Did I hear some groans and moans? The good old white boys club say some?  A organization that does nothing but lobbying and catering to the big firms, etc, etc.  The litany goes on.

So let me say my piece.  First, I’m an immigrant from Malaysia who is very proud to be an American and I definitely did not come from a privileged back ground.   As an immigrant, I really should have chosen a career path that had better income prospects but I really do love architecture.  I joined the AIA back around 1995 because my employer paid for my dues and to take advantage of the reduced fees a member derived for the ARE seminars.  However once I took the 3 courses I wanted, I never did anything again with the AIA until I broke away from my employer and went out on my own around 2005.

That year I tried to contact the AIASF about obtaining some contract documents but was unable to get through.  So since I was in the east bay anyway, called the chapter in Oakland, CA.  I fortunately managed to talk to Sidney Sweeny who happens in my mind to be the best darn Executive Director of any AIA chapter.  She was friendly, helpful and for the first time ever, made me feel I had a resource in the AIA.

The next thing I knew by the next year, I was chair of the YAF, Young Architects Forum and served in that capacity for two years before joining the Board of Directors for a year.  I was then elected Vice President and thereby became President elect by default and is the current post I hold with AIA East Bay.   The only reason I ever decided to become active was because I felt that whining and complaining about anything only goes so far.  To enact change, you have to get involved and try to be part of that change.

Does the AIA need to change? Well, yes.  In my mind it does and I want to be part of that change.  So in that regard, I doubt many long term hard core AIA members are going to like what I stand for.  Does the AIA do any good? Yes it does and much of it is unheralded and that is a big part of the problem.

However I am part of the East Bay chapter which has a proud tradition of promoting change.  I am but one person but I’ll do whatever I can while I have that capacity.  So I’ll post within my blog occasionally about things I feel strongly about in regards our profession and the AIA.  I have no further ambitions for office within the AIA and therefore don’t really care what the rest of them think about what I say or do.  I run a small business and that with my family already takes a huge chunk of my time and priority.  Taking anymore time away from that is not something I wish for.

Note: Whatever I write here is strictly my own personal opinion and is in no way an endorsement of any organization mentioned.

I was recently part of a team for a design build public bid project as the LEED administration consultant.  Needless to say it was a lot of work on the part of the entire team putting the proposal together and I came away very impressed by the builder who was the prime/ lead on the proposal.

However as part of the process we had to dissect the bridging documents put together by the original design team and in order to ensure a proposal that was buildable and met the project costs estimate it required doing extensive work including value engineering and design revisions.  There were some code issues not properly addressed in the original design and some LEED credits proposed which did not make sense.

The one thing many people forget in their pursuit of LEED, is that sustainability isn’t about glossing up the building and stuffing it full of building systems.  That does not make it green.  Ensuring the design is both climate and site responsive does wonders for a building.  Not tarting it up with large HVAC systems claiming super high efficiency because it’s needed to counteract all that glass facing west.

Nor should it be about placing green roofs on a building in one little corner so that you can claim a point for storm water treatment when the site itself can do that at grade.  While green roofs can be a good thing, as with many other “green” building systems, prudence should be used when judging when to use them.  Adding costs to a project with very little gain but making a big show of it when selling the idea to the client doesn’t help the environment.  Anyone remember Al Gore’s house?

Slapping on lots of bells and whistles on a building that was not designed to work with the environment isn’t going to be green no matter how many LEED points you score.  Fortunately the team I was on, understood this and the innovative ideas developed made for a better design.  Convincing the client already sold on the original idea would be a different story.  Sometimes doing the right thing can be an uphill battle.

Sustainability is about simplicity. Doing less in many ways means doing more for the environment.

If you have been to the city lately you will notice a plethora of high rise residential buildings. Part of the recent (& fast decaying) boom in urban housing. The types of units range across the board but my focus today will be on the popular two level townhouse or loft units.

There are plenty of splashy modern multi-family buildings popping all across the urban fabric. Many of them look great. There are in fact many good architects who design these buildings and for the most part the people who live in them, love their homes.

However, once awhile, you get these two level units with floor to ceiling glass facing south (or southwest). Yes, dead on exposure to the sun all year long. Day lighting is great, don’t get me wrong, but not when you’re facing due south with no sun protection or shading. Forget window blinds and heavy curtains. Once the solar radiation gets past the glass, anything it touches heats up. You have to stop that particular wavelength before it gets into the unit or you may as well call up the local botanical society and offer your home as a green house for growing any number of tropical plants.

So you have all that great glass and fantastic views but you keep your blinds and curtains drawn most of the year because that air conditioner will be struggling to keep the unit just a shade close to comfort levels in Death Valley. How do I know this? Well I live in one such lovely building (though I did not design it). It looks great and I rarely ever have to use the heater in the winter but I do know how a hot house cucumber feels in the summer.

