Denver Architecture Firm of the Week 7/21/08 - EVstudio

Last week I sat down with Sean O'Hara, principle architect in the Denver office of EVstudio and we discussed his firm and it's commitment to sustainable design. I was also very interested in the EVstudio Blog that Sean started back in May. It has extensive information about the process of architecture and it is growing into an invaluable resource for architects and clients that are interested in hiring an architect. I highly recommend a visit and look forward to seeing the future progress of EVstudio. The following is a summary of the firm supplied by Sean O'Hara.

EVstudio is an architecture and planning firm with offices in Evergreen and Denver, Colorado. EVstudio was recognized with the People's Choice Award at the 2008 AIA Colorado Young Architect's Awards Gala. The firm was established in 2006 and has quickly grown to seven staff with a variety of backgrounds and interests. In that time the firm's work includes custom residential, multi family, commercial office buildings, master planning, mixed use, retail, educational and hospitality. EVstudio's projects are designed with sustainability in mind whether or not they are pursuing a green rating. The firm plans to continue to grow as a collection of offices so that it can provide a future for ambitious architects and allow both clients and staff to minimize their driving distances.

The image above is Evergreen Terraces, a project that we anticipate will be LEED Silver. It is an office building that combines a mountain vernacular with an urban sensibility. It bring under building parking and elevator service to the first Class A office building in downtown Evergreen. On of the most interesting things is that the building was not originally planned with LEED in mind. The owner decided that a LEED rating could be a selling point for the tenants and asked about it after the building was already dried in. Thanks to EVstudio's general philosophy of designing sustainable buildings they were able to make a few minor tweaks and have the points necessary for an anticipated LEED Silver rating.

In addition to great architecture, EVstudio works to give back to the community. EVstudio's staff has organized the EverGreenDrinks events and the Natural Talent Design Competition in Colorado. The firm has donated time to the Montessori School of Evergreen and Mercy Housing Colorado. Staff members are also active in the American Institute of Architects, The Congress for the New Urbanism, the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce, the Stapleton Citizen's Advisory Board and have participated in many juries at the University of Colorado.

Denver Architect Receives Gold LEED Certification for Fitness Center

Denver-based Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative has received gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for its design of the Washtenaw Community College Health & Fitness Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The fitness center, which opened in September, includes:
• Lights that turn on only when there’s not enough daylight.
• Non-toxic and renewable materials for the floors and carpet.
• A reflective white roof to reduce heat and cooling requirements.
• Pavement in the parking lot that allows rainwater to soak back naturally into the soil.
• Landscaping with plants that require little or no irrigation.
• Interior pool water that recycles with the aid of appropriate filtering systems.
• Recaptured heat with a central boiler unit.
• Temperature control with room-monitoring sensors for automatic adjustments.

Previous blog entry on OLC

via Margaret Jackson's The Real Deal Blog

Architecture Study Ranks Denver 8th

Denver ranked No. 8 on a list of top 10 U.S. cities for architecture and design based on citizen polls, according to a study by the RMJM Hillier architecture firm released Thursday, June 26th.

The winning markets, in order, were: Chicago, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Metro Denver's architectural highlights in recent years include the expansion of the Colorado Convention Center, architect Daniel Liebeskind's addition to the Denver Art Museum, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's LEED Gold regional headquarters in downtown Denver, and one of Colorado's first LEED Platinum buildings, the Signature Centre office building in Golden.

via Denver Business Journal

Denver Earthworks Expo This Weekend

EarthWorks Expo is Saturday and Sunday at the Merchandise Mart with some good workshops.

Three Upcoming Sustainable Communities in Denver

All have yet to officially break ground but should be completed in the next 2-4 years. It will be interesting to compare the 3 very different sized projects to see to what degree of sustainability has been achieved.

Geos - Arvada: 25 acres, 300 homes
Opening of Pre-sale Release June 2, 2008.
Geos - Colorado's First GeoSolar Neighborhood : Green Elevations
"Over 300 sunny Colorado days per year and a constant temperature of the Earth at five to seven feet below ground level are the power sources of Geos, the first fossil fuel free community in the United States."

Horizon Uptown (City Centre) - Aurora: 503 acres, 3,800 homes , 1.3 million sq ft retail (1/3 small format, 2/3 large) and 4 million sq ft office (16,000 people)
Lend Lease Project
Green Development Planned for Aurora : Denver Post
"All commercial buildings in the project must meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold standard. Homes will be built to either Colorado Built Green standards or those established by the U.S. Green Building Council."

