Drive through Seattle and this term will begin to seem synonymous with plain woodframe structures that crowd the streets like like weeds.

According to an article in the Seattle P-I,

Townhomes don’t have to be ugly and dampen the human spirit. But so many of them are eyesores that townhomes have become a lighting rod in the local debate over housing. They’ve been blamed for the decline of community and called a threat to single-family neighborhoods. Their rapid proliferation has even prompted recent City Council-led community forums… [But] townhomes aren’t the problem. … Bad design and laziness are the real problem.

There is also growing concern that the new crop of townhomes is not sustainable (for a discussion of this, as well as a thourough recounting of Seattle’s recent forum on townhomes, see Smarter Neighbors: Seattle Land Use Blog, Seattle Channel’s Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee, and the West Seattle Blog).

The authors of the P-I article, Graham Black of gProjects and Brad Khouri of b9 Architects, who have built several successful multifamily projects in the city, belive that Seattle can address the problem by changing its permitting and design review processes. Building codes which reward a cookie-cutter approach have been called into question by many Seattlites.

Townhomes are built the way they are, of course, to maximize profits. Developers protect their investments by finding an efficient building style which provides just enough ‘curb appeal’ to attract renters and buyers. Furthermore, the efficiency of this model provides a benefit that extends to the consumer: the nondescript boxes sprouting up in the city’s old neighborhoods are, often enough, comparatively affordable. For developers, the economic benefit in upgrading  a project’s design — like the economic benefit of building green — comes down to having a more marketable project, which in turn commands a higher price.

But sometimes a project can walk the line between profitability for the developer and affordability for the consumer. If the developer is able to find affordable land that is located in an area which is perceived to be “up and coming”, the housing is likely to have a lower price tag AND appeal to consumers. A recent example is Pb Elemental’s South Park Lofts.

Pb Elemental’s website says they experiment with modern influence on the typeical multifamily home, with a focus on a refined aesthetic in detailing, form and finish.  The South Park Lofts offer buyers eye-catching design (stained wood siding contrasts nicely with metal and concrete, solar awnings are used to add visual interest to facades) coupled with Built Green certification (in addition to solar power, units feature rainwater collection and greywater recycling, as well as ample use of bamboo on the interiors). The South Park development’s 5 units — four of them 776 sq. ft. lofts, and the fifth, central, unit a 1300 sq. ft., three story one — are built on a 6000 sq. ft. lot south of the city near Boeing Field. This area has been predominantly industrial for more than 30 years, but some regeneration has recently taken hold. With a few small businesses and a new library, and a budget increase which allowed the area to afford new youth programs and street improvements, South Park is attracting residents. Pb’s lofts are sold, and the firm has more projects underway in the neighborhood.

Image Credit: Live Modern

Read more on urban homes:

• Married with Children in the City on Green Building Elements
• Low Impact Living: Green Condos Coming to a City Near You on Green Building Elements
• Greensburg KS to Rebuild as LEED Platinum City on Green Building Elements

Even though the residential wind power sector has seen tremendous growth over the last decade, an article in The Arizona Republic estimates that there are still only 4,000 residential wind turbines nationwide. The primary reason that wind energy has been slow to take hold is that wind turbines are fairly visible, and therefore highly controversial, installations. According to the American Wind Energy Association, small wind systems (100 kilowatts or less) need to be at least 30 feet above barriers which might break the force of the air currents reaching the turbine. Right now, the industry recommends wind turbines only for sites that are at least one 1 acre in size. Consequently, wind turbines in urban areas are still quite rare. (In a September 2007 post, earth2tech featured a San Francisco home which sports a turbine, and pointed out that this may be the first urban wind turbine in the country.)

Unfortunately, individual efforts to experiment with wind power, even in outlying areas, have encountered a lot of roadblocks. Proposed turbine installations are usually evaluated by local governments on a case by case basis, since most city zoning laws have height restrictions which would implicitly prohibit turbines. Oftentimes, even if permission is granted and a turbine is erected, neighbors unite to fight the decision. (For individual turbine projects that have made news for seeking exceptions to local codes, see these articles on Wayne, New Jersey and Atlanta, Georgia).

