LEED STORIES FROM PRACTICE ARTICLE
HOW A PROJECT S PROGRAMMATIC GOALS CAN BE MET BY GOING GREEN All building project requires team members to balance multiple demands. They must ensure adherence to building plans and codes, manage the work of contractors, keep CHARTWELL SCHOOL LEED-NC v.2/v.2.1 Platinum construction timelines on schedule, and control the budget, Completion: October 2006 so adding sustainability goals is often seen as a burden. Some Cost: $9,000,000 project team members believe such goals are important; others see a focus on sustainability to be at odds with keeping the project schedule on time and within budget. The projects outlined below avoided such conflicting view points by seeing sustainability not as a project add-on but as a way to meet the project s programmatic goals and to fulfill the organization s mission. The Chartwell School decided that creating the best learning Area: 55,000 sq. ft Location: Seaside, CA KENYON HOUSE LEED-H v.1.0 Platinum Completion: September 2008 Cost: $5,000,000 Area: 12,700 sq. ft Location: Seattle, WA environment for its students meant building a green school. A developer s desire to build a home for a population with fragile health that was both durable and conserved resources led to the first LEED for Homes Platinum certification for affordable housing in the State of Washington. And at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, the push to create world-class research facilities went hand-in-hand with efforts to create iconic and energy-efficient buildings. For these projects, LEED certification ensured strong project team support for sustainability by defining the goals early on in the process and demonstrating how these goals aligned with the project s programmatic objectives. BIODESIGN INSTITUTE AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Location: Tempe, AZ BUILDING A: LEED NC v.2.2 Gold, Completion: January 2005, Cost: $74,000,000 Area: 177,661 sq. ft BUILDING B: LEED NC v.2.0/2.1 Platinum Completion: January 2006 Cost: $78,500,000 Cover Page Kenyon House gets great southern exposure while keeping eyes on the street and creating a peaceful backyard. Area: 174,583 sq. ft 1
CHARTWELL SCHOOL SEASIDE, CALIFORNIA The Chartwell School had leased a building for 20 years when it acquired 30 acres for a new facility. Douglas Atkins, the school s executive director, was excited about the opportunity to move from an old building to a state-ofthe-art campus. Having prior experience in building educational facilities, he understood the important role quality design plays in creating an inviting and effective learning environment. The students at Chartwell School have a range of learning differences, such as dyslexia, so creating an environment that honors unique learning styles and strategies, was important. Atkins admitted that although he wanted to create a sustainable campus, the vision was not simply to build green the goal was to build a campus that provided the best possible learning environment for the students. Through a process that fostered stakeholder engagement, the Chartwell School s board, administration, faculty, students and the community came to believe that creating the best learning environment for students meant building a green school. Atkins conducted a visioning process to determine the school s overall goals and to secure support from key stakeholders. The process entailed interviews, including faculty, Above The classrooms have ample daylight even with the electric lights turned off. students, administration, and community leaders. The result was a program document that outlined how building a green school provided an opportunity for Chartwell to dovetail its educational objectives and mission with its sustainability goals. The document noted how the new school facilities could be used as teaching tools and its green features and energy-efficient systems integrated throughout the curriculum. An example of how this teaching innovation has come to fruition can be seen in current efforts by Chartwell teachers to use the new energy dashboard system to show students the school s actual energy usage in real-time and using the data to develop interactive lessons. Through an RFQ process, Chartwell chose EHDD Architecture. Atkins recounted, We knew that EHDD understood how to create the environment we were striving for. We saw they had an established track record for designing high-level, sustainable buildings. EHDD impressed Chartwell by inviting the mechanical and structural engineers to the interview and conducting a collaborative, interactive presentation. 2
The project team goals included the desire to create welcoming buildings that calmed students upon their arrival, encouraged respect for the faculty, and changed visitors perceptions of what a school could be. Scott Shell, the EHDD principal in charge of the project, noted how Atkins commitment to this vision was evident from the start, recounting how Atkins came to the project having researched daylighting and how high-quality indoor air can help kids stay focused and alert. Atkins understood the critical alignment between the educational vision of the school and the sustainable design vision. The synergy that Atkins brought from his past experience and his initial research was refined in the visioning exercise and infused throughout the collaborative team process. Atkins was the leader who could artfully express the project team s vision so that everyone in the school and throughout the community understood the process and supported the initiative. He worked hard to secure the support of decision makers, helping them see beyond the politics of green and recognize the educational and economic value of such an endeavor. Atkins gave a school board member the LEED Reference Guide and asked him to report to his peers on the rating system. After reviewing the guide, the board member supported pursuing LEED certification, noting that a LEEDcertified school more so than a traditional school would best reflect the school s goals, values and mission. the school was able to surpass its fundraising goal by 25%. Atkins exclaimed about this LEED Platinum project: What we discovered, collectively, was that the financial and educational benefits were derived from our deeper, strategic commitment to sustainability. Above Daylit hallways provide a welcoming environment between classroom spaces. Below The water cistern stores rain water that is collected from the roof. The water is reused for flushing the toilets. Kids also use the trough for science experiments and racing boats. The process to choose a heating system demonstrates how project teams need to be willing to adapt and reassess throughout the building process to ensure that a project s programmatic and sustainability goals stay aligned. Working with Taylor Engineering, EHDD used a point system to score the prospective systems. The system that garnered the most points was clearly wrong for the school because the point system categories were not weighted to reflect the school s educational goals. When points were redistributed to match the school s learning objectives, the best solution proved to be a radiant heating system and 100% outside air ventilation. The systems also allow teachers to control room temperatures, ensuring that classrooms would always be comfortable and, thus, conducive to learning. The sustainability strategies generated such enthusiasm and conviction at the school and throughout the community that 3
