Three years ago, Steve Rice, Dave Fergus, and Mike Miller, partners in the 36-person design firm Rice Fergus Miller, bought a vacant and derelict Sears Auto store in downtown Bremerton, Wash. Their goal: convert the 30,000 gsf space into the most energy-efficient commercial building in the Pacific Northwest, and do so on a construction budget of around $100/sf.
Working with ME partner Ecotope, the partners calculated the amount of energy use they would allow as they strove toward net zero. Working backwards, they calculated the amount of energy that could be generated by covering every horizontal surface with PVs and designed the building to that number. Then the Building Team, including PCS Structural Solutions (SE), Gerber Engineering (EE), and Tim Ryan Construction (GC), considered which energy-related factors they could control and which they couldn’t.
PROJECT SUMMARY
RICE FERGUS MILLER OFFICE & STUDIO
Bremerton, Wash.Building Team
Submitting firm: Rice Fergus Miller (owner, architect)
Structural engineer: PCS Structural Solutions
Mechanical engineer: Ecotope
Electrical engineer: Gerber Engineering
General contractor: Tim Ryan Construction, Inc.General Information
Size: 30,000 gsf
Construction cost: $3.15 million
Construction time: September 2010 to May 2011
Delivery method: Self-performed
What they could control was insulation, heating, and cooling. To that end, they super-insulated the skin; put on a reflective roof; hyper-insulated the walls, floor, and roof; and installed windows with a weighted U-factor of 0.25. To control heating/cooling use, the team came up with a hybrid system of natural and mechanical ventilation in which heating, cooling, and ventilation were separated; ceiling fans mix the air, and the building has almost no ductwork.
The Building Team could have used FSC-certified lumber from Oregon or British Columbia; instead, they reframed the roof with locally harvested and milled lumber, which saved energy and helped local businesses. The team also ruled out a solar water heating system because the domestic hot water load did not justify the investment.
On the way to earning 91-point LEED Platinum certification, the office and studio achieved a 78% reduction in energy use over the national average for office buildings. Said Reconstruction Awards Judge Keith Hammerman, PE, “They thought through what they wanted to achieve and designed to meet that goal.” +
Related Stories
| Mar 16, 2011
AIA offers assistance to Japan's Architects, U.S. agencies coordinating disaster relief
“Our hearts go out to the people of Japan as a result of this horrific earthquake and tsunami,” said Clark Manus, FAIA, 2011 President of the AIA. “We are in contact with our colleagues at AIA Japan and the Japan Institute of Architects to offer not only our condolences but our profession's technical and professional expertise when the initiative begins focusing on rebuilding."
| Mar 16, 2011
Are you working on a fantastic residence hall project? Want to tell us about it?
The feature story for the May 2011 issue of Building Design+Construction will focus on new trends in university residence hall design and construction, and we’re looking for great projects to report on and experts to interview. Projects can involve new construction or remodeling/reconstruction work, and can be recently completed, currently under construction, or still on the boards.
| Mar 16, 2011
Foster + Partners to design carbon-neutral urban park for West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong
Foster + Partners has been selected by the board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to design a massive 56-acre urban park on a reclaimed harbor-front site in Hong Kong. Designed as a carbon-neutral development, “City Park” will seamlessly blend into existing streets while creating large expanses of green space and seventeen new cultural venues.
| Mar 15, 2011
What Starbucks taught us about redesigning college campuses
Equating education with a cup of coffee might seem like a stretch, but your choice of college, much like your choice of coffee, says something about the ability of a brand to transform your day. When Perkins + Will was offered the chance to help re-think the learning spaces of Miami Dade College, we started by thinking about how our choice of morning coffee has changed over the years, and how we could apply those lessons to education.
| Mar 15, 2011
What will the architecture profession look like in 2025?
The global economy and the economic recession have greatly affected architecture firms' business practices. A Building Futures survey from the Royal Institute of British Architects looks at how these factors will have transformed the profession and offers a glimpse of future trends. Among the survey's suggestions: not only will architecture firms have to focus on a financial and business approach rather than predominantly design-led offices, but also company names are predicted to drop ‘architect’ altogether.
| Mar 15, 2011
Passive Strategies for Building Healthy Schools, An AIA/CES Discovery Course
With the downturn in the economy and the crash in residential property values, school districts across the country that depend primarily on property tax revenue are struggling to make ends meet, while fulfilling the demand for classrooms and other facilities.
| Mar 14, 2011
Renowned sustainable architect Charles D. Knight to lead Cannon Design’s Phoenix office
Cannon Design is pleased to announce that Charles D. Knight, AIA, CID, LEED AP, has joined the firm as principal. Knight will serve as the leader of the Phoenix office with a focus on advancing the firm’s healthcare practice. Knight brings over 25 years of experience and is an internationally recognized architect who has won numerous awards for his unique contributions to the sustainable and humanistic design of healthcare facilities.
| Mar 11, 2011
University of Oregon scores with new $227 million basketball arena
The University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena opened January 13 with a men’s basketball game against USC where the Ducks beat the Trojans, 68-62. The $227 million arena, which replaces the school’s 84-year-old McArthur Court, has a seating bowl pitched at 36 degrees to replicate the close-to-the-action feel of the smaller arena it replaced, although this new one accommodates 12,364 fans.
| Mar 11, 2011
Temporary modular building at Harvard targets sustainability
Anderson Anderson Architecture of San Francisco designed the Harvard Yard childcare facility, a modular building manufactured by Triumph Modular of Littleton, Mass., that was installed at Harvard University. The 5,700-sf facility will remain on the university’s Cambridge, Mass., campus for 18 months while the Harvard Yard Child Care Center and the Oxford Street Daycare Coop are being renovated.
| Mar 11, 2011
Holiday Inn reworked for Downtown Disney Resort
The Orlando, Fla., office of VOA Associates completed a comprehensive interior and exterior renovation of the 14-story Holiday Inn in the Downtown Disney Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The $25 million project involved rehabbing the hotel’s 332 guest rooms, atrium, swimming pool, restaurant, fitness center, and administrative spaces.