Some locales are at last beginning to address this issue in a more systematic way. In a Green Building Elements article last week, Philip Proefrock cited Chicago as an example of a city that has amended its building code to allow rooftop wind turbines. Similarly, San Francisco’s mayor recently formed a “Residential Wind Power Work Group,” which will research the feasibility of urban wind power installations and make recommendations on changes to local building and zoning codes. The Denver Post reported in January that the Denver City Council had enacted an ordinance that would significantly ease restrictions on commercial wind generators but would also give homeowners a break on property line setbacks from the current 20 feet to 10 feet.

Even some small communities seem to be taking a proactive stance by agreeing to examine local codes. Blaine County Commissioners in central Idaho recently agreed to look into changing their zoning laws. According to an article in the Idaho Mountain Express last month, this valley area is not particularly suited for utility-scale wind farms, but many homeowners have indicated an interest in supplementing their own power systems.  In a February article in the Casper Star-Tribune, Natrona County, Wyoming, has also declared its support for residential wind power, although changes to the zoning rules have not yet taken effect.

See these sites for more information on small scale wind power generators:

• American Wind Energy Association FAQ pages
• Small Wind Basics on Southwest Windpower: Renewable Energy Made Simple
• E2T How To: Install a Wind Turbine on earth2tech
• Wind Turbine Buyer’s Guide on Green Building Elements
• Book Review: Off-the-Grid Homes: Case Studies for Sustainable Living on Green Building Elements

Read more about zoning changes which will help bring wind power to urban environments:

• Permitting Small Wind Turbines: A Handbook on the American Wind Energy Association

Image Credit: Southwest Windpower

In April, the not-for-profit industry association Green Roofs for Healthy Cities released its 2007 lists of the Top Ten Cities for Green Roof Installations. The Top Ten cities in the U.S. are as follows:

1. Chicago IL
2. Wilmington DE
3. Baltimore MD
4. Brooklyn NY
5. Virginia Beach VA
6. Royersford PA
7. Washington DC
8. Philadelphia PA
9. Amery WI

For lists of 2007’s top ten cities in North America and Canada, see the Final Report of the Green Roof Industry Survey.

Pacific Northwest Needs to Get Back in the Running

While Vancouver made the list for the Top Ten Green Roof Cities in Canada, the Pacific Northwest was not represented in the Top Ten for the U.S. (Portland was 9th in 2006). Cities in the Pacific Northwest (Portland and Seattle, especially) are regularly included in ‘Top Ten Green Cities’ lists that are compiled using broader criteria.

Furthermore, Seattle has a historical precedent for finding creative ways to incorporate vegetation into its built environment: in the 1970’s, the city created Freeway Park, a 5-acre green space which spans a downtown stretch of Interstate 5. Angela Danadjieva, the Project Designer for Freeway Park, is quoted as recalling “an early visit to Seattle during which the city’s pollution made her eyes water and that compelled her to consider the pollution abating attributes of vegetation. She was quite anxious about the project as there was no precedent for building a park over a freeway”.

Seattle has also kept pace with current trends in green roofing when it comes to the construction of government buildings. But according to an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal, the city does not offer enough financial incentives to make it worthwhile for private developers to adopt the technology. Last year an article in Environmental Health Perspectives discussed some of the incentives that cities across the nation are implementing. These include grants, fee reductions for city services ranging from permit processing to stormwater management, faster processing of permits themselves, and ‘density bonuses’ — allowing an increase in buildable area in exchange for installing green roofs. (The city of Portland offers such a bonus.)

The situation in Seattle may be moving in the right direction, however. Developer R.C. Hedreen, who was allowed to increase the height of the company’s Olive 8 project downtown in exchange for donating money to enhance King County’s rural habitats, is set to install the city’s largest green roof — 14,500 sq. ft. — at the Olive 8 property itself. The 39-story building, which will house both a hotel and condominium units, was topped off earlier this month. This fall, plants which are maturing off-site will be moved to the roof of the tower. The drought-tolerant, native species, are expected to reduce stormwater runoff by 25%, and will help to lower overall downtown temperatures.

Recipe for Success

Chicago has topped the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ U.S. and North American lists for four years in a row, and its success stems not only from creating a solid menu of incentives for developers, but by implementing some regulatory requirements, as well. Many cities across America are hesitant to interfere with the market by instituting regulations, but the data from the Green Roofs group seems to suggest that a continued growth rate (in terms of a city’s total square footage of green roofs) depends upon city governments’ willingness to provide a wide range of financial incentives to the private sector.  

