Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2013 - (Page 6)

ON THE ROOF WITH… has been found to reduce medical error. Creating places of respite for patients, staff and visitors has become a hallmark of green healthcare facilities, introduced in the Green Guide for Health Care and now represented in two credits in LEED for Healthcare. In addition, avoiding chemicals of concern in medical devices and building products, such as a shift away from PVC in IV bags, medical tubing and flooring; employing green housekeeping; and integrated pest management practices creyOU REVOLUTIONIzED THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRy WHEN ate healthier environments. And an emerging trend of on-site yOU ASSEMBLED THE GREEN food production and procuring GUIDE fOR HEALTHCARE. local, organic food provides betHOW HAS THE SUSTAINABLE ter nutrition for patients while DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND also creating healthier ecosysOpERATION Of HEALTHCARE tems. Healthcare’s measure of fACILITIES IMpACTED THE WELL-BEING Of THE pATIENTS success should be promoting health and wellness rather than INSIDE? treating disease. The end game There is a growing body of evidence that correlates patient is health for all! outcomes with healthcare facilities—as one example, providing WHAT ARE SOME Of THE COMMON CHALLENGES THAT views of nature can reduce patient length of stay and medica- HEALTHCARE fACILITIES tion needs; similarly, providing ADOpTING SUSTAINABLE pRACwindows in nurses’ break rooms TICES/pOLICIES fACE? HOW DO ‘living’ infrastructure—living or green infrastructure enlivens and enriches ecosystems; it provides visible cues of whether it’s working well or not; it adds vibrancy to urban environments, filtering water and air pollutants, producing oxygen, providing visually stimulating landscapes, enhancing habitat and biodiversity—and doing so with biological methods that are, generally, low embodied energy and free of chemicals of concern. THEy OVERCOME THOSE CHALLENGES? One hurdle is the misconception that green healthcare facilities cost more to build and operate; another is that the practices are unproven, or that they conflict with infection control considerations. In the case of cost, a study from 2009 assessed first cost premiums associated with some of the first LEED-certified healthcare facilities and found that capital cost premiums ranged from 0% to 5%; 3.5% including incentives. Project teams that included these design features and products as part of ‘basis of design’ attributed no additional first cost, an encouraging signal of a transformation in healthcare design that is beginning to establish green building as standard practice. The second area concerns uncertainty with product performance and green strategies. For example, we find that the use of appropriately treated reclaimed water—from collected rainwater to greywater—is being used in hospitals and other healthcare facilities internationally, but rarely in the United States due to infection control concerns. Sharing these best practices and providing real world experience is increasingly important to lead to a reset of fundamental material, product and resource dependencies that will be imperative in this century. So we need to do an excellent job in providing data that establishes the case for adopting the new ‘pattern language’ for healthcare design and operations, and the evolved supply chain that it relies on. HOW DO GREEN ROOfS AND GREEN WALLS IN pARTICULAR CONTRIBUTE TO HUMAN HEALTH—IN HOSpITALS AND BEyOND? As visible expressions of green design, green roofs and living walls connect people with nature. And, as we have learned from the field of biophilia, they fulfill our intrinsic need to relate to natural systems. In a performance sense, living walls can filter air resulting in measurably improved air quality, and green roofs provide visual relief from stark and barren ´s ® XF301 Sedum Mats Fedex Cargo Building Chicago O’Hare Airport LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / fALL 2012 / 6 Xeroflor Canada Inc T. 416 637 5772 xeroflorcanada.ca http://www.xeroflora.com http://www.xeroflora.com http://www.xeroflorcanada.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2013

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2013
Contents
From The Founder
Strata
On the Roof With...
Policy and Standards
Current Research
Living Architecture Meets Hurricane Sandy
How Healthy Is Your Hospital?
Leadership
Product
Plant
Conference
Project
Project
Project
New Corporate Members
Professional Calendar
GRHC Board Member Updates
GRHC Buyer’s Guide
The Lucky 7

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2013