Berkeley, California
SPECIFICATIONS:
Area: 65,000 gsf
Architects: Solomon E.T.C.
Energy Efficiency: 54% better than standard U.S. Energy Star office building rating
LEED Certification: Platinum
This design for a mixed use project in downtown Berkeley provides many opportunities to educate users and the public about sustainable design. Integral Group collaborated closely with the design team from the earliest stages of the design process to create a building that is optimal in its energy efficiency, functionality and user comfort. Named after the Sierra Club’s first executive director, David Brower, the project includes 50,000 square feet of office and educational space, 96 apartments, public education space, a restaurant, and underground parking. The Center provides a home for the environmental movement: subsidized rental office space for environmental non-profit organizations and conference center facilities for environmentally conscious events. A dramatic public rotunda provides daylight and natural ventilation for the various commercial uses. Important energy and water efficient design strategies included in the project are: optimal siting, daylighting, natural ventilation, a high efficiency HVAC system that emphasizes low energy and comfortable systems, photovoltaic power generation, and solar hot water.
The HVAC system was designed to emphasize natural ventilation, with the narrow floor plate of the building, while having a low energy system provide both heating and cooling to the building as needed. A raised floor system is employed throughout the building to supply ventilation air as needed to the tenant spaces, using efficient displacement ventilation, and to house the electrical conduit throughout the building. The building also has an in-slab radiant heating and cooling system which can be ‘turned down’ at night by precooling with a cooling tower during periods of warmer weather to store cooling for the next day. The ground floor of the building is served by a high efficiency water source heat pump system. Overall, the building is predicted to use over 60% less energy than the average U.S. building of similar use, without taking credit for the energy produced by the photovoltaic system. Several different daylighting strategies are employed on each of the building’s floors to achieve close to a 100% daylit building. The building also has a high performance skin, designed to both optimize usable daylight for lighting the interior, while reducing solar heat gain and the need for heating and cooling. Light shelves, overhangs and other envelope features were incorporated to achieve an optimized shell. The water saving features of the building include waterless urinals (a landmark milestone: the first installation of these for the City of Berkeley); a rainwater catchment system that provides water for flushing toilets and irrigation; and low-flow fixtures used throughout the building.