Photo of Olive 8 Courtesy of Parsons PR

For more articles on Green Roofs, see:

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/11/how-green-can-you-go/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2007/03/05/green-building-tour-green-building-surfaces/

It’s a question often heard from sustainability devotees who have been keeping an eye on the growth of the green housing market, yet still find themselves priced out due to the amount of up-front investment that is required when building green.

LEED ND Addresses Affordability

But the subject of affordability has finally entered the green building dialogue. The LEED ND rating system, which will go public early next year, has established a definition of sustainability that goes beyond energy savings. In addition to awarding points based on urban planning criteria such as utilization of infill sites and proximity to public transit, LEED ND also awards points based on affordability. Its Pilot Version Rating System awards 1-2 points (out of a possible 106 total points) for making “Affordable For-Sale Housing,” and offers three options for obtaining those points:

• Option 1: At least 10% of for-sale housing is priced for households up to 80% of the area median income (1 point),
• Option 2: At least 20% of for-sale housing is priced for households up to 120% of the area median income (1 point), or
• Option 3: At least 10% of for-sale housing is priced for households up to 80% of the area median income and an additional 10% of for-sale housing is priced for households at up to 120% of the area median income (2 points).

A Portland Neighborhood Earns Points for Affordability

Helensview Homes in Portland, OR, which recently received LEED ND Gold certification, is an example of a neighborhood that earned points for being affordable. The Helensview neighborhood was created by non-profit developer Home Ownership a Street at a Time (HOST); HOST’s homes are marketed to low- to moderate-income families, with the intention of helping renters become first-time homeowners. HOST has built more than 300 affordable homes in the Portland area since 1991. The Helensview neighborhood is presently under construction, and the current price range for one of these 2, 3, or 4 bedroom houses is $189,000 - $244,000. According to a May 2008 article in Sustainable Life, the median price for a home price in Portland is $339,900.

The high-density development is being built on previously developed land. Stormwater will be managed on-site. As with most green construction, homeowners are expected to pay lower monthly utility bills due to features such as extra insulation, energy efficient appliances, and tankless water heaters. Yards will contain drought-tolerant plants.

Is 1 to 2 LEED Points Enough?

The question that is now being asked is: do one or two optional LEED points really provide enough of an incentive for builders to offer affordable housing? Some say no; Smart Growth Online says some green development advocates would like to see the USGBC make affordable housing a LEED-ND prerequisite, or at least assign affordability more points.

Assigning affordability more weight in green design rating systems may in fact be more than just social engineering (a criticism that some LEED detractors have leveled), since “Drive ’til you Qualify,” has become a common term in real estate circles. The Affordable Housing Institute online article, “Driving to the Poorhouse,” states, “At some instinctive level, we all know that house prices and commute times are reverse-correlated: the price of a short commute is a high home price, and the cost of a low home price is a long commute.” If this is the case, then urban density will be difficult to achieve without a plentiful supply of affordable homes, and advances in sustainability will suffer.

Image credit: Helensview Homes

In spite of this, Lorraine Gauthier, co-founder of the socially-conscious Toronto design studio Work Worth Doing, has identified a housing type which offers a high degree of consistency across a large number of homes: post-war housing. Post-war homes, built to accommodate returning WWII veterans, are still a part of the landscape throughout Canada and the United States, and many of these aging homes have poor energy performance. By assembling a team of designers and other sustainable building experts to retrofit a single home in the Toronto area (as part of an undertaking known as the Now House™ project), it is hoped that a formula can be created and then applied to literally millions of homes.

The goal of the first Now House is to create a near zero energy home, one that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than half. Key additions to the home include:

• Better insulation
• Increased daylighting
• Energy-efficient windows
• Low-flow fixtures
• CFL lightbulbs
• Energy-Star Appliances
• A gray-water heat-recovery system
• Solar power

The first Now House is located in Topham Park, Toronto, and construction began on Earth Day of 2008. Homeowners in that neighborhood were invited to participate in a collaborative effort to renovate their homes, and currently 200 homes in the community are slated for refurbishment. It is hoped that the model established in Topham Park will proceed to a national rollout. According to the Now House website, it is estimated that there are one million wartime houses in Canada which are similar to one another in structure, and an additional 4.5 million located in the United states.

To view progress on construction of the first Now House, watch: http://nowhouseproject.com/forum/

The Now House Project received major funding by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and RBC Royal Bank.

