For their expert integration of energy efficiency with outstanding architectural design, eight nonresidential projects in California have received honors as the culmination of the 2005 Savings By Design Energy Efficiency Integration Awards.

“Between the record number of entries and the general evolution of expertise in energy efficient design, this year’s competition was intense,” commented Charles Angyal, FAIA, Chief Architect at San Diego Gas & Electric. “But the deserving winners still rose solidly to the top, setting new standards for the design community.”

The jurors cited the projects’ masterful use of design to create beautiful, high quality working and learning environments that seamlessly integrate energy efficiency.

Award of High Honor:
“Casa Nueva” Santa Barbara County Office Building
Santa Barbara, California

Owner/Developer: Santa Barbara County
Architect: Blackbird Architects, Inc.
Mechanical Engineer: Mechanical Engineering Consultants, Inc.
Lighting Engineer/Designer: JMPE
Landscape Designer: Van Atta Associates, Inc.

Credit: William B. Dewey (Click to enlarge)

Resting on an airy rise in a campus of county buildings, this 28,000 square foot office building houses 105 employees. Costing no more than conventional construction, the project’s vibrant workspaces encourage users to tune into their own environment with an open floor plan, user-controlled daylighting, operable windows and HVAC system. A trellis of simple yet dramatic shade fabric and flowering wisteria shields the south and west sides from seasonal heat gain.

Sustainable materials, energy efficiency and amenities such as outdoor workstations, occupiable artwork and native landscape culminate in a courtyard providing spaces to work, collaborate and recreate. The project exceeds 2001 Title 24 requirements by 20 percent.

“This project can establish a precedent as a standard for technology, a standard for aesthetics, and a standard for honesty in environmental design,” the jurors declared. They applauded the building’s simplicity and budget consciousness as a prototype for creating a wonderful, humane work environment that respects the planet and people working there. They believed that the design’s application of honest passive solutions is elevated by its detailing, even though the facility is still basically a simple stucco box.

Credit: William B. Dewey (Click to enlarge)

“This is the epitome of integration,” they commented, “The vegetation, landscape, shading devices, and mechanical system all work together wonderfully. The building has great interior spaces—the fuzziness between interior and exterior works very well. It’s the type of environment in which anybody would love to work.”

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Award of Honor:
Global Ecology Research Center
Stanford, California

Owner/Developer: Carnegie Institute of Washington
Architect: EHDD Architecture
Mechanical Engineer: Rumsey Engineers, Inc.
Electrical Engineer: Engineering Enterprise
Lighting Engineer/Designer: JS Nolan & Associates
Daylighting Consultants: Loisos + Ubbelohde

Credit: Peter Aaron (Click to enlarge)

This research facility at Stanford University houses 45 researchers and staff in roughly 25,000 square feet. Its functions include laboratory, office, workshop, greenhouse, and storage space. The project team set an overall goal of 50 percent lower energy use than Title 24 while maintaining a very modest construction budget and meeting the strictest standards for safe air management in the lab and excellent indoor air quality in the offices. In addition, strategies such as natural daylighting and radiant heating/cooling assure optimum occupant thermal, and acoustic and visual comfort.

Among its innovations is a tower assisted by a windcatcher top that evaporatively creates a cool breeze in the lobby area. The facility also features a combination of radiation and evaporative cooling that produces chilled water via a rooftop mounted spray system that operates at night. The project exceeds normal Title 24 calculations by 24.9 percent, but when combined with its additional energy-saving features, this margin rises to 47 percent.

Credit: Peter Aaron (Click to enlarge)
The jurors were impressed by the building’s inventive use of integrating building form with passive ventilation and lighting. They also praised its use of natural materials and natural light and its refined details. Calling the mechanical system “gutsy,” from the windcatcher to the nighttime spray on the roof, the jurors felt that it could function as a learning environment for designing other mechanical systems.

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“This is an extraordinarily humane, collaborative work environment,” the jurors remarked. “It captures the best sense of sustainable design: that it is not an ‘either/or’ between environmental and humanity, it’s a ‘both’ by inventing new design strategies. When we harness creativity, we can do all of the above.”

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Award of Merit:
The Audubon Center at Debs Park
Los Angeles, California

Owner/Developer: The Audubon Center at Debs Park
Architect: EHDD Architecture
Mechanical Engineer: IBE Consulting Engineers
Electrical Engineer: Kanwar Associates
Daylighting Consultants: Soltierra LLC
Commissioning and LEED Consultant: CTG Energetics, Inc.

