SHOWCASE - NORTH TEXAS SUSTAINABLE SHOWCASE 2009

Membership

Written by Thom Powell, AIA LEED AP

On July 16th, the U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC) North Texas Chapter, the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Dallas Chapter, and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Dallas Committee on the Environment (COTE) joined together to host its second annual showcase of the latest green building products and technologies for commercial and residential use.  This year’s Sustainable Showcase was held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum near Love Field.  Over 300 attendees, plus another 170 vendors and volunteers joined together in the museum’s main hangar with the collection of vintage planes as the backdrop to the exhibitor’s booths.  In fact, Sunrise Solar brought a small wind turbine that blended into the fuselage of a nearby plane so well that one had to question whether the turbine was a part of the sustainable showcase or a part of aviation history. 

Eco-friendly, sustainable products were selected from the full range of building materials and products used in a typical construction project, including masonry, windows, insulation, polymer finishes, aluminum finishes, plaster finishes, tile, terrazzo, polished concrete, concrete admixtures, sealants, roofing products, foam, gypsum, straw, paint, wood, landscape materials, carpet, lighting, modular furniture, fabric, seating, thermal hot water systems, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, control systems and more.  More than 90 exhibitors were carefully vetted and selected from a joint committee that determined products that best reflected the intent of green sustainable applications.  All products selected were based on their availability in the North Texas market, their applicability in a sustainable building project and a broad representation of the specification divisions as developed by CSI standards.  

The Showcase gave architects, engineers, developers, interior designers, owners, facilities managers, contractors, and anyone interested in sustainable design the opportunity to be under one roof sharing their passion about sustainability in the building industry.  The organizers of the showcase also arranged for carbon offsets to be donated by Renewable Choice Energy to offset the energy used by out of town speakers and attendees driving to the event.  All of the plates, napkins and utensils used for breakfast, lunch and evening appetizers were made from 100% bio-degradable products like corn and potatoes and Recycling Revolution provided recycling bins for paper, aluminum and plastic products.  The tote bags used to collect vendor information were made from recycled content and the signage to help direct the attendees to the exhibit hall, theater and workshops were printed with low-VOC ink on 100% recycled poster board.     

CSI sponsored workshops regarding specification issues such as Douglas Hartman’s Greening up Construction Specifications.  His firm, Inspec, Plano, TX has provided sustainable design consulting services on over twenty construction projects ranging in size up to $70,000,000.  The firm annually produces around 300 construction specifications for a variety of architects and owner clients.

A second CSI sponsored workshop, Life Cycle Assessment was led by Casey Johnson, National Sales Manager, Forbo Flooring Systems.  He has been with Forbo Flooring Systems for 18 years and has been actively involved with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), serving as a team member for Forbo.  During that time, Mr. Johnson has presented and lectured on several key issues relating to sustainable building, environmental manufacturing, sustainable product standards and Life Cycle Assessments.  

The national USGBC presented the afternoon workshop, led by Adele Houghton - Understanding LEED Project Costs & Returns.  This 4-hour workshop was a part of the national workshop program and kept participants on the edge of their seats for the entire afternoon.   

The  AIA Dallas Committee on the Environment (COTE) organized a series of sustainable design-oriented presentations ranging from those with a local perspective to those with wider regional perspectives to those with a broad national perspective. The day commenced with opening remarks from AIA Dallas President Todd Howard, who reminded us of the serious nature of environmental stewardship and our opportunity to be proactive in the effort to promote sustainable design.  Directly following was the presentation of the City of Dallas Green Building Code by Zaida Basora, who is Director of Building Inspection and Building Official for the city of Dallas.  She led the task force that developed the green building ordinance for all residential and commercial construction adopted by the Dallas City Council on April 9, 2008.  The Dallas ordinance will become effective on October 1, 2009.  She is responsible for the implementation of the ordinance, including the development of training, education and compliance resources.

