Performance
The Dogrun
a place to share ideas
Recently, a few of us traveled to GreenBuild in New Orleans to see what’s new in the world of sustainability. Though the official theme of the conference was resilience (particularly relevant given the host city) a few other hot topics kept popping up. Here are three major themes that I noticed from Greenbuild 2014. Disclosure is hip! In 1906, journalist Upton Sinclair publish his novel “The Jungle” which revealed to the public the unsanitary and dangerous conditions in American meatpacking plants. Less than a year later, the US government passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and...
Each year, firms that have signed up for the AIA 2030 Commitment report their progress toward the 2030 Challenge in their design work. Lake|Flato is proud to have participated and reported in the AIA 2030 Commitment program since its inception. The AIA produces an annual report summarizing the results of everyone's reports. The 2013 report has just been released and is rife with interesting data on our industry's progress toward carbon neutrality.
The Josey Pavilion, our first project seeking Living Building Challenge certification, began its operational phase on October 1 st and things are looking good. During the month of October, Josey Consumed 139 kWh of electricity and generated 358 kWh. This is net positive usage of 219 kWh, meaning that 219 kWh of energy were sent back into the grid. Josey generated about 25% less energy than predicted, which is a little disconcerting but it also used less than half the energy that we had anticipated. A few more months like this and we should be in the clear. This is the second post of a twelve...
Lake|Flato's Ryan Jones will be presenting at Facades+ this upcoming Friday in Dallas, Texas. He will be sharing our firm's work in passive envelope design, including case study information on a project we have under construction at Georgia Tech. We hope you'll be able to come out and attend his workshop !
Perkins+Will's Healthy Materials Group and Science Fellow Michael Dedeo have released new research in response to the need for architects and interior designers to develop a better understanding of flame retardants and their impact on health. The white paper, “Healthy Environments: Strategies for Avoiding Flame Retardants in the Built Environment,” identifies opportunities to design healthier buildings without compromising fire safety or code compliance. Lake|Flato is looking forward to using this helpful guide in our work.
Construction has finished, the air quality has been tested, and the monitoring systems are up and running. Today, The Josey Pavilion begins its one year operation phase to prove that it generates 100% of its energy and purifies 100% of its water. If all goes as designed, next year The Josey Pavilion will join the world’s most exclusive club of high performance buildings, Certified Living Building. This is the first post of a twelve post series on the process of obtaining Living Building Status. Each month over the next year, we will be posting an update on our water and energy usage and well...
This year's class of LEED Fellows was announced last week by the U.S. Green Building Council. Lake|Flato congratulates all 48 Fellows for their exceptional contributions to the green building community as well as for their significant achievements among LEED Professionals. Way to go!
Build San Antonio Green's (BSAG) annual home tour is taking place this Saturday! Tickets are on sale at on BSAG's tour site for $15/person. I have had the opportunity to attend the tour in the past and it is always a good time. It is self-paced and includes some really interesting projects in some of San Antonio's coolest neighborhoods. I hope to see you there!
One of the most challenging requirements of the Living Building Challenge is the Red List. The Red List is a list of commonly used construction materials that cannot be used in Living Building Challenge projects due to health/toxicity concerns. I am often asked about specific items on the Red List and what the specific concerns about them are. This compiled list by the International Living Future Institute helps to explain why they feel these materials should be phased out of production.
Mitsubish Electric has produced a video on Lake|Flato's Hacienda Ja Ja. The video is a brief case study on the project featuring a testimonial from the homeowner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoMsPoFSI50&list=UU10MNSvCT18cw_w8zgqJCVw
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