Lowry Range - Lowry: 4,000 acres, 13,000 homes, 260 acres commercial and 750 acres open space
Lend Lease Project
Solar Power may come to Lowry Range : Rebchook's Blog
"The Lowry Range, the largest mixed-use development on the drawing board in the Denver area, could become the first, large-scale Colorado community to use solar as a power source."

Aurora Plans Sustainable Community With Electric Cars?

"Lend Lease, a development company with its U.S. headquarters in Denver, got zoning approval for the project last week. The company anticipates its conceptual plans for Horizon Uptown will be approved in the next three months.

All commercial buildings in the project must meet the LEED Gold standard. Homes will be built to either Colorado Built Green standards or those established by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Home-management systems will measure consumption of water and energy. A website, also known as a community portal, will allow residents to check consumption, said Greg Ochis, Horizon's project manager.

Lend Lease also has been talking with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory about the possibility of equipping each home at Horizon, as well as its development at the former Lowry Bombing Range, with electric cars."

via Denver Post
previously from Rebchook's Blog

LEED 2009 Open for Public Comment

The version 3.0 release of LEED standards is being released for public comment over the next month, lots of good articles covering the updates at the locations below. Also check out the webinar on Wednesday May 21st.

Real Life LEED
Jetson Green
Green Building Elements
greenbuildingsNYC
Press Release EMediaWire
USGBC's website's LEED 2009 Info

Colorado Architects Recognized for Green Building at AIA Convention

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized green building projects by Architecture West, LLC, and RB+B Architects, Inc., both of Fort Colllins, as among 46 architecture projects nationwide to achieve Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR, the government’s mark of superior energy efficiency in building design. The awards were presentation today at the American Institute of Architects Convention (AIA) in Boston. Designs for a Fort Collins office building, and a Loveland bicycle shop were among 46 award-winning projects nationwide."

via EPA Region 8

Denver Justice Center Awarded LEED Silver

The Post Office/Parking Garage located in the new Denver Justice Center complex has received a final SILVER LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, rating from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

"Denver Public Works and our partners, AR7 Architects and Haselden Construction LLC, prioritized environmental stewardship as an integral part of the design and construction process of the Justice Center Post Office/Parking Garage," said City Engineer Lesley Thomas. "Our ultimate goal is to ensure that all three of the structures on the Justice Center campus are appealing, engaging, functional and sustainable."

via Government Technology
Photo credit: Denver Justice Center

How Do You Best Design for a Tornado?

Photo Art by Chuck Carlton

With the 1 year anniversary of Greensburg, Kansas being leveled by a EF5 tornado and the recent string of deaths and destruction due to tornadoes, I though I would ask the question "How do you best design for a tornado"? Better yet, how do you rebuild a community in the best sustainable way to survive a tornado and not have to rebuild, thus saving materials and energy.

In the Midwest plains, one of the main reasons that tornadoes form and continue a path of destruction, is the lack of natural features dispersing the wind forces. One idea that was raised in a recent Discovery channel program "Blown Away : Greensburg, Kansas" was to plant a forest ring of trees around the town. This was shown in models to mitigate the overall power of the tornado and as long as the correct trees and spacing are used this seems to be a good plan, however, how long until the groves of trees are tornado-protecting size?

To rebuild the homes that are more tornado resistant, what design techniques and materials should be employed? Let's start from the bottom; the foundation is an important aspect of many homes and unfortunately the trailer homes and others that rest on blocks or a concrete slab are the most at risk of destruction. In the Midwest, many new homes don't have basements anymore and storm cellars are becoming rare. So why not build a strong foundation that will act as an secure anchoring system for the house and give it's inhabitant's safe shelter? The reasons I found were flooding due to high water table, stresses and stains due to freezing in the winter, and a solid bedrock under site surface. Fair enough, if these factors are the case, then one must think about building a strong lower level that attaches firmly to the ground slab.

The latest material I am beginning to see in pre-fab construction and in the rebuilding efforts of the city of Greensburg is ECO-Block. ECO-Block is simpler and easier to install than wood-frame methods — and, even other ICF systems. It's faster, taking less time with fewer people. And it’s more sustainable, because ECO-Block buildings are vastly more energy-efficient. Stronger. Quieter. Resistant to fire, moisture, mold and the elements. Debris driven by high winds presents the greatest hazard to homeowners and their property during tornadoes and hurricanes. Recent laboratory testing at Texas Tech University (see video below) compared the impact resistance of residential concrete wall construction to conventionally framed walls. Only concrete wall systems, such as ICFs and concrete masonry, successfully demonstrated the strength and mass to resist the impact of wind-driven debris. The wood-frame walls failed to stop the penetration of airborne hazards. These insulated concrete forms can be filled with recycled fly-ash concrete to make the wall even "greener". Another advantage to ICFs is that they can be cut into radius rounded walls for greater aerodynamics if wanted.


