2009 design award-winners marry form and function in Earth-friendly packages
When it comes to building design and construction, the "green" ideal can encompass so many things - from using reclaimed or recycled material to optimizing the use of clean energy to minimizing overall energy use. The Connecticut chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (CTGBC) has announced winners of its annual design award competition for excellence in high-performance, intelligently designed and constructed, energy-efficient green buildings. The structures themselves include commercial, residential and institutional, and Conservation Laboratory submitted by Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven. Originally a neighborhood grocery store erected in the late 1890s, the frame (and later masonry addition) single-story structure at 333 Sherman Avenue illustrates how much can be accomplished even within the context of a small space and modest budget.Many of the products used in the building are recycled including light fixtures, built-in cabinetry and office furnishings. The extensive green roof planted with sedum can accommodate any future expansion the photo voltaic array already providing energy to the building. The first residential-scale cogeneration system in the state is used to heat and cool the building.
"Although the project was limited in scale, it sits in the midst of the community it serves and incorporates many sustainable features that readily demonstrate building projects the neighbors can examine firsthand and understand well enough to undertake on their own," noted CTGBC jurors.
Also in the City of Elms, the Yale Medical Center's Amistad Building earned an honorable mention in the public/schools category. The project, executed by the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. of Baltimore, Md., was cited by the jurors as "a fine example of an existing building created for a different use."
The 120,000-square-foot Amistad Building on the street of the same name was transformed from an office building to a research facility that achieved LEED Gold certification for its interiors. "Considering its current function as a research facility, the energy savings achieved are incredible enough to warrant an award," jurors noted. "This handsome building has achieved unparalleled success in its operation and efforts set forth by the client."
Other winning entries were less local to the Elm City, but no less compelling.
In Fairfield County, the Darien Library earned a "most intriguing" designation in the public/schools category (which denotes schools and other public buildings - not necessarily public-school buildings).
The project, performed by the architecture/landscape architecture/interior architecture firm of Peter Gisolfi Associates, resulted in the first LEED Gold-certified library in New England. Of the many competition submissions this project most notably bridged the gap between traditional New England architecture and excellent sustainable attributes into a cohesive design. The community looked to the design team to provide for the anchoring of the civic entity within an extended townscape, extending Main Street Darien while celebrating the new green building as a community cultural center.
The new building was sited on a remediated brownfield, which had at one time been a gas station (among its many uses over the years). Current on-site water conservation provides non-potable "grey" water for use within the building and for irrigation of water-efficient landscaping. During construction, 50 percent of the construction waste was diverted to recycling centers for reuse.
Highlights of the building design include its heavy mass yet overall transparency indoors to outdoors and from floor to floor; geothermal wells with heat pumps used for both heating and cooling using a closed-loop technology; finish materials such as paints, adhesives, sealants and carpeting, lighting and housekeeping cleaners were low VOC emitting and included FSC certified woods as well as other low maintenance materials.
On the residential side, a sustainable New Milford residence earned "most intriguing" honors from the jury. The compact design of the 1,750-square-foot Easterfield House, along with its use of handsome local materials and energy-efficient systems produced an attractive home with a reduced carbon footprint.
The home's photovoltaic (PV) installation, funded in part through rebates from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, feeds energy back into the electrical system after providing energy for the home's hot-water usage. The rooftop PV array is situated to allow for expansion to a 3kW system. Since potential expansion is key to design of the home, the floor plan and window and door fenestration were well suited for expanding the 900-square-foot footprint to take advantage of outdoor living spaces. Insulating with R40 material, limiting the exposure of the exterior surfaces, extensive use of local and salvaged materials such as fire slate countertops in the kitchen and bath reclaimed from an local existing building as well as Vermont-milled ash flooring salvaged from a local renovation earned valuable LEED points for this project, developed by Mark and Jim Picton of Picton Brothers, LLC in Washington Depot. Reclaimed wood was also used to build the exterior decks.
Observed the jury: "The compact design along with the choice of material, orientation and systems produced a very good looking home that has reduced the carbon footprint of the building to a minimum level."
Finally, an award for intriguing commercial project went to the New York architecture firm Perkins Eastman for the GE Energy Financial Services Division's newly completed headquarters in Stamford. Thomas Edison was convinced in 1910 that by the end of the century we would be harnessing energy from alternative sources such as the sun. It is therefore fitting that General Electric's energy investment arm, GE Energy Financial Services Division, earned this award for the most intriguing commercial interior.
As Edison foretold, this building derives 100 percent of its power from green sources. Other distinctive features in the building that received points for innovative green design are a series of branding walls which tell the history of GE's commitment to alternative energy and also serve as a source of education for visitors and staff.
The awards jury included Steven Winter, principal of Steven Winter Associates in Norwalk; Greg Bermiller, sustainable design coordinator for the Glastonbury-based S/L/A/M Collaborative; Mark Loeffler, director of Atelier Ten in New Haven; and Bob Wall, director of energy market initiatives for the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. The panel was chaired by Bruce Bockstael, chief architect for the state's Department of Public Works.
