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Case Study 1: Greensburg, Kansas

IDEAS
On May 4th, 2007, an EF-5 tornado hit Greensburg, Kansas, resulting in a tragic loss of life, displacing more than 1,500 residents and destroying 95 percent of the town’s homes and businesses. At the request of former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, BNIM became involved in the comprehensive master plan efforts for the rebuilding of the town. With guidence from the Planning Team, this agricultural community based their recovery strategy on their respect for the land and a rededication to future generations. In the wake of this terrible disaster, the community rallied around a vision of a sustainable future.

The Greensburg Sustainable Comprehensive Master Plan goes beyond disaster recovery and aims to overcome population decline and a struggling economy. Plan recommendations follow a triple bottom line philosophy that balances the city’s social, environmental and economic needs. The rebuilding effort also represents an opportunity to create a replicable model for the sustainable rural community of the future.On December 17, 2007, Greensburg’s City Council became the first city in the country to adopt a resolution that all city projects would be built to LEED Platinum standards and would exceed the baseline code for energy efficiency by 42 percent. Greensburg will soon be home to the state of Kansas’ first 7 LEED platinum facilities.

PROCESS
During the recovery effort, the public involvement process emerged as one of the most important factors that led to a unified community vision and goals, high performance design and successful implementation. Over 300 people gathered under a large tent raised on the east edge of town, eager to share their ideas for rebuilding. The tent remained a community gathering space throughout the recovery process, hosting several design workshops, community meetings, and even Sunday morning church service.

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Case Study 2: KCP&L Headquarters

IDEAS
BNIM’s LEED Gold design for Kansas City Power & Light’s (KCP&L) new headquarters is teaching an old building new tricks. The decision to relocate this utility company’s headqurters into One Kansas City Place, a 1980s office tower in downtown Kansas City, pushes the envelope on what is possible for retrofitting older buildings to today’s sustainable design standards.

The plan was to construct a flexible, healthy and productive work environment for KCP&L’s employees. The ultimate goal was to incorporate advanced energy-efficient design and technology to minimize KCP&L’s corporate carbon footprint and create a showplace for energy efficiency. KCP&L’s new office space not only demonstrates the ability to introduce high performance, integrated design into an existing office tower, but also serves as a powerful example to other building owners, business owners and customers.

PROCESS
In the early stages of the project, BNIM and KCP&L developed a ‘sustainable design strategy,‘ which helped guide decision making during programming, design and construction phases. Included in this strategy were goals for LEED certification and criteria for selecting building systems and materials. It was a common goal of all team members to integrate systems, materials and processes that conserved energy and produced a healthier work environment. The design redistributes offices to the core of the space, with open offices along the perimeter, to maximize daylight. Demountable walls and high levels of both recycled and recyclable materials ensure that the space embodies healthy workplace practices and focuses on indoor air quality.

“With the design of our new headquarters, KCP&L will reap qualitative and quantitative benefits from sustainable and energy efficient workplace strategies. BNIM helped us create a model workplace that will be a great demonstration tool in showing our commercial customers that they can reduce energy consumption even in leased space such as ours.” -- Mike Chesser, Chairman and CEO, KCP&L

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Case Study 3: Omega Center for Sustainable Living

IDEAS
The Omega Institute’s 195-acre campus in Rhinebeck, NY generates significant quantities of wastewater daily. The age of the fields, coupled with Omega’s desire to control the amount of water used daily, contributed to their desire to find an alternative to conventional wastewater disposal methods.

In 2006, the Omega Institute commissioned BNIM to design a new wastewater facility. After careful consideration, the team decided on an alternative state-of-the-art filtration system—the Eco Machine™—which involves the use of plants and natural bacteria to break down waste byproducts and purify the water for reuse.

