Archive for the ‘Green Design’ Category

HKS Atlanta office – featured on Inhabitat.com

Friday, May 11th, 2012

The HKS Atlanta office renovation has been featured on the Inhabitat.com. The website is dedicated to the future of design and tracking innovations, technologies and materials that are pushing architecture and design towards a more sustainable future. HKS is recognized as a global architecture firm with a growing reputation for sustainable design. To add to our credentials, the office in Atlanta was awarded LEED Gold for Commercial Interiors.

Kudos to those who worked on this project!… our sustainable efforts are being recognized throughout the design community. See the link below for the full article, and more photos.

http://inhabitat.com/hks-atlanta-renovates-their-office-to-be-leed-gold-for-commercial-interiors/

American made products

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

It has become a weekly topic on ABC World News… Made in America. Each segment, newscasters discuss how buying products made in America will help create American jobs. A local builder in Montana is building homes made entirely of American made products. He is convinced that if every builder bought just 5% more American materials it would create 220,000 jobs. If residential builders can have that great of an impact on our ecomony, just image the impact if architects and designers specified more American made products on commercial projects.

Below is a link to the ABC News article, including a list of American companies and the building products they make.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/10/how-to-build-a-made-in-america-home/

Today is America Recyles Day

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

November 15th is America Recycles Day, hosted by Keep America Beautiful. Over 5,000 people have already taken the pledge to LEARN about recycling options in their community and ACT to reduce their personal waste by choosing a new type of material to recycle each month. To learn more, visit http://americarecyclesday.org

COMFEN Façade Analysis Software

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

COMFEN is a tool designed to support the systematic evaluation of alternative fenestration systems for project-specific commercial building applications.  Developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for architectural façade designer, COMFEN provides a simplified user interface that focuses attention on key variables in fenestration design.  Under the hood is Energy Plus, a sophisticated analysis engine that dynamically simulates the effects of these key fenestration variables on energy consumption, peak energy demand, and thermal and visual comfort.  The results from the Energy Plus simulations are presented in graphical and tabular format within the simplified user interface for comparative fenestration design cases to help users move toward optimal fenestration design choices for their project.

HKS DesignGreen is beginning to assist design teams in analyzing façade options with this software and believe that it will be a very promising tool in the near future.

Click here to access the DesignGreen blog to comment and for archived information.

LEED for Healthcare Launched

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Although LEED for Healthcare was released in November 2010, there was a waiting period for LEED Online documentation system to become functional.  LEED Online is now functional and LEED for Healthcare has been fully launched.

Starting on January 1, 2012, all federal and licensed inpatient, outpatient, and long-term care facilities seeking LEED certification must use the LEED for Healthcare rating system.  More information about LEED for Healthcare and resources are available at  www.usgbc.org/leed/healthcare.

HKS DesignGreen has developed a 1 hour GBCI approved LEED specific course about the requirements of LEED for Healthcare that can be shared with Owners and project teams who are considering or will be required to use this new rating system.

Click here to access the DesignGreen blog to comment and for archived information.

MEP Consultant Expectations

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

HKS’s commitment to the 2030 Challenge, spawned innovative changes to our standard C401 Agreement with our MEP Consultants.  These changes are catching the attention of the AE community (including the AIA) for their ability to promote greater integration of engineering innovation into the architectural design process.

In essence, the agreement requires our consulting engineers to assist our design teams in achieving aggressive energy budgets for our projects and to proactively inform our design teams of energy efficiency measures appropriate to achieve these targets.

The specific details of the requirements can be found in sections 3.1.14 of the Agreement.  There are also other requirements regarding water conservation and LEED Certifications in the subsequent sections. Click here to access our master C401 agreement.

Click here to access the DesignGreen blog to comment and for archived information.

Guestroom Automation Systems

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Energy is the hospitality industry’s second greatest operating cost.  Studies have shown that for every degree of thermostat setback, approximately 3% of the guestroom energy is saved. In addition to temperature, automated systems can be used to control guestroom lighting, window treatments and even plug loads.

These systems typically have two different levels of control; the first level is through the property management interface, which adjusts the settings immediately when a guest checks-in and can even be tailored to specific guest-history information. The second level of system interaction is a magnetic strip at the guestroom door or a guestroom keycard switch which signals entrance and exit activity during the guest’s stay. Motion detectors in the entrance corridor, living and bath areas also signal when a guest is in the room. The system can detect when a guest’s room is empty through these two detection systems and modify the room settings accordingly.  Between guests, rooms can be set to an energy saving mode even when motion is detected by cleaning staff.

Guestroom automation systems have been used in HKS projects such as City Center’s Aria Hotel and The Montage Beverly Hills.

Click here to access the DesignGreen blog to comment and for archived info.

Electric Vehicles Infrastructure Design Guideline (EVI)

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
 

Due to uncertainty in gas prices, our need to reduce dependency on foreign oil, and the evolution of an ever more environmentally conscious consumer, the reality of mass produced electric vehicles is quickly approaching.

Right now, most of the major car manufacturers are embracing EV technology.  Soon we can expect at least twenty different plug-in models on the road.  Electric vehicles are here to stay, and they’re going to require safe, reliable ways to stay charged up.

The projects we design today need to incorporate the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (EVI) necessary to support the EV charging demands of tomorrow. 

Click here to access the draft Electric Vehicle Charging Station Guidelines (EVCS).

Click here to access the DesignGreen blog to comment and for archived information.

Clothing Recycling Funds Charity Programs

Friday, August 5th, 2011

In 2009, textiles accounted for 5.2 percent of the municipal waste stream and only 13.8 percent were recycled. That means about 10.8 million tons of clothing and textiles ended up in the landfill.  The thing is, much of the clothing that ends up getting tossed can actually be reused or salvaged by non-profile organizations like Campus California to raise money for good causes.  The organization collects clothing and shoes via green boxes placed strategically throughout California in parking lots and business centers.

Last year, the organization collected over 7 million pounds of clothing, which after it was sorted, processed and sold, raised $213,000 for two other non-profits that placed volunteers in projects in Africa and South America.

“The positive environmental effects come from savings in water usage, pesticides and a number of toxic chemicals commonly used to grow cotton and in the process of producing the fabric,” …. “Additionally recycling creates many times the number of jobs compared to disposal, in collecting, sorting and re-selling of used clothing.”

Read more at:    http://earth911.com/news/2011/07/25/campus-california-clothing-recycling/

New Green Tower in Miami – The COR Building

Monday, July 18th, 2011

A new high rise is going up in Miami’s design district, and its a lean, green, eco machine. A collaboration between Chad Oppenheim architecture + design, energy consultant Buro Happold, and structural engineer Ysreal Seinuk, the $40 million, 25-story, “COR” building will incorporate mixed-use residential and commercial space, integrating green technologies including wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, and solar hot water generation. The building’s exoskeleton is a hyper-efficient structure that provides thermal mass for insulation, shade for residents, and architectural elements such as terraces and armatures that support turbines.