A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

WE'VE MOVED!

All future postings on Weber Thompson’s sustainability news can be found at http://weberthompson.com/blog – please update your bookmarks accordingly!

Picnic for the Planet 2011

Happy Earth Day from all of us at Weber Thompson! Scott Thompson AIA, LEED AP, Catherine Benotto AIA, ASLA, LEED AP and Myer Harrell AIA, LEED, AP BD+C celebrated the day at "Picnic for the Planet" organized by The Nature Conservancy at Pike Place Market. Visitors and locals alike gathered at Seattle's famous food and cultural center to enjoy live music, activities, and learn about local sustainable agricultural initiatives including Weber Thompson's own Vertical Farming projects. It was a beautiful day at the market.

 

 

 

Follow up: Check out this video of the event.

 

 

2011 AIA Seattle Young Architect Award – Congratulations Myer!!

Our own Myer Harrell AIA, LEED AP BD+C has been awarded the 2011 AIA Seattle Young Architect Award. This is a huge honor; only one young architect is recognized each year. The awards dinner is on May 21^st at the Palace Ballroom.

The award recognizes “exceptional leadership and . . . significant contributions to the professional in an early stage of their architectural career.” We knew Myer had this in spades. His participation on the Eco-Laboratory team, which won first prize in the 2008 USGBC Natural Talent Design Competition and was featured in the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt 2010 Design Triennial, his work with AIA Seattle, and his leadership of Weber Thompson’s Urban Agriculture initiative is just what Myer is involved in downtown. He also teaches part-time at UW, works with Cascadia’s Seattle Branch Emerging Professionals, consults with the USGBC on the Education Events Committee and volunteers with Historic Green, a grassroots rebuilding effort in New Orleans.

We already knew how great Myer is (nicest guy around), but we are thrilled the rest of the world now knows. Congratulations Myer!!

SLU LEED ND Certified – It's Official!!!

After three years of research, studies, documentation and communications, the USGBC has confirmed the “South Lake Union Urban Center” is now a LEED certified plan for Neighborhood Development.

This is great news; the City of Seattle overcame a number of hurdles to achieve this certification. As the program isn’t structured well for municipalities and for multiple landowners, there are challenges inherent in applying the certification to an existing, evolving neighborhood, such as our beloved SLU. This certification represented, in effect, a snap shot of the neighborhood and does not take into account future plans, zoning changes or other policies that will greatly affect the neighborhood.

But, as those of us who have been following the EIS on the proposed rezoning and the Urban Design Framework (and those of us who have enjoyed one of those pretzels at Tom Douglas’s Brave Horse Tavern) know, this neighborhood is only going to get better as it evolves into a neighborhood with even higher levels of sustainability.

Weber Thompson was honored to work with the city pursuing this certification. We are thrilled certification was achieved and we look forward to the additional changes our beloved neighborhood has coming its way (especially if those involve a Thai Eatery, or maybe Teriyaki – Tom?). 

WASLA 2011: Restoring the Human Dimension in Cities

This Friday (April 1st!) Weber Thompson Principal Catherine Benotto AIA, ASLA, LEED AP, all around great gal, will be speaking at the WASLA 2011 Spring Conference. You don’t want to miss this!

Catherine, along with child psychologist Helle Burlingame, Cand. Psych., MS Psychology and Landscape Architect Colie Hough-Beck ASLA, Principal HBB Landscape Architecture, will be discussing how cities can remember why they exist aka making cities livable for all ages. The talk will have an emphasis on accommodating children, because “children are the indicator species for the health of a city,” (paraphrased from the former Mayor of Bogota). Seattle ranks among the very lowest for percentage of households with children – this talk will discuss how to turn that around.

The talk is entitled Restoring the Human Dimension in Cities, and will include information from the Seattle Planning Commission’s Transit Communities Report as well as international examples. It starts Friday morning at 8:00. We look forward to seeing you there!

What's next for urban ag in buildings?

