Healthcare Design - September 2018 - 22

HCD 10

BUILDING PROFESSIONAL

ARASH GUITY
PE, CEM, LEED AP, principal/co-founder, Lightstep (San Francisco)
MISSION STATEMENT: "My mission is to always be asking the
question, 'How can we do better?' I'm constantly looking
for ways to identify barriers to innovation and shatter them.
While there are many things that we're doing right, there
are also many opportunities for us to question the status
quo and seek ways to do things more efficiently and make a
greater impact."
WHO HE IS: A licensed professional engineer, Guity spent the

last 14 years working at Mazzetti, most recently as chief energy
engineer, building the firm's practice and expertise in sustainable building design. This summer, he stepped out on his own, founding
Lightstep, an interdisciplinary design consultancy focused on improving
building performance and helping organizations develop strategies to
achieve carbon/energy goals. He also continues to consult for Mazzetti.
YEAR IN REVIEW:  As part of the project team for the 521,000-squarefoot Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford expansion, opened in
December 2017 in Palo Alto, Calif., Guity helped meet the healthcare organization's desire for innovation and cutting-edge solutions with a displacement ventilation system for the med/surg and ICU patient rooms
and building entry lobby-one of the first hospitals in North America to
use this type of ventilation system. Displacement ventilation uses the
buoyancy effects of air, with hot air rising and cold air sinking, to create
good thermal comfort. Working with UC Davis Health in Sacramento, Calif., he also developed an interactive web-based energy/carbon roadmap
for the facility as part of the owner's Carbon Neutrality Initiative, which
aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Additionally, through the California Energy Commission's PIER Research Grant program, he worked
on a pilot research project to install a monitoring and control system in a

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SEPTEMBER 2018

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

Southern California hospital to measure and
optimize indoor air quality and reduce energy
consumption.
INDUSTRY IMPACT: By working with stakeholders

early in the design process and partnering with
organizations to map out their energy-use strategies, Guity has demonstrated that it's possible
to develop innovative and sustainable solutions
alongside goals related to patient experience
and outcomes. For example, the LEED Platinum-certified Lucile Packard facility is designed
to be one of the most sustainable hospitals in the
world, producing 90 percent less carbon emissions than the average U.S. hospital, while creating an environment for patients and staff that's
comfortable, healthy, efficient, and beautiful.
He's also helping advance ideas for optimizing
hospital ventilation systems through the PIER
grant project, which will track the test site's
indoor air quality, ventilation rates, and corresponding energy consumption for a year before
publishing and sharing the findings with the industry at large.

WHAT'S NEXT: In addition to growing his new de-

sign consultancy, Guity will be working on
three new hospital projects in Africa that he
designed with Mazzetti in collaboration with
MASS Design Group, including Nyarugenge
District Hospital, in Kigali, Rwanda; Munini
District Hospital, in Munini, Rwanda; and Redemption Hospital, in Caldwell, Liberia.-AD

A B OV E , L E FT A N D RI GH T: Lucile Packard Children's

Hospital Stanford

STEVE B ABULJAK

THE
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