Earth Day: Five Sustainable Projects from VDT’s Archives
VDT’s commitment to sustainable design
Achieving great design has always been a top priority for Valerio Dewalt Train in all of our work. Within that, sustainability and the creation of healthy environments has been at the forefront of the conversation. In recent years we’ve recognized the need to be even more cognizant of these efforts and have steadily added various initiatives to the cause. Each year we run SAWeek, otherwise known as Sustainable Action Week, where events, guest lectures, and out of office activities all help raise firm-wide awareness of our developing sustainable design advances as well as provide inspiration for implementing new tactics within all our projects.
SAWeek helped us sharpen our internal focus on sustainability, but many of us have recognized that a sustained effort is essential, which led to the decision to dedicate full-time staff to the cause. Earlier this year Pam Crowell was promoted to Sustainability Coordinator, joining Robert Webber, Senior Associate and Chief Sustainability Officer, to advance VDT’s sustainable design focus. We firmly believe that design, regardless of scope or budget, should incorporate sustainable goals that create a synergistic effect between our built, natural, and social environments. Having architects dedicated to that cause will bolster our commitment towards architecture's 2030 Challenge.
We’re excited about what the future holds for VDT, and as we celebrate Earth Week, we are going to take a step back and reflect on some of our most sustainably-conscious designs.
Walsh College,
Troy, Michigan, 2008,
LEED Gold
Walsh College in Troy, Michigan primarily hosts evening classes for mid-career professionals who commute to school after work, so the 37,000 square foot program called for a large parking lot to accommodate its students. The school faced several unique challenges to achieve the expected LEED Gold certification. Since LEED favors daylighting, and Walsh College’s buildings are largely unoccupied during the day, daylighting was not an appropriate strategy to gain LEED points. Similarly, Walsh’s suburban location is not served by public transit and other strategies, such as carpooling, were not practical for Walsh’s students. A highly efficient thermal envelope, sophisticated building controls, and bioswales to manage stormwater responsibly, are among the strategies devised to meet these challenges.
Walsh’s design team overcame the daylighting problem by embracing its program, building an almost windowless building, but one with great thermal efficiency, thus trading off daylighting points for energy points. The designers used “bioswales” to turn the vast parking lots into a high efficiency water filtration system that helps to restore life to the adjacent wetlands, overcoming a transportation handicap for sustainable site points.
Classroom buildings work differently than other buildings. The population during the course of a day swings dramatically. This calls for building systems that can respond to usage patterns dynamically to reduce energy usage and maintain comfort. Walsh College studied its building operations to select the best building controls, including occupancy sensors that not only control light, but room temperature, too, earning LEED points while reducing operating costs and saving energy.
The Kresge Foundation
Troy, Michigan
LEED Platinum
When Valerio Dewalt Train designed the first major expansion to the Kresge Foundation headquarters in Troy, MI, the focus was on leading the way in building sustainability and employee well-being. Completed in 2006, a LEED-Platinum building defined by light-filled spaces, surrounded by a restored wetland, and equipped with cutting-edge sustainability strategies that seamlessly integrates with the original 19th-century farmhouse and barn was designed and built.
The Foundation’s new president and CEO, Rip Rapson (son of the celebrated mid-20th Century architect, Ralph Rapson), approached VDT to complete an addition to the project. The charge was not just to create more workspace for a quickly growing staff, but to fundamentally transform the way the organization worked. As we discussed the future of work at the Foundation, “collaboration” seemed to be the most frequently used word.
The story of the Kresge Foundation addition is a story of long-term relationships between architects and clients and the power of architecture to support philosophical and cultural change. The building now speaks the same language of collaboration as the Foundation’s own work.
The Seneca House
Sarasota, Florida
LEED Platinum
The house was considered as two intersecting forms. To the north is a masonry mass, defining the principal form of the building, which shades the south facing windows. The second form is the horizontal plane of the terrace rests on a series of narrow masonry columns supporting the elevated pool. In turn this platform covers the car park and defines the entry to the house at grade. The interior plan of the Terrace Level is divided in half by the east/west wall which acts as the backbone of the house. To the south is the Great Room, the focus of life in the house; while to the north are private spaces. Certified LEED Platinum, sustainable design strategies utilized include: 100% rain water harvesting, high use of recycled materials, low VOC paints & sealants, native vegetation, solar water heating and a 5kW Solar PV Installation. The 2,200 SF home includes 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms.
Tech Corners
Sunnyvale, California
LEED Platinum
For this new corporate campus in Sunnyvale, California, the client was committed to creating work and social spaces that support employee health, enhance the workplace experience, and improve overall sustainability. The scope of the project included a redesign of the existing campus’ outdoor spaces, as well as the interior renovation of five existing buildings. To create a cohesive campus experience, the design team developed overlying themes for each building, driven by organic patterns.
Providing a healthy environment was a critical goal at Tech Corners. The HVAC system was fully upgraded with high efficiency units and combined with LED fixtures tied to a fully addressable low voltage controls system, creating an interior space that immediately responds to external conditions and can be user customized for further comfort controllability. The controls system is independently integrated with each fixture and adjusts light output based on occupancy sensors and surrounding light levels. The project reduced conventional lighting power by 46.73% and operates at .52 w/sf.
The design team was diligent in selecting building materials and interior finishes that are in line with their materials database, the Pharos Project goals, and the Living Building Challenge Red List. Strategies, including a planted green wall and extensive interior planting, were introduced to help link users with the natural environment as well as to aid in improving interior air quality. The project also reduced landfill waste by salvaging materials like existing solid-core doors and repurposing them as design elements. The site design utilizes 100% reclaimed water landscape irrigation, and low flow interior fixtures were selected which help the project reduce potable water usage by 46.4%. The design also upgraded the campus parking by providing EV charging spaces for 172 vehicles.
Gordon Parks Arts Hall
Chicago, Illinois
LEED Silver
Solar Chimneys
Gordon Parks Arts hall is a 90,000 square foot arts and media facility for middle and high school students which is connected to 300,000 square feet in five interconnected and newly renovated historic buildings on the main Laboratory Schools campus.
The development of a vision for sustainable strategies was an integral part of the initial phases of the project and an integrated part of the development of the design for the new building.
The new building replaces a prior non-functional building. The preservation of outdoor green space that is available for outdoor student activities and visual access to daylight and views were important considerations in the basic planning of the building. At the west side of the building, a new main entrance to the Laboratory Schools campus opens on to a public plaza inviting both the University of Chicago campus community and neighbors into the building.
The high performance glass exterior allows daylight into all interior spaces where daylight is desirable. At the top level, a 20 foot high north facing glass curtain wall provides daylight to the visual arts studio spaces. Energy modeling tools were used to optimize the energy performance of the exterior enclosure.
A series of solar chimneys provide passive cooling and are a primary architectural feature of the north façade of the building. Solar collecting surfaces face south over the top of the building. Vents open to tunnels below the ground floor spaces so that air is drawn though the spaces passively through the chimneys. As an architectural feature, the vertical towers recall gothic towers that are throughout the University of Chicago campus.
Rainwater is collected both through an internal roof drainage system and as it runs off the north façade of the building. A new stormwater management system for the Laboratory Schools campus is located under the green space north of the building. Some storm water is collected and flows along the north edge of the new building and into a landscaped rain garden at the edge of the entrance plaza west of the building. The rain garden is a visible sustainable feature that, like the solar chimneys, is a teaching tool for the faculty of the school.
Authors
Robert Webber,
Chief Sustainability Officer
Pam Crowell,
Sustainability Coodinator