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Interior designs are the design and renovation of interior space within buildings. An interior designer is a professional that has practical and technical expertise to create interior environments that serve their end users with functionality and improve the quality of life, increase productivity and protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Professional interior designers are able to visually enhance spaces with creative solutions that are developed through researching and observing the physical environments.
Nowadays, depletion of resources and climate changes that change the earth and our lives become more and more seriously. Therefore, the main content of this dissertation is mainly discussed on what are green design or sustainable design and its application towards modern space. There are several elements that needed to take into consideration when construct and design a sustainable space such as ventilation, energy efficiency and usage of materials. Analysis of the elements listed above will be clearly explained in the body of the essay. In addition, four case studies will also be mentioned to compare the differences of space, and system applied due to different circumstances of the requirements. These case studies come with a category of learning space, working space, public space and private space. At the end of the essay will be a conclusion follow by a summary of the whole essay.
According to McLennan, sustainable design is a design philosophy that seeks to maximise the quality of the built environment, while minimising or eliminating negative impact to the natural environment. Undoubtedly, design can be a powerful tool. It determines our movement through space, offers focal points or distractions for our thoughts, and controls interactions with others. This notion can work against us or for us. A well understanding and taking control of design can enhance the possibilities of enjoyment of our spaces. In addition, well-designed spaces can also help us live more fully than we had imagines. (Dean, 2003)
The connection between sustainable design and how it affects human behaviour is a major concern for humanity. As we can see, pollution has caused serious disaster to our natural environment, so that it is now urgent for us to flee from the wasteful and carefree existence to a sustainable way of life. The carefree lifestyles and abundant use of energy caused ozone depletion, the steadily increasing amounts of highly radioactive spent fuels, global warming, mass pollution, acid rain and etc.
As an interior designer it is important to create a better buildings for people, better products for our use and better places to inhabit. Architect and designer need to change it roles in recognition of ecology. In addition, human psychology is also part of the research because of a space might affect a person's feelings. Therefore to design a good space is not only about how good it looks but also how the space interacts with the occupants. All researches done are related to my work base on green design and I hope to incorporate sustainability design into my future projects.
Within this report, there are four eco building has been chosen to analyze and study based on the different design, concept, material, space and green system applied. The first one is the Ben Franklin Elementary School designed by the Mahlum Architects. The project was chosen as an AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Project for year 2006. Following is the Eastern Sierra house designed by David Arkin from Arkin Tilt Architects as the architect. This project won the Environmental Design & Construction Magazine Excellence in Design Awards 2005 in the single-family residential category and AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects in 2005. The third one goes to the Aberici Corporate Headquarters designed by John Guenther from Mackey Mitchell Associates. This project entails the adaptive reuse of an existing manufacturing plant into a corporate headquarters for one of St. Louis' oldest and largest construction companies. The last one is Seonyudo Park which is an award-winning ecological park, created by the conversion of a former water treatment plant. The project design team for this project are Seoahn Total Landscape, Jphsungyong Architecture Office.
Sustainable design is an idea that has come in time. For many years, professions like architects and engineers are seeking greater understanding of sustainability to create a new approach in design. Businesses realized that in order to gain competitive advantage in this rapid growing market, they must have knowledge about sustainable designs and in what ways it will make an impact in building transformation as well as the building professions.
Although there is an increasing awareness in sustainability, there are misconceptions exist because the direct meaning of the term sustainable design is not enough to make a right description of the philosophy or the movement behind it. People may assume that the aim of sustainable designs is only preserve of the natural resources or think that a green building is a building that contains features that has lesser environmental impact, that a building with good windows or uses recycled products is good enough. However, it is not true; a green design is not about features. Besides that, confusion existed is because the misconception of sustainable design that has been articulated as a movement which is still in an immature beginning stage where some movement would seem to be irrational or unclear. Moreover, the operation of sustainable design has been outside of the mainstream design and construction industry for a long period of time contributes to this misconception. Most people may think that this is a major change in their usual conceptions in their profession. However, this situation have been improved as the younger generations today are educated to learn more about sustainability and practices in this way.
A sustainable building; it is a structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or re-used in an ecological or resource efficient manner.
