During the last half of 1997, there seemed to be enough trade shows and conferences on the subject of environmental design and construction to keep one covering the subject on a daily basis. Major events in Austin, TX, Miami, FL, and Washington, DC, were balanced with smaller yet equally informative shows in Seattle, Denver, New Mexico and British Columbia. Environmental Design & Construction attended them all to deliver the message on green building and prepare the following report on the highlights of these international events:

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING ADDRESSED AT POLLUTION PREVENTION CONFERENCE

Spotlighting Success was the theme for the DOE’s Pollution Prevention Conference XIII, which took place on August 26-28 in Atlanta, GA. Although the conference emphasized industrial waste recycling, a number of speakers were there to address specific issues in the building industry. In a session entitled "Designing the future," four speakers touched on areas of concern to those interested in sustainable building.

Bill Browning of Boulder, CO-based Rocky Mountain Institute began by highlighting the positive affect of efficient, lighting, heating, and cooling on worker productivity, as documented in RMI’s "Greening the Building and the Bottom Line" study. He also focused on the use of economic incentives to promote pollution prevention as a part of building design and operations.

Dr. Judith Heerwagen, staff scientist at Seattle-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, also addressed the affect environmentally sound buildings have on their occupants and discussed the problems in measuring increases in productivity in the field and correlating the data to building design.

Gerald Kotas, senior environmental scientist with the DOE National Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development, discussed his organization’s strategy towards promoting sustainable communities, and Judy A. Dorsey of The Brendle Co. catalogued tools and services available to green designers.

Attracting celebrity-like attention, however, was keynote speaker Ray Anderson, chairman of Atlanta-based carpet manufacturer Interface Inc., who spoke about his company’s efforts to become a sustainable manufacturer (see Inteview, pg 53). Also speaking on sustainable manufacturing was eco-entrepreneur Gunter Pauli, founder and director of Tokyo-based Zero Emissions Research Initiative, a United Nations University program that works with businesses to develop and promote sustainable practices. In his presentation, Pauli claimed that "95% of businesses today are designed for obsolescence. Why? Because they are producing things nobody wants: pollutants and toxic byproducts."

Using the example of a zero-emissions beer brewery in Namibia, Pauli showed the economic and environmental benefits of industrial symbiosis and complete utilization of resources. Pauli also presented information on an environmentally sensitive hospital and research center in eastern Columbia called Las Gaviotas, where sustainable technology and design have been used extensively for everything from power generation to indoor air quality to reforestation.

SOLAR CONFERENCE HELD IN ALTERNATIVELY POWERED SETTING

From the sun- and wind-powered setting to the solar-cooked snacks, everything about the recent Annual Life Technics Conference related to alternative sources of energy. The event was held at the Ghost Ranch Conference Center near Abiquiu, NM, and was sponsored by the New Mexico Solar Energy Association.

The site itself exemplified the practical applications of solar and other alternative energy sources. For example, lodging on the ranch includes four prototype passive solar houses (see sidebar opposite), a solar hot water heater for campground bathhouses, a solar-heated pool, a new passive solar-heated arts building, and a solar-heated and wind-powered research farm. Sewage is treated by a wetlands system.

Many speakers shared their experience related to alternative energy systems, among them Doug Balcomb and Jeff Cook, described as passive solar pioneers. Balcomb showed examples of passive solar houses and said there are two ways to heat a home: the first is an extensive process of extracting fossil fuel, refining it, burning it and delivering heat or electricity to a home; and the second is to simply point a house south.

One example included a residence retrofitted as passive solar to reduce its use of heating fuel by 3/4. In addition to examples of the residential use of passive solar heating, he also showed a passive solar airport in Albany, NY.

To further the cause of solar heating, Balcomb feels "there is a revolution in glazing in the U.S.," he said, "You can choose windows depending on your climate and orientation and get R-4 instead of R-2 windows that hardly cost any more."

Balcomb referred to a computer program known as Energy-10 (marketed by the Passive Solar Industries Council in Washington, DC) that helps design low-energy buildings and can provide hour-by-hour simulations of energy usage according to a building’s design.

Jeff Cook, a professor at Arizona State University, shared examples of passive solar-heated homes he has seen in the Far East. While these structures represent primitive styles of construction, they exhibit many elements of passive solar and energy efficiency, and illustrate how building designers can prepare for the future by learning from the past.

