For their achievement in combining exceptional design, environmental sensitivity, and energy efficiency, seven California nonresidential projects received awards of recognition from the 2006 Savings By Design Energy Efficiency Integration Awards program.

Every year, the recognition program, sponsored by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric®, Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Company, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and The American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC), acknowledges the extra time and effort it takes to successfully integrate architectural excellence and energy efficiency.

This year, two exceptional projects rose to the top to receive Awards of Honor. Two other outstanding projects received Awards of Merit and three noteworthy projects received special citations.

“These winning projects are responsive to their location, addressing their climate and also the potential for integrated use of outdoor areas,” said the jurors. “The best design solutions focus on both the building and the site, and also relate to the community context.”

The jurors agreed that the highly inventive solutions represented by the winners would be instructive to other designers in California and throughout the nation.

Award of Honor:
San Mateo County Sheriff’s Forensic Laboratory and Coroner’s Office – San Mateo

Owner/Developer: County of San Mateo
Architect: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum
Design Team: Enovity and Hellmuth
Obata + Kassabaum

Credit: Cesar Rubio Photography (Click to enlarge)

The mission of this highly secure 24/7 investigation laboratory for scientists and administration was to create a new facility for a new millennium. As the first building the County would construct in the 21st century, primary design objectives were to provide users with tools for long-term flexibility and to accommodate evolving research methods. The 29,000-square-foot building reflects the most progressive advances available in science, sustainability, and energy efficiency (38 percent better than Title 24) and conservation. The design achieved a marriage between the building’s highly technical program and the external influences of the sloped three-acre site. The team responded to environmental influences by taking advantage of building orientation, roof design, and opportunities for natural light and ventilation.

Credit: Cesar Rubio Photography (Click to enlarge)

The jurors praised the project’s elegant, uncompromising design, careful attention to detail, and responsive integration into the natural elements and terrain of the setting. They commented that the shading strategy is appropriate for the building’s orientation and the design delivers the resulting daylighting for laboratory work. The project’s treatment of the photovoltaics for maximum yield and efficiency is another key achievement, along with the simplicity of the building materials.

Credit: Courtesy HOK (Click to enlarge)

Award of Honor:
Santa Rita Elementary School – Los Altos
Owner/Developer: Los Altos School District
Architect: Gelfand Partners Architects
Design Team: MHC Engineers , Mechanical Engineers
Block Energy Design, Energy/Environmental Consultants

Credit: Dave Edwards (Click to enlarge)

Santa Rita Elementary School, an existing public school project on 14 acres, modernized permanent buildings, added classrooms, and converted an existing classroom to new school offices. The 21,000-square-foot project qualified for a Savings By Design incentive as well as state energy efficiency grants by beating Title 24 by 35 percent through a combination of envelope improvements, increased daylight, daylight compensation lighting controls, and innovative HVAC.

Credit: Mark Luthringer (Click to enlarge)

New interventions include the addition of patios adjacent to each classroom, skylights in the existing walkways and new rooms added to an existing classroom block. These interventions completely change the operation, look and feel of the campus, creating a hierarchy of outdoor circulation and social spaces and expanding teaching space into previously underutilized outdoor areas.

Credit: Mark Luthringer (Click to enlarge)

The jurors called this beautifully executed adaptive reuse project a good model for other schools to emulate. They praised the project for its keen attention to essential details and strong daylighting and ventilation solutions, calling it “honest — that is, straightforward and highly effective, not exotic or overly costly.”

The jurors appreciated the project’s messages: You can start later on with an older project and still accomplish an enormous amount through a carefully integrated design; you can achieve high efficiency on a modest budget and simultaneously create a better learning environment for children. “This project hit a home run with one pitch,” the jurors concluded.