Eco-Laboratory

In Spring of 2011, Weber Thompson will host a series of multi-disciplinary charrettes to investigate the challenges associated with integrating commercial food growing with private development. Supported by recent conceptual design work such as the Eco-laboratory and Newark Vertical Farm, and bolstered by government initiatives such as the Seattle Urban Agriculture Ordinance (#123378), the firm will invite experts and stakeholders in sustainable building, engineering, business, and agriculture to attempt to answer these questions, and more:
 
What is a viable business model around building-integrated agriculture?
What are the financial, social and environmental values in this building type?
What might a pilot project in Seattle look like?
 
Stay tuned for findings from these charrettes in late 2011.

A Double Header!!!

This week is a big one for Weber Thompson – two major projects received approval from the Design Review Board.

 

On Monday, the northwest design review board approved Ballard West, a seven level, mixed-use project with 107 work force and affordable for rent units with 9,500 sf of commercial space. This highly sustainable building that is pursuing LEED Platinum for Homes Certification.

Tuesday night the downtown design review board approved Colman Tower, a 16-story, 208-unit project located adjacent to the Colman Ferry Pedestrian Bridge between Western and Post Avenue.

We sent out a newsletter today detailing Colman Tower, if you aren’t on our mailing list send an email to info@weberthompson.com and we will send it out. Ballard West will be featured in our January newsletter.

The Greenbuild 2010 Files: Continued

More from our Greenbuild guru, Myer Harrell (who you might have seen at Tuesday’s ULI presentation on vertical farms).

Tuesday 11/16/10

Still one day ahead of the official Greenbuild conference, my Tuesday in Chicago was dedicated to the USGBC Chapter Forum. It was a rare opportunity to interact with green leaders from all over the country, and meet face-to-face with national staff. We opened with an introduction by Rick Fedrizzi (CEO and co-founder of USGBC) and Mark MacCracken (incoming chair of the board of directors). What followed was a “speed greening session” – tables of 8-10 people spent a focused 15 minutes with experts from USGBC on issues like technology (extranet, web, and LEED Online), committee development and growth, and regionalization credits. I attended the breakout session on leveraging small firm and large firm successes, and in small groups we brainstormed ideas for improving chapter operations.

After hours, I headed to one of the “specialty set” rooms – arranged with seats facing inward toward a central stage and a four-sided digital screen – for a high-energy event called Take 5. Organized by Emerging Professionals and USGBC Students, we heard from MGM Las Vegas’ sustainability director, a founding partner of The Plant (a highly successful urban farm in Chicago) and others doing inspirational work, in a fast-paced presentation style similar to Pecha Kucha.

Wednesday 11/17/10

Wednesday was the official start to Greenbuild 2010. The opening plenary featured Retired General Colin Powell, who somewhat lamented his bygone high-profile careers in the military and presidential cabinet: “One day you’re the Secretary of State of the free world…the next day you ain’t.” He’s currently making his mark through investment of clean technology and green building projects. He stressed the importance of leadership, especially by the US in the global arena. He was charismatic, but perhaps rubbed a few greenies the wrong way with talk of the need for coal and nuclear energy alongside renewables.

At lunch I attended a Specialty Update (typically on the latest industry and organization initiatives). This session focused on the AIA 2030 Commitment – for architects to make strides to improve building performance – that I am proud to say Weber Thompson has recently signed. A few developers of the program outlined the connection between the AIA commitment and the 2030 Challenge, walked through the tools and finer details, and discussed long-term goals. There is a lot of data collected in the program, and curious architects and engineers wanted to know how the data was eventually going to be used, and gave critical feedback to improve the process.

On a whim I stepped into a Master Speaker session to hear Geoffrey Canada. I was blown away by this president and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, a comprehensive neighborhood network for Harlem children from birth through high school. He seamlessly weaved wonderful anecdotes with educational theory (“teaching is the only business I know where failure is acceptable”), tied in parenting lessons, the local food chain, and the effect of physical environment on learning. His presentation style and content were captivating; he was a highlight of the conference and demonstrated how closely green building is tied to social issues: “In this movement…you cannot exclude large groups of Americans that are a necessary part.”

The afternoon session featured the four finalists in this year’s Natural Talent Design Competition (the same national competition that awarded Eco-Laboratory first place two years ago). In 2011 they will construct the four disaster-resistant home designs in New Orleans, measure their performance for one year, and award the grand prize to the one with the lowest utility costs. I found the team compositions interesting – one student entered the competition by himself, another winning team was a professional firm created by an architecture, construction, and business student who founded their practice while still in school (similar to Pb Elemental in Seattle). They analyzed the competition entry in business terms, comparing their input of time and resources to the payoff (a good portfolio piece) even if they didn’t win.

