This session has been designed specifically for owners, development managers, project managers and owners’ representatives who want to get the most out of their investments and design and construction teams. Participants will learn enhanced management and critical thinking techniques to empower project team members to rise to their full potential in delivering high performance buildings to the marketplace in the most cost-effective manner.

REGISTER HERE

Thursday, February 16
7:00 – 7:30 AM Registration & Networking
7:30 – 9:00 AM Integrative Design 101
9:15 – 11:45 AM Integrative Design Workshop

Standard Insurance Center Auditorium
900 SW Fifth Avenue
Portland, Oregon

Speakers
John Boecker, 7group, Wellsville, PA
Michael Italiano, Capital Markets Partnership, Washington, DC
William Reed, Integrative Design Collaborative, Arlington, VA
Dennis Wilde, Gerding Edlen, Portland, OR

Moderator
Jason Twill, Vulcan Inc., Seattle, WA

REGISTER HERE

• Lincoln Hall Renovation, Portland State University – Boora Architects
• Clif Bar & Co. Headquarters – Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Archtiects LLP
• Port of Portland Headquarters – Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP

This is the second year that the unique awards, jointly developed by Architecture 2030 and AIA Portland COTE, recognized design excellence among projects striving to achieve the reduction targets of the 2030 Challenge. These winners were selected from among candidate projects for the AIA Portland 2011 Design Awards, which documented compliance with the 2010 Architecture 2030 threshold of 60 percent less energy use than a typical building of the same size and type. All candidate projects for the Portland AIA Design Awards were required to calculate and submit both project reductions in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from operations, compared to a baseline building. Joshua Hatch, a Brightworks Sustainability Advisor, and Chair of the Portland COTE Building Climate Impact Committee, explained the gestation of the awards.

“The AIA Portland Design Awards have a long history and an award for sustainability has been presented for many years. Four years ago, when Ed Mazria was in town to present the 2030 Challenge, AIA Portland committed substantial organizational support. In collaboration with BetterBricks, the chapter offers diverse educational workshops and classes about the 2030 Challenge, measurement and verification, and energy modeling; and is the first chapter, nationally, to integrate the 2030 Challenge into our design awards. Four years ago, as part of the Design Awards process, the AIA asked projects to voluntarily submit calculations of energy savings and emissions reductions associated with each project. Three years ago these submissions became mandatory.

“We initially thought that within five years we might be able to have all projects competing for a Design Award in compliance with 2030 Challenge goals. We were overly optimistic. While we have great projects every year, with many achieving 2030 targets, some even achieving net zero energy goals, setting 2030 targets as a required threshold for the Design Awards has not been possible. So we have collaborated with Architecture 2030 to establish a separate award, which so far  is unique in the nation.”

All projects competing for AIA Portland Design Awards that demonstrate compliance with the 2030 Challenge energy targets are automatically eligible for a 2030 Challenge Design Award. According to Josh Hatch:

“The COTE Building Climate Impact Committee’s principal focus is the Design Awards. We developed and maintain the Building Climate Impact calculator that must be completed by all Award applicants, to document energy performance and emissions reductions, review submittals, coordinate the relationship with Architecture 2030 and BetterBricks, answer questions from local firms, assist with jury selection and help orient the jurors to the performance of projects in the competition

“This year we had a 95 percent participation rate in completing the required 2030 Challenge benchmarking calculations. [BB note: a modest number of projects were exempt from this requirement because they were unconditioned spaces, or for other reasons.] This year the submittals and calculations were more thorough, customized, and thoughtful than prior years–continuing a trend of increased building performance competency.”

“The average project reduction was 42 percent, for a grand total of 51,700 tons of CO2. There were many high performance projects, including some that were over 70, 80, or 90% reductions, including a net zero energy project. 51,700 tons of carbon is equivalent to taking 9,100 cars off the road or eliminating the emissions from 4,300 average Portland residents.”

While the 2030 jurors were clearly interested in energy performance and carbon reduction, they also looked for interesting challenges and how the teams developed energy efficient solutions. The awards are meant to recognize exceptional innovation, since all projects submitted to Architecture 2030 met the 2030 Challenge threshold reduction.

