THE TERRY THOMAS - A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

WHAT'S THAT?

Sounds are all around us. And in this building, you really notice them. We have sound dampeners strategically placed in the ceilings over workspaces and in the conference rooms, but with the openings to allow for ventilation, sounds carry. When the windows are open, outside sounds such as the Streetcar bell, or construction machinery add to the concert.

We are tossing around ideas to mitigate the sound – white noise machines, additional homasote boards on blank walls – but one of our (unnamed) principals has come up with his own solution: a personal sound isolation booth . . .

Elizabeth Holland LEED AP, Principal

INSPIRATION

We've been in our new building one month, and I'm noticing some positive changes in how we are working and interacting.  Everything from seeing people use the new bins for compost in the kitchen (I had no idea you can put used paper towels in them) to having impromptu pinup critiques in the many breakout spaces scattered throughout the office.

Elevator use has dropped significantly, thanks to a prominent open staircase in the courtyard.  The open stair has the added benefit of being a perfect spot to peer across the court and see who's meeting in the conference rooms and if that staffer you're looking for is at their desk.  The transparency is surprising – it’s a good thing we have some enclosed private telephone rooms.  Without those there'd be no hiding! Chance meetings in the stair or the kitchen/lounge offer opportunities to ask about how a project is going or to scope out the wait time for lunch at Skillet Street Food…

Such transparency also has connected us to the outside world in ways that our old “bunker” never allowed. You can’t help but look at the sky from your desk to see if it’s still umbrella weather or if the trolley is on time to get you downtown for that meeting.

And our original design goal for natural daylight?  It’s being easily met.  So far, we rarely use our overhead lights.  Even on overcast days, the daylight is perfect for computer usage.

The physical expression of sustainability has inspired about one third of our firm to join Group Health’s Bike to Work Challenge.  We have three teams including more than 20 new bike commuters.  Four work days into the month, Weber Thompson teams have logged more than 400 miles riding to work.  Most of these miles would have been traveled in single-occupancy vehicles.

There's something very satisfying about building exercise into our commutes while simultaneously reducing our carbon footprint.  The fresh air in the morning definitely wakes you up, and having the option to open windows in the afternoon chases away the ‘after-lunch sleepies’ many of us experienced in our old space.

Now if there was just some way to reduce the number of hills on the ride home.  I suppose a few more trips up and down the stairs will take care of that!

Kristen Scott, AIA, LEED AP
Senior Principal

LESS IS MORE IN SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Sustainable design is not only the wiz-bang high-tech features of a green building. Simple solutions contribute to a sustainable design, too.

One such approach Weber Thompson used is to minimize the use of material. In our new office, wherever possible we designed our systems, materials and finishes so they could perform more than one function. In this way one product performs a double duty.

Here are some examples to consider:

> The castellated beam floor framing system of our new building is left exposed and painted white. Not only does this tell the story of how the building works, the white paint enhances the light reflection for both daylight harvesting and indirect lighting of open office areas. The design of the beams also serves as a design aesthetic, informing other choices we made in the build-out of our office space.

> The structural slab is designed to be a floor diaphragm; this structural component resists wind and earthquake shear forces. This same slab is lightly ground and treated with a concrete densifier. The densifier is not a coating that will wear off, but an organic compound that penetrates the concrete and hardens the open cells. There is no finish to maintain, just vacuum or damp mop as needed. This exposed concrete slab is used as the finished floor in the circulation areas, like streets in a city, marking the paths of common travel.

> Ceiling-mounted panels are both light reflectors and sound absorbers throughout our open studio areas. Made from a product called Ecophon, these 4 foot by 6 foot panels are framed in white aluminum and add to the aesthetic pattern of the ceiling in these areas.

> Carpet tiles in the open office areas mark these zones as more private. The carpet under foot (or chair) provides more comfort at our desks and adds further sound attenuation to these areas of the office.

> Overhead in the studios we use a product called B-Line. This erector-set-like strut system provides suspension for the electrical conduit that distributes power in the offices, and the cable tray that carries all of the data cables necessary in a modern office. This same system is extended to support off-the-shelf industrial strip lights that are used for up-lighting in the open studios. This product is normally use in an industrial environment or hidden behind a suspended ceiling. In our offices we use it to create a phenomenal ceiling plane and celebrate the technology of the modern office.

We take the same approach to design in our conference rooms:

> A product called Prago, usually seen as wall panel in auditoriums, is turned into a perforated wood ceiling. In our four main conference rooms these surfaces are used both as light reflectors for indirect fluorescent light fixtures, and sound absorbers.