Award of Merit:
Oak Park Joint-Use Library – Oak Park

Owner: Oak Park Unified School District/Ventura County
Architect: Harley Ellis Devereaux
Design Team: BP Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Credit: RMA Photography (Click to enlarge)

Oak Park Joint-Use Library, a unique partnership between the Oak Park Unified School District and Ventura County, is the City’s first civic building. The 9,400-square-foot project offers a challenging program of balancing the needs of high school students and the public while supporting the library’s mission of being a high performance, sustainable building. The resulting design performed 27 percent better than Title 24 requirements with a simple, cost-effective plan that organized space for easy monitoring.

Credit: RMA Photography (Click to enlarge)

A key sustainable design element is the high utilization of natural light in the main reading room. By permitting reflected light and diffused daylight into the space, more than 85 percent of the light fixtures can be turned off on a sunny day. Another key element is temperature modulation through the use of mass properties of masonry. In the evening, when outdoor temperatures drop, the building is vented, drawing heat from the interior masonry walls, in effect “charging” the walls with coolness that absorbs and stores heat, reducing interior temperatures during the day.

Credit: RMA Photography (Click to enlarge)

The innovative lighting was of particular interest to the jurors. They praised the creative development of the building section and the integrated skylight slots for the library’s stack areas. The jurors characterized this project as an icon providing an inspiring example of energy-efficient design.

Award of Merit:
Sun Valley Branch Library – Sun Valley

Owner: City of Los Angeles
Architect: Harley Ellis Devereaux
Design Team: GreenWorks Studio, Inc.

Credit: RMA Photography (Click to enlarge)

This project is a replacement building for a smaller library on the same site, encompassing 12,500 square feet on one acre of land. It is one of 32 projects in the 1998 Library Bond Program and one of only two projects to achieve a Gold level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Credit: RMA Photography (Click to enlarge)

The library achieved sustainable design goals through thoughtful integration of both energy efficiency and renewable energy into the final design. Careful planning, massing, and use of materials increased the efficiency to 29 percent better than Title 24 standards. Building integrated photovoltaic roof tiles provide more than 30 percent of the building’s energy and maximize production during peak load periods to contribute to energy security. The combined benefit of efficiency and renewable production reduces the building’s demand for energy by over 50 percent compared to Title 24 requirements.

Credit: RMA Photography (Click to enlarge)

The jurors were impressed with this project’s effective use of space and creative use of landscaping on its tight site. They praised the building’s well-balanced daylighting solution (putting daylight in the most critical areas), playful use of natural light, and notable energy performance.

Citation:
Exceptional Peformance in a Large Suburban Office Park:
Toyota South Campus – Torrance

Owner: Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.
Architect: LPA, Inc.
Design Team: Glumac International, Inc., Mechanical Engineer
CTG Energetics, Inc., Energy/Environmental Consultant

Credit: Cristian D. Costea, Costea Photography (Click to enlarge)

Located at Toyota’s North American Headquarters, the South Campus consists of five three-story buildings, totaling 624,000 square feet. In addition to the program requirement of providing office space for the financial and customer services groups, the facility provides amenities for dining, training and an event courtyard for the entire Toyota population. The campus expansion demonstrates Toyota’s commitment to the environment using the corporation’s process green initiatives.

The highly energy-efficient design embraced several energy-saving and renewable energy source elements, including the largest privately owned rooftop photovoltaic panel system installation in the country providing up to 62,000 kWh per month. With photovoltaic generation, this project performs 59 percent better than the Title 24 energy requirements.

The jurors cited this project for meeting the challenges of a typical large suburban office park with exceptional performance. They commented that the design team accomplished a great deal with an all too common situation and were impressed by the project’s energy performance.

Citation:
Innovative Building Systems, including Natural Ventilation and Daylighting Strategies:
Sonoma State University Recreation Center – Rohnert Park

Owner: Sonoma State University
Architect: LPA, Inc.
Design Team: Glumac International, Lighting Engineers
Costa, Mechanical Engineering

Credit: Cristian D. Costea, Costea Photography (Click to enlarge)

The university had two major design goals for this project: to create a gathering space for the students and to demonstrate the campus’s commitment to sustainability. This two-story recreation and fitness center houses a signature climbing wall, one- and two-court gymnasiums, fitness and common areas, locker rooms and support spaces. It also serves to define the entry space to the campus’ Central Quadrangle.