For example, old-fashioned farmhouses in Korea let the sun in winter but not in summer. They also contain radiant heating systems, where heat from a fire is absorbed into and dispersed from floors and walls. This system has been in use for more than 2,000 years and remains in use today.

In Japan, Cook found a large corporation that is prefabricating and selling passive solar homes. He said, "It’s possible to make money and help save the world. Our friends in Japan are doing it."

Other highlights of the event included tabletop exhibits, the Solar Lunch Box Design Competition, and the "famous five-minute talks," in which anyone was given the opportunity to make a five-minute (or so) presentation.

Workshops for owners and builders of solar homes included Low Cost Solar Adobe Design and Construction, Solar Hot Water Systems, Photovoltaic Systems, and Renovation and Remodeling.

VANCOUVER HOSTS CONFERENCE ON CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION RECYCLING

A windy Vancouver was the site for the Waste Reduction and Recycling in Building Construction, Demolition and Design Seminar, where over 50 attendees gathered on October 2-3 to learn more about the use of recycled goods in the construction and demolition industries.

Coordinated by Thomas Mueller, construction/demolition recycling advisor with the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and Prashant Pandit, an environmental engineer with the city’s Public Works and Government Services office, the seminar’s goal was to educate builders, developers, architects and others about the benefits of recycling and reusing materials during the construction or demolition of a building.

"Introducing waste reduction and recycling programs for the building industry should be part of every region’s solid waste management plan," said Mueller. "It’s very important to bring architects, engineers, and builders together to cover all the aspects of true waste reduction and recycling in their field. That’s what we’re trying to do here."

In his opening talk on developing effective construction site recycling programs, Mueller outlined the numerous benefits of recycling and reusing construction waste: lower disposal costs, safer and cleaner job sites, positive public image, marketing advantage and a healthier environment. Conducting an effective job site recycling effort, he added, requires proper coordination, assessment of waste types and volumes, education of subcontractors ("So the plumbers are not throwing plumbing waste in the wood recycling bin," said Mueller), and continuous monitoring.

For an example of a successful recycling project, Mueller pointed to Turinberry, a 41-unit, 71,488-square-foot townhouse/subdivision development by Vancouver-based Polygon Construction. Here, the builder was persuaded to conduct a minimal site recycling effort by collecting and diverting clean waste wood used during framing and roof sheathing. Not only did the builder divert 14 bins of wood, but also managed to save $1,328 in waste disposal costs. "This project proved to the builder that recycling is feasible and cost effective," said Mueller.

Some of the other speakers included: Dr. Raymond Cole, a professor in the school of architecture at the Unversity of British Columbia (see News, pg. 14), who spoke about the future of sustainable development and the current, infantile stage of it’s growth; Kathleen O’Brien, who presented details on a successful recycled building campaign in Kitsap County, WA; and Joanne Perdue, MAIBC, an architect with Matsuzake/Wright Architects Inc., who spoke about her firm’ s successful use of recovered and recycled materials in the C.K. Choi Building on the UBC campus. Other speakers addressed the types and availability of recycled building materials.

Deconstruction Demystified

One case study that helped illustrate the benefits of selective demolition, or "deconstruction," was presented by Ms. Corinne Fulton, manager of Port Coquitlam, B.C.-based Litchfield & Co., a company that specializes in deconstructing buildings and salvaging and reselling used building materials. In one instance, Fulton’ s company deconstructed 13 buildings on a 24-acre manufacturing site over a three month period: The company salvaged everything from dimensional lumber, metal siding and roofing, concrete and asphalt to furnaces, duct work and office furniture. Out of 7, 971 cubic yards of material, 74% was recycled and 6% salvaged — hardwood flooring, for instance, was re-installed in residential buildings, while dimensional lumber found markets as far as Chile, China, and Japan.

Ms. Fulton emphasized that deconstruction has many benefits for owners over what she calls "smash and dash" demolition, such as reduced tipping fees, revenues from salvaged materials, avoidance of disposal costs, job creation, and resource efficiency. She underlined, however, the fact that contractors rarely give her company a demolition job because they approve of it’s ideology. "We got the contract because we submitted the lowest bid," said Fulton. "But the owners gave us the critical element. Time."