Image Credit: The Now House™ Project

For more articles on retrofitting and recycling buildings, see:

Vancouver Adaptive Reuse

Retrofit Radiant Heating

Weekend Review: The World at Home: A Household Guide to Building

To augment the Living Building Challenge, Cascadia is developing a companion program known as Living Building Leader. This program will provide a venue for members of the building industry to share knowledge and develop green building skill sets. Living Building Leader is launching a series of sessions covering green building topics which will be taught by experts from fields relating to sustainable building; the sessions are intended for professionals who already have experience in green building.

The sessions will not be offered at a physical location, but will be web-based, helping to reduce their carbon footprint. The sessions will , however, be live and fully interactive, utilizing eLearning, an audio broadcast platform that includes chat functions and application sharing.

There will be 36 required sessions in all, with content reflecting the six ‘petals’, or categories, of the Living Building Challenge. The sessions will each be three hours long, and will occur on Wednesdays throughout the year from 9:00 a.m. to noon (PST). Each session will conclude with an exam; through successful completion of these exams (and a final, comprehensive exam) participants can pursue Living Building Leader designation. Individual sessions can also count as continuing education credits for various professional organizations.

The Living Building Leader program launches on June 4th with a session led by Jason F. McLennan, CEO of Cascadia, about the importance of spirit and meaning in the design of buildings. 

To see more details on the program, or to register for session, see: http://www.cascadiagbc.org/lbl

Image courtesy of Cascadia Region Green Building Council

For other articles on green building programs and standards, see:

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/05/21/watersense-the-new-symbol-of-water-conservation/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/05/19/leed-version-3-is-coming/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/05/13/certified-green-broker-helping-buyers-find-green-buildings/

In 2000, Gerding Edlen Development selected GBD Architects to renovate 5 blocks of historic brewery buildings located in a former industrial area of Portland, Oregon known as the Pearl District. The success of the Brewery Blocks project sparked a rebirth of the neighborhood; in 2005, The Sierra Club recognized the Pearl District as one of the nation’s best neighborhood redevelopment projects. Since that time, the district has continued to thrive; Gerding Eldlen’s latest building in the Pearl District, also designed by GBD Architects, is a 16-story condominium tower known as The Casey.

For The Casey, Gerding Edlen applied for, and received, 55 LEED credits. (Only 52 are required for Platinum certification.) The Casey is also part of a pilot study for an Energy Star for High Rise Multifamily Building rating system. Kelly Saito, managing principal of Gerding Edlen Development, says, “We are extremely proud of this accomplishment, and ultimately we hope that this level of green building will be the norm. We’re trying to find ways to push beyond platinum in an effort to create net zero buildings that generate more energy than they consume and that consume more waste than they produce.”

In addition to the time and effort spent making The Casey represent the cutting edge in sustainability, the developers included another progressive feature in the project: the architecture of the building incorporates public art. Because the Pearl District is home to a large art community, Gerding Edlen wanted to involve local artists. According to The Casey website, “This is not just about hanging art on the walls.”

Portland-based Bullseye Glass Company was enlisted to collaborate on a series of art glass installations for the building. Artist Martha Pfanschmidt designed glass panels for the main lobby which are themed “Northern Lights,” as well as panels for residential elevator lobbies which are themed “The Four Seasons.” Catharine Newell designed a portrait of Casey Jones for the exterior of the building. And Dustin White, of GBD Architects, designed a glass spire that runs almost the full height of the building. In all, fifty artist-designed glass panels are showcased in the building.

The extensive use of art glass will give the building a distinctive character; as expressed by The Casey website,

Residents and the community will be inspired and surrounded by art… During the day, these exterior panels will seem reflective, almost iridescent — but at night, they’ll become a transmitted array of striking color forms. And, we think they will be absolutely brilliant.

Photo Credit: Gerding Edlen Development

Other Posts on LEED-Platinum buildings:

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/03/27/platinum-leed-19th-century-building/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/01/28/greensburg-ks-to-rebuild-as-leed-platinum-city/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/19/the-triple-bottom-line-a-new-paradigm-for-developers/

But there is ample evidence that consumers are now driving a change in the market. The USGBC website has printed a report by CoStar Group which has found “that sustainable “green” buildings outperform their peer non-green assets in key areas such as occupancy, sale price and rental rates, sometimes by wide margins…. The results indicate a broader demand by property investors and tenants for buildings that have earned either LEED® certification or the Energy Star® label and strengthen the “business case” for green buildings, which proponents have increasingly cast as financially sound investments.” The report goes on to cite “constricted supply” as one reason for the premium prices associated with sustainable buildings, and many other experts have been making the case lately that consumers either cannot find the kind of sustainable housing that they are looking for, or cannot identify what makes a property sustainable.

