By Deidra Darsa
The Chesapeake Bay
Foundation's Merrill Center office building is the only building, so far, to receive a platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEEDs program. It is the highest rating available under the system. Some of the Merrill Center's key features include rainwater cisterns, composting toilets, natural ventilation, solar panels, a geothermal heat pump with desiccant dehumidification system and structural insulated panels. The 32,000 sq. ft. office building located on a 31-acre site on the Chesapeake Bay shoreline, including parking, landscaping and decking, cost
approximately $7.2 million or about $199 per square foot. "Green"
features account for $46 of the $199.
Walking the Walk
"This is the walk-the-walk concept," said Geoff Oxnam, Chesapeake Bay Foundation spokesperson. "When we started the process it was way out on the fringe, and we knew it was going to take some leadership to use these [green] materials and concepts and bring them into the mainstream."
The Center was built within an existing pool/pool house footprint and the material from an existing inn was recycled into the project or reused by others. Concrete from the original foundations was ground up and used for roadbed fill under the asphalt. "We used a cradle-to-cradle approach, rather than cradle-to-grave. In other words, we used recyclable material that could be used again. All of the materials in the building can be recycled into something else."
Additional material came from regenerable resources such as wood from sustainable managed forests.
"What makes this building unique is not its technology, but that this is the first building that brought the different technologies together into a single entity that was designed, built and constructed to be entirely green," said Oxnam. "This building uses two-thirds less energy than a typical office building. And 34 percent of the energy that is used comes from renewable energy sources like solar panels. To help with heating and cooling, we use geothermal wells (wells drilled about 300 feet down that take advantage of the constant 55-degree temperature of the water under the ground).
Oxnam explains, "Say it's a hot day. The pipes running through the building will absorb some of that heat, and the heated fluid will be pumped down to the well where it's 55 degrees. The heat is released into that 55-degree water and the now cooled fluid is brought back up into the building to help cool the air. That way you don't have to use a standard air conditioner as often to get cooling."
The goal of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is to protect and restore the Bay, one of the richest fisheries in the world and the habitat for a variety of birds and animals. The Bay has suffered from multiple pollutants and the Foundation has taken steps to ensure its facility does not add to the problems.
"All human waste is composted into a fertilizer that we use on the native landscaping," said Oxnam. "None of it goes into waste water treatment plants. The trick with using compost is that you use only as much as the plants are able to use for nourishment, because anything the plants don't use could run off into the Bay."
Working in a platinum-designated building can take a little getting used to. "Mostly it's the little things," said Oxnam. "There are no light switches because most things are on motion sensors. You sit at your work station where the lighting and computer is set up with motion sensors and if you don't move for a period of time everything will shut-off. But, you just wave your hand around and everything comes back on."
An Architectural Challenge
After being selected as the architect to design the Foundation's building, The Smith Group was given a tour of the Chesapeake Bay and the Foundation's facilities on Smith and Tangier Islands. "Their goal was for us to understand their educational centers on those islands," explained Tom Eichbaum, principal architect. "We saw Chesapeake watermen's shacks on Tangier Island that were very utilitarian and straightforward structures. That's what the [Foundation] wanted, a very workmanlike straightforward building."
While working through the design process it became apparent that, in order to meet many of the green building goals, the building would need an open floor plan. "We explained both the advantages and disadvantages and how to overcome some of the disadvantages," said Eichbaum, noting that Foundation president Will Baker agreed to an open office plan as well. "I think that was what was unique about the whole process. In order to create a platinum-certified green building, it takes a high level of commitment from owners and they did the things that had to be done. It's wonderful to have a project that you can feel good about every aspect of it. I think, philosophically, it was the right thing to do for this organization."
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