(Slow) Green

Awareness of our actions and consequences
We are awakening at last
Reading and seeing catastrophic oily substances surrounds us on the news
Chocking shorelines, habitats, livelihoods and communities
Illuminating our dependence upon oil and other fossil fuels
Revealing tragic vulnerabilities
Intensifying resolve to change behaviors
To finally make a difference
Stemming from another time and place
A different set of rules and natural patterns
No longer valid or reliable
Instead a changed world behaves unexpectedly

The idea of growth for growth's sake so anachronistic
Replaced by the need to think smaller, leaner and self-sufficient
Embracing a changed natural world
A difficult sickened place needing productive cultivation
A multi-generational effort awaits, so daunting
Achievable if together we set one foot in front of another
Beginning on the slow journey to a sustainable future

No longer just a few, but now a motivated many.

Water and renewal_On memories, architecture and biophilia

One of my favorite memories as a young man was the day I went fishing with friends in Walden, VT. We found a small trout stream and went to various places on it looking for the perfect fishing hole. It was a warm sunny summer day. The place I found vividly remains in my memory. The stream was about 10' wide and was covered in a shadowy canopy of trees offering comfort from the hot sun. You could feel the coolness of the running water and hear it burbling over rocks, fallen trees and the like. You could see trout rising to the surface nibbling on flies, rippling the water with concentric waves. After a while I lay down on my belly, setting my rod to the side and just watched and listened in a reverie of sorts. This randomly found place fully engaged my senses and feelings of wonder where at one point the hair on the back of my neck raised up in response.

Years later I have come to understand this experience as a turning point of my life and an awakening of a deep set recognition of the importance of nature and her living systems. There is even a term for it, Biophilia. EO Wilson developed a theory called the Biophilia Hypothesis, which suggests there is strong link between human beings and living systems. That there is an innate preference for things in and of nature by humans. I have come to believe there is a strong connection between harnessing natural forces and creating memorable, lasting architectural experiences. They work hand in hand to strengthen and enhance a sense of place and a lasting connection to those whom experience it. And often, quite sadly, this sense of connection is missing in our daily lives.

In the buildings and places I have been part of designing with our team and our clients we have sought to bring the out of doors indoors, bringing the kinesthetic, sensual experiences of living systems into the everyday shelter of our homes, our worklives, our places of play and community.

This stream side moment long ago was just such an experience of Biophilia. This moment of immersion speaks to the trans formative power of water and the place it has in our lives. We come from water at birth and water is fully part of our lives thereafter. This stream formed an outdoor room providing a deep sense of shelter, it activated my senses of sight, sound and touch and smell. The earthy loam of the soil, moist to the touch combined with the rough hardness of stream side stones and smell of the moss and fragrances of plants created a total kinesthetic experience. Bringing people in touch with their senses as I experienced along the stream offers a a path to follow or a potent example of biophilia to foster memorable and long-lasting experiences of place and space.

EO Wilson's Biophilia Center at Nokuse Plantation offers a nature center experience attempting to harness the theories he's developed over his career creating a physical, transcendent multi-faceted example for generations to come. Here's fourth grader's teacher's testimonial after visiting.

""Without this Center our students would not have had these chances to open their minds and spirits to nature in the most up close and spectacular ways. Just listening to their conversations sparked by these opportunities I can tell you that lives are changed. Our students are passionate about the world in which they live and for which they will, one day, be responsible. It has been a priceless time for them and one that will have far-reaching benefits for many.”

- Anna Hull, Patronis Elementary Fourth Grade Teacher

Need I say more.

Seeking and Sensing the Sacred in Jerusalem_Part 1

Originally published in the July 1998 Newsletter from the "Colorado Architect", the journal of the American Institute of Architects state wide Colorado chapter. This is a two-part blog article. I traveled to Israel and Jerusalem specifically as mentioned in prior posts in the summer of 1994. I had received a small travel grant from AIA Colorado. It was an especially troubling time with much strife between Israelis and Palestinians. This article isn't about that though. It's about searching for the sacred in one of the holiest places. There I learned how ironic it was that as sacredness increased so did the intensity of the profane.......

