May
17th - Portland
Cup
& Saucer: Breakfast with Gene Wixson
Gene
Wixson is a builder with Green Hammer Builders who specializes in building
commercial and residential passive buildings.
Passive buildings are a form of green building design that focuses on
the building’s envelope. One the largest
issues with energy waste in buildings and homes is the failure to keep interior
air contained and outside air from penetrating the building itself. With passive construction, the building’s
envelope is air tight. While
conventional construction only includes insulation in the walls, passive
construction includes insulation in the foundation of the structure, along each
wall, and the roof as well. The
construction also includes a special tri-layer glass provides for 2 dead-air
wells to prevent not only exterior air and environment from entering the
building but preventing the variation of temperatures from entering and
influencing the interior environment as well.
Often passive construction buildings won’t include a central heating and
air, just a small unit known as a mini-split that will provide heating and
cooling for an entire level. Other
passive construction properties include special sealant tape along the seams of
any framing board, special membrane layers that both weather and waterproof the
building, air sealant doors, and often an air ventilation system that draws air
out of the building when needed but not allowing exterior air to enter. Green Hammer is one of the leading passive
construction builders in the Portland area, and is providing very successful
examples of a new way to building green.
Portland
Development Commission
The
Portland Development Commission is leading the way to promoting a higher
density construction for the city itself.
Part of sustainable building is creating a city structure that promotes
a walkable environment that allows everything a resident would need with in
just a few blocks. Their city streets
allow for bike friendly travel and include a fabulous mass transit system that
runs on an electric power system. The
Portland Development Commission works hard to revitalize dilapidated areas
throughout the city. Instead of building
new buildings, and creating an urban sprawl, the commission utilizes existing
buildings and develops an urban renewal with those buildings that are rich with
history and preserve the charm of yesteryear.
Cascadia
Green Building Council
Cascadia
Green Building Council is establishing a new way of building green, aiming for
a goal of zero waste, which they call Net Zero.
They have developed a green building guide that follows a 7 point system
called the Living Building Challenge.
Those 7 points include: Site,
Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity and Beauty. “The purpose of the Living Building Challenge
is straightforward – it defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in
the built environment possible today and acts to diminish the gap between
current limits and ideal solutions. Whether your project is a single building,
a park, a college campus or even a complete neighborhood community, Living
Building Challenge provides a framework for design, construction and the
symbiotic relationship between people and all aspects of the built
environment”.
“Net Zero Energy is quickly becoming a sought after goal for many
buildings around the globe - each relies on exceptional energy conservation and
then on-site renewable to meet all of its heating, cooling and electricity
needs. Yet the true performance of many developments is overstated – and actual
Net Zero Energy buildings are still rare.”
Net Zero
includes no exterior electricity and water usage by utilizing only rainwater
that is collected or ground water, and electricity that is generated through
solar power or wind, and other creative ways of heating and cooling water
through geothermal systems. Zero waste
also includes a composting system and recycling system and producing no trash
that goes into the landfill.
The Living Building Challenge is
a bit different. It follows the same
principals as the net zero; however, it adds the social aspects of sustainable
building as well. Site means the prime
location for the building and utilizing every natural aspect you can from the
site. Water means utilizing natural ground water and collection of rain
water. Energy means utilizing your own
produced electricity through solar power and other self-contained electricity
usage. Health means producing a building
or home that not only provides a healthy interior and exterior environment for
the residence and owners but sustains the health of the local environment as a
whole. The Materials aspect means
utilizing local materials and local building services, cutting down the
projects carbon footprint and supporting the local economy. Equity means building a project that will
easily gain equity when it comes to sale the property. And lastly Beauty which means to build a
building that provides beauty to the local community.
The Cascadia Green
Building Council is a great resource for local residence and builders for
sustainable buildings. They have gone
beyond LEED and embraced a new way of creating more sustainable buildings,
often aiming for a higher standard of environmentally friendly structures.
Ecotrust's
Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center
The
Ecotrust’s Natural Capital Center has embraced sustainability on several
levels. The Center houses a handful of
restaurants and retail stores that are geared around sustainable business
practices and offer locally owned businesses instead of powerhouse retail chains. The restaurants use all compostable
materials, and have their “waste baskets” organized in a way that not only can
customers recycle their waste, but educate the customers as they do so. The retail shops are focused on sustainable
products and offer customers an alternative to the mass produced products they
would often find in major retail chain stores.