Jason F. McLennan (2004) defined the term sustainable design as "a design philosophy that seeks to maximize the quality of the built environment, while minimizing or eliminating negative impact to the natural environment" It is a philosophical basis to a growing and powerful movement by individuals or organizations to be more responsible to the environment and responsive to people. This definition is considered to be very useful because it established sustainable design as a philosophy. It is important to prevent one of the earliest barriers arose when sustainable design was wrongly assumed to be a stylistic endeavour. Besides that, it is also a philosophical approach to design. There are no physical barriers to adopt designs, it can be used on any type of building which no specified scale and may include any objects or projects under design. Moreover, this definition is that it shows an importance in quality. One of the main aims of a green building is to enhance quality which means improving the physical artifact to create more benefits to people. Finally, the last part of the definition clearly showed the importance to reduce the environmental impacts.
Jason F. Mclennan (2004) acknowledged that "sustainable design implies responsibility and it implies a far-reaching respect for natural systems and resources, respect for people and respect for the cycle life".
Moreover, the aim of sustainable development is to maintain or create a balance between the human need to improve lifestyles and feeling of well-being on one hand, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems, on which we and our future generation depend on.
Objectives of green buildings are to protect the health of the occupant, increase employee productivity, efficient use of water, energy and other resources. Besides that, a sustainable building should be aimed to reduce the overall environmental impact and to create optimal environmental benefits such as to reduce the impact of consumption of natural resources and economic performance which means a reduction in costs, to gain marketing advantage, increased building valuation or optimistic life cycle performance cost. Community benefits such as a minimized strain on local infrastructure may also be gained in structuring green buildings.
GREEN DESIGN VERSUS SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
Sustainable design or environmental design is the skillful design of objects to overcome negative environmental impacts that involve the use of non-renewable resources. The quality of the environment - clean air and water, to renewing and protection of life, sustainable architecture and design helps improve these aspects to make a better place to live in.
Green design is an element of sustainable design. Green buildings are constructed using natural resources, recycled materials and fill their interior spaces with natural light. The use of ecological sensitive materials during construction and do not have a negative effect before, during, after construction or during deconstruction. Green design implements high performance technologies and efficient operating systems but still functions with the use of fossil fuels. These green buildings help lower the pollution crisis but due to the fact that they still rely on unsustainable sources for power, the design is not sustainable.
Sustainable design differs from green design in which it continues, survives, thrives, and adapts to the site of the building where it becomes a passive and active structure that is designed to maximize all the natural resources around the site. These buildings are sustainable due to the fact that they operate using the regional renewable energies of the site. The need for non-renewable energy is unnecessary with the implementation of sustainable design while providing people with a healthier environment to live in as well as an improved quality of life. Sustainability design is green design that is being sourced by sustainable energies. They last, they endure, and they function when the non-renewables are unavailable anymore. (
CASE STUDY 1
Learning Space: Ben Franklin Elementary School
The Ben Franklin Elementary School is a 2 story building with the size of 26,800 square feet which is 5, 280 meter square. The project was completed in august 2005 and it is located in Kirkland, Washington. The Ben Franklin Elementary School can fit in about 450 kinder garden students; students are group into small learning groups and organized in clusters of four around a shared multipurpose activity area. The classrooms are naturally ventilated and day lighted thus organized in two story wings. The project was chosen as an AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Project for year 2006 submitted by Mahlum architects in Seattle, Washington. (CASCADIA, 2006)
Fig 1. This photo shows the west elevation of the classroom cluster.
The building expands learning beyond the classroom by connecting the district's educational pedagogy with environmental sustainability at every level. It was designed to preserve and harness the environment as a learning opportunity. Creating connections to rich natural environment was a primary goal in the design process. Within the building there is a two-story classroom wings which reach like fingers towards the woods to connect students visually with the nature. Daylight and indoor air quality play an important role in the learning space, it is important that the students has sufficient daylight in order to focus on their studies and during lessons, while air ventilation for comfort of the students therefore the building was designed to maximize performance in these areas. In order to achieve that and stay sustainable it was designed to have natural ventilation and day light within the classroom space. (CASCADIA, 2006)
The aim of the whole project is to stay sustainable therefore there is no installation of handling equipment or supplemental fans in all learning space but naturally ventilated by the design layout of the space. Without any energy consumption on electronic the design group uses operable windows and ventilation chimneys which are installed in every classrooms to generate a natural stack effect that results in ten air changes per hour, providing comfort indoor air quality. All rooms use computer simulation to monitor the thermal performance within the space and in order to reach certain levels of comfort the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED boundary comfort parameters were used as benchmark. There are lots of operable windows installed throughout the entire building that is because to gain natural air ventilation from the environment. Due to sustainable aspect without usage of electrical appliance 80% of the building require natural ventilation which can be achieved through a system of perimeter louvers located behind heating units. Carbon dioxide sensors and occupancy sensors automatically adjust louvers to control ventilation and conserve energy, outside air are draw through lower louvers through thermal chimneys. No duct liners were used in the supply ducts in some certain areas with forced-air ventilation such as the commons area and the gym.
