High Performing Buildings - Winter 2008 - (Page 28)

LESSONS LEARNED With more likely still to come, Frechette and Sinclair already have a list of lessons learned. Early Involvement First, said Frechette, to create a truly high performance building it is critical to assemble all of the primary stakeholders of the project at the very beginning of the design process to obtain full buy-in before proceeding. He lists the stakeholders as the design team, consultants, contractors, city officials, local utilities, as well as the owner. As an example, one major stumbling block during the design process was the fact that the local electric utility would not allow, or did not have the policies in place, to allow the owners to sell power to the grid (net metering). This problem was not discovered until well into the design process and was one of the major factors in not meeting the carbon neutral goal. Design Team Balance Another lesson is the importance of the makeup of the design team. The proper balance of individuals is important to achieve what Frechette calls “pragmatic innovation.” “We have all seen intriguing design concepts that are never seen through to fruition due to the impracticality of the detail,” he said. “For innovation to be fully realized on a major project, the design team must be made up of individuals who can dream of what might be possible, working in concert with individuals who are grounded with years of practical no-nonsense experience. This pairing of personalities leads to fully attainable, realizable innovations.” Double Façade Sinclair points out that the double façade design is not for every building. The systems require a significant amount of engineering and particular conditions — they are not an automatic silver bullet for high performance buildings, though the Pearl River Tower design is a good application of the technology. CFD Modeling He also emphasizes that high performance can sometimes mean “highly complicated”: “As buildings become more sustainable and use less energy to move more air, the air tends to migrate in natural ways with less velocity,” he said. “That means flows are weak and will slosh around. Higher levels of CFD modeling are required. We found that was an important consideration.” At the crown, PV technology is integrated into the façade glass. Most buildings have a single exterior façade, but the Pearl River design has an insulated exterior layer (two pieces of glass sealed together) and an inside layer — with air space sandwiched in between the two layers. When heat from the sun warms the air in the space between the layers, it is Winter 2008 vented out of the building, before it can radiate into the space, by fans drawing air from a slot at the bottom of the glass on each ﬂoor. The air is drawn into the mechanical room where it can be released from the building if it’s hot air, or used to draw humidity out of the space with a heat exchanger. In 28 HIGH PERFORMING BUILDINGS Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

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High Performance Buildings - Winter 2008 Passing On the Gift: Heifer International Headquarters Head of the Class: University of Florida’s Rinker Hall How Far Can You Go? Pearl River Tower The Proof Is Performance: How Does 4 Times Square Measure Up? Lighting the Way: Two Guilford County Schools Montreal’s Retail Example: Mountain Equipment Co-op® (MEC)

High Performing Buildings - Winter 2008

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