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Two buildings under construction in Alaska couldn't be more different, yet both embrace the same principles of green building. The 14-floor JL Tower will cater to Anchorage's business suit crowd while the new Eielson Visitor Center will greet hikers and tourists at the end of a 70-mile bus ride into Denali National Park. Despite their different locations and purposes, both projects are being built to the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program.
Designed to promote and define sustainable building, LEED--which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design--rewards participants by awarding points for incorporating green practices. Water and energy efficiency, use of local and non-toxic materials, proximity to public transportation, waste reduction and other green features all earn points. The more points a given building earns, the higher its level of LEED certification. The program is gaining popularity in Alaska and across the country as building owners realize the long-term cost savings, public relations potential and environmental benefits of efficient and healthy buildings.
EIELSON VISITOR CENTER
The remote location of the new Eielson Visitor Center challenged designers to think in new ways. For example, tapping into the local utility wasn't an option, so electricity will be generated on-site by solar panels and a micro-hydroelectric system. Energy-efficient design should keep the power demands of the building within the capacity of these two systems. Similarly, re-using wood and other materials from the old visitor center, which is being replaced, reduced the need for hauling materials and waste to and from the site.
The building is being designed with the hope of meeting LEED-Platinum standards, the highest level of certification. Visitors arriving at the August 2008 grand opening, however, might wonder if the emperor has no clothes. As they step off the bus into the parking area, no architectural grandeur will greet them. In fact, no building will be in sight at all.
"The big idea was that the building would somewhat step aside and let nature be the first impression on the site," said James Dougherty, principal and senior vice president with RIM Architects in Anchorage and principal-in-charge for the Eielson Visitor Center replacement project. "So you start the whole visitor impression with a nature-focused idea, instead of a development-focused idea." To accomplish this, the center will be earth sheltered, with one wall providing expansive views of the park and Mount McKinley.
JL TOWER
The owners of the JL Tower project were motivated by both the environmental and economic appeal of green building.
"We decided to go for LEED certification because we thought it was the right thing to do with respect to the environment, and we also thought it could be an advantage to us from a marketing point of view," said Leonard Hyde, president of JL Properties in Anchorage. "As companies become more environmentally aware, we think we'll see more and more prospective tenants who would like to be in environmentally friendly facilities." Hyde also said he expects to see savings in operating expenses.
Because JL Tower will rent office space to tenants, the project is working toward a certification called LEED-Core and Shell, rather than trying to certify the entire building.
"The Core and Shell program recognizes that in a speculative office building the architects and the building owner/ developer only control the shell and the core of building until tenant space is built out," said Bryce Klug, associate with RIM Architects and project manager for the JL Tower project. "It has a couple of unique aspects to account for the fact that you're only trying to certify the public spaces--the restrooms, the main corridors, the exterior envelope of the building."
As in the Eielson building, part of the green building aspect relies on the sun.
"We've tried to lay out this building so it maximizes the amount of natural light that is available to every space within the building," said Rolland Reid, principal/senior vice president for RIM Architects and principal-in-charge for the JL Tower project. Using natural daylight reduces electricity demand and can boost employee productivity. Other energy and water efficiency upgrades and the use of low-VOC materials--products that off-gas minimal amounts of volatile organic compounds--will also earn LEED points for the project, which is scheduled for completion next spring.
OTHER RECENT LEED PROJECTS
The Homer public library received LEED-Silver certification in April. Architect Brian Meissner of ECI/ Hyer Inc. enjoyed finding local materials to earn LEED points for that project.
"All of the aggregate for concrete is local, we used local concrete block out of Soldotna, and we used insulation produced in Ship Creek by Western Insulfoam," he said. "A majority of the casework and the desks and the tables were built in either Homer or Kenai."
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Perhaps the most distinctive local material is the old Kenai High School gym floor. The floor was intercepted on its way to the landfill, refinished, and is now seeing new life as countertops in the building.
Meissner acknowledged that finding local materials can be difficult in Alaska's remote locations, but he sees plenty of options for sites along the road or Railbelt. "One of most fun things you can do is to prove that you can make that point happen, because it forces new ways of thinking," he said.
The designers of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Fairbanks are waiting to hear from the USGBC what level of certification that building has earned. They expect to earn at least gold certification and are hopeful of having the northern-most platinum building in the country. Some of the green strategies incorporated there include the use of movable walls that allow for future remodeling without the need to tear out and replace drywall, the use of drywall scraps as a soil amendment on site, and giving wood scraps to contractors for use as heating fuel at home.
In May the building committee for the new Anchorage Museum of History announced plans to make that building the first LEED-certified public facility in the city.
A WORK IN PROGRESS
The LEED program is designed to evolve as lessons are learned and new strategies developed. Meissner pointed to a couple of things he would like to see improved.
"My biggest disappointment in LEED is that the energy modeling is designed to prove LEED compliance. It's not designed to help you create a more energy-efficient building," he said. The program also tends to favor air conditioning over heating, which can be less important in Alaska.
Meissner also said that one intention of the LEED program is to build a market for green building products. As such, it does not reward using less, in terms of materials.
"The most sustainable decision that anyone can make is to not use something," he said. "The LEED system doesn't reward you for not doing things."
Despite his critiques, Meissner is still a fan.
"I still think LEED is the absolute best tool that is out there right now to get you going," he said.
GROWING AWARENESS
Several architects said that the popularity of the LEED program has led to a new approach to the design process, even for buildings that are not going to be certified.
"I think there is a new way of working on buildings that I'd like to attribute to LEED. That has to do with early collaboration between the client and all of the sub-consultant designers at the initial decision-making," Dougherty said. "I think that this has led to better communication overall and a new, better way of doing any commercial project."
As an example of the change in perspective, Reid said that the contractor for the JL Tower is working hard to reduce waste, regardless of whether his actions earn LEED points. For example, he is making topsoil out of the peat removed from the site.
"I think just the awareness raising of the process caused the contractor to look at some opportunities that he might not normally have explored," Reid said.
Awareness is also growing in terms of client interest.
"We're finding almost no clients who are not interested in sustainability now," Meissner said. Based on conversations with his colleagues in the Lower 48, Meissner suspects there is even more interest in sustainable building in Alaska than elsewhere in the country, a difference he attributes to Alaskans' connection with their natural surroundings. "We are more aware of what is around us than a lot of people are in the Lower 48. We're out there more."
As more certified sustainable projects are built in Alaska, the awareness of how the built environment relates to those natural surroundings is likely to continue to grow.
RELATED ARTICLE: Building Anchorage's future: the city may officially embraced LEED.
A group of architects, landscape architects, designers and others have spent the past year working on a proposal for a green building ordinance for Anchorage. The intention of the Sustainable Building Initiative is for all new public buildings in the municipality to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The draft language also proposes that private developers receive incentives for LEED-certified projects.
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Mayor Mark Begich welcomes the long-term financial savings promised by energy and water-efficient buildings.
"In our view it is worth the capital investment on the front end for long-term taxpayer savings on operations," he said. Under the Anchorage 2020 plan, public buildings are to have a 50-year life expectancy, long enough to recoup any upfront costs of efficiency upgrades. Because water used by commercial buildings is metered in Anchorage, Begich stressed that both water and energy efficiency result in cost savings.
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