After hours I made sure to attend the most vital Greenbuild sessions – the parties! I tagged along to an FSC award ceremony, and then to the chapter party at the House of Blues, and let me tell you – there is no combination quite like green builders and karaoke.

$200 Million for Homes

In this holiday season it is prudent to raise our voices in support of housing for those who are not as fortunate. The Washington Low Income Housing Alliance has taken the initiative to advocate for the renewal of the state Housing Trust Fund signifying a $200 million investment in the state’s 2011-2013 biennium budget. In the spirit of the squeaky wheel gets the grease a petition has been circulated to document support for the funding. Key social and sustainable justification for the budget includes the following points.

• Everyone should have the opportunity to live in a safe, decent, affordable home.
• It should be possible for working people to afford housing and still have enough money for basis like groceries, gas and child care.
• Children deserve a chance to succeed in school and in life, which all begins with their family being able to afford a decent place to live.
• It's better for society, the environment, and families if people can afford to live close to where they work.

Additionally the budget would result in a $1 Billion dollar Jobs Program for economic stimulus related to the Trust projects which will have a positive impact on our local economy.

We encourage you to contact your local representatives to personally deliver support for the request. Use the following web link to find your local legislator http://capwiz.com/nlihc/dbq/officials/ and call 1-800-562-6000 to make your voice heard.  The statement below has been prepared to help you state your message.

It is critical that the State Housing Trust Fund be funded in the state 2011-2013 biennium budget. The Housing Trust Fund will create much-needed jobs across our state, and will help our communities build and preserve housing for people with the lowest incomes who have been hardest hit in the economic crisis. After all everyone should have the opportunity to live in a safe, decent, affordable home.  The Housing Trust Fund is a vital resource for low income families and vulnerable people across Washington State. I urge State Senator [NAME] and State Representative [NAME] to ensure that a final bill providing $200 million funding for the Housing Trust Fund passes for the state 2001-2013 biennium budget.

Greenbuild 2010 Update

Our intrepid architect Myer Harrell AIA, LEED AP is at GreenBuild this week. He is sending us some bulletins from Chicago, and we will be posting them here.

Keep an eye out!

11/15/10
My pre-Greenbuild introduction was spent in Milwaukee, where I toured two fascinating urban agriculture projects. Both integrate high-yield vegetable growing and aquaponics into the urban environment. Though they are both pushing boundaries in this realm, one is non-profit and the other is for-profit.


Growing Power

Growing Power was founded by Will Allen, a former professional basketball player and recent recipient of the MacArthur genius grant. He’s been running a community farm outside downtown Milwaukee since the late 1980s, repurposing existing greenhouses on his site (that was still zoned agricultural when he purchased it). His farm process generates rich soil through vermiculture and carefully integrates aquaculture and low-tech hydroponic growing, stacked in layers throughout the six greenhouses. The innovation is in the recycling of nutrients and employing diverse living organisms. Growing Power has attracted partnership from over 70 organizations, immense media attention, and course support to and from the residents of the surrounding neighborhood. Volunteers are constantly working on the farm, and the education and outreach component is impressive.


Growing Power

The long term goal is to expand the complex with a new five-story facility that combines greenhouse space with other functions for the non-profit. This will likely be the first vertical farm. Here is information about the current effort and design: http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/11/vertical-farms-realized-growing-power-launches-5-story-expansion/

I also toured Sweet Water Organics (SWO), a for-profit operation heavily inspired by Growing Power (GP). SWO reuses an industrial warehouse to increase the production output of leafy greens and farmed fish in a similar, but streamlined, ecologically-balanced cycle. They don’t have the species diversity of GP, and rely more on artificial light and nutrient input, but their research, development, and outreach and idea proliferation through a non-profit arm are refreshing. They are planning to expand on their block, to include outdoor hoophouses and related functions such as a neighborhood market.

Sweet Water Organics

These two tours were a great way to start the week as I head into a dialogue about cutting edge green.