Time, in fact, seemed to be one of the main concerns of the speakers and the architects and builder’s in attendance: convincing a building owner or builder to invest time needed for the proper deconstruction of a building or the implementation of an effective recycling program is often a hard sell. There was also discussion, which became somewhat intense at points, about the role of government in recycling efforts — some attendants argued that a government’s role includes mandating recycling, while others, pointing to the lack of government resources and potential for illegal dumping, felt that voluntary programs and education were the key.

"I enjoyed the seminar — it was useful to know what’s happening in the industry, what’s available and where to look for material," said participant Wilma W.M. Leung, project coordinator with WISA development projects Inc., a Vancouver-based developer and builder. "It gave me a new perspective on how we can plan for the future, and practical information on how to get there." Leung added, however, that she would have preferred more builders to be in attendance. "It was mainly people who have been interested in the subject, and not going much beyond them. We need to get beyond the interest group and involve more people."

Although there are no clear plans for next year, according to Mueller the seminar may become an annual event.

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING NORTHWEST CONFERENCE AND TRADE SHOW

A few weeks later and about a hundred miles south, the Sustainable Building Northwest: Breaking Through the Barriers Conference and Trade Show took place at the Seattle Center in Seattle, WA. The conference, according to organizers, was intended to "help both the public and private sector promote, plan, and use sustainable design and construction practices." Over 500 attendees gathered to hear over 75 experts speak on various topics and to visit with 54 exhibitors. Major sponsors included Public Technology Inc., City of Seattle, King County Solid Waste, Electric Power Research Institute, and the U.S. DOE.

Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce, Natural Capitalism and other books on the environment and business, spoke at the opening of the conference and set the stage for the event by encouraging participants to begin working closer with natural systems and conserving resources. "In seven years time, we will become 10, 20 and even 100 times more productive with our resources," he predicted, emphasizing the need to move from a take-make-waste culture to one based on flow and service.

Other keynote speakers included: Alana Probst, vice president of Ecotrust, a bank that fosters sustainable development, who spoke on the successes her company has had in supporting sustainable business ventures; Interface’ s Ray Anderson, who spoke on his company’s sustainability efforts; and the U.S. Green Building Council’s David Gottfried, who spoke about his own journey from working in a real estate development company during the "go-go eighties" to a proponent of green building.

Also, an executive forum of private and public leaders discussed the nature of sustainability and the obstacles to it’s implementation. William Odell, senior design principal at HOK Inc., was on the panel and took time to stress the need for green design to become a mainstream design principle: "We need to be doing this in every aspect of every project every time," he said. "We don’t have 100 years to wait, we must move quickly. Nothing counts unless these buildings get built."

Another member of the panel, Richard Redman from Sellen Construction Co., spoke of his success with jobsite recycling, which earned his company $186,000 savings on one project alone. "The bottom line is education," said Redman.

"People need to have tools to educate and work with clients and simplify processes so owners and team members clearly understand issues."

Most of the conference, took place in one of three seminar rooms, where attendees could choose from a number of showcase and technical sessions on everything from case studies to advanced building systems to hints on marketing sustainability.

Architects and owners presented case studies of numerous green buildings, such as the REI Flagship Store in Seattle, the Norm Thompson Headquarters in Portland, the Thoreau Center at Presidio in San Francisco, and the Civano Development in Tuscon. The Norm Thompson Headquarters case study, for example, was presented by owners John & Jane Emrick and architect Gary Reddick of Portland-based Sienna Architects. Designed to the theme " a river runs through it," the building was designed around a central, meandering corridor, and incorporates passive solar orientation, light-shelves, recycled materials like syndecrete and engineered lumber, limited use of coverings, and a host of other measures — all achieved with a payback of 4 years.

In a case study of the 40,000-square-foot Northwest Federal Credit Union, designed by Seattle-based Miller/Hull Partnership, the vice president of the credit union mentioned some of the benefits and pitfalls in the various green designs in his building. For instance, daylighting and reduced light levels have generated savings in electricity bills, and employees who first thought it was too dark adjusted well to using task lights and now prefer the set-up. Limited success was achieved, however, with light shelves on the north side where trees obscure light.

