Projects

AIA Top Ten Green Projects for 2007 Announced

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment has selected ten winners and four honorable mentions in its 2007 Top Ten Green Projects competition. Since 1997, AIA has recognized ten projects each year that demonstrate green design solutions that both protect the environment and enhance human experience in the building. We have noted which projects have been previously published or will be forthcoming in GreenSource. The jury for 2007 included: David Brems, FAIA, Gillies Stransky Brems Smith; Alisdair McGregor, PE, Arup; John Quale, University of Virginia School of Architecture; Traci Rose Rider, North Carolina State University; Anne Schopf, AIA, Mahlum Architects; and Susan Szenasy, the editor-in-chief of Metropolis magazine. Full project descriptions are online at www.aiatopten.org.

The Top Ten

• EpiCenter, Artists for Humanity (Boston; Arrowstreet, Inc.)—This 23,500-square-foot LEED Platinum gallery and studio space has a 49-kilowatt grid-connected rooftop photovoltaic array that provides for all of the building’s electrical needs. Young employees at Artists for Humanity encouraged the organization to build a green building; the site was chosen in part to help revitalize an urban neighborhood. Daylight reaches deep into gallery and studio spaces thanks to large windows in the south side of the building and large floor-to-floor heights, and natural ventilation helps ensure good indoor air quality. Rainwater is collected from the roof and delivered to a holding tank through a transparent drainpipe that runs through the main gallery space; the water is used to irrigate a sunken grassy courtyard.

• Global Ecology Research Center (Stanford, California; EHDD Architects)—Housing the Carnegie Institute of Washington, this 10,800-square-foot laboratory and office building features extensive daylighting, shading, and natural ventilation, as well as night-sky radiant cooling. These and other energy-efficiency measures reduce the carbon dioxide emissions associated with building operations by 72 percent when compared with a comparable conventional building. Salvaged and recycled materials, including redwood siding from wine vats, were used extensively throughout. This project was published in the January 2007 GreenSource

• Government Canyon Visitor Center (Helotes, Texas; Lake/Flato Architects)—Situated at the entrance to an 8,600-acre  protected aquifer recharge area, this 4,250-square-foot education center features water conservation as a central part of its architecture with an extensive rainwater harvesting system. The main exhibit hall is open to the outdoors to limit the amount of conditioned space, with rolling screens and overhangs to protect visitors from rain and sun. A narrow building footprint allows for indirect daylighting throughout the building (in 90 percent of occupied spaces) and gives all spaces in the building access to controllable ventilation.

• Hawaii Gateway Energy Center (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii; Ferraro Choi and Associates)—The first building of a research campus for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, this 3,600-square-foot LEED Platinum visitor center was designed as a thermal chimney, moving air through the building at 10 to 15 air changes per hour without the use of a mechanical system. Incoming air passes over a coil filled with water drawn from deep in the ocean, providing space cooling. A 20-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system generated half of the electricity used by the facility until an adjustment to the pumping system in 2006 lowered the electricity needs; the photovoltaic system now provides all of the electricity for the building. This project will be published in the July 2007 GreenSource.

• Heifer International Headquarters (Little Rock, Arkansas; Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects)—Part of a four-phase master plan to revitalize a brownfield site, the 94,000-square-foot headquarters is surrounded by  a constructed wetland and is designed to use 54.9 percent less energy than a comparable conventional building. Harvested rainwater is stored in a 42,000-gallon storage tank situated in the middle of a fire stair, making the water collection highly visible. A narrow footprint and low interior partitions allow daylight to penetrate deep into the interior. This project was published in the January 2007 GreenSource

• Sidwell Friends Middle School (Washington, D.C.; Kieran Timberlake Associates)—The goal for the 39,000-square-foot LEED Platinum addition to and renovation of this school, originally built in 1950, was to teach environmental responsibility by example. A green roof reduces stormwater runoff; excess water flows into a biology pond on site. Building orientation and screens limit solar heat gain while allowing daylight to enter classrooms. Solar chimneys with south-facing glass create a convection current that draws cooler air through open windows on the north side of the building. This project will be published in the July 2007 GreenSource.

• Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse (Eugene, Oregon; Morphosis and DLR Group)—The designers of this 267,000-square-foot LEED Gold courthouse had to balance sustainability goals with security requirements, resulting in creative uses of space indoors and landscaping outdoors. Parking was placed underground, creating space for required barriers between the road and the building, which were filled with native plantings. Indoors, spaces were laid out to take full advantage of daylighting; even courtrooms, normally surrounded by offices and cut off from views, are lit naturally. The building’s design also minimizes potable water use with waterless urinals and low-flow toilets; the building is designed to use 40% less water than a comparable conventional building. This building was published in the March 2007 Architectural Record

•Whitney Water Purification Facility (New Haven, Connecticut; Steven Holl Architects)—This 140,000-square-foot facility houses offices aboveground with water purification facilities below, maintaining as much open space as possible on the site and allowing gardens and a restored wetland to filter stormwater. The 30,000-square-foot green roof has glazed bubbles that bring daylight to all of the occupied space in the building below. A ground-source heat pump provides heating and cooling for the building, and the water-processing facility’s gravity-fed processing lowers energy needs.

• Willingboro Master Plan and Public Library (Willingboro, New Jersey; Croxton Collaborative Architects)—Part of a larger plan to revitalize an abandoned strip mall, this 48,700-square-foot library reused the structural steel frame of a Woolworth’s store. Since the building’s orientation could not be changed, skylights were added on a north-south access to bring daylight into the building.  In addition to creating an open, daylit interior, the project team replaced portions of the asphalt parking lot with trees and vegetated swales, reducing stormwater runoff.

• Z6 House (Santa Monica, California; Ray Kappe and LivingHomes)—This 2,480-square-foot modular home features natural ventilation, a 2.4-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array, a green roof, and rainwater harvesting. The photovoltaic array also acts as a shade canopy for the stair leading up to the roof. Sliding panels indoors allow rooms to be connected to or separated from central common spaces, creating a flexible living space that can change with occupants’ needs. Recycled and rapidly renewable materials were used extensively, and the modular design (with construction in a factory) reduced construction waste.

Honorable Mentions

• Gerding Theater at the Armory (Portland, Oregon; GBD Architects)—Fitting 55,000 square feet of theatrical space into a 20,000-square-foot footprint in this LEED Platinum renovation of a historic building required ingenuity—and excavation 30 feet belowground. A displacement ventilation system provides fresh air throughout the theater, and skylights bring daylight into rehearsal and dressing rooms.

• Provincetown Art Association and Museum (Provincetown, Massachusetts; Machado and Silvetti Associates)—This renovation nearly doubled the size of the facility, creating a 19,500-square-foot museum with new galleries, art storage spaces, and educational space. Situated in a coastal environment with little potable water, the building incorporates rainwater harvesting, water conservation, and drought-tolerant landscaping with native species. This building was published in the March 2007 Architectural Record

• Stillwell Avenue Terminal Train Shed (New York City; Kiss + Cathcart Architects)—Coney Island’s 90-year-old train station, the largest in the New York City subway system, needed a renovation to comply with modern standards. The  resulting 80,000-square-foot station features a building-integrated solar photovoltaic system that has a rated peak output of 199 kilowatts.

• William J. Clinton Presidential Center (Little Rock, Arkansas; Polshek Partnership Architects)—Neighboring Heifer International (above), this 282,000-square-foot library houses both archive and educational facilities. Documents and artifacts are housed underground, while offices and public spaces are located in airy, daylit spaces aboveground. Designed to foster community interaction, the LEED-Silver building features easy access to public transportation; the brownfield site has been restored to serve as a public park space.