After the walls are up, impact-resistant window systems, when properly installed, have a much better chance of surviving a major windstorm. Alternatively, impact-resistant shutters that close over window openings prevent flying debris from breaking windowpanes. Strengthen door frames, hinges, latches, and dead-bolt locks should be strong enough to resist high wind pressures. Double doors such as French doors need special attention because of the stress on the center latch. Door frames must be securely anchored to house frames. Another idea is to reduce the design of adornments on the exterior that could become damaging projectiles.

Hip roofs without gables and with minimal eaves have proven to be the best roof design to combat high winds in hurricane and tornadic areas especially if the slope of the roof from horizontal is 35 degrees or greater (to reduce/eliminate the airfoil effect of extreme high winds that blow over the roof). Also, steep angled roofs seem to handle winds better than a standard gabled roof. Most importantly, the roof must be securely tied into the wall structure with metal roof tie fastener systems and the soffit and eave area should have reinforced connections. A home has to be well-connected in order to distribute the forces caused by wind pressure, which reduces the chance it will come apart or collapse.

Last year a post was started on the Alternative Building Architecture Usenet Group as a result of the Greensburg disaster. They suggest an aerodynamic cylindrical structure, maybe the Monolithic Dome?
If you can't build your entire house to be tornado resistant you can always just build a tornado safe room or shelter.

Some other good links:
The Institute for Business & Home Safety - Disaster Safety - Tornado

I'd love some feedback on this topic if you have further information to add, please comment below.

Photovoltaics, Wind Turbines and Art Infuse Colorado Development at Belmar

From the AIArchitect This Week newsletter this past week, an article about the recent Belmar development project":

"Developer Continuum Partners decided instead to reduce their impact by recycling most of the content of the former Villa Italia Mall on the site and incorporating an array of sustainable strategies, including a 1.7 Mw solar array and a small-scale urban wind farm." On the parking lot lampposts! great idea. "To reduce the ecological strain that results from the development’s annual energy use, Belmar is currently in the process of installing an array of 8,370 photovoltaic panels. The panels will be installed on three parking garages, including the natural foods store, and will measure 125,000 square feet total."

Also, check out the Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar, "part museum, part public forum". They will reopen on May 22 for a new exhibit called "Silent Films and Bedroom Paintings". Lakewood is getting hot! Another great video from Charles Carpenter below.


The LAB, belmar from Charles R. Carpenter on Vimeo

1800 Larimer is Pre-Certified LEED CS Platinum

1800 Larimer is pre-certified LEED CS Platinum. Designed by architecture firm RNL Design, this 22 story, 500,000 sqft office building will be the new headquarters of Xcel Energy when it opens in the summer of 2010. Westfield Development Company, who is developing the project, will also house it's offices here and the building is already about 75% leased. This will be the first high rise building in the central business district of Denver to be built in the last 20 years, so it appears that progress is moving quickly in Denver! The building's location in the heart of Lower Downtown Denver is an ideal sustainable site with it's easy access to mass transit via the downtown circulator.

According to their website, some of their LEED highlights include restoring 77% of their non-footprint site to native or adaptive vegetation. A 17,000 sqft landscaped terrace will attach the side of the building off of the second floor lobby. Waterless urinals and other water saving features will adorn the fancy bathrooms and I'm sure the water wall feature in the main lobby will recycle it's water as well.
An innovative under floor ventilation system will provide more fresh air and better energy efficiency. It's relationship with Xcel Energy will be strong and green with a four year contract for 35% of core and shell power to come from from WindSource®. It's materials will comprise of 20% recycled content in core and shell materials, 20% locally obtained materials, and FSC Certified wood doors. I'm interested to know what the outer shell window design configuration is based on, Tetris?

1800 Larimer Website Also, check out their sales movie

Greensburg - One Year Later

Photo by Greg Henshall
On May 4, 2007, Greensburg, Kansas was leveled by an EF5 tornado, one of the strongest in American history. In that storm, 11 people lost their lives as the tornado tore through the town of about 1500. Within days of the disaster, the people of Greensburg decided not only to rebuild their town, but to rebuild it "green". Today marks the 1 year anniversary of this event.