First Prize was awarded to the renovation of Portland State University’s Lincoln Hall, designed by Boora Architects. The 136,000 square foot project, with a predicted Energy Use Index (EUI) of 43 kBTU/sf-year, achieved energy savings of 63 percent when compared to an average US building of the same type and size.

Second Prize was awarded to Zimmer Gunsul Frasca for the Clif Bar & Co, headquarters, a 75,000 square foot retrofit of a former manufacturing facility. This project had a predicted EUI of 46.3 kBTU/sf-year, representing a 71 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from the average, equivalent building.

 
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca was also recognized with an Honorable Mention for the Port of Portland Headquarters. The office space in this 206,000 square foot project was predicted to use only 44 kBTU/sf-year, a 67 percent reduction in energy use over an average U.S. building of the same size and type.

 
The 2030 Challenge Design Awards are much more than a feel-good event, lessons learned by the firms striving to achieve the 2030 Challenge targets need to be widely disseminated. As Hatch points out, the carbon savings recognized by this small group of projects, while significant, are “only equivalent to 0.6% of the total City of Portland’s emissions or about one percent of the emissions from the Boardman plant.” In looking forward to the next few years of work promoting the 2030 Challenge, Hatch hopes that the collaborative efforts of Architecture 2030, AIA Portland, and AIA Portland COTE and BetterBricks will accomplish the following:

• “Have teams consider energy and emissions earlier in the process. The more feedback that designers can give themselves over the course of design, the better.”

• “There are more and more tools available to help designers, but energy models were developed for only 50 percent of candidate projects, roughly the same that the national AIA found from reporting firms for the AIA 2030 Committment. More firms need to take advantage of these resources,

• “A greater percentage of this year’s projects are built projects, but there has been no increase in the number of projects that submitted actual data. Designers need to talk with clients about the performance of their buildings and to maintain a more active role after building hand over, to understand performance.

• “Increase the percent of projects that meet the 2030 targets. There was a drop of compliant projects this year, as the 2030 Challenge threshold was raised. We all need to remain diligent.

NEEA’s BetterBricks asked Mike Hatten of SOLARAC and Jeff Cole of Konstrukt to present a performance modeling approach that aligned with the integrated design approach promoted by BetterBricks and deliverables regularly associated with design phases in a new booklet, “Integrating Energy Engineering and Performance Modeling into the Design Process.”  Aimed at architects to use with their engineers, this booklet, provides a recommended scope of energy engineering and performance modeling services to support the development of very energy efficient, high performance buildings. The energy engineer/modeler will enhance the design team’s understanding of project opportunities and constraints, challenge the design team to examine key questions, act as an advocate and serve as a design team resource to improve a building’s energy performance throughout each design step.

We would love to hear your success stories with energy modeling!  And any feedback on this first edition booklet.

Do your experiences align with his?  Post a comment and let us know.

For more information on IPD or BIM, visit www.BetterBricks.com/Design

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.

A groundbreaking new research effort reveals how hospitals, which account for four percent of all energy consumed in the U.S., can achieve a 60 percent reduction in energy utility use by redesigning the way they use energy. A newly constructed, code-compliant hospital in the Northwest following the process and employing strategies identified in the research can expect to save around $730,000 a year.  Savings in other areas can be higher where utility prices are higher. All sectors of the medical industry are tackling issues of sustainability as providers continue to be asked to do more with less and lighten their impact on the environment.  This work represents one of the latest contributions to the ongoing push to green America’s hospitals and build healthier communities. The most salient outcome of this work is the definition of a process that brings together architectural, mechanical and central plant systems to deliver significant efficiencies. These strategies include heat recovery, daylighting, and thermal energy storage, which when integrated at the very beginning, can reduce up to 60 percent of a new hospital’s energy use. This approach resulted in a full hospital prototype that has been modeled for energy use as well as cost of construction and can be implemented for less than three percent of the total project’s cost, an incremental cost that is expected to be recouped through energy savings and utility incentives within the first five-to-eight years of a building’s life depending on local utility costs.