> These rooms also feature a grid of Homosote panels on the walls. Homosote is a product made from recycled newspapers. These panels are used as tack surfaces (for drawing display), and sound absorbers.

> Just as in our open studio spaces, the carpet tiles in conference rooms provide a softer surface under foot. The carpeted area marks and describes the area of the offices dedicated to meetings with our colleagues and clients. The same material also adds more sound attenuation.

– Peter David Greaves AIA, LEED AP, Principal
  Designer on the Weber Thompson new office team.

SMART BLINDS

We have front row seats for the installation of the adjustable exterior venetian blinds that will mitigate how much sun hits the windows. The installer, Pacific Shading, should be done by the end of the weekend and we are hoping that, once in place, the blinds will be sexy, smart and beautiful. 

These blinds are the ultimate in solar controls. They allow maximum daylight to penetrate the space while protecting us from solar heat gains. They are manufactured by a German company - Nysan. The engineering and detailing has been done by their support office in Calgary, AB.

The blinds are being installed only on the windows that our modeling predicted will receive the most sun – both on the outside of the building and on many of the courtyard windows. We designed a unique attachment structure to offsets the blinds two feet from the façade to allow for enhanced shading, and accommodate the operable windows. On the main floor, on the alley side, the blinds are installed against the glass necessitating hopper windows (windows that hinge along the bottom) that open to the inside.

The Nysan blinds are smart! They automatically adjust depending on the sunlight levels and orientation. On the roof, there are two cool sensors with hemi-spherical lens which acts as a photocell, monitoring the intensity of lights. A wind sensor causes the blinds to retract into their housings when wind exceeds 40 mph.

Blind controllers inside the building on the ceiling are programmed based on the blinds’ orientation towards the sun, building latitude and an astronomical clock that tracks the changing seasons. There are overrides for the blinds, but these should be used cautiously as the blinds’ programming is optimized for heat protection and daylight harvesting.

Like with other smart systems in our building, there will be a learning curve for us and the blinds. Just the other day we noticed that the awning windows in the courtyard may interfere with the blinds, so a blockade has to be installed to limit how far the windows can open.  After installation the blinds will be tested and adjusted for some time. We have to be a bit patient….

– Elzbieta Zielinska LEED AP, project manager for The Terry Thomas

RE-CONNECTION

As we wrap up the second week in our new home, one of the most pleasant surprises for me is our re-connection to the outside world. We have daylight, fresh air, activity, and movement – a striking contrast to our former digs. For years we sat in a hermetically sealed building 8-10 hours a day with little interaction or contact with the outside world. Now, most of us sit 5-10 feet away from an operable window. The simple opportunity of walking up a flight of exterior stairs in the courtyard contributes to that connectivity.

All of us anxiously await the opportunity to open the windows to see how this all works. The good news is that reports from team members last Saturday (temperature hit 81 degrees in Seattle) indicated the space was comfortable around 4:30pm with the windows closed. It appears that the dampers are doing their job. At our principals meeting last Monday, it was quite evident that the systems were operating as planned in the conference rooms. Within five minutes, the CO2 sensors were opening the dampers, (plenty of hot air in that meeting) and the lighting levels were fluctuating based on cloud cover. A few distractions we will adapt to.

The exterior blinds are still being installed at the courtyard and the northeast façade and the electricians are running around calibrating the lighting system, so commissioning is a few weeks away. The final LEED documentation and submittal will follow soon after.

Paul Hawkins stated at the Living Future Conference this week in Vancouver, BC that green buildings and technology will change fast and shock the world. I am not so sure about that. Simple, well thought out, low tech design solutions can go a long way in contributing to our quality of life and minimizing our negative impact on this world; hopefully, we will make a difference here.

TRANSITION

Today marks the end of our 17 year relationship with the Pontius Building (former headquarters of Howard S. Wright Construction). Weber Thompson grew up in this early ‘80s building, evolving from a handful of architects/designers into a multi-discipline design firm of ninety architects, designers, planners, interior designers and landscape architects.

Monday morning we will welcome natural daylighting, natural ventilation and a wonderful new office space. Will this new environment encourage us to do better work, promote a sense of community/teamwork, and inspire our clients to develop sustainable buildings? Three years of dreaming, planning, designing and constructing wraps up as we transition into a new era at Weber Thompson. We look forward to the challenges of the next 20 years.

As we get settled and start living in the building, the blog posts will be weekly, with others in the WT community contributing thoughts, experiences and performance data related to this building.