Treehugger has several different perspectives from the townspeople of Greensburg with interviews from the Mayor, a Resident, the Principle and a Student from Greensburg, KS High School. Green ArchiTEXT picks up on an Architectural Record article stating that the master planning for the town is aiming to be LEED Certified Platinum.

There are also many current and upcoming Web and TV shows devoted to the town and it's plan to become "green". Including "The Good Fight" on the Sundance Channel.com, which you can watch now on their website. The Discovery Channel had a show called "Blown Away : Greensburg, Kansas" which you can view in the video segment below. Also, be on the lookout for the Discovery Channel's Planet Green network, starting on June 4th, who will host a 13 part documentary series called "Greensburg" which "follows the rebirth of a rural town in Middle America into a model for the future. With more than 1,500 people displaced by the tornado and waiting to return to their homes, Greensburg documents the story of a community coming together and facing the enormous task of greening a small city. From climate impact to architecture, building and design, to the personal stories of those affected by the disaster, Greensburg is an inspiring look into the human spirit."

Several relief organizations such as the Greensburg Future Fund and the Greensburg GreenTown are out there to collect money for the rebuilding, so go out and support them in this noble cause if you can.

Green Material From the UK : Hemcrete®

American Lime Technology is pleased to announce its inaugural project, The Hopewell Project, which represents the first use of the highly sustainable Hemcrete® building system in the United States. This “green” project will be comprised of a chapel and a pottery studio that are being commissioned by Caribe Properties in Montgomery, Texas. An open house is scheduled for May 18-20.

Hemcrete® is a blend of a special lime based binder (Tradical® HB) and specially prepared hemp shiv (Tradical® HF). Together these form a sustainable bio-composite construction material that combats climate change by capturing carbon and delivering high performance airtight, insulating walls. The carbon capture environmental benefits of Tradical® Hemcrete offer an immediate way to combat climate change.

Hemcrete® is being used in several high profile projects in the United Kingdom, including the recently completed, award-winning Adnams Brewery Distribution Center in Southwold, Suffolk, UK and the Haverhill Houses, a public housing project. American Lime Technology (AMT) is a joint venture of UK-based Lime Technology Limited and U.S. Heritage Group, Inc., which is located in Chicago, Illinois.

Also see the TreeHugger article Hemp Houses for Australia. They note that this technology is not new but is gaining steam, especially in areas where growing hemp isn't a crime.

The Hopewell Project

Geos - Colorado's First GeoSolar Neighborhood

"Geos is an innovative master planned community that emphasizes the importance of neighborhood and utilizes technologies that are right for our time. It is Colorado’s first sustainable, integrated community where energy from the Earth and the Sun replaces all fossil fuels." ( from their website) In Arvada, Colorado, close to Golden and Denver, the location is next to the West Woods Golf Club and borders on the Ralston Creek Trail which is part of the Denver Regional Bike Trail System. The development is going to be arranged in four sections and will provide different housing options, as well as access to common areas, parks, plazas, businesses and playgrounds , the four Geos neighborhoods will connect a diversity of people and lifestyles.

Eco Features - Solar and Geothermal from their website: "Over 300 sunny Colorado days per year and a constant temperature of the Earth at five to seven feet below ground level are the power sources of Geos, the first fossil fuel free community in the United States. Homes that incorporate passive solar, super insulated building shells, high thermal mass and mobile window insulation provide for optimal solar energy gain and retention. A heat recovery ventilation system provides clean and filtered fresh air and conserves internally generated heat. On hot summer days, an Earth tube chills incoming air to 60°F to cool the home. A district ground source heat pump, which also serves as a back-up heat source for extended cold spells, provides domestic hot water.

The entire climate conditioning system and all household electrical equipment are powered by a photovoltaic system tied to the utility grid for net metering. Excess power generation, particularly on hot summer days, is delivered to the grid for storage and to compensate for nights or cloudy daytime needs when electricity is drawn from the grid. Space conditions are thermostat controlled and an energy monitoring system keeps Geos homeowners informed of their specific energy uses. This technology has been used in Europe for many years and is proven, simple and low maintenance. Be part of the first community in Colorado to live a life free of fossil fuels." Also see the Denver Post's Geothermal article for more information about this technology.

The project was developed by Norbert Klebl and Zen Development and the architecture was designed by Michael Tavel Architects and David Kahn Studio.