I have designed a few multi-family buildings in the past and I believe you can integrate climate responsive elements even in modern and high tech designs. Daylight should be invited into a home and the same with solar gain but the design should control it. Light and space can be poetic but not when it feels like a convection oven. Architects really should experience the buildings they design on a regular basis. It will make them better designers for it.

That said, I want to talk about my recent experience working as a LEED administrator consultant on a 42,000sf office building development in the Bay Area (not a public bid project). I’m not the architect but was brought on as the LEED admin. The contractor was on board from the beginning. The client, design team and contractor were all for LEED which made my life as the LEED admin far easier. This project fell neatly into the LEED CS (core & shell) category and we developed the LEED project vision and distributed the credit responsibilities to the appropriate team members.

The initial target had been LEED certified but as the project progressed and the team got even more fired up, the client pushed it to silver as the target. We have enough credits for Gold but we take into account that most times, a project tends to get denied a few credits and so it is more realistic to shoot for a higher level but assume you will hit the level below.

In the design phase we went after 19 credits and earned 18. Only one credit was denied.  Which we suspected we probably would not get it but tried anyway. Maybe one day I’ll talk about that particular credit.

Initially for the construction credits we pursued 15 credits but through the contractor’s efforts added two separate credits. This is why having a good contractor on board is essential. They have to work with their subcontractors and their vendors to ensure that we actually get the credits.

The contractor found a waste management facility that recycles at a rate close to 95-99% and therefore off hauled everything to the facility and diverted 100% of construction waste from the landfill. All wood procured for the job was FSC certified. We helped them develop a “green” construction job-site guide for their employees and the same with the IAQ plan. It was collaborative from the start which is far more enjoyable and rewarding than butting heads continuously.

Recycled and regional material credits all hit the 2 point mark because of their efforts. I worked closely with their project admin on completing the letter templates. Most people have no idea how much work goes into getting those done. Right now we are waiting word to see what we will need to clarify and what we will have earned outright. While we don’t have the final decision yet, it still made life a lot easier to work with a great contractor.

I have had quite a few of those calls over the years.  The gist of it is that a commercial or residential building was remodeled without obtaining the proper building permits.  Something that is fairly common.  Truth of the matter is that you don’t need an architect to design most homes (you do on commercial projects) and most people don’t see the need.  The problems is that you still need to ensure that the building meets code.

So along comes the building department and slaps the owner with a fine and requires they submit for a proper permit.  The first thing the owner does is to call around the usual retinue of local architects they Googled.

So herein lies the problem.  They never wanted to obtain a permit in the first place because they didn’t want to pay for it.  They see no need for it and for the most part believe it is an imposition.  This viewpoint then carries over to having to use an architect.  They see no need for one and don’t think they should have to pay for their services.  So the first question out of their mouth is, ” How much do you charge to ….?”

Not so much as a,”Hi, how are you doing?”  Well, how do you expect me to know how much to charge if I don’t even know what the project is about?  Plus we don’t just throw numbers out there hoping for it to stick.  We actually have to consider the scope of the work, the budget, the client’s needs, the site, regulatory requirements, zoning, etc before we even start to work the numbers.

One other thing.  For some reason if a contractor tells you that they know what they are doing because they have been building for 25 years, everyone is more than happy to believe them.  Well if they really knew what they were doing, how come you just got slap for that illegal unit?  Yet nobody wants to listen to the architect.

No architect worth his/her salt will take on the project and “just draw what’s there”.  They just took on a whole bunch of liability and risks for something they didn’t do.  Just because it was built does not mean it was built right.

If you want to do something, do it right the first time.  Trying to cheap out tends to end up costing you a whole lot more.  If you already made the mistake once, then listen to the architect that agrees to work with you this time around and don’t expect the process to be a slam dunk.  Man, I can talk about the sushi restaurant that ended up paying double what they expected because they didn’t get the design approved by the local health department.  But that’s another story.

Unless you have been hibernating in a cave deep within the Rockies and haven’t been following the news lately, you’ll probably notice that with the collapse of the housing market the construction market took a major hit.  If nobody can sell their home, there is no incentive to build new ones. Ergo, lots of out of work contractors.

So for the person who wants to build or needs to remodel it means that there are deals to be had.  Lately I get calls from contractors, many of whom normally only work on commercial projects, who are looking to be included on any project.  Including houses.  There is an ample supply of contractors available.

The same theory applies to building materials.  There are discounts to be had since the present supply outstrips the demand.

