OSC Living Building Eco-Charrette Report

125 Pages·2009·14.48 MB·English

OREGON SUSTAINABILITY CENTER
Living Building Eco-Charrette Report
April 6–10, 2009
prepared by
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design team
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table of contents
executive summary ............................................ 5
monday ................................................................. 8
welcome, introductory presentations, collaboration
commitment, design slam
tuesday ................................................................. 14
programming: the osc experience, multi-scale issues
and opportunities, osc work environment
wednesday ........................................................... 24
design strategies: building envelope, energy, water,
materials
thursday ................................................................ 27
iconic & beauty, design visions, district considerations,
overarching principles, initial design concepts
friday ................................... ................................. 35
stakeholder group meeting, open house
conclusion .......................... ................................. 36
appendices
A: charrette agenda ...................................... 38
B: LBC prerequisites ..................................... 40
C: preliminary LEED assessment .................. 42
D: draft research agenda .............................. 44
E: charrette artifacts .................................... 47
F: presentation slides ................................... 85
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Overview
The week of April 6-10, over eighty stakeholders and project team members
(participants) gathered to participate in an Eco-charrette for the new Oregon
Sustainability Center (OSC). The OSC is a 240,000-sf offce building to be located
downtown Portland, Oregon that will house a collective of private, non-proft,
academic and public organizations collaborating to accelerate growth and innovation
in Oregon’s green economy. The Eco-charrette kicked off a Phase I Feasibility Study
funded by the Portland Development Commission (PDC) to determine the fnancial
and technical feasibility of achieving the ambitious Living Building Challenge (LBC)
Standard for the project. The Eco-charrette resulted in the development of key design
principles, concepts and direction for the project team to generate a schematic design
and cost-estimates for the project over the 90-day period of the Phase I. The outcome
of Phase I will determine the desirability and feasibility of the OSC, including the
potential to achieve the LBC.
OregOn SuStainability Center PrOjeCt
The (PDC); City of Portland (City) as represented by the
Portland + Oregon Sustainability Institute (P+OSI); the
State of Oregon (State), acting by and through the State
Board of Higher Education and its Oregon University System
(OUS); and the Oregon Living Building Initiative (OLBI), a
consortium of leading sustainability-focused organizations;
partnered for the ambitious purpose of developing and
operating a world-class multi-story offce building called the “Oregon Sustainability
Center” (OSC). The OSC will become the state’s green economy portal to accelerate
business opportunities for Oregon’s sustainable industries, scale and expand best
practices, and provide a home for cross-sector strategic collaboration. It will function
as a hub of research on sustainable practices, public policy, private business and
economic development, networking, outreach and training with the intent of catalyzing
growth in Oregon’s green economy. In addition to these programmatic functions, the
building will be a physical manifestation of Oregon’s commitment to sustainability and
pursues the Living Building Challenge Standard.
The OSC will be developed on PDC-owned property at SW Montgomery Street and
SW 5th Avenue and adjacent to the Portland State University campus in downtown
Portland, Oregon and will be implemented in two phases:
Phase I: Feasibility Study and Development (Current through Spring 2009)
Phase II: Design and Construction (~2009-2012, depending on outcome of Phase I)
The PDC selected a team to execute the Phase I Feasibility Study through a competitive
RFP process (RFP: http://pdc.us/pdf/rfps/2009/RFP-08-23-Sustainability-Ctr.pdf),
which is now underway and includes the following scope items:
• Predevelopment/Due Diligence
• Development Program and Schematic Design
• Preliminary Development Budget
• Project Schedule
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executive summary
The outcome of Phase I will determine the desirability and feasibility of the OSC,
including the potential to achieve the Living Building Challenge.