Fortunately, The Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the Commercial Brokers Association (CBA) are about to provide a bridge between designers and consumers in the form of a new professional certification, Certified Green Broker®. Jason McLennan, CEO of Cascadia, says, “It is often the brokers and finance professionals, not the architects and builders, who directly interface with the end user: the owner, landlord, and/or tenant. Therefore they have great influence on how owners and users may perceive the affordability and overall value of green buildings.”

The goal of the Certified Green Broker® program is to educate brokers and lenders on how to market — and finance — green buildings. The program will offer continuing education opportunities (through both web-based and live seminars) to professionals in the Seattle, Portland and Vancouver areas.

“Sustainability has become a fundamental issue for the bottom line of commercial real estate, which will impact property values, leasing rates and practices and employee/tenant satisfaction,” says Tricia Deering, president and CEO of CBA. “A commercial broker who is familiar with green issues will provide the best service to their clients.”

The unveiling of this initiative will take place on May 22 in Portland, Oregon at the Green Broker 2008 Conference. The conference will cover green issues as they impact the commercial brokerage industry. (To learn more about the conference, or to register, visit: www.cascadiagbc.org/green-broker.)

Photo Credit: Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the Commercial Brokers Association 

Other posts on green building Programs and Standards:

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/10/usgbc-and-asid-launch-regreen-green-remodeling-guidelines/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/15/green-home-requirement-in-san-mateo-county/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2007/07/30/real-renewable-energy-vs-renewable-energy-credits/

It seems evident that small houses, situated in walkable neighborhoods, are greener than large homes occupying automobile-dependent sites. The new LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system draws heavily from principles of new urbanism and smart growth. New urbanism includes sustainability as one of its tenets (see Green Communities, Part 1: New Urbanism), and many of the primary elements of smart growth (as listed on their website) have become synonymous with green:

• Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas
• Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices
• Strengthen and Direct Development Towards Existing Communities
• Take Advantage of Compact Building Design

But is density, in fact, a prerequisite for green development?

Wayne A. Lemmon, a planner and real estate economist, argued in his article, “Can Sprawl be Good,” that (among other things), “Concentrating development in areas already served by public facilities makes good sense, but only up to the point where available capacity is fully utilized.”  

The National Association of Home Builders takes particular exception to the assumptions that underpin LEED. Their online article, “New LEED Certification for Development Found Wanting,” examines LEED-ND, and proposes that it may actually be inhibiting the progress of green development.  

NAHB land use planner Edward Tombari explains:

Based on NAHB’s experience with smart growth and new urbanism design principles, a majority of the projects being built by developers today that incorporate Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) principles might be able to achieve some lower-level LEED recognition. However, while the number of communities using TND principles is rising, the vast majority do not because TND favors higher density and most new development occurs in suburban and exurban greenfield locations. While this excludes much new development from being eligible to meet the criteria being established by LEED-ND, NAHB believes new development affords many opportunities for implementing green development principles.

Even though the notion of returning to ‘Main Street America’ seems to have captured the popular imagination, there is no sign that the production of large, detached, single-family homes will actually be coming to a halt anytime soon. (Barbara Faga’s article  on Planetizen, “Two Things People Hate: Density and Sprawl,” spurred a lively debate on this topic a few weeks ago.)

So, if urban sprawl is on a roll that cannot yet be stopped, can a neighborhood rating system that prioritizes density accomplish significant change? Many industry professionals believe that the LEED programs in place so far have managed to make a broad impact upon construction practices precisely because they have not set the bar impossibly high. Now the NAHB and the International Code Council are working on their own consensus-based National Green Building Standard, and this standard will be applicable to a wide range of developments, including conventional, suburban ones. (To view progress on the draft Standard, visit the NAHB Research Center site.) If consumers find the National Green Building Standard to be more adaptable than LEED, then perhaps LEED will have met its match in the American marketplace.

