Sustainable

Architecture

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Author’s Corner

In this white paper, Byron James, Assistant Vice President of Engineering Services, explains the importance of building sustainable arcitecture and why it matters.

Please click on the video to the right to learn more about the author, hear his insights on this white paper, and learn what motivated him to write about this topic.

To discuss this white paper in detail, please contact Byron using the information provided at the bottom of the page.

Imagine a home, office building, store, or restaurant you can design, build, and occupy that limits man’s negative impact on the environment -- sustainable architecture. Caring for the environment helps protect our food, water, air, shelter and more; it helps us survive.

A green approach to building requires a certain mindset that addresses every element of construction -- from design, to materials, to systems (ventilation, heating, cooling, waste, plumbing, etc.), to natural landscape. The materials and space designed also need to be reusable in the future. The number of new sustainable architectural projects is growing every day as many architects and planners employ this green attitude.

In the United States, governments and private organizations have established several sustainable design organizations and programs involved in green building. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built, and operated. The USGBC is best known for the development of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and Greenbuild, a conference that promotes the green building industry.

The Bank of America tower, situated in Midtown Manhattan, is a 55-story, 1,200-foot-tall skyscraper; it’s New York City’s eighth tallest building and the tenth highest in North America. The Bank of America Tower is the first building in the United States to be designed in accordance with the leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED). As such, the design earned it a platinum status.

The sustainable design is using insulated glass panels to regulate the ambient temperature of the building. This allows rooms to remain cool in the summer and warm in winter. This glass curtain was inspired by New York Crystal Palace, a nineteenth-century exhibition building. The various glass curtain walls help to allow around 75% of visible light to enter the building while reflecting all ultraviolet wavelengths. The glass walls also keep heat out of the building during the summer and in during the winter.

Sustainable design also means using reclaimed materials. Many of the office spaces use reclaimed laminated wood and steel and offer a uniquely modern approach to office spaces. This is often hard to incorporate since using reclaimed or recycled materials may reduce some of the design choices available.

sustainable-design

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Why it matters

Why does sustainable architecture matter? It involves essential elements including biomass, natural ventilation, sunlight, shading, and orientation. It also includes systems with renewable energy combined with the use of materials that are thoroughly studied and are valued for the way they affect the environment. All this is incredibly important because humans are consuming natural resources of the planet more than ever before. The number of people living on earth is at its peak, and the planet simply doesn’t have the capabilities to regenerate resources that fast.

The decision to design green buildings that are sustainable is made by owners and investors. The level of sustainability is implemented by architects, engineers, and contractors. Below is a summary of top triggers for the parties:

Owners / Investors Architects / Engineers / Contractors
1. Lower Operating Costs 1. Client Demands
2. Right Thing to Do 2. Environmental Regulations
3. Healthier Buildings 3. Right Thing to Do
4. Internal Corporate Commitment 4. Healthier Buildings
5. Environmental Regulations 5. Lower Operating Costs

The chart below demonstrates the top benefits that owners realized within the first 12 months of implementing sustainable green building designs. Clearly, green buildings are helping to drive the operating cost saving sought and provide more value to the building owners.

cost-saving-graph

The last 20 years have seen the completion of countless construction projects and several high-profile builds and renovations with sustainable features, including renewable energy generation, urban greening, composting toilets, rainwater capture, and ecofriendly lighting solutions.

At Vee Technologies, our architects are well versed in the development of sustainable building designs. Not only do we provide these services, but we also design and construct our own buildings with sustainable green features. Below is our sustainable architectural and engineering center located in Salem, India. This building was designed with elevations that capture the natural sunlight, solar panels that provide heat, and electricity to run the facility.

sustainable-building-designs

Additional Reference Sources:

What Is Sustainable Architecture? The Future of 'Green' Buildings, Explained (livekindly.co)

Dodge Global Network | Construction Projects and Plans in North America | Dodge Data and Analytics

Bank Of America Tower - Leader in Sustainability? - Smart CRE (smart-cre.com)

Green building in the United States - Wikipedia

Sustainable Architecture: What is it and How do We Get There? (easyrender.com)

Byron James

Meet the Author

Byron James - Assistant Vice President of Engineering Services

Byron James is the Assistant Vice President of Engineering Services for Vee Technologies where he directs the sales team, manages projects nationwide, and develops organizational strategies. His areas of expertise cover a broad range of services and technologies in the fields of product engineering, architecture, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, (MEP) and information technology. Byron holds a patent for software that enables business collaboration from his work at IBM.

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