It was one o’clock in the afternoon. Since early morning I had been sitting in the tall belfry of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, located in the Muristan or Christian Quarter of the Old City. From this high point I could see the roof-tops of the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian Quarters, the Mt of Olives and Western and Eastern Jerusalem beyond the walls. My dreamy reverie was interrupted by the minaret of the nearby Mosque of Omar, crackling into life with the mid-day call to prayer. Soon, its sound was joined by minarets of other mosques. What began as a single voice, slowly grew into an amazing chorus of Arabic readings from the Koran blaring loudly all over the city, until a single sound formed which penetrated the very pores of my skin. People emerged out of their homes, offices and stores walking to their neighborhood mosque to pray and gather in community with one another. Slowly, the single voice started to break apart as the calls to prayers ceased and all was silent again but for the doves cooing in the vaulted steeple above my head.

All of us have experienced sacred places and spaces in our lives. Whether they were the special hiding places of our childhood, the kitchen table or campfire, the concept is clear. They are places which provide sanctuary, a sense of respite from the harsh forces of life. They are also found in our places of worship, the temples, mosques and churches which form the center of spiritual and cultural life for many. For others, natural spaces and places have the same kind of personal and collective power.

For two months in the summer of 1994, I traveled to Jerusalem and various parts of Israel and the West Bank on an AIA Colorado Fisher Traveling Scholarship. In preparation, I read much about the region, its history and texts about sacred place and space. I was most interested in experiencing these places outside of their dry academic context. To describe them I would sketch, photograph, interview others and write about what I was experiencing. As a maker of space and place, I felt much of which I lived in and experienced at home was devoid of spiritual depth.. I sensed studying sacred places and spaces in their context would help me to design more meaningful and unified communities back home. Thus I sought out Jerusalem.

As one of the longest continually settled places on Earth, the city presents an incredible richness of cultures and urban conditions to experience and study. Digging down into the Old City one finds a tightly woven mesh of physical, spatial and mythological relationships unparalleled in complexity and significance. I sought to compare and contrast the differences between the physical design and cultural use of space and notions of place exhibited in the Old City by the Western or Wailing Wall of the Jews, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher of the Christians and the Dome of the Rock of the Muslims. Surrounding each Holy Place lay a district or residential area which supported the sacred activities within. As sacred precincts, the Jewish, Christian and Muslim quarters exhibited profound differences and similarities as compared to one another. Each revealed essential qualities of how space and place were culturally perceived and expressed through their design and history.

In numerous conversations with others and through my experiences, I concluded that without those who use the spaces, the places themselves can not remain sacred. The continuity over four millennium of the presence of people practicing the rituals and traditions within the monuments and holy places, saturates them with sacredness. These holy shrines and places are mere instruments or containers which promote and enable the rituals to be practiced and engaged in. Without this human imprint of activity and use they would stand inactive and forgotten, hence not sacred. It is in the remembering and renewing of the great stories of the Talmud, Old and New Testaments and the Koran which enlivens the silent monuments with a sense of narrative space and sacred time.

A favorite memory was walking the ramparts of the great stone wall surrounding the Jewish, Christian, Armenian and Muslim Quarters within the Old City. One traverses each area without actually entering them. From the ramparts one could also see the different sections of Western and Eastern Jerusalem and the outlying hills and valleys beyond, each with their own rich layers of physical design and symbolic qualities. From this high place it was easy to assess the physical and symbolic aspects of the city, drawing relationships impossible to arrive at on the ground. I spent a number of afternoons slowly moving along the walls, sketching, thinking and taking photographs, trying to unravel and make sense of what I saw. The city and its history awakened before my eyes and under my pen.

end of part 1 - to be continued

Building & Landscape Integration

I sketched this a summer or so ago. I cropped the view to show a powerful relationship between the famous covered bridge in Waitsfield and the great rock abutment which forms part of its foundation on the village side of the Mad River.

So much of our practice in Vermont relates to this diagram. We're always building and designing in relation to our landscape. It's inescapable. The river in our valley is a formative element which shapes the linear form of the village where our office is located. The covered bridge springs across it touching both sides of the river in a manner which engages and frames the landscape within the bridge abutments. The wood clapboard, shingle roof and heavy timber trusses speak of the landscape in union with the enormous boulders supporting it's structure.

Like the famous Japanese temple at Edo which is always in a state of building and re-building, this bridge is constantly being touched by craftspeople, timber framers in a continuous cycle of care going back generations. There are elements on the bridge which date back a hundred or more years and others which date back to last fall. The bridge is an example of a living system happening in time.

Organizational Ecology in the High Performance Workplace

Recently I read Workplace By Design by Franklin Becker and Fritz Steele, published in 1995 by Jossey Bass Publishers.  Organizational ecology is a pervasive theme in the book.

