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Socially Conscious Design: Environmentally friendly office center is a destination for activism and educationAuthor: Marcy Marro Date: 2/1/2010 URL: www.vmzinc-us.com URL: www.mechoshade.com URL: www.wausauwindows.com URL: www.sunoptics.com URL: www.kwanwo.com URL: www.sunpowercorp.com URL: www.linetec.com  When the David Brower Center, located in downtown Berkeley, Calif., opened in May 2009, it was much more than just another office building in a downtown location. Named in honor of David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club and a Berkeley native who many consider the father of the modern environment movement, the 50,000-square-foot (4,645-m2) Brower Center is the greenest building in Berkeley and is expected to receive a LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, D.C.Offering educational and arts programs, conference and event facilities, and high-quality office space for non-profits, the center has become a destination for activism and education. Featuring a 180-seat state-of-the-art theater, two special event/conference rooms, a gallery for exhibits and events, and a restaurant, it is a place to foster collaborations between like-minded organizations and individuals, designed to engage new people in advocacy and facilitate cross-sector communication and partnerships. “The David Brower Center was founded to bring people together to inspire and sustain environmental and social action in the 21st century,” said Amy Tobin, executive director of the David Brower Center. “We wanted to create a stable, healthy home for non-profits and provide a welcoming space for the public to engage with some of the most important issues of our time. We hope the center will inspire others to design buildings and cities that are healthier.”  Transit-oriented DesignThe four-story center is part of a larger mixed-use development located in the heart of downtown Berkeley’s commercial center. Built on a prime parcel of land that was owned by the city and previously used as a parking lot, approximately one-third of the site is used for the Brower Center with the remaining two-thirds occupied by Oxford Plaza, which features 97 units for affordable workforce housing, 8,100 square feet (752 m2) of ground-floor retail space with tenants that will support the project’s values of environmentally responsible products and services, and 99 underground public parking spaces, including bike parking and car-share spaces. Designed to serve as a new prototype for environmentally responsible urban design, the Brower Center and Oxford Plaza are across the street from the University of California-Berkeley, two blocks from the downtown Berkeley BART station and more than 15 bus lines. On-site bicycle parking and showers make it easy for commuters to leave their cars at home. Inspired Working Space The top three floors of the center include 24,000 square feet (2,230 m2) of new office space, which is occupied by 30 organizations working in the environmental and social justice fields. Tenants include national and international groups and activists working on everything from scientific research and national energy policy to the impact of dams on indigenous peoples’ rights around the world, from redesigning food service in schools to the incubation of new projects.  “Moving into the Brower Center offers us a tremendous opportunity to advance our work,” said Zenobia Barlow, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, a non-profit dedicated to schooling for sustainability in K-12 education. “It reflects all the values we stand for—and shows that bringing an ecological understanding to how we live leads to a better sense of community and quality of life.”All rooms at the center are decorated with attractive, healthy and sustainable materials. With state-of-the-art equipment and audio from Berkeley-based Meyer Sound, clients can play video and audio from laptops, DVD players and MP3 players throughout the building. “All spaces are designed to engage and inspire the public,” Tobin said. “The gallery attracts a lot of people who may not otherwise come into the building. By using art we inspire people to think about major environmental and social issues that they may not otherwise think about.” Cutting-edge Green Design The Brower Center is the first of its kind in Berkeley, and will be one of less than 10 LEED Platinum certified buildings in northern California. Designed by a “green dream team,” the center uses recycled building materials and energy-saving technologies that will be studied for years to come. “As a home for environmental non-profits and the larger environmental movement, the owners felt it was appropriate to make the building a showcase for and model of green building technologies,” said Malcolm Harris, project architect with WRT/Solomon E.T.C., San Francisco. The goal of designing a high-performance building, with an integrated design process, meant that the entire design team had to work together from the beginning to determine how to make the building innovative, efficient and healthy, according to Tobin.  