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2 entries from August 2012

August 24, 2012

NCCU Residence Hall Earns LEED Gold Certification

Chidley_MG_1953The new 517-bed Chidley North Residence Hall at North Carolina Central University has received LEED gold certification from the USGBC.

One of the most interesting energy-saving approaches that architecture firm Lord, Aeck & Sargent (LAS) took was to design the building with an ICF (insulated concrete form) bearing wall assembly. The ICF approach was chosen for its insulating capacity, its speedy and efficient construction assembly and its performance in an area of the country where there are great temperature variances. The LAS project manager for Chidley North says that ICF “provides almost double the thermal insulation of concrete masonry with conventional insulation.”

Chidley North features a host of energy-saving, water-saving and other green strategies that earned the building its LEED gold.

Photo credit © James West / JWest Productions.

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For further details contact: Annie Kohut | Kohut Communications Consulting (tel) 770-913-9747 | (cell) 404-786-6062 (fax) 770-913-3197 | annielk@bellsouth.net www.kohutcommunications.com | Follow me at http://twitter.com/kohutcomm

Lord, Aeck & Sargent is an award-winning architectural firm serving clients in scientific, academic, historic preservation, arts and cultural, and multi-family housing and mixed-use markets.


Posted by on August 24, 2012 at 09:50 PM in Building Enclosures, Building science, ICF Construction, LEED and Green | | Comments (0)

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August 15, 2012

Healthy Environments: A Compilation of Substances Linked to Asthma

Healthier-environmentsExcerpt: "The primary aim of this report was to develop a list of substances in our environment that are linked to asthma in an effort to improve awareness of the causes of the disease and inform decision-making in the design and construction of buildings and the specification of building products. The list was compiled by analysis of eight lists published by government agencies, academic sources, and third-party regulatory agencies, which this report will herein refer to simply as our sources. From this compilation we concluded that a wide variety of substances - 374 total- have been linked to asthma. A subset of these are commonly used in the design and construction of buildings, and thus alternatives should be sought when possible. As there are no known thresholds for safe levels of exposure to asthmagens, precaution is necessary to prevent asthma caused or triggered by these substances."

Healthy Environments: A Compilation of Substances Linked to Asthma, Perkins+Will,  for National Institutes of Health, Office of Research Facilities, Division of Environmental Protection, June 2011, released 2012

Source: http://transparency.perkinswill.com/default.cshtml?url=/

RBc: No matter what part of the building industry you are from; as an occupant, a carpenter or manufacturer, this report is for you and your health. As we have said for well over a decade, environments can be healing or harmful – it can be your choice.

Additional studies:

Current State of the Science: Health Effects and Indoor Environmental Quality, Environ Health Perspect. 2007 June; 115(6): 958–964. Published online 2007 January 25. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8987

Posted by on August 15, 2012 at 07:29 AM in Air cleaners, Air filtration, Air pollution, Architecture, Asthma, Children and pollutants, Educational, Environmental Ergonomics, Environmental Health, Floor Coverings, Formaldehyde, Human Factors, Indoor Air Quality, PAH's, TVOC's, VOCs | | Comments (0)

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Our Purpose

  • Established in 2004, The Journal of Indoor Environmental Quality (JIEQ) in conjunction with Healthy Heating serves as a technical interpreter and consolidator of academic research demonstrating the building and health sciences are inclusive elements. It provides professional development programs based on its analysis to application professionals such as architects, engineers, interior designers and related technicians.

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Quotes

  • “The quality of housing conditions plays a decisive role in the health status of the residents, because many health problems are either directly or indirectly related to the building itself, the construction materials that were used, and the equipment or the size or structure of the individual dwellings.” The World Health Organization
  • "Indoor environmental quality is in part a result of materials and methods of construction which has an influence on occupant health. For this reason, policies around health and construction cannot be treated separately and must be linked together." Source: Bean, R., IAQ Webinar Presentation, 2009
  • The HVAC system consumes 50-60% of the building energy cost and generates 80-85% of tenant complaints. Source: U.S. General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, Office of the Chief Architect

Good Design

  • “Industrial designers determine the form and interaction qualities of manufactured products...They study people at work, at home and in motion to create satisfying experiences with products from the kitchen and the office to the hospital and the warehouse…” Excerpt from the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).
  • In our opinion, industrial design has been overlooked by the HVAC industry – illustrated by consumers facing difficulties selling homes with HVAC systems which have “beast in the boiler room.”
  • Be reminded by S. Claire Conroy from Residential Architecture, "It's time architects of every discipline understand residential architecture for what it really is: everyone's most intimate connection with architecture. It's not simply a “test bed”—it's a vessel for our lives on their most personal level. That makes the stakes very high indeed. No one is more discriminating and demanding than a residential client.”
  • "A lot of it has to do with how we are responding at a physiological level to what we see as we walk in through the door." Sarah Susanka, Architect
  • “Industrial designers determine the form and interaction qualities of manufactured products...They study people at work, at home and in motion to create satisfying experiences with products from the kitchen and the office to the hospital and the warehouse…” Excerpt from the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).
  • "In any industry, one of the most important and difficult tasks is to explain a nuanced process to someone unfamiliar with the field. At its grass roots, design is a process like many others; it has theories, strategies and examples that can be explained on a general level. It’s not a matter of what type of information is given, but rather how it is presented and to what type of audience." Speaking Design to Non-Designers, IDSA