The study was presented at the CleanMed Conference in Baltimore on May 11, 2010. To read an executive summary of Targeting 100! click HERE. To request a copy of the full report, click HERE. For Energy in Healthcare Fact Sheet, click HERE.

The study, titled, “Targeting 100! Envisioning the high performance hospital: implications for a new, low energy, high performance prototype,” is the result of the close collaboration of the University of Washington’s Integrated Design Lab and NBBJ, one of the nation’s leading healthcare architectural firms. The study was primarily funded by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) through its BetterBricks initiative, with significant in-kind time commitment by NBBJ and others on the research team including engineers, general contractors, utilities, hospital CEOs and facilities managers.

Previous research conducted by the UW’s IDL of Scandinavian hospitals showed that a hospital can achieve an Energy Use Index (EUI) of 100 and still provide patients and staff with an exceptional work and healing environment. An Energy Use Index, or EUI, is the total amount of energy used by a building (electricity and natural gas) per square foot of floor area, measured on an annual basis to establish baseline energy use.  The EUI value for a building is used in a similar manner as MPG is used to describe the efficiency of an automobile.

This study shows that hospitals in the U.S. can also aim for an EUI of 100 and achieve similar successful outcomes while fully complying with codes. To put this in perspective, the EUI of an average Northwest hospital is 270 KBtu/sq.ft.yr.

The fifth annual Puget Sound BetterBricks Awards wrapped up a few weeks and ushered in a new batch green building overachievers.  The aim of these Awards are to both recognize energy efficiency achievements in commercial buildings as well as inspire others to embrace high performance buildings.

This year’s Award winners and finalists were honored at a reception of  nearly 200 people the evening of the 25th at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park.  The award winners and finalists are listed below.  For more information, visit www.BetterBricks.com/Awards, read the press release or download Seattle Business Magazine’s special report.

Owner/Developer

Those who make decisions about strategic direction regarding investments in high performance buildings. These executives, developers, owners and managers support, authorize and generally enable high performance building to be built and operated.

Winner — Kevin Brown, Senior Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer, Swedish Medical Center

Architecture

Those who design buildings and lead the design team on projects that consistently achieve high levels of energy efficiency in both new construction and major renovations.

Winner — Margaret Montgomery, Principal, NBBJ

Finalists — Chris Flint Chatto, Sustainable Designer, ZGF Architects

Design Engineer

Those who design buildings and lead the design team on projects that consistently achieve high levels of energy efficiency in both new construction and major renovations.

Winner — Tom Marseille, Principal, Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.

Finalist — Peter Alspach, Associate, Arup

Facility Manager / Building Operations

Open to a team or an individual who operates and manages the facilities of a building including facility directors, managers and building operators.

Winner — Unico Properties Energy Management Team: Clarence Clipper, Brett Philips and  Mike Bedsworth, Unico Properties

Finalists — Mike Anderson, Buildings & Grounds Manager, Bellingham School District; Earl Wayman, Senior Property Manager, GVA Kidder Matthews

Service Provider

Those individuals who provide services to the efficient operations of commercial buildings including mechanical contractors, control companies, equipment manufacturers and commissioning agents.

Winner — Danny Miller, Managing Principal, Performance Mechanical Group

Advocate

Those who advocate for and support the design and operation of high performance buildings including consultants, government, non-profit, educators, and others.

Winner — A-P Hurd, Vice President, Touchstone Corporation

Multi-Disciplinary Team

A team of professionals for integrated design on a specific high performance building project or projects that includes three or more of the following professionals: an owner/developer representative, architect, engineer (mechanical, electrical, structural), consultants, and building contractor (if involved during design).

Winner — NetRiver Phase II Expansion Team: Paul Harris & Adam Vierra, NetRiver; Dave Mackenzie, Design Real Estate; Neil Bavins & Al Thompson, Puget Sound Refrigeration; Randy Valerio, D. Hittle & Associates; Todd Brunner, Brunner Construction.