Credit: Cesar Rubio (Click to enlarge)

This nature center is purposely sited in an ecologically degraded native habitat on the edge of an under-utilized public park two miles from downtown Los Angeles. The center is a staging area for bringing children outdoors into nature and includes a multipurpose class/meeting room, offices and reception areas, a children’s garden, interpretative trails, kitchen, storage, library, restrooms, and parking. The 6,747 square foot building is 100 percent solar-powered and its Title 24 compliance margin with renewable energy is 110.5 percent. (10.5 percent more energy generated than used.)

Credit: Cesar Rubio (Click to enlarge)

“Beyond the ambition of being a Platinum LEED™-rated building that is independent of the power grid,” the jurors remarked, “this project demonstrates a wonderful commitment to the environment.” They particularly appreciated the constructed environment of the courtyard leading to the natural environment of the park, and the idea of connecting school children to nature in heart of Los Angeles. “This project is done with a simple honesty and a great pedagogic hand,” they continued. “The innovation of the photovoltaic grid is extraordinary, and the whole project has a sense of calm, serenity and rightness with the environment.”

Credit: Cesar Rubio (Click to enlarge)

Award of Merit:
Cesar Chavez Elementary School
Long Beach, California

Owner/Developer: Long Beach Unified School District
Architect: LPA, Inc.
Mechanical Engineer and Lighting Engineer: Fundament and Associates

Credit: Cris Costea (Click to enlarge)

Located in a once blighted downtown redevelopment area, this K-5 school was envisioned in combination with a community park as a catalyst for redevelopment and community pride. It includes classrooms, an onsite health clinic, a joint use gymnasium, hard courts, and a lunch shelter. Sited on an extremely restrictive 2.5 acres, it encompasses 75,000 square feet of enclosed space and performs 29.3 percent better than Title 24 requirements.

Credit: Cris Costea (Click to enlarge)

“The ability to integrate innovative environmental technologies into a well-sculpted building is a tough job and done extremely well in this project,” declared the jurors. They complimented the building’s use of color, its relationship to the open space, and its simple, integrated, and repeatable design. The innovative project solved many sustainable issues while challenged by severe budget constraints. It played on a very tight urban site by developing the park, carefully considering shared use and the health and support of the entire community in environmental and social terms. “It’s the kind of long-term reality that we need in order to build wonderful places for children,” the jurors concluded, “not just when they’re in school but the whole time.”

Credit: Cris Costea (Click to enlarge)


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Citation:
Natural Resources Defense Council
San Francisco, California

Owner/Developer: Natural Resources Defense Council
Architect: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Mechanical Engineer: Rumsey Engineers, Inc.
Electrical Engineer: Engineering Enterprise
Lighting Engineer/Designer: Architectural Lighting Design

Credit: Cesar Rubio (Click to enlarge)

This office interior renovation comprises 19,700 square feet on two floors of an existing downtown office building constructed in 1927. The project includes private offices, open work areas, conference rooms, and a law library. The design minimizes energy use, maximizes comfort, enhances access to daylight, views, and indoor air quality, uses recycled/renewable/non-toxic materials, and implemented aggressive water management and indoor air quality during construction. It boasts a Title 24 compliance margin that exceeds 50 percent.

Credit: Cesar Rubio (Click to enlarge)

“The design approach following through on such a wide array of sustainable technologies in a small space is outstanding,” the jurors enthused. “The lack of waste in the new elements should be a valuable precedent for designers doing historic renovations in existing buildings.” They particularly praised the space’s quality of light even in the most interior areas, the demonstration of recycled and reclaimed materials, and the extraordinarily refined detailing.

Citation:
Morgan Hill Aquatics Center
Morgan Hill, California

Owner/Developer: City of Morgan Hill
Architect: ELS Architecture and Urban Design
Mechanical Engineer: Rumsey Engineers, Inc.
Lighting Engineer/Designer: IDEAS
Pool Consultant: Rowley International, Inc.
Wind Consultant: Donald Ballanti

Credit: David Wakely (Click to enlarge)

This recreational and competitive aquatic facility includes an 8,825 square foot building on 8.5 acres of a flat, rural site. It integrates design, energy saving features, and programming to create an outdoor social center with four pools and low-maintenance support buildings. Among its most innovative energy-saving features is the use of windscreens to reduce pool heating costs by 40 percent. The overall project exceeds Title 24 standards by 21 percent.

This project’s inventive and effective use of fabric windscreening to profoundly affect energy efficiency impressed the jurors—In their opinion, it answered multiple engineering challenges. They also cited the integration of natural materials with a soft and refined overall aesthetic, and the appropriate relationship of shape and technology in the use of a shed roof for future solar collectors. In addition, they felt that the indoor-outdoor relationship between various spaces and their functions was very successful.