living building Challenge
The LBC is widely-regarded as the most rigorous sustainability
standard for buildings and sites and pursuit of the LBC requires strong
expertise, collaboration, analysis and diligence. The LBC differs from
LEED in that it seeks absolute, rather than incremental, building
and site performance (i.e. net zero energy instead of 20% better than
code) and is comprised of sixteen prerequisites, rather than a host of
optional credits and certifcation thresholds as in LEED. In addition
it requires documentation of actual performance through at least one
year of operations, rather than modeled or predicted performance. Achievement of
the LBC standard is extremely challenging in any project and the level of diffculty
generally increases with project size. Some projects have achieved one or more of
the prerequisites within the LBC, but no one project has achieved all of the LBC
requirements. Available: http://www.cascadiagbc.org/lbc/lbc-v1.3.pdf.
eCO-Charrette
A group of stakeholders and design team members
participated in an Eco-charrette the week of April 6-10 to
kickoff Phase I of the project. The intent of the Eco-charrette
was to set collaborative working relationships across the
design team, elicit stakeholder ideas and input and to
develop and evolve the design direction for the project.
The Eco-charrette was purposefully designed to address the
uniqueness of the project:
High profle- The OSC intends to be an iconic structure,
catalyst for Oregon’s green economy and nexus for multi-
sector collaboration. A successful project will result in
international recognition for the project’s ability to be a
direct, physical manifestation of the building’s programmatic
intent.
Scale- Approximately one hundred people representing a
broad range of interests, engagement and stake in the OSC participated in the fve-day
Eco-charrette.
Performance- The OSC seeks to, at a minimum, have the least possible impact
during construction and zero impact during operations and aspires to have a
restorative effect on Oregon’s social, economic and environmental health.
Team- The project team is comprised of Portland, Oregon-based frms that each has
vast, demonstrated experience in applying green building and sustainability. The
notion is that, collectively, this team has the potential to generate an extraordinary
project that meets or exceeds the project objectives.
People- The OSC is distinguished by the intent to be a place that, through design and
governance, facilitates collaboration across tenants and partners. This intentional
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co-location and collaboration aims to be an engine that advances Oregon’s green
economy.
The week’s agenda provided the structure for a process of enabling the team and
stakeholders to think, communicate and collaborate with the unencumbered creativity
warranted by the high aspirations of the project. Specifcally, participants were asked
to participate in an array of unconventional ways including a Living Building Slam in
which participants were asked to provide a hypothetical restorative project in one hour;
singing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”; developing a Living Building
product; silently envisioning and then articulating the “ideal workspace”; identifying
programming issues at multiple scales through “problem seeking” in the pursuit of a
Living Building; developing a prospective research agenda for and by the project; and
devising design concepts that begin to integrate all of this work. Ultimately, a clear set
of design principals emerged from the process that will help the project team vet their
design approach moving forward. Throughout the session the agenda and charrette
space created a “sweet spot” to work in that suffciently escaped convention yet
generated meaningful and actionable direction for the project team.
OutCOme
From the many hours of creative thinking, problem seeking and solving, learning,
listening, application and refection emerged fve Core OSC Principles to guide the
Phase I design of the project (see page 31 for more detailed narratives on these
principles):
1
appropriately scale systems for optimal performance
2
make less do more
3
design for resource equity
4
integrate natural systems to benefit all species
5
recognize that people are the life in living buildings
The Core OSC Principles are the primary criteria by which the design team will make
and evaluate decisions to marry the performance goals of the Living Building Challenge
and the objectives of the OSC. Each Principle is supported by the collaborative
groundwork that took place each day of Eco-charrette and the information and
relationships it generated. With this information and guidance, the design team
embarks on Phase I to identify where in the spectrum of intent and feasibility lays the
potential for the OSC.
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The frst day of the Eco-charrette was used to create a common understanding of the intent and scope
of the OSC project and the Eco-charrette across all stakeholders. Further, the intent was to establish a
platform of collaboration, creativity and “out of the box” thinking in which to pursue the week.
welCOming
Rob Bennett, Executive Director of P+OSI, welcomed all of the participants and recognized the
stakeholders that brought the OSC project to Phase I and this Eco-charrette. Rob provided an
overview of the intent of the OSC, the role of P+OSI and the rich collaborative of sustainability-
minded organizations that will play a signifcant role in further shaping and fulflling the project
mission.