Photo Credit: NAHB
 

Like most TNDs, NorthWest Crossing is a walkable community. It provides easy access to the Bend Area Transit bus system, and is focused on preserving the natural landscape.  Its progressive planning practices extend to green building. Every home in NorthWest Crossing is required to be Earth Advantage Certified (for a discussion of Earth Advantage, see “What Does it Mean to Build Green?”). One of NorthWest Crossing’s commercial properties (which will house the New La Rosa Authentic Mexican Kitchen) recently earned LEED-CS Silver certification — a designation that was actually higher than the standard certification originally expected. According to David Ford, general manager for NorthWest Crossing,

To receive a higher-level rating from LEED than we were initially pursuing was exciting for everyone involved in this project. This certification just reinforces our commitment as a community, on both the residential and commercial sides, to sustainability and environmentally friendly practices.

The building also won the Grand Award for Green Building in the 2008 Awards of Excellence administered by the National Commercial Builders Council (NCBC) of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). 

Consumers’ rising interest in traditional neighborhood design coincides with their rising interest in sustainability, so developers are making green design part of their package. And harnessing the collective action of entire communities should make it possible for an increasingly broad range of building types to go green.

Photo Credit: NorthWest Crossing

Related posts:

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/21/green-communities-part-1-new-urbanism/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/02/19/the-triple-bottom-line-a-new-paradigm-for-developers/

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has ambitious goals for reducing carbon emissions related to the built environment: it hopes to make all buildings carbon neutral by 2030, and aims for a 50% fossil fuel reduction by 2010. But to accomplish what is, in effect, a complete overhaul of the way the construction industry operates, the AIA must make sure that its message is heard by people outside its own membership. Toward that end, the group announced its “Walk the Walk: Architects Leading the Sustainable Evolution” campaign On January 15th of this year.

Intended to “inform the marketplace” on the benefits of green building, the initiative sets forth a multifaceted communications strategy. Christine McEntee, Executive Vice President and CEO of the AIA, is quoted as saying, “As America continues to be saturated by messages of ‘going green,’ there is a general lack of understanding that buildings are one of the primary sources of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and climate change. The ‘Walk the Walk’ program will raise awareness of this issue and provide practical energy saving solutions for people who build, work and live in buildings of all shapes and sizes.”

The marketing firm Giant Ideas was hired to orchestrate “Walk the Walk,” and their website has a blog detailing the campaign’s development. One component of the campaign is the AIA/Dwell “How Green are You” contest, which focuses on sustainable home design and renovation. Tapping into Dwell’s audience should be a strong move for the campaign; the research company Erdos & Morgan found that Dwell magazine reaches an affluent, professional readership, and has the unique duality of appealing to consumers and trade members (in a 60/40 split). Dwell has received many awards and honors, including a 2005 National Magazine Award, a 2003 Circulation Excellence Award from Circulation Managment, and a Top 10 listing in Capell’s “Best Performers in Circulation for 2005″.

“How Green are You” is open to anyone and the entry period is from  April 5th to June 20th, 2008.

Judging Criteria include:

• Sustainability
• Functionality
• Originality
• Cost effectiveness, and
• Design

To enter the contest, click here.

Image credit: AIA

Related links:

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/04/07/architecture-week-2008-is-it-sustainable/#more-295

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/01/09/greenbuilder-magazine/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2007/07/25/is-green-just-a-fad/

Our taps, plumbing fixtures, and irrigation systems all draw from the same sources of clean, potable water. After being used, most of the water ends up in the sewer system — all of it, at that point, contaminated. Then it is treated and returned to a body of water. This creates a cycle in which unnecessarily large volumes of water circulate through the built environment and municipal treatment facilities. However, in the last decade or so, major strides have been made in reducing the amount of water that must go through such a cycle.

The maxim “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” can easily be applied to water usage.

To REDUCE:

• Fix any leaks.
• Install low flow fixtures (toilets, faucets and shower heads), and utilize automatic controls for commercial spaces.
• Install Energy Star appliances.
• Choose landscape materials that are appropriate for your climate and that will not need to be heavily watered; reduce evaporation by not irrigating during the heat of the day.
• Use pervious paving materials.

To REUSE:

• Collect rainwater. (Rain barrels work well for residential applications; cisterns can be used for larger buildings.)
• Collect gray water (wastewater from sinks, showers, washers).
• Use a bioremediation system. Many mid-size commercial projects are implementing mini-ecosystems which use plants, bacteria — even fish and snails — to break down sewage.
• Grow plants on a green roof.