If anyone is interested in taking a tour of the Terry Thomas building, please contact Elizabeth Holland via email at eholland@weberthompson.com. Everyone is welcome.

The Big Picture

As we continue to prepare to move into our new building on April 4, we want to be clear that this transition is more than about the building. This project symbolizes our overall business model, which fully embraces environmental sustainability.

Operationally, a recycling program at our new headquarters is mandatory. All tenants in the new building must c ommit to using recycled and environmentally friendly products  — both in their tenant improvement and in their daily operations and cleaning.  In our office, every TI includes at least one sustainable aspect, from the low-emitting VOC finishes and recycled content of furnishings to the fully dimmable, computer-controlled, indirect fluorescent lighting system.  We already operate sustainably in our current office space, and we’re developing a building operations manual and a tenant manual for our company and other tenants of the new building.

At Weber + Thompson, we’ve been working to operate more sustainably for a long time.  We established an active Green Team, a group of dedicated staff members who are committed to “greening” the firm and making Weber + Thompson carbon neutral. The team calculated the firm’s carbon footprint by examining the office’s energy use, employee commuting habits and business travel and is taking steps to offset our consumption by encouraging alternate transit operations, replacing the employee parking subsidy benefit with a transit FlexPass, purchasing green power, and organizing weekend tree planting parties in the greater Seattle area. We also takes steps to reduce waste by donating money to local charities in lieu of giving out trinkets at the holidays and giving scrap paper to the nearby New Discovery School and Cascade People’s Center to be used as art supplies.

Our firm has been a part of the South Lake Union neighborhood for 17 years, and it was important for us to demonstrate commitment to the evolution of the neighborhood. We hope our building contributes not only to the physical revitalization of the neighborhood, but to the greater good of our community and society as a whole.

We’re anxious to show off our new building. During tours, we’ll explain the green features of both the building and our operations.

STRIKING THE RIGHT BALANCE

Contractors continue installing the “sun glasses” on the east and west sides of the building. The glass shades add an interesting dimension to these façades with a splash of green cast on the windows and metal siding when the sun is out – a pleasant surprise.

The challenge with all buildings is striking that balance between natural daylight and solar gain. The beauty of the glass shades is the ability to significantly reduce the heat gain without compromising natural daylight into the interior spaces. Abutting an existing building to the south was a significant asset in controlling our interior environment.

Construction Update
This is an exciting, albeit the most stressful phase of construction, for the architect and interior designer as finished materials, applications and systems are integrated into the building, especially the interiors.

With an exposed structure, careful coordination with the subcontractors is essential when it comes to installing the plumbing, electrical and communications cabling.  The electrician installing the j boxes and running the conduit has to have the same mindset as the tile installer or the finish carpenter and has to understand that her/his work is part of the space. There are no dropped ceilings in this space. This is an ongoing challenge.

Crews are painting, laying carpet and installing work stations. Original completion of the shell and core was projected to be March 1 but due to a delay in delivery of the Warema exterior blinds from Germany, occupancy is scheduled for the end of March. However, we are still on schedule for an April 4th move in.

IN THE HOME STRETCH

It was a year ago this week that construction of the Terry Avenue Office Building began.  We are excited that construction is in the home stretch, and we’re counting down the days until we move into our new headquarters.  The firm will be taking occupancy April 4th.

To share what we’ve learned, and to encourage green design dialogue, we are launching this blog.

It has been three years since we started discussing the idea of developing a new home for Weber + Thompson. We were fortunate enough to find a prime piece of land in the South Lake Union neighborhood (the northeast corner of Thomas Street and Terry Avenue North), a developer (First Western Development) open to the idea of green design, and a savvy contractor (RAFN Company) willing to work with us on this pioneering project in a time of escalating construction costs.

As the building has taken shape, the hours of design study, consultant input and contractor/architect communication has paid off. The natural light throughout the interior spaces, the scale of the courtyard, and the building’s transparency has exceeded our expectations.  All these factors are more impressive when you take into account that we are still in the winter months!

As the “sunglasses” get attached to exterior, the louvers get hung and the TIs wrap up, we are anxious to see how this building will perform. The extensive thermal modeling tells us that – without air conditioning – indoor temperatures may exceed 80 degrees 18-21 hours a year. Will the 36-foot-deep floor plates, operable windows and the courtyard promote adequate cross ventilation? Will we meet our goal of a 30 percent reduction in energy consumption? It will be a couple of years before we can answer some of these questions. 

This is a building where we will have control of our environment and will be actively involved in its performance. We look forward to the challenge.

We will post weekly updates on the progress and performance of the building.