptual and Process Questions
At this point in the project, the team should be comfortable enough with the integrated design process to begin answering and following questions. 1 To what degree do we want the building to be conspicuously green, with environmental strategies on display, as opposed to having them operate quietly, behind the scenes 2 Could the building educate others by making the green features more obvious, such as the use of photovoltaic solar panels or a green roof, or by opening up the internal workings...
LEED Rating System and EVA
The LEED rating system provides teams with a wonderful framework of green building focal points. Each credit's performance standards lead to Triple Bottom Line results. This chapter uses the LEED-NC rating system and examines several credits to analyze how this process applies to actual project decision making. The chapter in particular analyzes the following LEED credits Credit 6 Stormwater Design Credit 7.2 Heat Island Effect Roof Credit 1 Water Efficient Landscaping Credit 3 Water Use...
Hard Bargain Farm Accokeek Maryland
Let's take a look now at one project that has been designed to meet these standards, the Alice Ferguson Foundation's Hard Bargain Farm, an environmental education facility located in Maryland, near Washington, DC. This project won the Demonstrated Leadership award at the 2007 USGBC Greenbuild show, for unbuilt projects. The design concepts include the following strategies Cascadia Green Building Council, accessed April 29, 2008. 1 Maintaining a compact development footprint that takes advantage...
Bernheim Arboretum Visitors Center Clermont Kentucky
Imagine a building like a tree was the design concept for the Bernheim Arboretum Visitors Center, completed in 2005. This 6000-square-feet facility contains recycled wood from pickle vats and bourbon whiskey rack houses that may be the building's most apparent sustainable feature. Simulating the natural processes of the tree, the facility has a peat-moss sewage filtration system and an 8000-gallon underground cistern. Wrap-around trellises and pergolas provide shade and, like a tree, natural...
Energy Issues
Wherein this phase we need to get very specific about energy-using systems and components, as well as building commissioning. 1 What is the final level of energy efficiency we are planning to achieve Is it possible to increase that level with more efficient equipment choices, without changing the overall design concept or appearance 2 Has the commissioning authority clearly reviewed all systems documents and do we have a clear idea of the owner's project requirements OPR and the basis of design...
The New York Times Building
Bruce Fowle led the design team at FXFOWLE Architects for the design of the New York Times building Fig. 3.6 in New York working with Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Here's his story about how integrated design is practiced on a major new urban high-rise, with a strong collaboration between two very talented design firms. The New York Times Building was a collaborative effort from start to finish. While Renzo Piano was definitely the visionary for the project, both firms had equal roles in...
Philip Merrill Environmental Center Annapolis Maryland
The Philip Merrill Environmental Center in Annapolis, Maryland serves as the headquarters for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Completed in December of 2000, the total project cost for the 32,000-square-feet, 2 story building was 7.5 million. The project was certified as the first LEED Platinum project in the United States, under the original USGBC pilot program for the LEED rating system. The Merrill Center uses approximately two-thirds less energy than a typical office. The building's east-west...
Standard Refrigeration Company San Juan Puerto Rico
This two-story, 19,500-square-foot building serves as the headquarters for the Standard Refrigeration Company. Compared to a building built to ASHRAE 90.11999 standards, Standard's building was designed save over 70 percent in electricity costs. An 85 percent efficient enthalpy wheel capable of handling 125 percent of the required outside air is a major component in the heat recovery system. Standard estimates that the electrical cost savings alone will pay for the cost of the new building in...
Building Commissioning Questions
Probably the single most important energy-saving measure for any building is commissioning, testing, and verification of all energy-using systems. Design development is a good time to hire a commissioning agent and incorporate that person or persons into the building team. 1 Has the owner decided whether the commissioning agent will come from the building team or will he or she be hired independently 2 Has the commissioning agent or authority completed a focused review of design intent during...
Artists for Humanity EpiCenter Boston Massachusetts
The 23,500-square-feet, four-story Artists for Humanity Epi-Center houses art studios and gallery space in Boston. At 183 per square foot, the total project cost was 4.3 million. The energy cost for the building built to minimal ASHRAE Richard Mendelkorn, courtesy of Arrowstreet. Richard Mendelkorn, courtesy of Arrowstreet. 90.1-1999 energy standards would have been 3 per square foot 68,000 year , the estimated energy cost for the Epi-Center is 0.56 per square foot 12,732 year . A 45-kilowatt...