Almost 70 percent of the 52,000-square-foot building is naturally ventilated and cooled by a night flush system, a destratification/ventilation system in the small gym, and a naturally ventilated lobby. The facility uses an integrated evaporative cooling system for the office, multipurpose, and fitness rooms. It also features significant use of green materials, proper building orientation, and an efficient exterior skin with thermal mass, and it performs better than Title 24 standards by more than 45 percent.

The jurors deemed this a “beautiful adaptive reuse project” and particularly praised its 70 percent natural ventilation, innovative systems, and strong commitment to daylighting.

Citation:
Highly Integrated Team Approach to Large Project:
Franchise Tax Board – Sacramento

Owner: State of California, Department of General Services
Architect: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum
Lionakis Beaumont Design Group
Design Team: Capital Engineering Consultants, Mechanical Engineers
Enovity, Energy/Environmental Consultants

Credit: Dan Q. Chan, Franchise Tax Board (Click to enlarge)

The project team sought to design a new facility that had a positive impact on people’s well being, comfort, social interaction, and productivity. Their vision was to create a sustainable and energy efficient workplace that was flexible to daily and long-term change, enhanced the surrounding community, and embraced the site’s amenities. Goals included performing 20 percent better than Title 24 standards; daylight harvesting; incorporating renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic panels and solar heated domestic water; minimizing water consumption; improving indoor air quality; using recycled and recyclable materials; capturing, retaining and filtering rainwater runoff; and integrating alternative transportation to reduce reliance on automobiles. The project encompassed one million square feet of new building space along with 850,000 square feet of remodeled space.

This project’s comprehensive solution and integrated design impressed the jurors. They recognized the team effort that led to its successful design. Key elements included its significant commitment to the use of renewable energy and well adapted shading solutions.

Distinguished Jurors

Marlin Addison
Principal of M.S. Addison and Associates
Tempe, Ariz.

Mr. Addison is recognized nationally as a leading expert in the practice of energy efficient building design and the professional use of detailed building energy use simulation. During his career, he has consulted on some of the nation’s most notable showcase sustainable building projects including the National Audubon Society Headquarters in New York City and the Natural Resources Defense Council office in Santa Monica, Calif. Due to his unique educational and professional experience, Mr. Addison has been selected by the U.S. DOE, LBL, PNL, NIST, and NREL to serve on a variety of panels and projects guiding federal building energy research. He also serves as clinical assistant professor and director of the Building Energy Simulation Lab at Arizona State University’s College of Design. His M.S. in Energy Efficient Building Design combined graduate course work in architecture, architectural engineering, mechanical engineering, and operations research.

Sandra Mendler, AIA
Vice President and Sustainable Design Principal for HOK
San Francisco, Calif.

A nationally recognized, award-winning sustainable design leader, Ms. Mendler has contributed to numerous high profile showcase projects – three of which have been recognized by AIA as top ten Green Buildings of the Year. She serves on the US Green Building Council (USGBC) board of directors and is past chair of the national AIA Committee on the Environment. The co-author of the HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design, published by John Wiley & Sons, Ms. Mendler contributes regularly to industry publications and events. She holds degrees in architecture from Washington University and Pratt Institute.

Hofu Wu, ArchD, FAIA
Professor of Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona
Pomona, Calif.

Dr. Wu has devoted more than 25 years to teaching advanced energy efficient technologies and their integration in architectural design and currently serves as director of Cal Poly’s Environmental Design Technology Unit. In addition to his involvement in committees that generate national energy standards, he has always been an advocate of the USGBC’s LEED program. As an environment and energy consultant, his clients include utility companies, private corporations, state and federal governments as well as national and international research laboratories. His research papers have been published widely in conference proceedings. Dr. Wu holds a B. A. in Architecture degree from Tamkang University in Taiwan, an M. A. in Architecture degree from University of Illinois, and a Doctor of Architecture degree from University of Michigan.