NEEA’s BetterBricks was happy to be a major sponsor this program. This year the focus was on energy performance and water performance. For the first time, all projects were required to provide an energy consumption measure, the energy Use Index or EUI, which seems small but, in fact, is a huge step to getting all entrants to think about energy performance. In addition, the only other mandatory requirement was to describe the project team’s integrated design approach, a key process to achieve high performance buildings.

I’ll get to the award winners in a minute. First I want to share what I find stimulating about the awards process itself. To start, the jury consisted of leading sustainability experts, and not just architects. People like Bob Berkebile FAIA, Founding Principal, BNIM Architects and co-founder of COTE nationally, Don Horn AIA, Assistant Director, GSA Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, Claire Johnson, Associate Director, Atelier Ten, San Francisco, and ALEX STEFFEN, Executive Editor, Worldchanging.  The jury was moderated by Nadav Malin, President, BuildingGreen, Executive Editor, GreenSource.

The Awards process began with the submittals but led to a public jury panel discussion that was videotaped for later posting on the AIA website, followed by a public jury interview of the finalist teams. Then the 11 finalist projects were printed on panels for public display and eventual shipment for display around the region, further extending the impact of the lessons generated by these projects. The Awards ceremony allowed a public discussion with the winning project teams and in the near future there will be a set of case studies and a small booklet and an issue of Seattle AIA Forum magazine describing the projects. So if you missed the other public opportunities you still have many options for viewing the projects. Web images and descriptions of these and all submitted projects can be found at http://wmig.aiaseattle.org/2010_gallery.

Finalists and Winners

Now for what you’ve been waiting for. The jury selected two Gold-level projects, one Silver, and two Honorable Mentions — one for Rural Housing and one for Cultural Sensitivity.

GOLD
King Street Station Rehabilitation, Seattle WA
ZGF Architects
Collaborators:  SMEP Engineer: ARUP; LEED Certification: Green Building Services, Inc.; Commissioning Agent: Keithly Barber Associates

Photo Credit: Seattle Department of Transportation; Museum of   History & Industry
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GOLD
Vancouver Convention Centre West, Vancouver Canada
Design Architect: LMN Architects. (Prime Architects: Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership & DA Architects & Planners)
Collaborators: Mechanical Engineer: Stantec Consulting; Commissioning Authority and Mechanical Commissioning Agent: KD Engineering Co.

Photo Credit:  LMN/Studio 216
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SILVER
Twelve | West
ZGF Architects
Collborators:  Gerding Edlen Development Company LLC ; Total Mechanical – M/E/P Engineers, Lighting Design

Photo Credit:  Timothy Hursley,  ZGF Architects LLP
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Honorable Mention for Rural Affordable Housing
Common Ground, A Co-op Neighborhood
Mithun
Collaborators: Lopez Community Land Trust.

Photo Credit:  Mithun, Juan Hernandez
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Honorable Mention for Cultural Sustainability
Northwest Maritime Center
The Miller|Hull Partnership
Collaborators:  Mechanical Engineering: Ecotope, Inc; Sustainability: O’Brien and Company

Photo Credit:  Nic Lehoux
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During the awards ceremony, there was an open Q&A session with project team members and the audience. Below are some of the interesting ideas from NEEA’s BetterBricks’ point of view:

- Integrated design proved to be a key process to attain high performance.

- Thermal comfort expectations can and should vary by seasons, by use and by zone.

- Green BIM tool advances are really helping.

- District-level awareness and connections are key to advanced sustainability.

- It is important to explore all the energy options early and seeing where they might work or even influence the design scheme.

- Some new products were developed or introduced into the US via some of the projects thus making it easier for future projects to take advantage of.

- It was essential to either have a client that was interested and even aggressively pushing the energy and sustainability goals or have the architect effectively convince the client of the importance.
So go check out the detailed project information at the Seattle AIA website, and look for the video trailer http://wmig.aiaseattle.org/2010_gallery.

Three years of hard work, characterized by widespread building industry collaboration, has resulted in the first comprehensive U.S. commercial green building standard accredited by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and intended for adoption into local codes. The Standard may also be used by utility programs and green building rating systems prior to code adoption.

On January 22, 2010, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), published Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, a compilation of criteria that must be met in order to be considered a “green” building. These criteria include the same topic areas found in most green building rating systems: site, water use, energy, indoor environment, and building impact on atmosphere, materials, and resources.

As a standard, minimum performance levels, for all criteria, must be achieved. Standard 189.1 includes an energy efficiency goal to achieve a minimum 30 percent reduction in energy cost over that in ANSI/ASHRAE/ANSI Standard 90.1-2007 (the current version). Energy Efficiency, Section 7 of Standard 189.1, addresses seven major categories: envelope requirements, on-site renewable energy systems, mechanical equipment efficiencies, ventilation, energy consumption data collection, peak load control, and lighting.

• Envelope requirements are built upon those in 90.1-2007, with fenestration orientation requirements to reduce solar gain from the east and west in specific climate zones, and with an added requirement for a continuous air barrier to reduce air leakage.
• The standard requires building design to facilitate future installation of onsite renewable energy systems. A prescriptive path option requires renewable system installation at the time of construction. (Both of these options provide an exception if the building is in a location with poor incident solar radiation).
• Minimum mechanical equipment efficiencies are set assuming integration with on-site renewable energy production. If mechanical equipment efficiencies are increased to meet ENERGY STAR or other more stringent requirements, then renewable energy requirements are reduced.
• Demand control ventilation is required for densely occupied spaces and fan power is limited to 10 percent below the limitations specified in Standard 90.1.
• Daily energy consumption data, including hourly use profiles, must be collected and retained for at least three years. Depending upon project energy use, there are additional thresholds that require data collection and storage for various energy subsystems.
• Demand limiting or load shifting capabilities are required to reduce peak electric demand by at least 10 percent.

Complete information on the standard, including a readable on-line copy, may be found at www.ashrae.org/greenstandard.

Mark draws parallels between the climates of Northern Europe and the Northwest United States – illuminating how a building’s skin can be both aesthetically pleasing and energy efficient without sacrificing comfort or design integrity.

His research, complete with brilliant photography, can be viewed at the BetterBricks website.