KENYON HOUSE SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Developed through a collaborative partnership between Building Changes, the Housing Resources Group and Sound Mental Health, Kenyon House is an 18-unit residence providing affordable housing for formerly homeless people living with HIV and AIDS. The partnership s programmatic goal was to create a safe environment for its residents that fostered a sense of community as well as build a facility that was durable, conserved resources, and had low operating costs. To seek a solution that aligned these needs, the partnership worked with SMR Architects and Walsh Construction Co. (WA). Christina Bollo, project manager from SMR Architects developed a preliminary design scheme that demonstrated the project s feasibility to Seattle city officials, who approved the project and established the basis for its funding. The zoning code allowed for no more than 50 feet of street frontage, so the original design included short faces towards the streets and long faces on the east and west sides. Bollo realized, however, that rotating the building would achieve the optimal solar orientation. Such a significant departure from the zoning code required a design review. By attending community meetings to address neighborhood concerns and demonstrating to the review board how the solution best supported the project s programmatic and sustainability goals, SMR gained the needed support and approval to change the building s orientation. The re-design also created a peaceful backyard and a front entrance that allowed employees and residents to better monitor outside activities. In addition, the project team took particular care to achieve high indoor air quality because of its direct impact on the tenants sensitive health. The team also specified paint and finishes that were durable and had low VOCs. They selected energy-efficient windows, insulated the slab, installed water-efficient lavatory faucets and shower heads, used gas-fired radiant heating, and sought a mechanical system to reduce overhead costs and lower utility bills. These sustainability measures easily aligned with the goal of creating a safe and inviting home that was durable and conserved resources. Kenyon House is the first project in the State of Washington to attain LEED for Homes Platinum certification for affordable housing and only the second in the United States. Above The effort to achieve LEED-H Platinum led to more durable, non-toxic finishes. Below The apartments are universally accessible and adaptable. 4
THE BIODESIGN INSTITUTE AT THE ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY TEMPE, ARIZONA A dwindling research agenda prompted Arizona State University to consider creating state-of-the-art facilities to regain its stature among research universities and help revitalize related sponsorships. Knowing the impact of the school s reputation on recruitment and retention efforts, then incoming ASU president Michael Crow championed the initiative. The result is the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. It represents the largest single investment in research infrastructure in Arizona. The Institute has a master plan that consists of four interconnected buildings that will comprise 800,000 sq. ft. Currently, two buildings are complete and house nearly 600 faculty, staff and students and highlights ASU s desire to create an iconic research facility that serves as a model of sustainability. Crow wanted the buildings visitors to see the work being conducted and to better understand the collaborative nature of the research process. He wanted people to walk into the building and say wow. His ideas helped shape the building, which includes an atrium space and open labs both helping to bring daylight into the building and showcasing researchers important work. Bottom Operable louvers on the east elevation reduce internal heat gain loads and add architectural interest. During the design phase for the new labs, the City of Tempe began planning a new light rail system. The project team wanted the Institute to have access to the system because several research institutions are located in downtown Tempe and Phoenix, so easy access was important in order to promote collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects. The team, however, needed to work with the city to relocate the line to avoid electromagnetic interference and vibrations from the rail, which could have interrupted research. To avoid the interference and eliminate the vibrations, the building had to be oriented to the east and west faces. On the west face, brick cladding and small punched windows match the existing campus buildings and deflect the harsh afternoon sun. On the east face, however, the building s concept of a high-profile gateway to the campus dictated a more open, glass façade. Anticipated maintenance problems with operable exterior louvers prevented the team from shading the glass externally. Using computational fluid dynamics modeling, the team designed operable louvers inside of the glass to mitigate the potential heat gain problem. Mechanical and electrical systems helped to address the energy penalty of the east façade, while still providing excellent 5
lab space conditions. The operable louvers on the east façade are user controlled in the offices and sun-angle dependant in the public spaces. A variable air volume HVAC system fine tunes the ventilation to each space, and high MERV filters ensure high-quality indoor air. Despite adding LEED Silver certification as a goal during the construction of Building A, it achieved the higher rating of LEED Gold certification. Building B achieved LEED Platinum certification through additional measures such as including condensate collection on the chillers and focusing on improving construction waste management efforts. For both buildings, commissioning and monitoring played a large role in being able to achieve LEED certification. The new goal of achieving LEED certification did not change the construction schedule and added little to the project s overall costs. Mike McLeod, the director of facilities management, explained that with good design and commissioning, achieving LEED certification was not difficult. He said, We kept working at it, kept looking for points, and, for very little money, we made a few changes and added additional monitoring to achieve LEED Gold certification. Above DNA inspired louvers shield many of the offices and conference rooms from the southern sun. The three projects demonstrate how teams can use sustainability initiatives to help a project meet its programmatic goals without a significant increase in cost or construction time. In each case, clearly defining the project s programmatic objectives and seeking green solutions created a LEED-certified building that helps an organization fulfill its mission. 6