EcoStructure January/February 2010 : Page 35
2 and visitors with views of the bay while creating a sense of community inside. “People love working here,” says Brendan Connolly, an associate partner at Mithun. “It’s an egalitarian open space that promotes the exchange of ideas and has empowered our process of design.” Also deeply engrained within Mithun’s culture is an attitude of “lessons learned” with each project. Since completing the building renovation in 1999, designers have experimented with virtually every aspect of the pier’s systems while continuing to explore advances in sustainability practices and technologies. Energy performance is 20 percent to 25 percent better than a typical Seattle office building: good, they say, considering the very low tenant-improvement budget, but not groundbreaking. What could be improved? There’s widespread agreement on several areas: better controls and thermal comfort levels, the use of a fossil fuel–free heat source, and skylights to bring additional daylight to workspaces. Still, Pier 56 remains a desirable office environment. “Essentially, we wanted to create a sailboat, not a power yacht,” explains Connolly, “by reducing both the embodied energy of materials and demand for electricity while creating the city’s first naturally cooled office space in the post–air conditioning era. We think it succeeds.” ▪ David R. Macaulay is the author of Integrated Design: Mithun, and the blog GreenArchiTEXT.com. lESSOnS lEaRnEd “The most successful design strategies on display here are the most timeless ones: natural cooling and ventilation, connection to daylight and views, and open, flexible space,” says Brendan Connolly. “But it’s an archaic building, so everything done at the time of the renovation in 1999 is arguably obsolete in terms of the learning curve of sustainability.” Among the lessons learned (and now applied to other projects) byMithun’s designers from their work on Pier 56: 3 Extending out over the waters of Elliott Bay, Pier 56 (opening page) combines history and sustainability in Mithun’s corporate offices. Renovating the historic pier required updating the timber structure (3) to meet recent seismic requirements. The Point (1) is a common area for meetings and community events. Operable clerestory and large-scale windows not only provide expansive outdoor views, but also let in daylight and natural air, as seen in the sustainability diagram above (2). The red arrows indicate heat escaping through the clerestory windows. The yellow arrows depict summer and winter sun, while the undulating gray ribbon illustrates cross-ventilation and natural cooling plans through the use of operable side windows. To SuBMiT a PRojEcT FoR conSiDERaTion in FLaShBack, E-MaiL EcoSTRucTuREPRojEcTS@hanLEywooD.coM. • Maintain a better understanding of building controls, including the need for more user instruction; the ability to tie lighting controls to daylight harvesting; and the use of passive indicator lights for operable windows. • Fine tune use of clerestories and operable windows, particularly those facing an adjacent viaduct, to optimize air quality while deflecting highway noise. • Explore increased daylighting opportunities. Because of Pier 56’s deep floor plate, most workspaces are below LEED ambient levels of natural light. The addition of skylights offers one solution to improving productivity and further reducing energy demands. • Retrofit renewable energy technologies. The building’s 15,000-square-foot, south-facing roof offers an ideal, and possible iconic, location for photovoltaic arrays and micro wind systems on Seattle’s waterfront. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 ECO-STRUCTURE 35
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