Most learning space are oriented along an east west axis, with glazing facing north and south in order to maximize and control the natural daylight within the building. Configuration of windows and extent of shading devices are uses to control glare and maintain diffuse, balanced daylight in all learning space. (AIA, 2008)
The project was an elementary school so most of the space is mainly use by children therefore it is essential that the materials applied in the space are either suitable for children or not. The materials not only have to be non-toxic and low impact, it has to be durable and eco-friendly due to sustainable aspect. Materials used in the building are rubber resilient flooring, paint with low emissions of volatile organic compound also known as VOCs, ground-face concrete block, recycled glass cullet, wool wall coverings, and cement board siding. These materials in many cases meet all three criteria mentioned above. For example, the retro-plated concrete floor, a three times harder than normal concrete materials provide the space with an extremely durable finish. A floor surface that can use hot mopping for cleaning will prevent the need of using chemicals and high PH detergents to clean the floor. Interior finish materials were chosen that can grant several factors, such as acoustic absorption, durability, light reflectance and comfort. For example, the wool wall covering is a warm, abuse resistant and renewable material that achieves the project's needs for both a removable surface and acoustically absorptive surface. (AIA, 2008)
Design open floor plans in order to allow natural daylight from the sun to go through the inside space of the building. Use large exterior windows and high ceilings to increase the amount of day lighting that shine through the space. During night time uses illumination sensors to control the brightness of the space.
Operable windows are accessible by the occupants of the space according to their needs. Space was designed to have natural air ventilation through windows within usage of electronic appliances in order to prevent energy consumption.
Reduce or eliminate indoor pollutants to the lowest by applying sustainable materials into all space. Uses easy cleaning finishes materials and low or non VOC paints.
CASE STUDY 2
Private Space: Eastern Sierra house
The Eastern Sierra House is a 2 story building with the size of 3,450 square feet which is also 321 meter square. The project was completed in December 2004 and it is located in Gardnerville, NV. The building was to function as a single family residential home. This building is meant to be a sustainable demonstration home, it was designed carefully to take advantages of its surrounding, the beauty of its site on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, overlooking the Carson valley. Around the house is a courtyard oasis and it is shaded by a photovoltaic array in order to work with the slope, orientation and also the dramatic views of the site. While the garage and guest wing to the west blend into the landscape via sod roofs, the main form juts out like a boulder, its south-facing roof peeling up at the corner for passive solar gain and for a dramatic view of snow-capped Job's Peak to the southwest. This project won the Environmental Design & Construction Magazine Excellence in Design Awards 2005 in the single-family residential category and AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects in 2005. (AIA, 2008)
Fig 2. Overview of Eastern Sierra House
Sustainable development has becomes an important issue due to human enhancement of the greenhouse effect. On the same time, energy demand is likely increase rapidly and the proportion supplied by electricity also grows faster. This phenomenon is also increase the seriousness of global warming. Therefore Sustainable design and construction done properly at the very early stage are completely practices that protect the health of building occupants. During the pre-design stage, the investigation of the site and climate, identification of climate response strategies and also the programming were carried out. Layout of the site and the position of the building will also determine the amount of natural energy the building can receive. Due to climate change and there is need for bioclimatic design. The building is broken down into several structures to maximize day lighting and ventilation opportunities. (AIA,2008)
A good designed indoor environment is not just a matter of having a beautiful space. Day lighting and ventilation strategies are applied effectively in the whole case study 1. Majority of the exterior windows tailored for day lighting, solar gain, and views, glass floor tiles are used for light transmission to the lower hallway. Utility closet and translucent transom panels from the master bathroom also can transfer daylight to the dressing area. Besides that, high clerestory windows spread light across the light colour ceiling planes. In each of every room, operable windows and an air handling system are applied to continuously feed filtered fresh air. The exhaust air is pushed to feature extra on demand ventilation through the kitchen and bath exhaust ducts. During summer nights the whole house is filled with cool air to enable the thermal mass to maintain a stable and comfortable interior temperature even when the weather is hot. Humidity and temperature sensor were used to control duct and simple fan from the greenhouse to balance the climate's extremely low humidity. Solar design is used aggressively in this Eastern Sierra House so that it can meet all of its energy needs with no reliance on fossil fuels. In order to meet the house's heating and cooling needs, a combination of passive and active solar strategies is used.