To RECYCLE, use reclaimed wastewater to:

• Irrigate plants.
• Flush toilets.

see also: Elements of Building: Energy

Photo Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/refractedmoments/

Below are the top 10 projects, along with short descriptions of ‘what makes them green’. (For more details on these projects, and to see all of the 2008 submissions, check out: http://wmig.aiaseattle.org/taxonomy/term/1).

1. Bertschi School, Seattle WA
   Because it is an urban infill project, the Bertschi Center reduces urban sprawl and provides the opportunity for families to live in the city and minimize their transportation usage. This project also takes advantage of its position as an educational facility, and provides features such as cutaways in the walls to showcase green features.
2. Center for Urban Waters, Tacoma WA
   This site will be almost completely porous, greatly reducing stormwater runoff. The Center will be located along the Thea Foss Waterway and will incorporate a public waterfront esplanade; views of the building from downtown Tacoma will emphasize its green roof, photovoltaic panels, and skylights.
3. Corvallis CoHousing, Corvallis OR
   This 34-unit housing project establishes a community that is based on the concept of shared resources. Automobile parking is marginalized, and the neighborhood’s nine residential buildings are organized around a pedestrian path. A community house includes a large kitchen and dining room for meal sharing.
4. Home on the Range, Billings MT
   Data on the cost savings achieved with this LEED Platinum building have been used to educate building professionals on the benefits of going green. Also notable is the fact that this building is almost entirely daylit.
5. Kitsap SEED, Bremerton WA
   SEED, or Sustainable Energy and Economic Development, encourages the development of clean energy alternatives through community-based projects (which will in turn act to stimulate the local economy). The Kitsap campus is intended to house clean energy technology companies. Its site is a former naval dumping ground, so the project aims to revegetate the site, and enable it to utilize all stormwater.
6. Lake Sammamish Park, Issaquah WA
   The concept of this park design, not yet built, is to emphasize the ‘connectivity’ between landscape and built forms.
7. Mosler Lofts, Seattle WA
   As Seattle’s first LEED- and Built Green-certified condominium tower, this project has attracted a group of homeowners who are committed to living green. The project revived adjacent Clay street, extending the project’s green effect beyond the footprint of the building itself. The Lofts’ financial success also provides a positive model for developers.
8. Portland City Storage, Portland OR
   This structure will provide dry storage for 350 boats, reducing the contamination that they cause when stored in the waters of the Willamette River. The project will reclaim a site which has been used for dumping concrete waste from a nearby concrete plant; the site will be reconstructed and revegetated, thereby improving salmon habitat.
9. Pringle Creek, Salem OR
   The Pringle Creek Community has achieved notoriety as a highly sustainable living environment; this new cottage meets the sustainability standards of the overall community. It maintains a small building footprint; is sited to preserve open space, existing tree stands, and water pathways to Pringle Creek; and meets the high energy efficiency standards established in the Community’s Design Guidelines. The cottage received LEED Platinum certification.
10. Staley-Vidas Residence, Bend OR
    An integrated design approach helped designers and contractors determine progressive green strategies from the project’s inception. Data on energy usage and product performance will be collected and used as a learning tool. A Platinum LEED for Homes rating is anticipated for this house; it is also registered with Earth Advantage.

The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce has a blog inviting the local community to discuss whether or not these winners (and the overall submissions to “What Makes it Green”) reflect the best of green building in the area.

Photo Credit: Seattle AIA

Related links:

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2007/12/29/design-competition-for-greener-concrete/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2007/12/25/married-with-children-in-the-city/

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/01/08/greenbuild-2007-operational-building-winners/

On March 18th, I posted the article, “Metropolitan Home Goes Green,“ discussing the magazine’s feature story on a Seattle penthouse.  Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Linda O’Keeffe, the Director of Design and Architecture at Metropolitan Home. Since Ms. O’Keeffe sees design trends as they happen, I asked her a few questions regarding what kind of changes she sees the green movement bringing to our homes.

Green Building Elements: Do you see a significant number of people opting for smaller homes?

Linda O’Keeffe: I do. Even people who can afford more are choosing to live in smaller spaces, sometimes because they are young or because they are empty nesters, but in general, just because it makes more sense now.