So while the recession is a bad thing for most people, for those with the means or who have to remodel/ build, these are actually fairly good times.  Nobody knows how long it will stay this way.  If the economy picks up and building construction increases, those discounts will disappear along with it.  If the recession continues its downward trend then many contractors will go out of business and the supply side dwindles.  Less contractors even in a down market means less competition to contend with and therefore the ability to raise prices again.

For the home owner watching their equity and value of their home lowered due to surrounding foreclosures, the means to sell and move to a home that has the amenities they desire becomes harder or non existent.  So staying put and remodeling the home to improve its functionality is probably their only recourse if they absolutely had to have that new kitchen or rec room or whatever.  You need not necessarily increase the size of your home by much.  A home can be designed to be small but efficient.  Larger is not necessarily better and in many cases results in inefficient houses that bleed energy (& your money).

Keeping the size of the home in check in turn can keep your construction costs down.  Just as it makes sense to improve the energy efficiency of your home before throwing technology at it, the same goes with the functionality of your home.  Keep it simple, smart and save costs at the same time.

Edit (3/13/09): Follow this link to an article in the AIArchitect newsletter: Falling Material Prices Make a Builder’s Market—Minus Credit

Personally I feel that a sustainable building  is a building that is designed to work with the environment/ site it is in.  A site and climate responsive building.  It utilizes daylighting, passive cooling, thermal mass or other such strategies to reduce the need for mechanical systems to achieve thermal comfort.  In other words, it works with the sun, wind, topography and other elements on the site.

Throw in other related building systems like the structure, materials, water efficiency, building footprint, etc that are designed to work together holistically and there you have it.  There were green buildings long before LEED came along and there will continue to be green buildings long after.

LEED is very succesful and I don’t kid myself about that.  After all I took the trouble to get accredited as a LEED accredited professional too.  Just like the other tens of thousands who did so.  I have worked on a number of LEED projects and currently am a LEED administrator on a LEED CS (Core & shell) office building which we hope to achieve at least a LEED silver rating (theoretically it’s at Gold but I prefer to be conservative in the predicted outcome).

I actually think that LEED coming along was a good thing because it made everyone in the building trades a little more aware about sustainability.  It is far better to do something that supports a sustainable method of construction then the conventional way which encouraged waste.

With that said, there is no program or standard in the world that can hope for perfection.  If you tell people that achieving your highest rating let’s the world know you have the greenest building in the world without any caveats, then you are going to find some projects that are going to shoot for points for the sake of it.

Yes, I know that the new version of LEED attempts to address regionality in its standards.  I’ll wait till the refrence manuals are published and readily available before I make any comments.   Truth of the matter is that everyone on the project needs to be well educated about these systems that they will be employing in their projects because of LEED.  A building still needs to function properly and not leak regardless of its LEED rating.  A LEED administrator on a project should be able to advise the building team and owner why some credits need to be avoided due to possible negative effects.  I’m not saying that there are bad credits or requirements in LEED.  I’m saying that because the climate is always key, you need to utilize the right credits to ensure that your building is climate responsive.  Doing the wrong thing can get you some points but actually hurt the building.

I have read “LEED reviews” by other consultants on various projects over the years that are supposed to guide the owner as to the LEED worthiness of their project.  Most times it’s just somebody ticking off credits and saying, your project can achieve these points.  Right.  And what basis did you derive that from? The design drawings or specifications? The project budget? The professional engineers design statement?  What?

There are plenty of LEED APs out there but only a few who know how a building goes together and even fewer who actually generate sustainable designs or research on it.  You are supposed to implement LEED at the start of the project to ensure an intergrated project.  Reality normally means a project owner deciding to pursue LEED well into the design phases.  It’s not impossible to achieve LEED in that scenario but it’s going to result in additional costs.

So a “review” done after the fact needs to address the possibility that the project may not be able to achieve LEED because of the design.  It’s not the design team’s fault since that was not their directive from the get go.  Reports that just tick of possible credits without really investigating the design are going to be the bane of the sustainability industry.  It reduces its credibility.

So let’s talk LEED in these postings as we move forward.

Ok, so you didn’t have a house designed to work with the site or the climate.  What do you do?

Well get somebody to analyze your house or building.   Where are you losing heat from and vice versa.  If you have more heating days then cooling, you need to find where you are losing the heat from to lower your energy costs.

Simple steps like caulking or using weather stripping helps.  Then step it up if your budget allows and replace windows or doors.  Look at the insulation in your attic and if you have any under your floors in a crawl space.  If you have a slab on grade, consider insulating the perimeter of the slab if at all possible.

Look at the insulation in your walls.  Does it have any? Remember though that it is always better if the house was built with high efficiency building components in the first place.  If you decide to refurbish your home after the fact, you need to carefully research what you put in the home.

