SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE - GREEN DESIGN

"Sustainable development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

World Commission on Environment and Development

S&H is at the Forefront of the Sustainable and Green Design Movement. The Snowdon & Hopkins team is at the forefront of the sustainable architecture and green design movements. We have been designing green buildings for more than twenty years and members of our design team are leaders in the development of architecture guidelines for sustainable and green design. We endorse the integration of green design strategies throughout the development of the project concept and building design. The Vail Public Library was designed in 1983 to be energy efficient and to have minimal impact on the environment. Our solution was an earth-sheltered building that protected against the cold north wind but opened out to

Click on the photo for a full-size photo. the sunny south with views of Gore Creek and the ski mountains. The sod roof preserves green space and aesthetically blends the project into the indigenous environment of the Colorado Rockies. The solar heat gained in the atrium is recycled to provide space heating for the library.

This building was the largest earth-sheltered public building in the west when it was built. It has been a showcase project regarding earth-shelter architecture and was featured in the magazine Solar Age.

Sustainable Architecture: Sustainable architecture optimizes the following considerations: Environmental (green design) - environmentally friendliness with cost reductions through efficiency improvements and reduced energy and raw material inputs

Economic - reduced waste, effluent generation, emisions to environment, reduced impact on human health, use of renewable raw materials, and elimination of toxic substances Social - occupant health and safety, impact on the local community and quality of life, benefits to disadvantaged groups Sustainably-designed buildings aim to lessen their impact on our environment and the building's occupants through energy and resource efficiency. But beyond that sustainable development also has economic and social dimensions. The "essential strategy" for sustainable architecture is to make it an equal priority with other design criteria such as form, function, budget, and schedule early in the design

process. We have our whole design team work together and with the client team to develop and optimize efficient, effective, and environmentally responsible solutions. Sustainability involves trade-offs between various aspects of the building, so it takes the whole team to do it successfully. If woven into the very fabric of the project, sustainability can be very cost effective. When it is an after-thought however, it becomes an expensive and less effective proposition. White Paper Available These are important and new concepts. We invite you to download a copy of our White Paper on sustainable architecture and green design. Our White Paper may give you ideas to use on your project.

Daylighting: Daylighting at the Flagstaff Library

Our experience with daylighting has been so positive, we would consider it also an essential strategy. Filling a building’s interior with natural light, yet avoiding harshness and glare, can improve visual performance and productivity, save energy and money, and create healthy, beautiful spaces. When daylighting is well done, it produces an environment that has high quality and cost-effective light. Libraries. Using glare-free daylighting is an essential design strategy in libraries, and has proven to reduce energy cost for electric lighting (typically one of the larger energy loads) by over 60%. The Flagstaff library has several rows of skylights defining the main axes of the building. That cost was more than covered by reductions in lighting and air-conditioning equipment. Our Avon library

uniquely incorporates skylights with perforated metal light reflectors to redirect sunlight, creating a soft distribution of natural light and brightening the ceiling. The result is excellent ambient lighting for reading books and viewing computers. The Gilpin County and Eagle libraries have high windows which provide daylighting.

LEED Green Building Rating System: We are well versed with the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system. Applying the LEED criteria (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) assists in the development of a public building that is progressive and consistent with sustainable and green design.

LEED serves as a national benchmark in the areas of environmentally responsible siting, material selection, water and energy use, and indoor environmental quality. We use LEED as a design tool to help us define specific goals with regard to environmental impact and carry them through the design, construction, and operation of a project.

There are four levels of LEED certification: certified, silver, gold, and platinum. The level is determined by the number of points a project scores on a checklist of sustainability factors. Before making a decision as to which level you should aspire to for your project, you should carefully assess the full implications of such a commitment. Our design team can present the tradeoffs, benefits, and costs to achieve a desired level. Whether or not you elect to seek a LEED certification, we would expect to design many green aspects into the project.