GreenClips.80 09.24.97 KEN RHYNE'S ANCESTRAL RESPONSIBILITY Interior designer Ken Rhyne, a Tuscarora Indian and one of the founders of the Native American Design Collaborative, approaches design holistically. "We believe we are the caretakers of the Earth, and so I have a responsibility to my ancestors and my family to do just that," says the 49-year-old former professional baseball catcher from his Atlanta office. NADC architects, designers, and engineers supplied both expertise and practical wisdom to the core design team for the Cultural Resources Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian that will open next fall in Suitland, Maryland. The center's design is a joint venture of James Stewart Polshek & Partners of New York City and the Reston, Virginia-based architectural firm Tobey+Davis. Mindful of daylight and the surrounding landscape, the 150,000 square-foot structure will accommodate nearly a million tribal artifacts for study or on-site ceremonial use. Rhyne is not just considering building materials that have little environmental impact, but also those available locally. He plans to face the center's interior walls with granite excavated for its underground parking garage and to replant trees removed for construction in its landscaping. "Indian people use only what they need and they're very respectful of how they take it," says Rhyne. "And they always try to find a way to give something back." — Metropolis, September 1997, p.70, by Janet L. Rumble. REPORT FROM ECOLONIA Six years after construction began on Ecolonia, a project of 100 demonstration houses with nine different styles and architects in the Dutch town of Alphen aan de Rijn, most Dutch building contractors are applying only its more profitable ecological features. Fast money-making features like non-toxic chalk-composite structural internal building blocks, solar boilers and roof-mounted heaters, internal warm walls, and natural ventilation systems have quickly become marketplace items. But other features like the vegetation-covered roofs of ecological architect Renz Pijnenborgh cost more than a traditional tile roof and gave no added insulation, concluded a residents' assessment report published by the semi-governmental agency Novem. Still, most residents are happy with many of the project's ecological aspects, particularly the quality of the indoor air that's passed over waterfalls and through plants for filtering. Residents with air heating dislike it, preferring well-placed radiator elements — or Pijnenborgh's heated wall — coupled to a high-efficiency gas boiler with a solar addition. Tenants say that water-based paints have lost their brightness and need improvement. Now convinced it's safe for boaters and paddlers, tenants like the man-made lake with its reed bed that self-cleans gray water. — Eco Design, Vol V No 2, p. 26, by Bill Holdsworth. A CAR FOR EVERY DRIVER The US Department of Transportation's latest Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey says that, from 1969 to 1995, the vehicle population of the United States grew six times faster than its human population. The number of cars has increased two and a half times as fast as the number of households, and twice as fast as the number of drivers. The number of vehicles has risen by 144 percent, to 176 million. The number of drivers has also risen, but only by 72 percent. Drivers used to outnumber cars by 30 percent; now the two are equal. The number of households with three or more vehicles is 18.7 percent, up from 4.6 percent in 1969. "Inundation is not too strong a term for it," says transportation expert Alan E. Pisarski. But he says the growth spurt won't continue — the rush of women into the work force and of baby boomers into the ranks of licensed drivers has ended. "We're probably stabilizing at high levels," Pisarski continues, "but the key point is it doesn't matter, once we have more vehicles than drivers. Unless you accept the notion that a driver can drive more than one at a time... ." — The New York Times, September 21, 1997, p. 18, by Matthew L. Wald. TEXTILE ARCHITECTURE: MORE WITH LESS Usually limited to garden party tents or big tops, textile fabric structures can bring their material efficiency, adaptability, and thermal and light diffusing properties to permanent buildings. Strong and lightweight, textile fabric structures provide more shelter with fewer materials and components than conventional construction. Tensile structures made of fabrics with PVC-coated-polyester or Teflon-coated glass fibers can span up to 300 meters. Despite environmental concerns about these coatings and fibers, the membranes' high durability saves resources. Averaging 15 to 20 years, the life span of architectural fabrics compares to flat roofing materials, but their low materials and energy intensity allows them to be replaced or reused at relatively low environmental cost. Designing easily-reconfigured fabric structures around a permanent core creates a highly adaptable building that can grow and contract, an essential element of a durable and environmentally responsible building. And using a fabric sandwich with insulating air between reflective or transmissive membranes controls sunlight and buffers external conditions. For more information, call the Textile Environmental Network, Manchester, England, 0161.745.5276. — Eco Design, Vol V No 2, p. 36, by Kate Fletcher. NMS GUIDELINES GREEN SPECIFICATIONS Writers of the National Master Specification, Canada's leading construction specification tool, have developed a Guideline for Environmentally Enhanced Specifications for Construction and Renovation. The NMS Secretariat prepared the manual to help the Federal Government's designers and specifiers write green specifications for construction, renovation, demolition, and deconstruction projects. The manual applies a comprehensive set of criteria to various NMS sections and offers references, detailed information sources, examples of greened specifications, and case studies. [For more information, email Ian Z. Bartlett at the NMS Secretariat, bartleti@pwgsc.gc.ca.] — WasteNot, Spring-Summer 1997, p.1, by Ian Z. Bartlett. SPECIFYING ENERGY EFFICIENT LIGHTING Update your specifications — energy efficient lighting technology is increasingly sophisticated and economical. Boost fluorescent light output at low cost with specular reflectors. Following poor quality first runs, reputable manufacturers now offer durable and effective products. And use T5 and T4 ultra-thin fluorescent lamps with small electronic ballasts for higher lumen-per-watt output than T8 lamps. For downlighting and accent lighting, consider low-wattage metal halide PAR20 and PAR30 lamps, now with improved color rendering and stability. For outdoor flood lighting or remote-source lighting through optical fiber or interreflective film, consider lollipop-sized electrodeless sulfur lamps that provide incredibly bright light with a 60,000-hour life. — The Construction Specifier, August 1997, p. 35, by Mark Loeffler.