Currents

An Energy Newsletter for Local Governments

AIA's Top Ten Green Projects Showcase Environmentally Responsible Design, Redevelopment of Viable Brownfields

City of White Rock Operations Centre, White Rock, British Columbia
Busby + Associates Architects, Vancouver, British Columbia
URL: http://www.aiatopten.org/hpb/overview.cfm?ProjectID=288

The mandate of the City of White Rock was to make their new Operations Building as environmentally sustainable as reasonably possible, in accordance with the City's own policy. The 6545-square-foot building earned a LEED Gold certification through a great variety of strategies that include photovoltaic panels for electricity and solar tubes to provide base radiant heating for the building. Daylight lightshelves reduce lighting needs. A green sod roof reduces runoff from impermeable surfaces, while a pervious parking lot to allow infiltration of water into the ground. The facility also uses storm water rather than potable water to wash down city vehicles and for toilets, and waterless urinals and low-flow faucets throughout the facility further reduce water consumption. Extensive use of materials produced within a 500-mile radius of the site also reduced transportation effects on the environment.

Jury Comments: A truly sustainable building that humans will use, cherish, and maintain over time, this collaborative achievement succeeds at all levels: massing, use of daylight, orientation, the way the water works on the site, and the use of materials.

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