Three green building experts teamed up to give samples from their own work in a presentation titled Innovative Systems & Technologies — Joel Schurke, environmental resource director of Minneapolis-based Cunningham Group, encouraged using less and building better. "A key consideration is simplicity" said Schurke. "Keep designs small and flexible. Complexity equals waste."

Peter Yost of the Marlboro, MD-based National Association of Home Builders Research Center discussed The 21st Century Townhouses, a four-unit project developed by his organization to test different types of building systems. Lastly, Steve Loken of Missoula, MT-based Center for Resourceful Building Technologies emphasized re-use of existing sites and doing away with the term "value engineering," because "it has nothing to do with value, only first cost."

Sustainable site development was another area of discussion, with landscape architect Lucia Athens, L.A., of Seattle-based Earth Sky Designs urging architects to view a building site as a watershed, cultural setting, resource area, and ecological unit instead of just a location for a building. For example, Athens stressed that low-toxicity exterior finishes are important for water and soil quality, while water-permeable parking surfaces help water enter the water table. Simple measures, she added, can go a long way: at one project, she attached a sign around a tree declaring its estimated worth in order to keep construction crews from damaging it. Two other speakers addressed site development issues: John Battle, construction manager for Microsoft, discussed his company’s use of native plants for landscaping and extensive efforts to prevent damage to rivers from run-off during construction projects. Paul Olsen, an architect with Seattle-based Jones & Jones, presented a case study of the Sleeping Lady Retreat and Conference Center, a sustainable development in Leavenworth, WA, where the design team went to great lengths to insure the project made little impact on the surrounding countryside: "we wanted the buildings to be dominated by nature," explained Olsen.

Tours of three local buildings wrapped up the conference. Attendees had a chance to visit the REI Headquarters, the Northwest Federal Credit Union, and the Lighting Design Lab. At the REI Headquarters, Bert Gregory of Seattle-based Mithun Partners discussed how his firm incorporated four areas of resource efficiency into the building’ s design: energy efficiency, materials efficiency, waste-stream reduction, and recycled content. Surfaces, for example, were left unfinished except in high-contact areas. Office ceilings were fitted with Armstrong ceiling tiles with recycled content. Engineered lumber was used in many structural elements, and large glass windows were used on the east side to pre-heat the building with sunlight before opening hours. The Lighting Design Lab, meanwhile, gave tours of its labs and mock-up rooms, and showcased tools that it uses to help designers reduce lighting loads and improve lighting quality by using more efficient products and design. According to technical librarian Randal Smith, lighting loads can be reduced from 3 watts per square foot to 1 watt or lower with simple design rules and off-the-shelf energy-efficient lamps and ballasts. Although Smith praised dimming systems for daylight harvesting, he warned against using "switching" systems: "If you reduce light all of a sudden, people will feel like you stole something from them," he said, adding that office occupants working under such systems were known to put styrofoam cups over sensors to keep lights on.

Those who attended the conference seemed pleased with the caliber and expertise of the speakers — a young architect from a local firm mentioned she was "inspired" by the speeches and workshops. She added, however, that "there needs to be more specific information as to marketing these ideas to clients, and how to work with life-cycle costs and paybacks as selling tools."

O’ Brien and Company’ s Kathleen O’ Brien, who worked as project manager for the conference, commented on what she felt was the greatest success of the conference: "Some of the people who attended and who have decision making power have said that they are going to implement some of these things in their own capital projects, and that’ s outstanding," said O’ Brien.

"Public officials from King county and Seattle who were here have indicated that they are going to make changes towards sustainability." She was also pleased with the number of attendees from "mainstream" companies, and her only regret was the lack of time scheduled for visiting vendors, "and the vendors are so important because they are the ones who can provide you with the products and services to help you follow through with the ideas."

BUILDING ASSOCIATION PRESENTS CONFERENCE ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY

For the past 15 years, the Energy Efficient Building Association has held a conference to move the building industry to constructing healthier, sustainable and more energy efficient homes, buildings and communities. This year was no exception as 600 building professionals gathered in Denver to hear keynote speakers such as Sym Van der Ryn and other prominent speakers discuss areas such as indoor air quality, marketing of energy efficient buildings, and advanced building diagnostics.