PreSentatiOnS: Setting the Stage
A series of presentations followed Rob’s welcoming address to provide context for the week’s work.
• Clark Brockman of SERA Architects (design team) presented the genesis of the
LBC. The LBC was developed by the Cascadia Chapter of the U.S. Green Building
Council to challenge the development industry to move beyond incremental
performance improvement to zero and restorative impact development.
• Dennis Wilde of Gerding Edlen Development Company presented on Eco-districts
as a scaled approach to creating a sustainable built environment. Eco-districts are
distinguished by the ability to achieve incrementally higher performance levels
across a broader spectrum of focus areas through systems-based design, operation
and programming. The City of Portland’s EcoDISTRICTS Initiative (led by P+OSI)
seeks to invest in major redevelopment areas to test and accelerate scalable green
development strategies to be applied throughout the city.
• Judith Heerwagen, Ph.D and environmental and evolutionary psychologist,
presented on the imperative for the built environment to not only meet signifcantly
higher levels of performance, but to be shaped according to fundamental
human needs. Dr. Heerwagen overviewed the biophilia hypothesis, which says
that human’s have an deeply-rooted need to regularly affliate with the natural
environment to sustain good health, well being and productivity. Understanding
that people spend 90% of their time indoors, Dr. Heerwagen called for the
designers to be purposeful about creating literal, facsimile and evocative nature-
based sensory experiences for the occupants. Dr. Heerwagen’s presentation was
very appropriate segue to the week’s work and the principles that evolved from the
week.
eCO-Charrette COllabOratiOn COmmitment
A Collaboration Commitment was created and posted in the front of the room throughout the week.
This Commitment provided a visible list of conditions that create the collaborative and creative work
environment necessary to address the goals of the project and work for the week. All participants were
asked to sign the Collaboration Commitment as a show of their pledge to collaborate with the group.
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monday
1 6
engage with an open mind all ideas have value
2 7
Check your ego at the door enjoy this moment
3 8
leave your preconceptions behind think outside of...everything you know
4 9
listen, then respond no filters, let it flow
5 acknowledge the contributions of others 10 begin with the end in mind
deSign Slam
The day’s core activity was a design “SLAM.” The purpose of such an exercise is to: take people out of their
current context of role, space and time; provide challenging, seemingly unattainable requirements; allow
little time for deliberation so that teams cut to the chase; and to encourage team building. Participants were
put into eight design teams and were asked to design a project in response to a hypothetical owner team of
clients (the “SLAM Instigators”) in the year 2050 and in one hour. The instigators presented vey lofty goals
focused on social equity, fnancial performance, ecosystem services, children, salmon populations and the
restoration of ecosystems as well as the following project requirements:
 250,000 sf offce building with retail  Style counts
 Exceed the Living Building Challenge  Be specifc
 NO mechanical HVAC systems  Time counts
 NO plumbing  Judge’s decisions are fnal
 NO electric lighting
 ONLY natural materials
initiation
Following the owner team introductions, the owners directed the project teams to do the following:
1. “Name your group and tell us what each of you does
2. Tell us how YOU are going to work with US
3. Develop ONE EYE-POPPING Page for fnal presentation
4. Now… open envelopes and unleash imagination and SLAM – create the future!!”
The envelopes contained the Phase I RFP, the lyrics to Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”, the
project requirements, an aerial of the site and the Living Building Challenge Criteria.
The teams then worked diligently for 30 minutes before being
directed by the client team to stop, retrieve the lyrics sheet and
collectively sing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”.
Following this unanticipated reprieve, the teams dove back into
their work for another thirty minutes to complete the one hour
designated for development and design.