Frequently in high-performance building design work architects and designers find themselves looking at the big picture of how the building fits into its setting and environment, various natural and organizaitonal systems, as well inter-relationships of internal space program and building function.    Looking in this way is an ecological way of thinking.  It's also smart business and can increase competitiveness.   Also, designing within the LEED framework, whether certification is pursued, requires looking at building design from a wholistic and ecological viewpoint.   

Thus from many angles organizational ecology is an important aspect to high-performance building and workplace design.  In Workplace by Design, Organizational Ecology is defined by seeing an organization as a living organism with work processes and functions working together within a building setting and physical spaces overlaid with critical systems such as information technology,  mechanical and lighting systems.    Buildings are in themselves business resources and can and should be concieved as fundamental organizational tools to support and promote effective team work and cross discipline interactions.   

To produce high value to an organization, a building or facility must connect to and reinforce the corporate ethos, culture and ultimately it's very DNA.  Seeking a harmony of physical setting, natural resources use, work and technoloogy processes, management style intertwined with organizational philosophy and values is key to creating successful workplaces built to last.  

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Ethical Underpinning in Green Design

I was reading my Greensource weekly newsletter email and it connected me to this inspiring and telling blog post from Greenbuilding Elements, called the 10 dumbest green buildings on earth.   The author, Adam Felsinger really socks it to you with examples which on their face value appear green, are green in fact with LEED accreditation etc., but if you just think a wee bit critically these projects are indeed laughable examples of Green building.  They may or may not be "greenwashing".  What it's called doesn't matter actually.  It's the first princpals behind the projects or lack there of which interest me.

 Of course a few examples hit close to home.  The basic idea is how "Green" can something be if the  fossil fuel usage overall premise for the project can't stand up, ie in the Green BP gas station nary a electric charging station car, sharing drop off point, proximity to a bus stop to be found.  It's his number 1 example.  But it's very cool and has nice stand-alone green features.

Looking at the big picture is critical to helping to validate green intentions.  For me it starts further back with looking at the ethics behind green initiatives and seening if a triple bottom lined approach is present in the conversation and decision making of those involved.  In 1994, this approach was developed by John Elkington and perhaps others before.  This model represents the interconnected aspects of our economies, environment and societies.  It's a vital place to begin conversations, and it's also a great mechanism to evaluate the integrity of greening efforts.

What do you think about this model as a foundation underneath green decision-making and green design?  Are there ways this can be used or is being used to support design conversations in their beginning stages? Great examples?  It seems this is what is missing in the 10 examples found in Adam's blog post.  There appear other, less positive motivations in play behind the projects.  Regardless, while there may be great intentions behind many of these projects, it's totally worth the  self-examination and questionning.  

If we don't ask these tough questions while we do our work with our customers and partners we collaborate with what are we leaving for the generations to follow us?

Better Buildings 2009, Hope in the Green Valley of Vermont

Yesterday I attended and participated in Efficiency Vermonts Better Buildings Conference 2009 held at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT.  

And it was a fantastic, heartwarming event.  Here's why.  It was crowded, really crowded.  It was filled with a sense of optimism and people coming together whom are participating in the Green Design Movement in our region.  Like the USGBC's Greenbuild 2008 conference held in Boston last November, it was experiencing another bump in attendance from the already great numbers from last year.

Unlike other conferences held in the last 6 months by more normative, non-green construction related organizations, this one was healthily attended, heavily sponsored with plenty of exhibitors on the trade floor.  

 The plenary speech session was kicked off by Scott Johnstone, executive diretor for Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.  (VEIC).  He set the groundwork for the conference where he shared the results of Efficiency Vermont's efforts in helping change the energy use and efficiency game in Vermont.  Our State is now a leader in the nation with (-1.5%) negative electricity load growth rather than postive which is the norm around the U.S.  Our state is seeing a trend in electrical load decrease due to growing energy efficiency efforts in the residential and business / institutional marketplace.   For example, last year Scott said 780,000 CFL's (compact flourescent light bulbs) replaced old fashioned incadescent bulbs around the State.   By helping lower the costs to Vermonters for purchasing CFL's statewide through retail programs, more bulbs were installed.  Efficiency Vermont's Big Thinking produced Big Results.

Scott said the challenge ahead for our State is to expand or go wider with the penetration of energy efficiency and energy conservation measures and go deepr with more substantial negative load growth in the coming years.  Along with that we must continue the transformation of our fossil fuel based economy transitioning towards heavier use of renewable energy sources. Vermont, while small, has a spirited history of yankee ingenuity and rising to the occasion during tough times.  

