I will leave the Expo summary to Amanda. I was able to attend the opening plenary session with speeches by Rick Fedrizzi, President and CEO of USGBC and former President Bill Clinton amongst others. The choir was large and preaching was vibrant. In order to keep the energy up for the other 364 days a website was launched: GreenBuild365 I also attended six education sessions…

Pioneering Thresholds of Sustainable Urbanism was session that unveiled LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development). Doug Farr amongst other passionate speakers discussed that it takes more then individual green buildings to make a sustainable future for our children’s children- children should not be having children, but that will be a future post.

Joe Van Bellegham and Jonathan Westeinde of Windmill Development Group discussed creating high performance buildings and sustainable neighborhoods from a developers perspective. The idea of a developer who cares about more then profits is somewhat of unicorn- stuff or fantasy and folktales; however they take the triple bottom line approach to making decisions. Dockside green was the main project presented. I’m not sure if any description I would write could do justice to the project. It was truly inspiring to hear about the work they are doing. From energy efficient buildings; local sewage treatment to make the residents money and handle waste locally; to providing jobs for original Americans. Check out the website for more information.

From Winter Gardens to Desert Tents: Advancements in the science of Facade Design show how engineers and facade designers solve the problems architects create. The presentation started out as a scrum with Duncan Phillips of Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Consulting Engineers; Marc Simmons of Front Inc.; and Paul Stoller of Atelier Ten quickly describing the basic physics that act on a building. From there they showed numerous case studies of cutting edge projects from around the world; however the zenith of high performance buildings are igloos and straw huts. They use local materials to keep the inhabitants comfortable. Using nothing but snow and ice an igloo can create a 70 degree temperature differential from -40 to 30. If only more buildings could perform that well with limited heat and be recycled on site. The most important message I got was study all the aspects of a problem, define a range of solutions and find the point of diminishing returns for an optimal solution. This is different then the typical Beaux-Arts approach of sketch out an idea and make it work, even if it is wrong.

What do you get when you have Grimshaw Architects, who are passionate about sailing, design a carbon-free community? A vision of utilizing local resources, especially the wind and the sea to create a community that is planned on being net zero carbon, but it is being held up by red tape. Las Palmas Inner Harbour Redevelopment is planning on using large scale wind turbines for electrical generation and tourist attraction. Charlie Paton was not able to present his idea of Seawater Greenhouses, so an associate from Grimshaw filled in for him. The idea is to create an environment for agriculture in hot arid climates on the seacoast that desalinates water and uses it for irrigation. A large scale version of this technology is planned for Las Palmas that will create potable water for the community and act a backdrop for an outdoor theater. I hope they get this project moving so I can take a sailing holiday in Spain. On another note, they mentioned a curtain wall system they designed for a marine hardware manufacturer to utilize high strength rope as the framing system- Flexxwall -although is was a little commercial for this product, I was sold.

Although I managed to attend two more sessions they were not worth writing about.

I’ll be attending the Expo, to check out all the green products and services available to me as an architect.  I got here very early, to avoid the lines.   The number of attendants has far exceeded what was planned for.  This is excellent in many ways, but has obviously been a hurdle for the event planners to manage. 

I will only be attending the expo, but my partner in crime is attending a number of classes this week, and so he’ll report on a variety of topics, including Sustainable Residential Development in Canada and building Green Communities.

I hope you continue to enjoy the offerings.  There are also a couple of new features in the works, so keep reading!

WHEN: Thursday October 18, 2007 at 7p.m.

Free of Charge and Open to the Public.

WHERE: Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum

10899 Wilshire Blvd (at Westwood), Los Angeles, CA

About Hammer Conversations

Hammer Conversations is an ongoing series that pairs creative thinkers for engaging discussions on culture, science, and the arts. It is presented by the Hammer Museum.

About Wired LivingHome

WIRED magazine and LivingHomes present the first ever WIRED Home, a showcase of the best in sustainability, technology and design. Designed by acclaimed residential architect, Ray Kappe, and Gold LEED® certified, the house is prefab to reduce cost and waste. Fully automated to allow for simplicity and control, it is filled with the latest in gadgets, gear and appliances, yet still keeps kilowatt usage low. The home’s anticipated energy use is 36 percent more efficient than a conventional residence of a similar size. Wired LivingHome will be open for tours from October 27^th to November 11^th. For more Information and to purchase tickets, visit: www.wired.com/wiredlivinghome

I won’t be able to make it, but if YOU do, please drop me a line with your thoughts!

First, we have to understand what’s already in place.

Simple diagram of typical water treatment plant from the EPA.

Today, most cities have a combined sewer system – waste water from inside buildings (toilets, sinks, etc.) and runoff from the streets go into the same sewer pipes under the streets. When heavy rains occur, the pipes essentially overflow, and the waste water treatment plants have to release the combined dirty and rain water somewhere. In cities like Chicago and New York, that dirty water goes into nearby body of water. This keeps the streets from becoming sewers themselves.

Another approach, which is employed in areas of Philadelphia, for example is a separate sewer system. Separate sewers carry waste water separately from rainwater. If an entire city were on this system, the excess loads on the system could be alleviated by allowing only the rainwater pipes to flow, un-treated, into the nearby body of water.
The other part of the issue of water treatment in urban areas is that cities have very little open ground for rainwater to soak into. Streets, buildings, sidewalks fill up the land and when it rains, there is nowhere for the water to go besided to the sewer. Parks and yards help, but are typically not spread evenly in an urban area.

There are many ways like green roofs and swales that are now being employed to give the water a place to go, besides the sewer. New development offers a chance to put these solutions into play, project by project, on a larger scale. Some of these solutions (green roofs) can be employed by property owners of existing buildings. All efforts in this vein will reduce the loads on the combined sewer systems.
With something as critical as our water, changing the system over time is the only feasbile way to go. It’s not reasonable to shut a city’s water and sewer system down to do a full system overhaul. This is not to say larger plans are not being considered. In Chicago, for instance, UrbanLab has made a proposal for chaning the way we treat water.

Rendering, Fordham Spire, Chicago IL
In many locations, the current building boom is the market correcting itself – making up for lost time, when progress and change was unable to happen (sometimes due to over priced land in an undesirable location) for a number of years.

View of model, Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn, NYC

Cities are interesting and desirable because of the jumble – of everyone doing their own thing. We are in the early years of the 21st Century, and many are making their mark. Time is the best judge of a successful building. That is the risk the developer takes – what works today, may not be tomorrow.

Historic map of NYC Development
Brooklyn, NYC is experiencing a lot of growth, and related growing pains. But it is all intended for the greater good. From a recent article on the topic:
“Community Board 11 District Manager Howard Feuer has been a district manager for as long as there have been community boards in New York City, and he says he isn’t concerned about the “Manhattanization” of Brooklyn.

“We’ve already had it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be more like Manhattan. We’ve moved forward because people of vision came to this
borough, saw opportunities and made the best of it. All these things are so positive.
There’s more jobs, more people live and work in Brooklyn.”

Map of DUMBO area of Brooklyn, NYC

At the end of the day, it is all a lot of negotiation. The developers, architects, investors, elected officials and residents all give something up for a successful project to come to fruition.

Green Building Blocks where you can learn about a wide range of green building products, find green professionals in your area and much more

Perfect City blog where they’re discussing the future of our cities.

Find out the latest architectural news at The Floating Podium

Added under the Projects heading:

WIRED LivingHome

Dumbo NYC, Brooklyn

Atlantic Yards