PrOPOSed PrOjeCt deSign COnCePtS
Each team was given fve minutes to present their 1-page RFP
response to the owner team. The following is a summary of the
team’s proposals:
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pROjECT REqUIREmENTS
RULES OF ENGAGEmENT
team 1: “Sym City”
the Slam “instigators”
(Owner team) The SYM CITY Project
grows over time to
“Simon Schuster” (develope Sr)imon grew up in
adapt to its
Madagascar and is the son of a biologist father and
zoologist mother. He holds a Masters in Development bioclimate,
Philosophy and Ethics and has 40 years of commercial
programmatic needs
and affordable housing development experience. The NY
and technological
T imes called him “…a ruthless collaborator, not letting anyone out of
the process.” innovation. The
goal: Develop a legacy project that embodies living philosophy
building’s ‘leaves’
of buildings: buildings will be the key to restoring the balance of
point upward when it
humanity and all other species
rains to collect
“Sally Salmon” (representative of the f Ssahl)ly
was born in an upper tributary of the Columbia River and rainwater and fold
attended school in a class of approximately one million. down and orient to
She has sea smarts, functions instinctively and her reel
the sun when the sky clears. The building integrates
education came from living in the ocean. Sally is the
founder of the Federated Institute for Salmon and Halibut nature in the building for people and
(FISH) and her most widely-recognized projects are the Columbia microorganisms to clean water and fx nitrogen in
River Dam removals.
the site soils. A zipline is proposed spanning the
goal: Catalyze cohesive restoration of the Cascadia bioregion as a
thriving Salmon Nation. project and OHSU for a fun and effective alternative
“dr. edward moss” (ecological Capital i s t )Dr. mode of transportation. The project also proposes to
Moss was raised in a northwest temperate rain forest by deliver its greywater to PSU, who might then treat it
a nurse log named Betty and has two twin brothers. Dr.
and sell it throughout the immediate district or city.
Moss’ education came from the nitrogen-fxation
process, which served as the inspiration for his
team 2: “ugwug / Columbia Chum”
o rganization the Physical Ecosystem Earnings Works or “PhEEW!”.
PhEEW! founded the frst widely-accepted ecosystem services
“When you’re up the
valuation methodology that translates natures function into fnancial
capital. creek, we help you
goal: apply the PhEEW! valuation methodology to a building
get down the river”
project and see how building design might result in the creation of
ecosystem services, thus increasing the triple bottom line return on
In section, the
investment.
UGWUG project
“wee 1” (representative of the childrenW) e e 1
was born fve months ago in Portland, Oregon and has appears like a layered
spent the frst part of her life in the winter season, birthday cake and
which means a lot of snow, rain, cold, dark and time
the “candles” atop
indoors. Her informal education stems from watching
her 2-year old brother Henry romp around the house the building are
and her dog Ruby wander looking for food scraps. Her favorite book vertical access wind
is the Biophilia Hypothesis, which suggests that humans need to
turbines. A bird’s
regularly affliate with nature to be healthy, productive and happy.
goal: Develop a project that will satisfy biophilic tendencies, despite eye view of the
the startling reality that people spend most of their time indoors. project reveals only vegetation (native grasses)
that clean the rainwater as it cascades down the
“you’re not getting this land from the
building’s terrace-like structure. All materials will
PdC; you’re borrowing it from me–w.”e e 1
be manufactured onsite and the building will be
“Cesar Chotchky” (Public interest attorn Ceeys)ar
occupied only during daylight hours to reduce the
was born in migrant camps in the California Central
Valley and is the son of bi-cultural immigrant parents. need for electrical lighting. The layering approach
After a temporary period of living in a housing project in
facilitates natural ventilation and the building
Chicago’s Southside, he located to Oregon where he
rotates to optimize solar access. The project also
earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology at Portland
S tate University and then a law degree from the University of Oregon. includes a ground-level adult playground.
Cesar has dedicated his life to elucidating the inextricable link
between environmental health and social equity and frmly believes
that sustainability does not live in an ivory tower, rather on the street
and spread throughout the land.
goal: The project reaches all people in a language they understand
and with a message that motivates them.
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