The "Excellence in Building Conference" taught the basics techniques for building healthy, safe, comfortable, durable and resource efficient buildings and offered professionals the opportunity to receive AIA/CES continuing education units.

Keynote speaker Van der Ryn of the Ecological Design Institute and Van der Ryn Architects, addressed not only what can be done today to improve the way we construct our communities but the long-term effect that sustainable design and building practices have on our future environment.

Along with the conference, 75 exhibitors of energy-efficient building products and services as well as affiliated organizations displayed for two days at the conference. Among the show’s sponsors were DOE, EPA, NAIMA, Johns Manville, Andersen Corp., CIMA, Colorado Office of Energy Conservation, and Energy Rated Homes of Colorado.

Next year’ s Excellence in Building Conference will be held in Washington, DC, October 28-31.

LINKING PRACTICE WITH PLACE AT THE AUSTIN GREEN BUILDER CONFERENCE

With 2,600 attendees, 184 booths and 41 speakers, the 6th annual International Green Building Conference was one of the biggest green building conferences of the year. Architects, builders, developers, consumers and others gathered in sunny Austin from October 31 to November 2nd at the Austin Convention Center to learn more about techniques and products and to meet local green architects and famous designers and leaders from around the country. Titled "Linking Practice with Place," the conference focused on practical solutions to incorporating green design into today’ s projects.

Lighting designer Nancy Clanton, P.E., was the first keynote speaker, and in her talk called for a restrained and strategic use of lighting in buildings, instead of flooding spaces with large amounts of ill-placed lights. Daylighting is a large factor in a good lighting design, she added, "and with today’s technology and glazings, there’ s no reason not to use as many windows as possible."

Light-colored finishes are a must, she added, as dark rooms are extremely hard to light. In a library that Clanton designed, lighting levels were kept low, with light supplied directly to tables and shelves with locally mounted task lighting.

Presenting an entertaining slide show and dispensing practical advise, Bill Reed, principal with Washington, DC-based The Hillier Group, took time in his presentation to use shots from existing communities to highlight inconsistencies in community design. One aerial shot showed a shopping plaza immediately next to a housing community — but separated from those houses by hedges and a fence and accessible only by a long drive around to an entrance on a far side. "We need integrated solutions for buildings and communities," said Reed, "We need to eliminate codes that foster ‘falsity’ and push and look for common sense solutions."

Pliny Fisk III, founder of the Austin-based Center for Maximum Building Technologies, spoke on the need for those interested in sustainable building to develop a shared language with which to discuss the field’s complex issues. "We need a language that is generic and life-cycle based," he said. Fisk then explained Infinit Grid, a system his organization is creating to provide such a language by combining life cycle analysis, geographic information systems, and input-output analysis.

"Design is the interface between nature and culture," said architect and professor Sym Van der Ryn during his keynote at the end of the first day. "Architects often forget the spirit of design is not just on paper but in the energy of the people who turn ideas into bricks and mortar. You don’ t have a great building unless that energy is there." Van der Ryn spent time in his keynote reviewing some of the features of the Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, CA, which he helped design and which features everything from strawbale construction to photovoltaic power to intricate and diverse landscaping and sculptural forms.

Seminars Cover Multiple Topics

On Saturday, attendees could choose from 19 different speaker sessions and case studies on three different tracks. In a session on financing green buildings, Stefan Lark, partner in Santa Fe-based AspenWest Mortgage, spoke on opportunities now becoming available for mortgaging strawbale and other alternative building techniques. Lark advised those who plan to apply for a loan for a strawbale home to "be prepared to give extra effort" to get approval. He advised educating the insurance company early on about the building technology being used, keeping thorough records, planning for a completed structure, avoiding more than 40% land-to-value ratios, working with a contractor instead of taking the job on alone, and having at least a 5% cushion in the budget.

Jane Pulaski of the General Services Commission’s State Energy Conservation Office presented a case study on the REJ State Office Building, a 335,000-square-foot building that incorporated sustainable design. The building was meant, according to Pulaski, to "set a new precedent for other building projects in Texas," and to demonstrate that sustainability does not cost more than a mainstream building. Daylight dimming, concrete with fly ash, sustainably harvested wood products, low and no VOC paints and sealants, and a reduced-size and more efficient HVAC system were just some of the measures taken. Three lessons learned, said Pulaski, were that (1) change is always difficult, (2) a team approach is needed to counteract lack of full-service green firms, and (3) top level support is "absolutely essential."

