A few miles from downtown Aspen, Colo., a development will provide 277 new affordable homes for an area experiencing a dire affordable housing crisis. Designed by Cushing Terrell, the 11-acre Aspen Lumberyard Affordable Housing neighborhood aims to serve as a pedestrian-friendly, environmentally sustainable community—one that “looks, lives, and feels authentically Aspen,” according to a press statement.
Through a collaborative planning and design process, Cushing Terrell visited numerous affordable housing developments in Aspen, met with city staff and local stakeholders, and worked with Aspen’s city council to understand the city’s and the county housing authority’s affordable-housing vision. Cushing Terrell also held workshops with city staff and other local environmental stakeholders, who consensually created a list of must-haves for environmental stewardship and resiliency. As part of its community engagement efforts, Cushing Terrell conducted in-person open-house workshops and online surveys.
Cushing Terrell’s sustainability team determined that Enterprise Green Communities Plus (EGC+), a national green building program created with and for the affordable housing sector, most closely aligned with the city’s commitment to be a leader in creating highly sustainable affordable housing. The city council also approved Cushing Terrell’s recommendation to target a baseline of 75% on-site offset with the ability to go higher in the future.
With an anticipated development cost of $400 million, the Lumberyard neighborhood will provide, across a range of incomes, a mix of 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom units, including 195 rental units and 82 deed-restricted for-sale units. Infrastructure construction is scheduled to start in 2024.
On the Building Team:
Owner and developer: City of Aspen
Design architect: Cushing Terrell
Architect of record: Cushing Terrell
Structural engineer: S.A. Miro, Inc.
MEP engineer: Cushing Terrell
Civil engineer: Roaring Fork Engineering
Landscape architect and public engagement: Connect One Design
Environmental consulting: Slosky & Company, Inc.
Sustainability consulting: Group14 Engineering
Related Stories
| Nov 16, 2010
Landscape architecture challenges Andrés Duany’s Congress for New Urbanism
Andrés Duany, founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, adopted the ideas, vision, and values of the early 20th Century landscape architects/planners John Nolen and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to launch a movement that led to more than 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization project commissions for his firm. However, now that there’s a societal buyer’s remorse about New Urbanism, Duany is coming up against a movement that sees landscape architecture—not architecture—as the design medium more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience.
| Nov 16, 2010
NFRC approves technical procedures for attachment product ratings
The NFRC Board of Directors has approved technical procedures for the development of U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible transmittance (VT) ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. The new procedures, approved by unanimous voice vote last week at NFRC’s Fall Membership Meeting in San Francisco, will add co-planar attachments such as blinds and shades to the group’s existing portfolio of windows, doors, skylights, curtain walls, and window film.
| Nov 15, 2010
Gilbane to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc.
Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Company announced plans to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc., a construction management firm with operations based in Florida. The acquisition will dramatically strengthen Gilbane’s position in Florida’s growing market and complement its already established presence in the southeast.
| Nov 11, 2010
Saint-Gobain to make $80 million investment in SAGE Electrochromics
Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest glass and construction material manufacturers, is making a strategic equity investment in SAGE Electrochromics to make electronically tintable “dynamic glass” an affordable, mass-market product, ushering in a new era of energy-saving buildings.
| Nov 11, 2010
Saint-Gobain to make $80 million investment in SAGE Electrochromics
Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest glass and construction material manufacturers, is making a strategic equity investment in SAGE Electrochromics to make electronically tintable “dynamic glass” an affordable, mass-market product, ushering in a new era of energy-saving buildings.
| Nov 11, 2010
USGBC certifies more than 1 billion square feet of commercial space
This month, the total footprint of commercial projects certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System surpassed one billion square feet. Another six billion square feet of projects are registered and currently working toward LEED certification around the world. Since 2000, more than 36,000 commercial projects and 38,000 single-family homes have participated in LEED.
| Nov 10, 2010
$700 million plan to restore the National Mall
The National Mall—known as America’s front yard—is being targeted for a massive rehab and restoration that could cost as much as $700 million (it’s estimated that the Mall has $400 million in deferred maintenance alone). A few of the proposed projects: refurbishing the Grant Memorial, replacing the Capitol Reflecting Pool with a smaller pool or fountain, reconstructing the Constitution Gardens lake and constructing a multipurpose visitor center, and replacing the Sylvan Theater near the Washington Monument with a new multipurpose facility.
| Nov 9, 2010
Just how green is that college campus?
The College Sustainability Report Card 2011 evaluated colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada with the 300 largest endowments—plus 22 others that asked to be included in the GreenReportCard.org study—on nine categories, including climate change, energy use, green building, and investment priorities. More than half (56%) earned a B or better, but 6% got a D. Can you guess which is the greenest of these: UC San Diego, Dickinson College, University of Calgary, and Dartmouth? Hint: The Red Devil has turned green.