 The keynote speaker, Fernando Paige Ruiz also reinforced this notion sharing how he sees how Vermont's innovation stacks up against other states around the nation.  He said Vermonters are amazing that we save almost 2% a year in lowered electricty usage.  Most states claim this is impossible, it can't be done, but we're showing it can be done.  

Fernando discussed his approach of building an affordable house and a practical way of thinking about design and ecology.  He discussed how homeowners want affordable construction and likewise affordable operation in their homes.  Key concerns of a majority of homeowners were energy costs, durability and flexibility of the smaller home he is building.  Building size, shape, simplicity of construction, flexible for future layout changes and a sense of thrift while maintaining quality were all important factors.  He had some very interesting ideas about marketing and for example seeing projects as "demonstration or model project" worth sharing with others along the way during construction to help spread the word about the unique qualities about green building. 

It was another great conference! Look for most posts in the coming days about the conference.   

The Edible Landscape_Edible Schoolyards

Here's an oppourtunity to expand your thinking about the potential of the sustaining landscape, one which contributes both aesthetic pleasure and pragmatic food production. Read on....

How could this effect your thinking about the interplay of the buildings within their landscapes? The programmatic oppourtunities for interweaving of uses and functions are varied as the imagination. Go check out the Edible School Yard Project link below for design inspiration. (Steve Frey)

......By Scott Carlson:
The Chronicle: Buildings & Grounds
Vandana Shiva: 'Why Shouldn't Edible Schoolyards Be on Every Campus?'
Posted: 11 Nov 2008 10:26 AM CST
Raleigh, N.C. — Vandana Shiva, the physicist and environmental activist, spoke here at the national conference of the Association for the Advancement for Sustainability in Higher Education this morning. Her topic was food — what she calls “the currency of life” — and how an industrial food system has poisoned the soil and pushed people off their land.
The speech hit on a number of agricultural issues that have been widely discussed recently and made popular by writers like Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver. There is no doubt that food issues will be increasingly important in coming years, as agriculture is stressed by climate change, dwindling petroleum supplies, and environmental degradation in the form of loss of biodiversity and erosion. (Read essays in The Chronicle‘s Buildings & Grounds about this topic here and here.)

Ms. Shiva said that “the issue of food has increasingly become an issue of peace” because stresses on traditional agriculture and the industrialization of food have led people to wage war against nature, against each other, and even against their own bodies, in the form of cancers and obesity. The industrialization of food has led to empty countrysides both here in the U.S. and in India, Ms. Shiva’s native country.

“An empty countryside has never been a good human design,” she said, because it means that people are cramming into megacities and are falling away from the skills needed to raise food in traditional ways.

Colleges have a big role to play in fixing agriculture because they are partly to blame for its problems: The so-called Green Revolution, which created fertilizer-dependent industrial agriculture, is a result of research done at colleges and universities. “The solutions will have to come out of the place where it started,” she said.
She pointed out that Alice Waters, the Berkeley chef and food activist, had gotten a lot of attention for her Edible Schoolyard project, in which middle-school students are learning about agriculture and cuisine by growing gardens. Colleges should start setting up their own edible grounds, she said.

“Why shouldn’t edible schoolyards be on every campus?” she asked. —Scott Carlson

World Hoteliers going green to help save the planet article

This is from Reese Halter , Canwest News Service (please see the link below to the full article)

'Hotels around the globe are competing for customers in a changing world that is demanding green.

So far, The Green Building Council has certified only four U.S. hotels as "green," while more than 800 office buildings already have its seal of approval. All this, however, is about to change as the race to build energy-efficient hotels has begun in earnest.......

................A recent survey found almost 20 per cent of travellers choose hotels because of environmental practices, including housekeeping services that only use non-toxic cleaning agents.....Going green in the hotel industry is not just in vogue -- it's sound business to consume less energy, less water and create less waste. For instance, the Marriott's only green-certified hotel, in College Park, Md., uses 33 per cent less electricity than a comparable property, which means it can charge the same rates as rivals yet earn a far better profit."

http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/story.html?id=aed8e8cf-a491-43d8-98a1-ec57c69f3472

Net Zero Putney School Field House Ground Breaking

Last Saturday, one of our institutional projects had ground breaking. Go to the Brattleboro Reformer link below to read more. http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_10708322

What's really interesting is it's an ambitious net zero project with a LEED platinum predicted level. There aren't too many projects like this right now, especially in prep schools.

Best, Steve

Goshen School in Indiana_Go see this place

http://www.goshen.edu/merrylea/rieth/index.php , Very interesting link to a environmentally focused school in Indiana with an interesting perspective on sustainabilty and land use.

Best, Steve