One popular speaker was Ted Flato, who kept a room full and attentive far longer than scheduled as he showed slides of projects in nearby cities. Winner of 39 state and 4 national awards, the architect reviewed his graceful designs and clever solutions to climate and site challenges.

Denver Contractors Become Green Builders

Representing the Denver Parade of Homes, David Johnston defined the success of his "green builder" program in Denver because "builders are now part of the environmental community and not just the bad guys."

Yet, he described that it is more difficult for a green builder to be respected even when it is done just as well or even better than a typical builder. "Being a builder and building a green home is like being a woman in business; you have to do everything twice as well."

Much of Johnston’ s work involves promoting the Denver green building program, and to do so he spends a lot of time working with the media. He "turned the first Colorado green building development into a media circus."

Still, it’ s money that talks, and "the only way to talk about green is if green ends up in our pockets." And it is working, with 47 builders now enrolled in the program.

Continuing the focus on Colorado, Jay Luboff described the Colorado E-Star program, which is now beginning to spread to Wyoming as well. The program is involving builders, banks and other financiers, and according to Luboff, there will be a program next year that will train lenders throughout the country to lend based on energy efficiency. Dubbed the "energy efficient mortgage," the program has lenders giving bonuses if a home has an energy rating, enables builders to include energy efficiency into the mortgage process and provides guidelines to add the value of energy improvements into the loan.

Luboff believes incentives such as a green mortgage will go further than requirements to encourage green building. "We don’ t want green requirements in the home because we’ ll lose the builder," he said. "We need to craft options that say, ‘We want you to build green but we don’ t want to require it, so we’ ll give you some money back.’"

Examples of Green Architecture

A leader in the Austin green building movement, Peter Pfeiffer, AIA, of Barley & Pfeiffer in Austin, showed some examples of his own green designs, including his own home. First he explained the reasons why improving the environmental impact of our buildings is important: "Next to agriculture, construction is the single largest employer in the world," he said, "40% of electricity and 60% of gas used is in buildings," and "the fuel used between 1980 and 1990 is more than all we’ ve used since the industrial revolution." He feels the greatest impact is not to build "strawbale huts in the hinterlands," but to "do it mainstream." And it doesn’ t even matter if it is "all green or nothing," he said, "take it a step at a time."

One example of a green technique would be to use local stone rather than brick because the stone would have less embodied energy to cut and transport than to just manufacture the brick. Pfeiffer discussed one of his projects, the Sustainable Orthopedic Medical Office Building, as an example of one of his green buildings. The building is twice the size of the building the tenants moved out of, but it uses less than half the energy. Among its green features are its ability to catch prevailing breezes, daylighting which makes up 60% of lighting normally consumed and saves on cooling, a light white concrete driveway to reduce the urban heat island effect, no direct solar gain in the windows, rainwater catchment, a recycled metal roof that reflects daylight into the space and is a home for solar collectors, photovoltaics that provide an uninterrupted power supply for security and computers, cellulose insulation made of recycled materials for energy efficiency and sound control, and ceiling tile made of volcanic perlite.

Pfeiffer’ s next example was a residence which will be featured in Better Homes & Gardens. Among the home’ s green features are locally quarried stone, a recycled metal roof and siding which doesn’ t hold daytime heat and cools easily, a dyed and scored concrete floor which offers thermal qualities and doesn’ t require additional covering, and a rainwater catchment system with a 26,000-gallon cistern that provides for all of the residents’ domestic water needs.

Other Events

A design competition was held at the show, with Austin-based architect Susan Pendergraft winning best-of-show for a two-story, vernacular form strawbale house with passive solar design, engineered wood products, ra inwater collection and AgriBoard interior partitions.

A self-directed tour of green buildings in Austin was held on Sunday, and attendees were invited to visit 15 residential and 2 commercial projects in the surrounding area. The homes ranged from a simple cob cottage to the intricate and eclectic home of the Center for Maximum Building Potential Systems.

For next year, conference organizers intend to split the conference into three main focus areas: the green building conference, a conference for the greening of technology and business, and a conference for consumers who want to learn more about greening their home.