In the building, there is seven 4'x10' solar collectors' heat fluids used for domestic hot water and also for the use of space heating. Sufficient thermal mass in the type of concrete floor slabs and two to three inches of soil-cement finish on the straw bale and insulated concrete form walls, holds direct solar gain and keep internal air temperature comfortable through the cold nights. Because to the site's location there is a mountain on the west which does limited afternoon solar gain during the winter, however this benefit becomes a problem during summer which is too much heat intake.
Sustainable materials are not only to reduce pollution but also can conserves the natural resources and protect environment for future generations. However, there are still many people unwilling to make capital investments in using sustainable materials and resources with a less than very short term return on investment, especially in these challenging economic times.
This design system of the building was based on several resources efficient building systems and the use of salvaged resources and nontoxic materials. For example, insulated concrete forms that require 50% less concrete than conventional are used for the earth bermed and retaining walls. The main level has straw bale walls, finished inside and out with sprayed earth. In addition, the exterior walls by using wood frame are sheathed with slats of stained fiber-cement-board panels, which weather well in this high-UV environment.
An insulation value of R-45 is using with this case study roofs that are ten-inch structural insulated panels (SIPs).
There were several strategies applied the indoor space of the Eastern Sierra House. For example, strategies like using sky lights and clerestories for day lighting and choosing interior and exterior glazing to maximize daylight transmission for visual comfort and the building envelope, providing occupants with access to operable windows and heat recovery ventilation for the natural ventilation, installing a quiet and effective fan in the bathrooms and ensure the kitchen range hoods exhaust to the outdoors for direct exhaust from high source locations, using rooftop rainwater collection system to divert water from the building and avoiding wall to wall carpet to reduce indoor pollutants. Besides that, painting interior walls with light colour and selecting highly reflective ceiling materials can improve lighting indoor rooms therefore the lighter the finishes, the fewer number of lights that need to be installed for a building.
Conservation is less expensive than any energy retrofits. Sustainable building design can be achieved such as using day lighting for energy efficiency by having south-facing windows for day lighting and using building elements to redirect daylight and control glare, using operable windows to make a high internal thermal mass building for non-solar cooling loads system, using solar water heaters for energy saving, using earth sheltering for the ground coupled systems, orienting the building properly and shading south windows with overhangs, using a photovoltaic system to generate electricity on site and arrange for sale of excess electricity into the grid, exposing southern site of the building and using heat recovery ventilation and demand controlled ventilation. Besides that, choosing of light coloured exterior wall materials also can reflect solar gain into the interior space of the building.
Case study 3
Working space: Alberici Corporate Headquarter
Fig 3. The building's south-facing "saw-tooth" addition is shown here.
The Alberici Corporate Headquarter is one of St. Louis, Missouri's oldest and largest construction companies. The project was involved in the reuse of an existing manufacturing plant, turning it into the corporate headquarters. The concept was to have an office with open office environment, structured parking, training rooms, exercise facilities, and dining facilities were specifically required. This project was chosen as an AIA Committee on the Environment Top Ten Green Project for 2006. A large amount of planning was undertaken in the design of the new 'green' headquarters. These included water conservation, energy consumption reductions and environmental friendly construction materials and resources. (Building Green, 2010)
Energy was an important issue for the company. To maintain an environmental friendly building, every aspect to reduce energy consumption was taken into account. A control system tracks and measures factors ranging from gas, electricity, and water usage to atmospheric elements, rain amounts, and wind speeds. The control system's metering equipment interfaces with an internal computer network, into which all data is periodically transferred for in-depth analysis and long-term storage. (Building Green, 2010)
The building consist of a 65-kilowatt wind turbine provides 92,000 kWh, 20% of the facilities electrical needs, annually. Hot water is preheated by using solar panels. The project features natural day lighting in 75% of all spaces. The cooling plant uses two 100-ton water-cooled chillers with a 12.9 EER. The cooling tower features a variable-speed fan. The plant can use the tower in a water-side economizer mode. The heating plant uses two 1.2 MMBtu-per-hour output boilers modeled with 86% efficiency at full load. The building exceeds minimum energy efficiency requirements by 60%. Onsite renewable sources generate 17% of the building's required energy. (Natural Matters, 2005)
