July 2010 Developments - 44

Design
G
reen is an undeniably hot topic today. It has made a dramatic transformation over the past dozen or so years from trendstatus to a key component of just about every business. Now that green has gone mainstream, the dilemma is no longer determining whether or not to consider sustainability—it is determining what is best for you. With so much information and so many products focused on sustainability, how do we make green choices when it comes to our design and operations? How do we cope with mixed messages and opposing interests to create a more vibrant, genuine guest experience? And how do we take a step back from “green” as a marketing strategy and move toward a “green” that upholds our bottom line? Guests are becoming more sophisticated, and they know whether your sustainability message is genuine. All the while, it remains difficult to encapsulate from a design perspective what sustainable or green really is. The common error in approach is thinking of sustainability as a thing, when it is actually more of a system and a set of relationships between each part within it. To implement green design, we should consider each of the necessary system components: site, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and guest experience. In the big picture, this is sustainability. Bring this process into your decision-making process, and you will be able to distill specific opportunities and limitations. quotient, 100% longer is better than 60% greener. When specifying green materials, consider the useful life of the product. There are three reasons that materials will typically be replaced: (1) wear-and-tear brings its useful life to an end; (2) it goes out of style; or (3) its function or layout no longer meets the user’s needs. Create a timeless building with a layout that makes future modifications easy and integrates style elements that are easily replaced. I recently came across a great example of “the life cycle factor.” I visited a resort with concrete floors in the guest rooms that had area rugs placed around the room to make it feel comfortable and clean. Upon inquiring with the staff, I learned that this was a part of their sustainability strategy. The rugs could be replaced one at a time or switched out and cleaned without impairing the room; this also eliminated the need to ship hundreds of carpet-rolls to a landfill or recycling facility every few years.

Jason R. Higbee

Green 2.0: Sustainable Design and Development Rounds a Corner
where color rendering is less important. Low flow shower heads and sink faucets will help to address water conservation issues—although make sure you try them out before considering a change. Indoor air quality can be a tougher nut to crack. There is a growing segment of the population with sensitivities to many of the manufacturing chemicals used in building materials and furniture. Air-to-air heat exchangers allow for an increased volume of fresh outdoor air with less impact upon heating and cooling loads. These units also can help diffuse that “new room smell” with the fresh air component and are available in single-unit through whole-building sizes and may be a worthwhile consideration.

Strategies
Following an integrated process is an increasingly popular method among key stakeholders in the early design phase to identify efficiencies. For example, when an owner, architect, engineer, and contractor are involved in these decisions, the owner can identify a need and the team can explore suitable strategies, considering every facet and its related impact upon each component. Look at your building as one system. As a simple exercise, create diagrams for water, energy, operations, and guest experience, identifying the synergies where systems overlap or can benefit each other. Through this process, the architect can work with the engineer to address building orientation and shading to minimize cooling requirements, while the contractor can relay the cost and timeline impact to the owner who can evaluate operations and maintenance issues. Generally, the cost of following an integrated design process is more than made up for in circumvented problems and new efficiencies. Consider hiring an experienced facilitator to run the meeting.

Guest Experience
When evaluating sustainability options, there is one area that cannot be slighted: the guest experience. This can be a delicate issue. When people vacation, they may want a “Niagara Falls” shower experience, or because they aren’t directly paying the bill and it feels like an indulgence, they may want to keep all the lights and air conditioning on continuously, with the window also open for fresh air. Instead of limiting this experience, we should look for methods of greening the way that it is delivered. Low level ambient lighting with dramatic highlights and spot-lighting on areas of interest or detail in a room can reduce the overall electricity consumption. Consider a guest room energy management system that flips off the lights and HVAC when the room is empty. Use warm-toned fluorescent lights

Material Selection
There are millions of green materials available today, so choosing the right ones can be a difficult process, with many factors to consider. The most significant factor often omitted from this equation is time. If you multiply the functional life expectancy of a material with the sustainability 44

Developments • July 2010

July 2010 Developments

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