ACHIEVING "ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC BALANCE": THE 21ST CENTURY OUTLOOK CONFERENCE

The American Institute of Architects, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the U.S. Department of Energy teamed up to give architects, designers and planners "The 21st Century Outlook" on how they can achieve "Environmental and Economic Balance," the theme of the conference held recently in Miami.

Of the AIA’ s 22 professional interest areas (PIAs) which its members can join, seven participated in this conference, the most prominently included being the Committee on the Environment. Its mission is to "create sustainable buildings and communities by advancing, disseminating and advocating environmental knowledge and values to the profession, industry and the public." Other participating PIAs included Corporate Architects, Facility Management, Housing, Interiors, Public Architects, and the Regional and Urban Design Committee.

The conference included half-day and day-long workshops, hour-long seminars, keynote sessions, and a trade show of environmentally responsible building products. Keynote speakers included:

• Ray C. Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Interface, Inc., the world’ s largest producer of carpet tiles; co-chairman of the President’ s Council on Sustainable Development, and recipient of the inaugural Millenium Award from Global Green, presented by Mikhail Gorbechev in September 1996.

• Raj Barr-Kumar, FAIA, RIBA, award-winning Washington, DC-based architect and interior designer; principal of Barr-Kumar Architects Engineers and partner in Kress Cox Barr-Kumar Architects; renowned for his environmentally sensitive designs; and 1997 President of the American Institute of Architects.

• Robert J. Berkebile, FAIA, a leader in the international effort to provide the information needed to develop sustainable communities; founding Chairman of the AIA’s Committee on the Environment; instrumental in coordinating the AIA Environmental Resource Guide; currently working with the National Park Service, the University of British Columbia; the State of Texas, and the National Science Foundation to develop sustainable guidelines for their design and construction projects.

• David Berry, Executive Director of the Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators and Co-Chair of the Interagency Working Group on Material and Energy Flow, both housed in the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

• Paul G. Hawken, businessman, environmentalist, author and founder of several companies, including Smith & Hawken, the garden retail and catalog company. He is author of several books, including best-selling The Ecology of Commerce and Growing aBusiness, which became a 17-part PBS series. Presently, he is Chairman of The Natural Step, a nonprofit educational foundation to guide society toward a sustainable future.

• Donald E. Holte, P.E., President of ASHRAE, and Chairman and Senior Vice President of Marketing with Visionwall Technologies Inc., a window and curtainwall manufacturer.

• Donald MacDonald, FAIA, principal of MacDonald chitects in San Francisco, described as "the most imaginative and inventive housing architect in this pen of the world."

• Kathleen Alana McGinty, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, serving as President Clinton’ s senior advisor on environment, natural resources and sustainable development.

• Susan A. Maxman, FAIA, principal of Susan Maxman Architects, and nationally recognized advocate and expert on principles of sustainable design. As the AIA’ s first female president in 1993, she made environmentally sensitive design a priority for her administration.

What is Clinton Doing?

McGinty began her keynote stating that "the best way to predict the future is to invent it." Representing her boss, President Clinton, who has recently focused on global warming, she said that climate change is one of the most profound challenges as we look at the 21st Century. To address this and other goals set forth in the conference, she feels "We need to build communities to heal the natural environment and nurture the human spirit," and "architects are uniquely poised to meet these challenges."

She detailed what needs to be done to combat climate change: reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency, build buildings that withstand elements and co-exist with them, desi gn more efficient lighting and appliances, and create more efficient automobiles. And she recounted the "Greening of the White House," in which lighting, heating and cooling were redesigned, windows were replaced, and pesticides were nearly eliminated. Lighting changes alone save $150,000 per year.

McGinty described how the EPA is leading by example with the construction of a 1.2 million-square-foot campus that is employing green practices from the ground up and didn’ t send one cubic yard of waste to the dump during land clearing. She also described programs such as the Energy Star Program and work on the publication of the Green Buildings Guide that enable consumers to choose environmentally sound products. She also referred to the President’ s announcement of $5 billion in tax incentives to encourage moving technologies from research and development to the marketplace.

Barr-Kumar Emphasizes Response to Climate

Architect and president of the AIA, Raj Barr-Kumar warned in his keynote talk that architects "focus too much on the image of a building that we forget the process that we used to get there."

