From Washington State to Washington DC, DPR Helps Customers “Waste Not” Through High-Performance Green Building

Over the last 26 months, the U.S. Green Building Council has nearly doubled its membership with 4,149 total members and reported 1,200 LEED™-registered projects, up from 350 in 2002. With more LEED™-accredited professionals than any other general contractor, 54 to date, and more than 300 LEED™-trained individuals, DPR is at the forefront of the green building movement, helping customers with their sustainable design and construction needs across the country.

Countertops made from sunflower seed husks and newspaper, a “Night Sky” radiant cooling system, photovoltaic panels to create a mini-power plant and rooftops of native plants—these are just some of the green features being implemented on DPR projects across the country. Since early last year, DPR has experienced a growing interest from customers with nearly every proposal inquiring about sustainable construction or specific green features.

“Industries, such as biotech and healthcare, have really taken an interest in ‘greening’ their facilities, and the U.S. Green Building Council is beginning to address the development of specific guidelines for the healthcare industry,” said Craig Greenough of DPR. “We’re also providing LEED™ project management services for a couple of customers in the Sacramento area, where a majority of the green projects in Northern California are being built.”

DPR’s Sacramento office building, which is one of only 75 total LEED™-certified projects in the nation over the last 26 months, achieved Silver level certification for the new building and Gold level for commercial interiors.

“We used our building as an opportunity to learn even more about the different materials and energy saving alternatives that are currently available,” said Greenough. “DPR also gained a greater understanding of the process from both a building owner’s and builder’s perspective, especially the costs and potential savings associated with sustainable design and construction, and we’ve been leveraging that knowledge nationally on other projects.”

Following is a snapshot of DPR’s green projects across the country.

Evergreen Goes for Gold

In Olympia, WA, DPR recently wrapped up construction on The Evergreen State College’s 160,000-sq.-ft. Seminar II project, which is LEED™-registered targeting Gold level certification.

Designed by Mahlum Architects in Seattle to match the existing 4,400-student campus, the five interconnected concrete clusters that make up the structure is nearly 80 percent naturally ventilated through operable windows and small screened openings under the windows to provide airflow even during the Northwest’s rainy days.

Other features include:

• A 21,000-sq.-ft. green roof that allowed significant reduction of the onsite storm water detention requirement,
• Alder wood trim to maintain a natural look for the building, and
• Cork flooring and carpet made from recycled materials and applied with a nontoxic adhesive.

Carnegie’s Global Ecology Center

Located on Stanford University’s campus, the new high-energy efficiency Global Ecology Center for the Carnegie Institution of Washington “represents creative yet common-sense solutions to age-old challenges in building design.” The project consists of a 10,890-sq.-ft. research and office building and a 3,530-sq.-ft. warehouse that leapfrogs existing standards in energy efficiency, sustainable materials and occupant comfort and safety.

Two of the building’s most notable sustainable elements are the Night Sky cooling system and a 45-ft. katabatic cooling tower. The cooling system, which features a roof irrigation system on a metal panel roof, is activated in the evenings to provide cold water that is funneled through the roof gutters and rainwater leaders, and is stored in a thermal storage tank for the building’s radiant cooling system. The katabatic cooling tower has a structural steel “wind catcher” that captures wind driven by the downward movement of cold air. The air descends through the tower, passing through a cold water mister about a third of the way down, and into the main lobby. The center also features sunshades, high-performance glazing, efficient ventilation with heat recovery, radiant slab heating and cooling, light shelves, a naturally ventilated top floor, rainwater catchments, spectrally selective roofing, and a fully daylight interior with lighting controls.

The architect, Esherick Homsey Dodge & Davis, also came up with the idea t>o use recycled doors for desktops rather than plywood or traditional furniture. “We contacted several of our local door suppliers who provided us with new, unused doors to install free of charge,” said Eddie Parenti, DPR’s project manager.

Greening an Existing Building

Beginning in October of last year, DPR demolished the interiors and renovated a new LEED™-registered, 18,000-sq.-ft. corporate office for TKG Consulting Engineers in just under six months.

Targeting Silver certification under LEED™ for Existing Buildings, the office, located on Oberlin Drive in San Diego, CA, is participating in San Diego Gas and Electric’s new pilot program for distributed power and installed 5kw photovoltaic panels on the rooftop that are tied into the electricity grid. The project is also the site of an experimental fuel cell installation, owned and operated by San Diego Gas and Electric and used to make electricity with natural gas and water.

“We’re going to beat California’s Title 24 energy requirements by 30 percent,” said Paul Gibson, principal of TKG Consulting Engineers. California’s Title 24 Building Energy Standards is a legislative mandate established in 1978 and amended in 2001 to reduce California’s energy consumption. Gibson added that the building’s sophisticated energy management system not only monitors power consumption in the building by system use points but also captures information from the photovoltaic panels and fuel cell that will be used to help trend capabilities and performance over time. In addition, a weather station was installed on the building to track solar and wind speed data that will be shared via TKG’s Website.

As one of only four LEED™-registered projects in San Diego, the project also required additional education for local subcontractors and material suppliers. For example, DPR provided information bulletins with subcontractor bid instructions, outlining documentation necessary for LEED™.

Deborah Beetson, project manager for DPR’s Special Services Group, said that finding the right paint with low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) presented a minor challenge. “More and more suppliers in the area are becoming familiar with the green label. However, the darker the color or the more pigment added to the paint, the harder it is to find one with a low VOC. We finally found a black paint that met all of our criteria. It was a materials education for everyone involved.”

Completed in late April, the new TKG office is also serving as a “lighting laboratory” with a huge variety of different light fixtures. “We have direct, indirect and a combination of direct and indirect lighting so that clients can go into different areas of the building to experience the various lighting scenarios first hand,” said Gibson.

U.S. Green Building Council Headquarters

In downtown Washington DC, DPR completed a 3,800-sq.-ft. renovation and tenant improvement for the U.S. Green Building Council’s new ninth-floor headquarters. Pursuing Silver certification for commercial interiors, the roughly one-month job included the reuse of existing materials and a variety of sustainable products such as carpet and cork flooring, drywall, furniture and paint, a majority of which was donated or provided at cost or less than cost. Many of the parties involved—the design team, including McAllister Architects, P.C. and Girard Engineering, various consultants, subcontractors and DPR—also gave their time and energy. The team overcame difficult lead-time issues, confined space for deliveries, old and hidden MEP systems, low floor-to-floor heights and permitting issues to deliver a job well done.