Dan Rockhill presented the Studio 804 and the 5.4.7 Arts Center in Greensburg, KS collaboration on The Sustainable Prototype.  The construction and delivery of The Sustainable Prototype was provided to the 5.4.7 Arts Center on the one-year anniversary of the tornado that devastated Greensburg, Kansas. Although the building was developed for the long-term use by the Arts Center, its immediate use as the first completed public facility serving as a beacon for the community and it’s ambitious rebuilding efforts was a motivating factor in its design.  Mr. Rockhill also shared much of the work done through his University of Kansas Architectural course that provides students with hands-on experience in the craft of building.  Using state of the art pre-fabrication techniques, his students design and build a complete home within a rented warehouse near the University in Lawrence, Kansas, and then ship the completed components of the house to its final destination for re-assembly.  By the end of the semester the students have realized sustainable concepts in a three dimensional modern home, have thoroughly learned the art of pre-fabrication and have reconnected the discipline of architecture with the craft of building.  

R. Doss Mabe and Ted Hyman from Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) presented their work in the Pursuit of Net Zero.  As a design partner in ZGF's Los Angeles office, Mr. Mabe creates architecture in its context - physical, social and cultural. Since opening this office in California nearly two decades ago, his commitment to community-based design has been visible in his leadership of major public projects.   Mr. Hyman is managing partner of ZGF's Los Angeles office and a LEED Accredited Professional.  ZGF has been in the pursuit of creating net-zero energy buildings for their institutional clients, particularly in solar-rich, ecologically sensitive Southern California.  The Craig Ventor Institute, formed in 2006 has design goals of being carbon neutral, wastewater neutral and the “most sustainable lab building in the world”.  There are no small aspirations for this project and the resulting design is a pair of parallel buildings with an enclosure over the southernmost lab building and intervening courtyard consisting of semi-transparent photovoltaic receptors.  These PV receptors are integrated into the glazing of the enclosure allowing natural daylighting into the lab building as well as the intervening courtyard.  ZGF has used the Ventor lab project as a study in reaching net-zero energy consumption using the products currently on the market.  As a part of their commitment to this educational process, ZGF volunteered to donate compensation for their time to the Kristin Kirkley scholarship, a fund set up by the North Texas chapter of the USGBC to honor the memory of Kristin Kirkley, whose commitment to sustainability continues to inspire young design professionals today through assistance in funding educational opportunities.        

Thomas Bercy of Bercy Chen Studio presented SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES illustrated with work by BERCY CHEN STUDIO.  Mr. Bercy used his education as both civil engineer and architect to artfully use the natural beauty of water in both static and dynamic states while collecting and storing rainfall from the resulting building.  Additionally, the tempering effect of water being collected over the roof of a building was explored, analyzed and expressed in the same artful manner.  Different aspects of sustainable buildings were highlighted through built and un-built work of Bercy Chen Studio.  The scarcity of resources and the population explosion has created huge pressure on the ecology of the planet.  Architecture in the 21st century will have to confront these challenges by creating a new balance between buildings and nature.  While the presentation focused on density and the suburban model, materials and recycling, systems and technology, and designing with nature, the end result was consistently an artful integration of architecture and science.

A panel of three Dallas area architects presented their work and the common ground between sustainable design and award-winning design.  This program, titled Sustainability and Design Awards:  Case Studies – Minimalist Decisions featured three projects that have won AIA Dallas Design Awards over the past two years.  Robert Meckfessel of dsgn Associates presented the master planning of the Urban Reserve project that won the 2007 AIA Dallas Urban Edge Excellence in Sustainable Design Award.  Brent Brown presented his Building Community Workshop project - the Congo Street Holding House, winner of both the 2008 AIA Dallas Community Award and Urban Edge Excellence in Sustainable Design Award.  Gary Cunningham of Cunningham Architects presented his project – House on Cedar Hill that won the 2008 AIA Dallas Merit Award.  Each architect spoke candidly about the driving forces for these projects and their particular architectural practice.  AIA Dallas President Todd Howard moderated a panel discussion with the three architects discussing the place of sustainability in the design process.  

The day concluded with a presentation from Anne Schopf, Design Director of Mahlum Architects regarding Sustainable Environments.   Guided by strong design values, Mahlum focuses on creating inspired work that is realistic to implement technically, financially, politically and socially. All projects share in common a collaborative, immersive approach that encourages broad stakeholder engagement and sensitive contextual response.  While Mahlum Architects primarily practices in Seattle, Ms. Schopf focused on the process of creating sustainable environments that enhance both the aesthetic quality of a space while minimizing the impact on the natural ecology of a place.  Starting with the orientation of each building, the design process was guided by the sustainable values that have resulted in Mahlum Architects twice winning the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Building Award, once for the Benjamin Franklin Elementary School and once for the Evergreen State College Seminar II Building.