Barr-Kumar emphasized responding to the environment instead of form for form’ s sake, and to conserve resources and design buildings that are recyclable. Highlighting ancient dwellings like Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde in the American southwest, the architect urged a return to geomorphous design that responds to climate, a melding of the pragmatic with the sensuous. This kind of design, he added, is needed to provide examples for the quickly growing Asian countries: "Those nations are looking to modern countries for examples, and it is in these modern countries where we are building glass boxes with no consideration to efficiency, orientation, or solar energy."

Housing in the 21st Century

Donald MacDonald, another keynote speaker, focused on housing in the 21st Century. He documented the importance of housing, stating that 80% of the building dollar spent in the U.S. is spent on housing, people are happier when they don’t live alone, and over 50,000 gated communities have sprung up across the U.S. to futher divide the rich and the poor. MacDonald believes that the house is the "visible symbol of a family’s identity and the most effective guarantee of social stability and a basic human right."

He also feels that there are certain requirements of housing: they should be flexible, should be environmentally friendly by being designed with nature not against it, and they should reflect the individual not the architect. Among his ecological innovations is "platforming," in which residential spaces are placed above parking lots surrounding retail structures, a van that acts as a cottage on wheels, and the "mature House," which offers three living spaces for three single individuals.

Turning ASHRAE Green

Donald Holte is doing his best as President of ASHRAE to make the climate-controlling organization incorporate green practices stating that he wants to do for ASHRAE what Susan Maxman did for the AIA. Among his efforts to achieve this goal, he presented "Technology for a Better Environment" at the 1997.

ASHRAE meeting

During his keynote presentation at the AIA/USGBC conference, Holte showed examples of architecture from the 1800s that employed green building practices such as a center atrium, offices around the perimeter, and natural ventilation, all used because there was no other technology available at the time. He described "displacement ventilation," where air circulation is achieved by having low vents for air to enter a room and high vents for air to exit, as a "new" technique that was used in the 1800s.

Sustainability is Spreading

The extent of the green building movement was evident by the volume of technical papers presented at the conference and the widespread desire for information. This topic and others were highlighted in other seminars during the four-day event.

"The reason that sustainability groups have sprung up across the country is because people are discouraged about their quality of life, and communities feel pressure to do something," said Mary Beth Powell of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in her session on "Successful Models for Community-Based Sustainable Development." Still, she says these groups are only in their early stages of development.

Robert A. Young, P.E., echoed that sentiment and offered "A Planning Tool for the Small Community: Shaping Livable Communities," in the form of a 200-page manual. A total of 350 copies were printed and distributed. Another book, as well as a CD-ROM, was presented by Jen Uncaphur of the Rocky Mountain Institute. This book covers "Green Development" and offers solid examples of how environmental design and construction are being implemented successfully. The book illustrates that "the leading developers are bottom line oriented but also undertake issues that are important to them." According to Uncaphur, these developers have "demonstrated that they can make profits while doing good."

Other sources of information presented at the conference include, an Internet site set up by HOK architects. The site features a database of environmentally sound building products. A system for determining how environmentally sound a product is was presented by Barbara Lippiatt, who demonstrated the BEES system – "Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability." Developed with support from NIST, BEES attempts to help designers make purchasing decisions regarding green buildings, and it considers six attributes when determining a product’s rating: global warming, acid rain, nutrification, resource depletion, indoor air quality, and solid waste.

Many speakers commented that the conference was an exercise of "preaching to the choir," a gathering of believers who needed no convincing of the benefits of green design. Quite a few architects, though, were not "true believers," as one architect from Washington, DC, who mentioned to EDC that he become much more interested in green design during the conference, "and I was definitely not one of the choir before."

Other Sessions

Charles Eley, FAIA, P.E., president of San Francisco-based Eley Associates, discussed the potential of building performance contracting as a method of increasing and insuring the energy efficiency of buildings. Key to such a program, he said, are a clearly stated goal, an agreed upon performance evaluation method during the design process, and a protocol for measuring building performance after it is occupied. Tenants can be involved as well: "you can offer tenants incentives by unbundling rent and utilities and offering them rebates if they, for example, design lighting to an energy-efficient standard." The new building at Four Times Square in New York was used as an example of such a program.