Constructed with 53 percent recycled materials, the center is at least 40 percent more energy efficient than standard buildings. Rainwater is collected and reused for irrigation and toilet flushing. Low-pressure ventilation via the raised floor system, along with the operable windows, help maximize the building’s indoor air quality. All office areas feature 100 percent daylighting with the help of operable windows and sunshading devices. Photovoltaic panels on the roof and the cornice at the top of the building provide sunshading to protect offices from solar heat gain, and additional solar shading devices are located on all south-facing windows to help reflect daylight deep into the offices. Concrete with high slag content significantly reduces CO2 and cement content, while increasing strength. Additionally, the building’s vertically post-tensioned structure minimizes potential damage due to earthquakes. Eco-friendly Elements The Brower Center features a variety of products that help support the anticipated LEED Platinum certification and create an example for green building everywhere. “We wanted the building to be as earth-friendly as possible. Zinc has very low embodied energy, and the mining of zinc is quite benign as compared to other metals. It will never need to be painted, and it won’t rust,” Harris said. Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh, N.C., supplied approximately 9,000 square feet (836 m2) of its VM Zinc for the building’s siding. Van-Mulder Sheet Metal Inc., San Leandro, Calif., installed the zinc panels. “The windows go right up to the ceiling, which is a concrete slab painted reflective white on the underside,” Harris said. “We used the brightest white we could find, which helps the light wash back in. During the day, office workers typically don’t need to use overhead lights.” Wausau Window and Wall Systems, Wausau, Wis., supplied 163 of its 3250 Series Advantage high-performance windows for the building. The windows have a 3 1/2-inch (89-mm) frame depth with polyurethane thermal barrier. Wausau-based Linetec applied the clear anodize finish for the exposed window areas. The Brower Center is designed to produce about 40 percent of the electricity that it consumes. It generates renewable energy through solar PV panels and sunshades. San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower Corp. supplied 292 modules of its SunPower 225 solar panels, for a total of 3,650 square feet (339 m2), that were installed by Sun Light & Power, Berkeley.  Kwan Wo Ironworks, San Francisco, custom-made the photovoltaic trellis sunshade on the top of the building, and Van-Mulder custom made the sunshades on the building’s second and third floors with sheet aluminum and galvanized steel. MechoShade Systems, Long Island City, N.Y., manufactured the window shades used throughout the building out of non-PVC fabrics. The standard shades are made from polyester, and the blackout shades in the conference rooms and event spaces are made from fiberglass and acrylic.“The Brower Center represents the cutting edge for healthy, green offices,” said David Gottfried, CEO of Berkeley-based Regenerative Ventures Inc. and founder of the U.S. and World Green Business Councils, who has moved his own offices to the David Brower Center. “Many of the sustainable aspects of this building are practical, affordable and achievable by other builders. I hope that the building industry can learn from this great model.” David Brower Center, Berkeley, Calif. Developer/project manager: Equity Community Builders, San Francisco Architect: WRT/Solomon E.T.C., San Francisco General contractor: Cahill Contractors Inc., San Francisco Daylighting consultant: Loisos + Ubbelohde, Oakland, Calif. Structural engineer: Tipping Mar + Associates, Berkeley Mechanical engineer: Rumsey Engineers, Oakland LEED and materials consultant: Siegel & Strain Architects, Emeryville, Calif. Glazing subcontractor: Hayward Glass Co., Hayward, Calif. Photovoltaic installer: Sun Light & Power, Berkeley Siding installer/custom sunshades: Van-Mulder Sheet Metal Inc., San Leandro, Calif. Anodizer: Linetec, Wausau, Wis., www.linetec.com Photovoltaic panels: SunPower Corp., San Jose, Calif., www.sunpowercorp.com Photovoltaic sunshade: Kwan Wo Ironworks Inc., San Francisco, www.kwanwo.com Skylights: Sunoptics Prismatic Skylights, Sacramento, Calif., www.sunoptics.com Window system: Wausau Window and Wall Systems, Wausau, www.wausauwindows.com Window shades: MechoShade Systems Inc., Long Island City, N.Y., www.mechoshade.com Zinc siding: Umicore Building Products USA, Raleigh, N.C., www.vmzinc-us.com | ||||||||||
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