Credit: David Wakely (Click to enlarge)

Citation:
Eastern Sierra Inter-Agency Visitors Center
Lone Pine, California

Owner/Developer: USDA Forest Service
Architect: Marcy Wong & Donn Logan Architects
Mechanical Engineer: Mechanical Design Studio
Electrical Engineer: SCE Engineers
Sustainability Consultant: Green Building Services
Energy Science Consultant: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

Credit: Bill Hustace (Click to enlarge)

Sited on 12 acres in a picturesque valley near Mount Whitney, this 6,000 square foot facility combines exhibit space, a bookstore, inventory preparation and storage areas, pubic restrooms, office area and foyer with information and permit counters. In designing this energy efficient project, The design team integrated lightshelves and sun shades, a ground source heat pump, high-albedo roofing, and fenestration that minimizes heat gain and loss and maximizes views of Mt Whitney.

Credit: Billy Hustace (Click to enlarge)

The jurors appreciated the project’s inventive geothermal HVAC system, and felt that the white roof was effective and provided an aesthetic appropriate to the site and the mountains. They believed that the building was a contextually appropriate, simple shed solution that integrates a variety of energy efficiency and sustainability choices.

Citation for Classroom Design:
Solana Pacific Elementary School
San Diego, California

Owner/Developer: Solana Beach School District
Architect: HMC Architects
Mechanical Engineer: Merrick & Associates
Lighting Engineer/Designer: Johnson Consulting Engineers

Credit: johndurant.com (Click to enlarge)

Designed to take advantage of on-shore breezes for natural passive cooling, this 80,000 square foot school serving 550 students exceeds Title 24 requirements by 27 percent. The project also maximizes occupant thermal comfort, indoor air quality and use of recycled materials.

Credit: Hewitt Garrison Architectural Photography (Click to enlarge)

The classrooms in this project particularly impressed the jurors. “The daylighting design with its clerestories and views is spectacular,” they remarked. “With their inside and outside fun spaces and translucent shading devices, the classrooms are well-designed to create great learning environments.”

Credit: johndurant.com (Click to enlarge)


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Distinguish Jurors

Nancy Clanton, PE, LC, IALD
President of Clanton & Associates
Boulder, CO

Nancy Clanton is founder and president of Clanton & Associates, a lighting design firm specializing in sustainable design. Nancy speaks throughout the nation on topics relating to sustainable and energy-efficient design and light pollution and has been an instructor at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is past chairperson of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) Outdoor Environmental Lighting Committee and a past director of the International Association of Lighting Designers, and is currently on the board of the International Dark Sky Association. In addition, she serves on the Advisory Committee of Environmental Building News, is a member of the Professional Advisory Board for the Engineering Department at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and is a member of the United States Green Building Council.

She was group leader for the “Greening of the White House” initiative and received the 1999 “Contribution to the Built Environment Award” from the Colorado North Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Katherine Diamond, FAIA
Design Principal of RNL Design
Los Angeles, CA

Katherine (Kate) Diamond, FAIA is the Design Principal for RNL’s Los Angeles office. Prior to joining RNL, Kate built a strong design reputation as principal and lead designer of her own practice, Siegel Diamond Architecture. Kate brings a lifetime of personal commitment to sustainable design of design excellence to build RNL’s leadership in energy efficient design dating back to the 70s energy crisis.

Kate continues to design multiple LEED-rated projects. In addition to her architectural experience, Kate has played a role in developing sustainable design guidelines for the cities of Santa Monica and San Gabriel and in organizing a variety of urban design charettes that focused on the integration of green principles.

Robert Noble, AIA
CEO, Design Principal of Tucker Sadler Group
San Diego, CA

Robert Noble, AIA, is CEO and Design Principal of Tucker Sadler, a 40-member, 50-year-old diversified design practice based in San Diego, with offices in Arkansas and projects nationwide. Robert has been an architect, industrial designer, and technology entrepreneur for 25 years and has been responsible for a number of environmentally advanced building and material technologies, and sustainable design projects. He and his work have been published internationally and have been the recipient of prestigious design and environmental awards including: The Edison Award for Environmental Achievement, “E-Town” Environmental Achievement Award (awarded on National Public Radio); California Integrated Waste Management Award and Popular Science “100 Best New Technologies” (1993).

He is LEED accredited, is past Chair and one of the founding board members of the US Green Building Council of San Diego and is currently president-elect of the San Diego Chapter of the AIA.