The University of Pennsylvania Morris Arboretum Project
Robert Shemwell is an architect and principal of Overland Partners, San Antonio, with a string of high-performance, sustainable design projects to his credit. Called upon to design a new Horticulture and Education Center for the Morris Arboretum for the University of Pennsylvania, Shemwell's team took a unique approach to the design charrette process. As of March 2008, the project was in design development and aiming squarely at a LEED Platinum rating. If you're going to have an integrated...
SWOT Analysis
My friend Nathan Good, an award-winning green architect in Salem, Oregon likes to use a SWOT analysis for his visioning sessions, using a diagram much like the one shown in Fig. 4.2. Borrowed from the world of the MBA school and from management FM Link online , accessed April 2008. Interview with Dan Heinfeld, LPA, Inc., February 2008. Figure 4.1 Left to right John Nystedt, Muscoe Martin, Colin Franklin, Tony Aiello, and Bert Westcott, design team members of the Morris Arboretum project....
The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center Baraboo Wisconsin
In 2007, the Aldo Leopold Center became the highest-scoring LEED-NC Platinum project with 61 out of 69 possible points . Designed by Kubala Washatko Architects, this project serves as the Aldo Leopold Foundation's headquarters, with office and meeting spaces, an interpretive exhibit hall, archive, workshop, and three-season hall. The 12,000 square-foot complex cost 4 million. The facility uses 70 percent less energy than a standard building. A 198-panel, 39.6-kW photovoltaic system was designed...
Productivity Gains
In the service economy, productivity gains for healthier indoor spaces are worth anywhere from 1 to 5 percent of employee costs, or about 3.00 to 30.00 per square foot of leasable or usable space. This estimate uses average employee costs of 300 to 600 per square foot per year based on 60,000 average annual salary and benefits and 100 square feet to 200 square feet per person .5 With energy costs typically less than 3.00 per square foot per year, it appears that productivity gains from green...
The Triple Bottom Line
Most of the LEED Platinum projects I looked at for this book had several similar characteristics. Many were institutional, they all had committed owners and they all hired very experienced design and construction teams, although for almost every team it was their first LEED Platinum project. John Pfeifer of McGough Construction in Minnesota talks about the importance of the owners' commitment and of early planning in their LEED Platinum project Fig. 9.1 , a headquarters for Great River Energy...
PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE Kei
Shangri La Botanical Gardens amp Nature Center, Orange, Texas Near the border of Texas and Louisiana sits the 250-acre Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Preserve. Closed after a snowstorm wiped out most of the gardens, the new Shangri La Botanical Gardens center was designed by Lake Flato architects and reopened in March of 2008. The building houses research facilities, an outdoor education center, classroom pavilions, and a visitors' center. Solar panels throughout the property produce...
Verdesian New York New York
A 27-story residential building in New York City's Battery Park City, the Verdesian was completed in 2006. The 300,000-square-feet luxury apartment building includes 252 residences the total project cost was 75 million. A natural-gas-fired microturbine produces 70 kW of power 20 percent of the base load and recaptures enough heat to provide 100 percent of the occupants' hot water demand. The Verdesian was designed to be 40 percent more energy efficient than a standard building. A nearby sewage...
Other Green Building Rating Systems
In addition to LEED, there are other commercial and institutional green building rating systems. One system in the United States is called Green Globes, a program of the Green Building Initiative. The Green Globes rating system is supposedly easier for project teams to use, but currently has less than 1 percent of the market for commercial and institutional buildings. However, Green Globes has its adherents, mostly because Green Building Initiative online www.thegbi.org. As of April 2007, GBI...
Energy Design Questions
Energy-related issues in the design development stage are so important to the future success of the project that it s worth spending a little time to see how it s done in highperformance projects. In the previous chapter, we quoted Paul Stoller about his approach to schematic design for Yale University s Sculpture Building and Gallery. Let s pick up the story in design development 1. Once we were in the design development phase, we did the traditional whole building energy model. We built and...