Green Strategies on Energy
Sustainable design can be achieved by insulating a whole wall R value of 15 or greater for wall insulation, using south facing windows, atrium and north or south roof monitors and clerestories for day lighting, using solar water heaters for water heaters system, and using water cooled mechanical cooling equipment and commission the HVAC system for cooling system. If the design for no more than 1.0 watts or square foot for light levels, It can use high performance windows and doors such as windows with a whole unit U Factor less than 0.32 and use wind turbine system to generate electricity. (Building Green, 2010)
The materials that used for the construction of building are mainly manufactured near to the project took place. These materials are manufactured locally, which included the storefront system, fabricated steel, concrete block, concrete, cabinets, and casework. Recycled materials used within the construction process which includes the synthetic gypsum, steel framing and rebar, concrete block including flyash, carpet backing, and translucent panels. Besides that, more than 10% of materials were salvaged or refurbished. There are other green products are also used as materials within the construction of the building which include: (EERE, 2010)
Â· Bamboo Panelling, Plywood, and Veneer
Â· Cork Flooring
Â· Full-cut off Luminaires
Â· Hydro powered Sensor-Activated Faucet
Â· Manufacturing-Scrap Ceramic Tile
Â· Natural Linoleum Flooring
Â· Non-Water-Using Urinals
Â· Recycled-Rubber Flooring
Green strategies for Materials and Resources
Sustainable materials are materials that can be used without any negative effect on the environment and which are produced locally in respect of reducing the need of transport. Green strategies for materials can reuse the existing structure of building deconstruction, can use an access floor to facilitate reconfiguring of spaces and cabling systems, can use wood products from independently certified, well managed forests for finish carpentry and use materials that are sourced and manufactured within local area. (EERE, 2010)
Fig 4. Shows the interior of Alberici Corporate Headquarters.
The indoor environment of the building was planned out to fully make used of natural resources such as sunlight and natural air ventilation instead of fully relying on electrical appliance such as lights and air conditioning. About 75% of the interior spaces are naturally daylight by large perimeter windows or clerestory glazing and cross-ventilation was provided by operable windows in order to gain natural ventilation. There are three atria which are not only to increase day lighting to the space but also induce ventilation as thermal flues, allowing hot air to stratify at the top space, away from occupants. The whole building can be naturally ventilated when it is in free cooling mode. In addition, occupants can manually control the thermal, ventilation, and lighting systems through floor registers, hard-wired task lights at each work station, and operable windows. (EERE, 2010)
Green Strategies for Indoor Environment
Green strategies for indoor environment are such as providing occupants with the will to control temperature in their area for thermal comfort, utilizing of sky lighting for visual comfort and building envelope, designing open floor plans to allow exterior daylight to penetrate into the interior space, providing occupants with access to operable windows, design for optimum cross ventilation through window placement and provide heat recovery ventilation for the ventilation and filtration systems, using only very low or no VOC paints to reduce indoor pollutants and also specifying use of only nontoxic cleaning products for maintenance for IEQ. (EERE, 2010)
The building is also a no smoking building more than a smoke free building it is a smoke free property so that the occupant can have a clean air environment during their work. The building management system monitors the amount of carbon dioxide within the working space so when levels exceed set standards, the controller signals the main ventilation system to introduce additional fresh air into the building. The building materials that release gases or particles into the air are the main problem the affect the indoor air quality therefore indoor pollutant control are needed to prevent bad air quality flow in the building. There are designated rooms for storing and mixing chemicals. Copying and printing operations have been consolidated into the copy centers. These chemical storage rooms and copy centers are separately ventilated out of the building in order to keep clean air within the building. (Alberici, 2010)
Case study 4
Public Space: Seonyudo Park
Fig 5. The Water playground includes gently sloping spiral mounds and shallow water pools where children can play and parents can cool down on a hot day
Seonyudo Island was a new built ecological park established in year 2002 in which convert from existing sewerage treatment plant. This project was aimed and tend to enhance the citizens live ability by providing high quality of recreation park that revert back the concept of environment responsibilities to the public. Strategic location of the island that lies in Hangang River acts as a significant criterion in implementing this project. The island is so accessible by the surrounding citizens throughout variety of conveyance facilities such as pedestrians' footbridge, motor bridge, and ferries.
