NW designers out in front
on architecture's green future

Eastside city rapidly changing from suburban to urban

By DAVID MILLER
Miller/Hull

A great sweep of sterile wheat will arc across a lupine meadow in the interim plan for SAM's proposed sculpture park on the former Unocal site.

The turn of the century (let’s not mention the “m” word) is bringing with it a transformation of design through advances in communication and construction technology. Globally this transformation has caused a shift toward an ecological consciousness in the design fields. This trend promises to be incredibly far-reaching, permeating all aspects of theory and practice for architects, landscape architects, planners, engineers and builders.

The new information age with its revolutions in communications systems is already creating new demands that will ultimately call for buildings designed for change and adaptability to the latest technological standards. These two exciting directions -- the technology sprint and the focus on environmental sustainability -- are manifested in the Pacific Northwest. With communications/technology companies in our backyard and our unique natural environment we, more than any other region in the world, have the opportunity to bring these together into a comprehensive design approach, an approach that is much more about issues than about the form making and material gymnastics so prevalent in the obsessive and indulgent 1990s.

Building is sustainable if it employs the most advanced technologies, while at the same time justifying their use in architectural solutions that not only meet the economic interests of clients, but also the aesthetic concerns of the architects, the changing needs of the users and the future ecological challenges facing humanity.

Projects that have integrated these issues are hard to find, but a few interesting projects are recently completed or are in design here in our region. These projects demonstrate exciting notions about technology and climate-generated form.

I have divided them into three categories representing how we are moving toward planning and design in the future:

• Light construction/resource conserving building;

• Ecological planning

• Buildings for working – the integrated future

Light construction/resource conserving building

Ecological building principles and climate-responsive enclosure systems can have as much to do with the resultant form as do style and aesthetic manipulation exercises.

Patkau's Petite Masion de Weekend is designed to be completely independent, with power generation and water collection systems and a composting toilet.

The Environmental Learning Center will turn 250 acres of Bainbridge Island into a place for young campers to learn environmental stewardship.

Two projects in design currently that show promise are the Puget Sound Environmental Learning Center on Bainbridge Island by Mithun Partners and the Petite Masion de Weekend Revisited Project by Patkau Architects of Vancouver, B.C.

The Puget Sound ELC is conceptualized as an intensive immersion experience for young campers to learn environmental stewardship. The project will incorporate 250 acres of ponds, streams, wetlands, rare bogs and existing timber structures. The new center's buildings will integrate systems in natural lighting, natural ventilation, variable thermal transmittance and passive energy strategies.

The shelter by Patkau is designed to be completely independent of conventional site services. Relying on standard, easily available materials such as timber framing and plywood, and with a budget of $25,000, it includes photovoltaic cells for power generation, a water collection system and a composting toilet.

Ecological planning

Making use of sites that are in industrial margins, that have had a history of toxic-waste generating industry, provides an opportunity for public development that can reclaim and revitalize the land. Two interesting projects in Seattle that would develop and reclaim marginal sites:

Piers 1 and 2: a student proposal. A team of University of Washington architecture students have proposed a radical new vision for the undeveloped property in West Seattle adjacent to the Port’s Terminal 5 facility. A recycling structure, supplied primarily by barge and truck, rests on pylons on the east edge of the site. A commuter water taxi and ferry offices occupy the western side with a reclaimed marshland extending the length of the site’s shoreline.

Anderson and Ray’s interim planting plan for Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park imposes a great sweep of sterile wheat across a lupine meadow canvas for the former Unocal fuel transfer facility near Denny and Elliott. The project is both a restoration expression and an art installation. It will be followed by arts-related public events as SAM moves forward with the project.

Buildings for working: the integrated future

In office building design the trend is toward slimmer floor plates allowing occupants better access to natural light and ventilation and greater control of their interior environment. Complementing this is an increased understanding of buildings as totally integrated environments linking energy strategies with indoor air quality and utilizing responsible material with minimal environmental impacts. Again two projects illustrate these recent trends:

This Vancouver office building has a variety of green features, including sun shades and operable windows.

For the new Bainbridge Island City Hall, the Miller/Hull Partnership together with O’Brien & Co., a sustainable design consultant, aggressively incorporated natural air circulation, daylighting and low toxic finishes to improve indoor air quality and decrease energy consumption.

The building includes many products made of recycled or engineered materials to conserve resources, as well as 70,000 board feet of certified wood. It takes a global approach to sustainability by encouraging environmental stewardship among manufacturers and suppliers. The design also incorporates community information systems with public computer terminals tapped into the agency’s information systems.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Busby and Associates recently completed the highly energy-efficient Revenue Canada Burnaby-Fraser Tax Services Building in Surrey, B.C. In this project, technology is combined with the need for environmentally responsible design and manifests in the formal composition of the building.

The new Bainbridge Island City Hall design took a global approach to sustainability by encouraging environmental stewardship among manufacturers and suppliers.

This project has exterior wall enclosure systems which incorporate elegant curved-glass sun shading devices that cut glare and reflect natural light into the building.

The mechanical approach utilizes a dynamic thermal storage strategy taking advantage of the building’s structural mass and incorporates operable windows throughout, with natural ventilation provided to the occupants.

A pressurized floor plenum system is used to distribute fresh air as necessary and further enhances employees' control of their work environment.

These are only a few of the projects being designed in the region which strive toward ecologically sustainable building and which link together conceptual ideas based on real program and site issues.

We should all build upon these notions and work toward a truly new and unique regional architecture.