The master plan has been approved and in May of 2008 the infrastructure construction will begin, which will include the roads, sewers, and utilities. The public opening of the pre-sale release occurred last week on Earth Day, April 22, and the those who sign up will have access to the June 2 pre-sale release.

The crew from Yert.com visited with some of the key members of this project last November and this video gives good insight to the current nature of sustainable design in Colorado.

Also a recent article from the Boulder County Business Report.

Denver Architecture Firm of the Week 4/24/08 Michael Tavel Architects

Image Credit:Mark Sink Project: Solar Village Prospect

From their website: Michael Tavel is a fourth generation Coloradoan. He studied fine arts and structural engineering as an undergraduate and interned as an architect in New York City before receiving a masters degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. He won the top prizes in architectural design at Berkeley including a one-year traveling fellowship. Michael also worked for three internationally known architects: Mark Mack in San Francisco, Christopher Alexander in Berkeley, and Heinz Tesar in Vienna before returning to Colorado in 1991 to teach in the graduate school of the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado. He has lectured locally, nationally and in Europe and South America on architecture, landscape, and town planning.

While teaching at CU, Michael co-founded and directed a summer study abroad town-planning program in Prague, Czech Republic that worked with city officials on challenging urban projects from 1993 to 2000. In Colorado, Michael simultaneously worked for Hoover Berg Desmond Architects from 1993 to 1996 and was a Senior Associate at Wolff Lyon Architects from 1997 to 2002 gaining extensive professional experience in traditional mixed-use neighborhood development. After one year with Van Meter Williams Pollack Architects in Denver, Michael was offered the Solar Village mixed-use project in Longmont, and with this he founded Tavel Weise Architecture and Urban Design in collaboration with Jack Weise. Jack’s specialization is construction documents. He now works as a subcontractor to the practice recently renamed Michael Tavel Architects.

"Michael’s work with other firms has won numerous national and regional awards including ones from Progressive Architecture, AIA and HUD. Michael Tavel Architects has recently won seven awards for their first two major projects: Solar Village Prospect (with Solar Village LLC) and Geos Neighborhood (in collaboration with David Kahn Studio). More about these projects from the AIA Denver Chapter Awards website.

Solar Village Prospect Awards:
2005/2006 Architects' Choice Award from the Rocky Mountain News and AIA Denver
2006 Sustainability Award from AIA Denver
2006 Design Award from the Colorado Renewable Energy Society
2007 AIA Denver Citation Award

Geos Neighborhood Awards:
2006 Colorado AIA Citation Award
2006 Denver AIA Honor Award
2006 Denver AIA Sustainability Award

Michael Tavel Architects

Green Drinks Denver Thursday April 24th

Every month people who work in or who are interested in the green design industry meet at informal sessions called Green Drinks which will be this Thursday, April 24th at 6pm at Marios' Double Daughter's Salotto, 1632 Market St. in Lodo Denver.

This month the featured guests will be Colorado Green Properties and C² Sustainable Development Consulting.

Colorado Green Properties is a multimedia website all about building, buying, selling and investing in green real estate from Denver to Durango. Colorado's largest selection of green homes and commercial properties for sale, as well as a growing collection of green real estate news and video, and many links to local sources of green building materials, experience and expertise.

C² Sustainable Development Consulting can assist you with all of your green building objectives. Whether you're planning a LEED Platinum office building, a LEED-ND resort or simply considering remodeling your home with today's healthiest, most energy-efficient products, they are here to guide you every step of the way.

Happy Earth Day! AIA Announces the2008 COTE Top Ten Green Projects

Photo by Nic Lehoux
The building pictured above is the Pocono Environmental Education & Visitor Center, designed by architecture firm, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and one of the ten winners of the COTE 2008 Green Project.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. Unfortunately no Colorado buildings this year...

AIA Top Ten Green Projects 2008

...And the Platinum goes to Canada

North America’s first LEED platinum certification for multi-family residential awarded in Calgary. The Vento, designed by Busby Perkins and Will in conjunction with green developers, Windmill Development Group, is a three-storey inner-city development comprised of 20 two-storey town houses atop several ground level retail outlets.

via World Architecture News

A Floating World

"A set of zero-carbon floating buildings has been chosen by RIBA as the winning design for the visitor center at the new Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve in Preston, northern England. Nicknamed ‘A Floating World’ and chosen over five other shortlisted entries, this design from Adam Khan Architects uses buildings made of low embodied energy materials such as thatch, willow and timber, drawing on the heritage of wetland dwellings and embodying a sustainable agenda."

via Inhabitat