GBE: As people scale down, which rooms are they prioritizing, and which ones are they eliminating?

LO: I’m seeing fewer home offices and dining rooms. We were fooled into thinking we’d need a home office. But our offices are paperless now, so there is less to store. And there has been a change in technology, too; people are doing a lot of their work on a BlackBerry while they wait at the airport. Sometimes people with kids want a home office so that they can have a separate space, but even then, often everyone is in the kitchen. The kids can work on a laptop in there, and [parents] can see what they are doing.

Overall, people feel now that rooms should be adaptable: cozy enough for one person to read in, but able to accommodate 30 guests. Also, formal rooms are becoming less popular. They seem almost Victorian. Now we want every square inch of our homes to be usable.

GBE: With the surge of interest in recycled materials, are new types of finish materials becoming popular? (New kinds of countertops and cabinets, for example, or flooring?)

LO: Bamboo flooring is ubiquitous. And I am seeing a lot of recycled countertops; even Lowe’s has launched one of these products. I wouldn’t say that there is one particular material that is becoming popular, although I’m seeing a lot of concrete used for interiors. But it’s not industrial looking concrete; it has a patina and it’s touchable — it’s a sexier kind of concrete.

GBE: In general, what patterns do you see emerging as green design principles are applied to more and more homes?

LO: We’re at an interesting point in time. Everyone is talking about green. However, ’sound bites’ have a shock value, while the truth is very complicated. The New Yorker had an article recently that focused on some of these complexities: they were saying that buying locally may not always be best, because so many factors need to be considered when calculating an item’s carbon footprint. [The New York Times online has a good analysis of this issue, as well, in an article by Andrew Martin.]

As for Metropolitan Home, with every project we cover, now one of the first questions we ask is, “What about it is green?” We’ll continue to talk green; we won’t let it go away. It’s not a fad.

In one of our recent issues, we covered a renovation in which the owners re-used materials, and kept the original footprint of the house. These are green things. There is a lot of self-righteousness out there about being green; at Metropolitan Home, our attitude is, “Whatever you can do, do it.” It’s just a fundamental, sensible way of looking at the world.

Thanks very much to Linda O’Keeffe for taking the time to share her insights with Green Building Elements. Look for future issues of Metropolitan Home to offer more great advice on going green; in the May issue, check out “*word”, which provides data on how long it will take to recoup your investment on some popular green products.
 

Photo Credit: Mikkel Vang

Related Posts:

http://ecopreneurist.com/2008/03/24/met-home-gives-a-big-boost-to-green-companies/

http://jeffmcintirestrasburg.greenoptions.com/2007/03/22/the-green-options-interview-ed-begley-jr/

According to the USGBC website, the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system (currently in its pilot phase) “integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design.” Because of the emphasis on utilizing existing infrastructure, the rating system can be interpreted as encouraging developers to build up, not out. As Terry Miller, a consultant and manager at Portland’s Green Building Services, said in his article “Redefining Neighborhoods” for Sustainable Land Development Today, “it offers a framework of predominantly performance-based criteria by which to create and recognize the quality of new communities.”

The first LEED-ND certified project in the country, earning a Silver rating, was a single building: The Eliot Tower in Portland, Oregon. This 18 story, mixed-use building incorporates retail on its ground floor, and has 228 residential units above. A plaza on the north side of the building provides outdoor space for residents as well as the public. The Eliot Tower is one of 60 projects selected to be in the USGBC’s focus group, according to Miller’s article. Feedback from the focus group will be used to form the final version of LEED-ND. Andrea Thompson, a project coordinator for Green Building Services, told Becky Brun in an interview for Sustainable Industries, “I think this is a project that has raised a lot of questions because it is a single building,” and added that USGBC might include a minimum building requirement in the next version of LEED-ND.

Science fiction writers have not been the only people to envision vertical megastructures as the cities of the future. Renderings of Paolo Soleri’s conceptual Hyper Building are posted at MEGAblog. (Soleri, who spent time at both of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin locations, developed the concept of Arcology, a melding of architecture and ecology.) Architects in Europe have also begun to actively pursue the development of vertical cities. (See World Architecture News‘ report on De Rotterdam in The Netherlands.) Indications are, the time has come to determine whether the concept of the vertical city is valid for this stage in history, or whether it is best left in the realm of fantasy.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

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