SDN603 Sustainable Systems Projects

It seems appropriate that the first time I've had time to post about my projects for this class are a few hours after I completed my final project. That's just an idea of how demanding the coursework has been. Anyhow, my SDN603 Sustainable Systems Class, taught by two engineers, Shannon and Rob and from In-Posse, has been very intense. The course load has been an in-depth review of mechanical, water, electrical, and HVAC systems - How they integrate into a well-designed building, and how to make efficient improvements. It's a deluge of information, but I love the class. It's definitely the most valuable one thus far in the MSSD program. Here's a rundown of the things we've covered:

1. Case Studies
2. Daylighting
3. eQuest Energy Modeling (HVAC Analysis)
   
4. Sizing A Photovoltaic System
5. Water Budgets and Rainwater Harvesting
6. Final Design Project

Read on to learn about each of these in depth.

Is Sustainable Architecture Growing Too Fast?

If you're reading this, you're probably like me and sing praises for everything that is green and efficient. Think about the products that are new or still evolving in the green revolution; rainwater storage, photovoltaic systems, solar hot water heaters, wind and hydro power, intensive and extensive green roofs, organic insulation, to name a few… It's a transforming market where a lot of products are being introduced to help obtain levels of accreditation, be it LEED, EnergyStar, or any of the other standard. An interesting article forwarded to me from the Insurance Journal, highlights some of the concerns about construction defects from these products. Given that this is written from the perspective of the insurance industry, anything that strays from the norm is considered a liability, so take with a grain of salt. An interesting quote:

"While green buildings have many positive benefits, there is also strong evidence surfacing to suggest a direct correlation between new products and innovative design with building failures," says Paul Roecker, an attorney with Orlando, Fla.-based Roetzel & Andress, who focuses his practice on environmental litigation.

I'm sure many of us have never thought of the green homes and buildings as a liability, but they are. The truth is that many contractors, builders, and architects still don't fully understand the systems that are being installed and how to properly maintain them. It's an interesting thought. As we try and create homes that stray from simplicity, inducing complicated HVAC and electrical systems, water management, and synthetic insulation, we are stepping into a relatively untested world.

Still, I firmly believe that these flaws in green buildings need to exist to continue to move the industry forward. Just like any emerging technology, you want to get them to market quickly and safely, but to address and improve upon any defects as quickly as possible. With so many incentives to implement green features into buildings, people are taking advantage and buying whatever is on the market, so reliability of these products need to improve. Therefore, it's no surprise that insurers are coming up with green insurance coverage options.

I'm now a LEED Green Associate (!)

I have been studying for the LEED Green Associate Exam for a few weeks. I took it this past Saturday morning and passed! I'm really excited as this helps validate myself within the field and is a stepping stone that I've been looking to achieve. The exam itself lasts up to two hours, but took about half of that. The questions were a bit tricky, as all tests like this seem to be. If you're looking to take this exam, make sure you study from multiple sources, as the USGBC study guide left out some of the basic questions. The exam is administered by the GBCI (Green Building Certification Institute) for professionals who want to demonstrate green building expertise in non-technical fields of practice.

So now I can to use this logo with my name or on business cards. The LEED Green Associate credential denotes basic knowledge of green design, construction, and operations. After this, I'm now able to seek certification as a LEED AP+ specialty.

Copenhagen Study Abroad for 3 weeks

Whoa! An opportunity presented itself within the MSSD program to study abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for a three-week summer semester. There are two summer sessions and I applied to and will be participating in the second summer session from June 11th through July 2. The course is entitled "Sustainable Technology and Culture: Energy and Responses to Climate Change" and the description reads:

The course is a study of the link between technology and culture in the creation and maintenance of a sustainable environment – ecologically as well as socially. Environmental best practice, sustainable environmental and social policy, environmental/green technologies and their dissemination. Visits will focus on the Danish energy industry, “clean tech” companies as well as relevant research centers.

It's a two week course followed up by a one week study tour to Oslo, Norway where we'll learn how modern communities are using energy efficient technology to reduce human impact on the environment, also tour some factories. I'm seeing this as an opportunity I couldn't pass on. Yeah it's going to cost me a bit of money, but I think the real value will be in the experience. I'm looking forward to updating the events from abroad.