There are plenty of businesses out there that will happily pump your wall full of insulation products.  Not all good for you.  You need to check the types of insulation and if it will off gas volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into your home for months or years after the installation.   You also need to find out if by adding the additional insulation you inadvertently cause the dew point (where condensation occurs) to fall somewhere within your wall cavity.

Huh? Why?

Well, moisture occurring in your walls helps mold thrive.  People tend to forget that they live and sleep in their homes.  If they don’t see anything, it’s not a problem.  Just because its built doesn’t mean it’s right.

Ok, that went off tangent a little, so let’s get back on track.  Button up your home (but do it right).

Consider other measures like planting deciduous trees that shade the house in the summer but allow in sunlight in the winter.   Build a trellis on the south or west sides of your home to shade it from the summer sun and reduce your cooling load.  If you are going to replace you roof because it just happens to be that time, consider using roofing materials that are lighter in color.

Then look at what you have in the house.  Replace old and inefficient appliances.  Your mental calculator is going off right now.  Well, if you consider the costs of installing a PV system, most of these efforts will costs far less and still save you money.  It’s far better to save money then to spend it if you are getting the same effort.  In today’s economy, we need all the help we can.

For the most part measures like these will help reduce the heating or cooling loads on your central air conditioner or furnace.  Compare your utility bills over a number of years to see if you have actually achieved any savings.

Now after all these efforts, if you still want to install the PV system,  you’ll find that it will probably be sized smaller than before you initiated all the other efforts.  Which in turn will costs you less.

That I guess was the whole point of this post.  Do whatever you can to make your building more efficient before throwing technology at it.  Sometimes simple measures can save you a lot of money.

Using renewable energy to get your home or building off the grid or partially of the grid is a good goal to have.  We could go on about how using renewables will help limit this country’s dependence on foreign oil but there are plenty of experts to talk about it.  That’s not what I’m going to focus on.

Before anyone heads out the door to buy and install a PV system on their home, they need to take a hard look at their home or building.  This post isn’t to discourage you in your effort to install a PV panel system or a wind turbine in your home or building.  It is about things you should consider before doing so.

So let’s look at a single family residence as an example.  Your electric/gas/ heating oil bill is high because of your heating or cooling  loads in your home.  So you think installing a PV system (or wind turbine) will help offset the utility bills.  Great, except even with all the incentives, rebates etc, it still uses hard earned cash to put one up.

Unfortunately for most people, their homes are regular tract homes built to a series of similar plans and laid out to maximize the number of homes in the development.  Which means that for the most part, they are not designed with the site or climate in mind.

You say, what’s the big deal? It has windows and insulation in the walls and all the other homes are the same way.  Fair enough.

If all your windows are facing west and go floor to ceiling, then you’ll know how a hothouse cucumber feels all year long.  You can have triple glaze windows with low-e coatings and you’ll still cook in that house.   If your air conditioner was sized the same way as all the other houses, well it’s going to have a heavier load to deal with.  For most people living in older homes, it’s likely they have single glazing in their windows.

Truth of the matter is that you can throw all the technology in the world at a building but if it wasn’t designed to work with the climate then you are over sizing all that equipment to compensate for the failings of the design.  Not a problem when gas was cheap.

Continued on the next post….

Why on earth would you want to read the ramblings and musings of an architect?

Let alone mine.

I just happen to be an architect who likes to design green buildings whenever the opportunity provides itself.   The reality is that while many architects tend to lean towards designing green or sustainable buildings, we still design to a budget and for a client.

If the budget does not include a sustainably designed building, then a conventionally built building might just be the result.  Most clients if educated about the benefits of going “green”, are supportive of it but leery of adding costs.  In many instances for a small developer or home owner, it just doesn’t and going green falls off the balance sheets. 

Over the last few years we have heard the klaxon call for LEED certified buildings.  You did think that before LEED came along there were no green buildings being built.  Now almost everyone out there is a LEED accredited professional (AP) and you can’t help but step on one every time a building project becomes more than a glimmer in its owner’s eyes.  However going LEED has costs implications and it takes a lot of time and money to go through the certification process.  In this economy, it appears that is one of the first things that get shown the door.  LEED has some pros and cons associated it with.  Maybe I’ll get around to talking about that one day.

Right now my focus is about greening your project.  It doesn’t have to be LEED to be green but the hype and marketing behind it can’t hurt if you want the project to stand out from the crowd.  However a well thought out building that is designed to respond to the site and climate is probably going to save money over the life of the building.  There is more to being green that fancy letters after a name. 

So bear with me and as I find the time, I’ll write a little more each time. 

In the mean time, if you want to learn a little bit more about me, feel free to check out my firm’s web site. 

http://www.gleearchitects.com