Beyond the wastewater filtration system, the Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OCSL) also acts as a pedagogical tool in teaching sustainable design and construction. Early in the design process, Omega and the design team adopted the Living Building Challenge as a guide towards achieving true sustainability in the design and construction of the facility. Educational workshops highlight the ecological impact of the filtration system as well as our profound relationship with water. Omega plans to invite:
• area school children to learn about water purification and wetland composition during field trips and on-site classes;
• university students to use the facility as an eco-lab, modeling alternative wastewater treatment solutions; and
• visitors from surrounding communities to view a working model that demonstrates improved wastewater treatment efforts.

The OCSL is the first project in the world to achieve both ‘Living’ Status and LEED Platinum.

PROCESS
To achieve ‘Living’ status and LEED Platinum certification, the process relied on a highly collaborative team of experts in wastewater, civil, landscape, mechanical and structural design with a history of working together on high-performance buildings. Through periodic all-team meetings and on-going collaboration, the team aimed to produce a highly integrated design and ultimately highly integrated building and site, regardless of the Living Building moniker.

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Case Study 4: GSA Bannister Federal Building Atrium/Office

IDEAS
BNIM’s renovation to the General Services Administration’s Bannister Federal Complex was centered on improving the working environment within a converted warehouse and includes a new atrium and revitalized office space.

Recognizing the value of natural light and beauty within a workplace--with regard to human health and productivity--BNIM designed a space flooded with color, daylight and creativity.

The new atrium skylight acts as a “Light Machine” that pulls daylight into the atrium and deep into adjacent spaces. As natural light enters the atrium, it is diffused, reflected and redirected through a series of screens, light shelves and colored glass. The resulting design transitions over time, changing throughout the day and seasons, and introducing rhythm and movement to the previously listless space. In the adjacent offices, a sculptural cabinet was built along the entire 90-foot entry facade between the office space and atrium. The cabinet acts in many capacities: a library, screen, seating area and identity for the office.

PROCESS
BNIM worked closely with client and user groups to extablish a set of guiding values and objectives that would inform design solutions. The solutions transcend the typical work environment using sustainable design principles and Workplace 2020 initiatives to enhance the life of the users with light, color, space and inspiration. The first aspect of the renovation was introducing a new light well and sculptural element to guide natural daylight into the passageway below, providing a moment of space and light in an otherwise dark warehouse. Adjacent to the Atrium, the Supply Service regional office occupies 18,000 square feet. The design utilizes the benefits of natural daylight and openness from the Atrium while maintaining a sense of needed privacy. Worker productivity has increased and absences have decreased since the space has been occupied.

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Case Study 5: Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia

IDEAS
The Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia is building a new home that will transform education and research by setting a new benchmark as the world’s most sustainable academic lab building. The design’s innovative strategies—green roofs, living walls, water treatment system, photovoltaic cells, natural ventilation, daylight, double skin facades and a collaboration corridor—reinforce the spirit of founder Eugene Odum’s approach to ecosystem ecology by creating a living laboratory that will foster regenerative relationships between the student, researchers, visitors and the natural systems at work in the building and site.

As the world’s first living laboratory, Odum School of Ecology will mimic nature in its ability to harvest what it needs from the site and operate waste-free. The building focuses heavily on the life of water by thinking holistically and pedagogically about water. The students will learn about ecological wastewater treatment and employ the system to revitalize two existing watersheds and restore the site’s stream to its original connect ion with the Chattahoochee River.

PROCESS
BNIM worked with a highly integrated team of experts and UGA representatives to envision a building that will take advantage of its prominent site on campus, and its location along the path to Sanford stadium, to reach out to the almost 1.8 million visitors who visit the campus annually by offering tours and programs that educate about a more integrated way of living. The project is based on the principles of pedagogy, biodiversity, livability, energy, water and nutrient cycling. It demonstrates that the teaching process, research process and the physical building can be one and the same.

The feasibility study completed by this group of visionaries developed new understandings of how an intensive University Laboratory Building could potentially achieve the Living Building Challenge expectations and transform the way we design for learning.

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