Potential on Fleming St. In Manayunk

I'm getting the itch to buy a home. I've been keeping a lookout for affordable properties that meet this criteria:

1. are close to the train and bus lines
2. walkable neighborhood (restaurants, bars, parks all within a 15 minute walk)
3. hidden value in fixing up
4. have renting potential for long-term holding
   

Thus far, the two properties I've profiled here have these attributes, yet both haven't been right for me in one way or another. One had almost no space, and one was biting off more than I could chew.

And now, a property in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia has caught my eye. This property, located at 4353 Fleming St might just be in the sweet-spot. It's a short sale that has been on the market for a while and I've watched the price drop to a point where I think it's now affordable at 139k. It's 1000 sqft, with street parking and a small backyard space. Again, I had my agent Matt Mittman walk me through the property this past weekend, and the layout is very nice. Smaller than advertised, as it's realistically only a 2 bed 1 bath property. Someone was living in the basement in a makeshift bedroom and bath, both of which are of no value. Kitchen and Bath rooms both need compete renovations, and the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems need to be looked at by an inspector and most likely replaced. That said, if the work costs what I have rough estimated, then this house could be very financially reasonable. I'll upload photos and more information shortly.

On a side note, I'm going to a lender next Monday to get pre-approved and to learn more about HUD 203k loan options. I'm trying to get in before the first-time home buyer's credit expires, but with it taking a while for things to fall in place with my income and credit rating, now is as soon as this has been possible for me. Also, short-sales often take longer to settle, so we'll see.

DVGBC Website Redesign Concepts

Getting involved with the Philadelphia DVGBC network through the Student Design Competition committee and the EGB (Emerging Green Builders), it was only a matter of time until this happened. Being so involved with everything else, I've been trying to avoid it at all costs.

From the onset, I've noticed that the DVGBC website was poorly designed. The branding, color palette and everything has been successfully and professionally established by BarberGale, but the website is a separate beast. Visually it has the branding nailed down, but programmatically, it appears to be an off-the-shelf blogging CMS, and it is now restricting the growth of the site. Recently, the DVGBC has made comments that they are looking to revamp it by putting a team together to address the issues.

The DVGBC Marketing committee has created a Website Redesign sub-committee. Now this is just getting ridiculous, committees within committees, that's like a Turducken! I know, and you know what have I done? Yes - I have gladly stepped up and am now a member of the team, creating mockups for the page layouts and offering technical advice… To tell you the truth I feel this is probably my best fit within the organization because of my background. I'm not quite ready to leave it all behind.

Here is the design I came up with for the Homepage layout after extensive and organized feedback from the rest of the team. It's the first of dozens of pages that need to have their structure addressed, and hopefully this will get us started on the right foot.

Spring Classes Moving Ahead

The spring semester is already 4 weeks in, and I haven't had any free time to explain what they've been about. Both classes started out with the idea of human comfort and what we need to do to create comfortable living spaces while building them as a efficient and sustainable as possible. Thankfully they are now both of my classes are diverging, with the one class being more of a lab/project creation, and the other is more of an engineering/research course.

One thing that's becoming apparent is my lack of specialty within the program. I've thought of myself as a visual designer with a great knowledge practical construction methods. However, I'm discovering that every one of my skills are trumped in one way or another by a number of peers and it's quite discouraging. There are Architects and Interior designers who can imagine a space better than I could, as well as common knowledge as to how things should be designed. Then there are those with construction management and development backgrounds that far exceed the skills I've accumulated. It's a little discouraging, but also it's forcing me to try exceptionally hard to catch up and get a better understanding of the material. Things have already drastically changed within one year, I'm excited to see what can happen in the next.

Student Design Competition Poster

Early in January, my involvement with the DVGBC Student Design Competition Comittee led me to design a poster for this years contest with another graphic designer from WRT Design, Anna. Collaborating with her, we came up with this poster for the year's competition. I can't take much credit, most of my designs were discarded and she only used elements of mine in the final layout. The challenge is to design a sustainable bicycle transit center. You can see the program summary here.

One thing that was interesting about this was the design process itself. The DVGBC is still an emerging company and brand, which led to challenges obtaining fonts and proper guidelines. For the most part, the DVGBC design style is very clean and conservative, with light colors and subtle gradients with the use of light floral overlays. We are targeting young architectural and engineering students so we wanted to help our poster stand out as well as be in line with the DVGBC brand.