INTEGRATED DESIGN INFORMS HISTORIC BUILDING RENOVATION
A new program launched by the US Department of Energy--the Consortium for High Performance Buildings (CHPB)--identifies and promotes existing commercial buildings that are models of energy efficiency, sustainability, superior quality and cost effectiveness. One of CHPB's first buildings, a renovation project for the Administration for Children's Services Center in New York City, adhered to CHPB's tenets by employing lifecycle cost analysis, sound building material selection, and detailed computer modeling using DOE-2.1E. This energy-performance simulation program enabled an informed approach to the integration of glazing, insulation, lighting and HVAC.  Constructed in 1912, the six-story, 116,740-square-foot building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Taking advantage of the original design's large floor-to-ceiling heights and expansive windows, the design team maximized natural light by incorporating clear, argon-filled double-pane glazing, continuous daylight dimming controls, and interior light shelves. A foamed-in-place magnesium silicate-a lightweight cementitious material that is fireproof and offers excellent insulation-augments the existing shell. The mechanical system includes a variable-air-volume system with variable-speed  drive, perimeter fan-coil units and run-around loop glycol heat-recovery devices. Since the design team had to use the historic building's existing shafts, the heat-recovery system became distributed in nature and needed more coils than originally planned for when a centralized ventilation shaft was envisioned. The building's combined energy-efficiency strategies have a simple payback of 7.6 years. Annual energy costs are expected to be 33 percent lower--the equivalent of almost $100,000--than comparable state of New York facilities that merely comply with existing codes. - Consulting-Specifying Engineer, Feb 00, p 24, by Adrian Tuluca, Devashish Lahiri and Ian Graham. [Full text: <http://www.buildingteam.com/applic/articles/c00b024.asp>]

RFQ ISSUED FOR RESPIRATORY-FRIENDLY BUILDING
The American Lung Association of Colorado is seeking proposals from architects for the design of an innovative office building that integrates respiratory-friendly, daylighting, energy-saving, and other green building technologies. The 20,000-square-foot building will be constructed in Denver in 2001. To receive the Request for Qualifications for Architectural Services, contact Gerry Henighan, ALAC, 303.388.4327 or email <ghenighan@alacolo.org>. The deadline for proposals is April 7. - Solar Today, Mar-Apr 00, p 46.

RESIDENCE HALL SERVES AS LIVE-IN CENTER FOR ECO-STUDIES
Last year, Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin opened the Wendy & Malcolm McLean Environmental Living and Learning Center, where students can learn first-hand about sustainable architecture. Staff, administration, trustees, the design team and students helped establish the project's goals, which included creating an energy-efficient, healthy building environment; using  sustainable-energy sources, regional resources, and materials with low-embodied energy; and reducing construction waste. Students listed dozens of items they wanted in the new residence hall, including water-saving composting toilets and low-volume showers and sinks. "We incorporated nearly  all of those suggestions into the building," says Tom Wojciechowski, director of student development. Designed by LHB Engineers & Architects of Duluth and Hammel Green and Abrahamson of Minneapolis, the 40,000-square-foot building includes standard double rooms, suites, and six-person apartments with kitchens. The furniture was made of recycled milk jugs and the lumber was harvested from sustainably managed forests. A "solar wing" boasts photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine capable of providing up to 45 percent of the energy needs of three or four apartments. Energy-testing equipment  allows students to measure how much power their stereos, televisions and other appliances soak up. - Architecture Minnesota, Mar-Apr 00, p 45, by  Frank Jossi. [More: <http://www.northland.edu/studentlife/ELLC/index.html>]

FOUR TIMES SQUARE: HOW GREEN IS IT?
Four Times Square, a 49-story tower in Manhattan designed by Fox & Fowle Architects for The Durst Organization, illustrates the inherent conflict in trying to have a green, urbanistic, architecturally striking, and comfortably functioning building in New York City. With its flashing signs-including Nasdaq's eight-story LED sign-gobbling up power, it's ironic that the building has been heralded as environmentally sensitive. But the project does incorporate many environmental and energy-efficiency strategies. Two 200-kilowatt fuel cells, which convert natural gas into electricity without combustion, were installed on-site to generate 8 percent of the building's electricity, while photovoltaic panels on 2,955 square feet of the building's walls meet only about half a percent of the building's energy needs. High-reflectance glass cuts solar heat gain on the upper floors. Despite these and other environmental strategies, the actual energy savings is not earth-shattering. Nevertheless, Hillary Brown, managing editor of New York City's Department of Design and Construction High Performance Building Guidelines, comments, "Sure, the project could be criticized for where it  fell short. But nobody else in spec building is saying, 'We have to be socially responsible, take risks, and educate ourselves.' The developers, the architects, and all their consultants should take pride in this achievement. They are setting new standards." More: go to Projects at <http://www.architecturalrecord.com/>. - Architectural Record, Mar 00, p  91, by Suzanne Stephens.

SEATTLE ADOPTS LEED RATING SYSTEM
In late January, Mayor Paul Schell of Seattle announced that the city of Seattle intends to build all its public buildings over 5,000 square feet to meet or exceed the silver rating of the US Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System. Lucia Athens, chair of the city's Green Team, which has been working on the policy for over a year, credits the mayor and the city council for taking "such a strong leadership role and providing a model of what direction the private sector should go." The team decided to tie their policy to LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] because they needed to move quickly to influence the city's building projects, many of which were already underway. Not only does LEED provide a definition of green in keeping with the city's goals, but LEED's flexibility allows each project team to select green strategies that will best meet that  project's goals. The city, which is in the middle of a public building boom, will pay for the green strategies through utility incentives programs and an additional 4 percent capital budget allocation on some projects. More: <http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/util/rescons/susbuild/links.htm> or  <http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/light/conserve/sustainability>. - Environmental Design & Construction, Mar-Apr 00, p 12.

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