Other
businesses have the chance to rent out space in the center’s local business
centers on the upper floors of the building.
This allows smaller local businesses to operate out of the downtown area
and still have the convenience of a rented office space instead of being
required to purchase more expensive office space elsewhere. They are also able to utilize this individual
space while also being able to work next to in close quarters with other small
business owners and possibly have the opportunity to learn from one another on
their own individual business practices.
The
Center itself has made amazing strides in creating a sustainable building in which
they all work. The building use to be a
part of a warehouse district that was once a dilapidated area and often
forgotten. However, several years ago, a
private individual came into the area and purchased an entire block; the
warehouse included, and began revitalizing the local city block. The Center was able to re-purpose a good deal
of the existing building materials and reuse them throughout the center. A few of those examples include:
-
The reuse of large
metal bay doors as room dividers throughout the large meeting room
-
The reuse of building
lumber to create new flooring and interior existing structures
-
The reuse of reclaimed
lumber and doors to create office dividers throughout the rentable office
area
-
The reuse of reclaimed
metal to use for their interior lightening
The Center was also able to include
other sustainable initiatives such as:
-
Recycled floor tiles
that allow for easy replacement if necessary,
-
A fabulous green roof
that not only helps cut down on the solar impact on the roof of the structure,
but assists in gathering rainwater for water harvesting.
-
The use of all low VOC
paints and other non-toxic materials throughout the center.
-
The use of natural day
lighting instead of excessive interior lighting.
The Eco-trust Center is pioneering
sustainability on business level and has become a great example of how a
forgotten business neighborhood can bring new life to a local community, not
only leading by example with sustainability but boosting the local economy and
giving small businesses the opportunity the get their start in their own office
space.
Dull
Olson Weekes Architects
Dull
Olson Weekes Architects is a local Portland Architecture firm that specializes
in schools both locally and worldwide.
However, they aim to build each new school to a new level of
sustainability. They work hard to
embrace several levels of sustainable practices to make each structure as
sustainable as possible. The office has
done a great job creating an open communication “board” that allows each member
of the office to investigate the new construction and evaluate it as the
project progresses. While most
architecture firms aim to follow the LEED guidelines, Dull Olson Weekes aims to
use that simply as a guide and often embracing many sustainable practices to
create an earth friendly school that is not only healthy for the environment,
but a happy and healthy learning environment for its students. They often utilize local materials, local
building services, and bring a bit of individual creativity to each school they
design. One interesting planning tool
they use before beginning a project is to speak to the students who will be
learning in that environment. Whether
its 4th graders or high school students, they feel that it’s
important to speak with those students and learn what they want their
environment to be like, and then implementing those ideas into the best
sustainable learning environment they can.
I was truly excited to see the lengths this firm went to not only design
and build an environmentally friendly school, but one that is pleasant to be in
and one created from the minds in which it is intended.
Daybreak
Co-Housing
Daybreak
Co-Housing was easily in my top 3 for the entire trip. This unique living environment has embraced
the unique traits of communal living, while allowing residence to maintain
their independence. Daybreak was built
in an older residential area just outside of downtown Portland. The site was originally comprised of several
smaller duplex homes that were only able to house roughly 6 to 8 families. They chose the site because of its out of the
way location do direct downtown, but the direct transportation to downtown and
other local Portland areas. Daybreak was
built into 30+ individual apartments that range from 1 bedroom to a spacious 3
bedroom. Each resident has their own
apartment with a bedroom, bathroom, living, and kitchen. However, the complex also houses a
multipurpose building with a large kitchen and dining area, children’s play
room, 2 guest rooms, laundry room, meeting room, and tool and bike
storage. Being that most Portland
residents depend on mass transportation or bike transportation, most residents
have no vehicle, therefore they are able to utilize the additional space for
living area instead of wasted vehicle storage.
Another unique opportunity for the co-housing complex is the chance to
not only interact with your neighbors, but depend on them for various living
activities. The center has several
garden areas that house various vegetables that are for either personal use or
cooking in the communal kitchen. They
also house several other sustainable properties on the site such as rainwater
collection, composting, bio-swells that absorb additional rainwater that
prevents water run-off. This center has
an amazing sense of community and friendship while maintaining independence.
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