20 years of service cycle from 1978 until 1998 had provided by the Seonyudo's sewerage treatment plant to the city of Seoul. The Seoul Metropolitan Government view the project as an opportunity for 'New Seoul' initiative by provide and creating more leisure spaces and cultural programme. The concept design and ecological planning for the Seonyudo Park were derived from the existing frame and infrastructure of existing sewerage treatment plant. Consequently, it engages with little amendment of the original topography, structure and appliances hence optimize the function and surface appearances. (CABE)
The area of Seonyudo Park is more than 100,000 meter square and consists of four main zone and seven key facilities. Each single zone categorized accordingly and deem necessary. Zone one was the water purification; zone two was the Garden of Green Column; zone three was the Aquatic Botanical Garden and lastly zone four, which is the Garden of Transition. Among the four zones, the respective areas are generally converted from water purification basin, previous reservoirs' foundation, shallow filtration basin and chemical settlement facilities.
Basically, the four zones are connected with one another with and including the public facilities through a series of walkways. The excess water generated from the basins will eventually divert to the Ecological Water Playground. Variety of native Korean plant can be found in the converted basins. Diversity of garden exist in zone four such as aroma garden, vine garden, moss garden and fern garden. Besides that, grennhouses were built for the purpose tropical and sub-tropical aquatic plants implantation. The conversions allowed children and adults to enjoy the close up implant vegetations. Visual sensation through improved architectural appearance can be found in zone two with the ivy cladding fixed on the previous reservoirs.
Albeit with the improved visual and ecological sensation, the design layout did not forget the provisions of public facilities to improve the quality and user experience and value. Such as two hundred seats open air amphitheatre, exhibition hall, observation deck and cafeteria. (CABE)
Design processes are crucial in determining the outcome of design. Series of feasibility studies were done before the transfer of client's brief into conceptual design. Among the feasibility appraisal, background check, new Seoul initiative, design competition and footbridge were considered and benchmark for better practicality, quality and fit for purpose. (CABE)
The origin of Seonyudo Island was named by the poet and philosophers in eighteenth century as rest site, muse and inspiration. In twentieth century, the Japan Colonies executed quite a lot of construction projects by utilizing the regional nature materials such as rocks and sands. Additionally, simultaneous quarrying extended the effect of separation from the riverbank. By 1965, the Seonyudo Island acts as a structural midpoint for vehicles to cross by. During 1978, the site had finally plunged into water purification facilities that support the growing community. (CABE)
New Seoul Initiative
New Seouls initiative was implement by the Seoul planning authority in year 1998 which aimed to provide sustainable environment, diversify the culture programme and for the human benefits. The planning laws have significant effect on the economic as the planning consensus have the direct effect on the value of land and building. However, this planning has an effect that coincided with the confrontation of 2002 FIFA World Cup. (CABE)
Evaluation of project performance is a significant stage to determine the success of a particular project not only in term of basic construction needs (time, cost, quality) but also the sustainability, environmental and social performance. Furthermore, adequate evaluation and feedback may contribute significant explicit knowledge for future development. This project viewed as first ecological park in South Korea and received a well reputation and success in term of landscape sensitive and design. This urban development had established a precedent project that contribute and inspire in future development. Furthermore, the feedback of this project can be classified in term of ecology, education, socialism, accessibility, transportation and future developments. This project had guided the citizen with small and large picture which was the awareness in term of vegetation types and the importance of recycle and reintegrate of existing industries component. In fact, the aesthetic environment that furnish with greens component and cultural exhibitions generate interests to public. Hence, motivate of school tours for educational purposes. The island is so accessible and suitable for all people. This project also achieved excellent rating in socialism as the island provided of natural recreation spaces to relieve the tension city life. (CABE)
ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES
Based on the analysis of the four case studies shown above, green building can bring a wide range of benefits.
For a small additional investment in capital cost, sustainable design will save on operating costs for years to come. Many green buildings are designed to use less energy than current code; some buildings achieve even higher efficiency levels. Therefore, many developers and building owners are seeing that it's a wise business decision to secure long term savings. In addition, green buildings are also tending to be much easier to operate and maintain so that to reduce maintenance costs. By conducting comprehensive functional testing of all energy using systems before occupancy, it is often possible to have a smoother running building for years because potential problems are fixed in advanced.
On the other hand, since most companies are effectively self-insured and most government agencies and large companies are self-insured in reality, I makes god economic sense for them to be concerned about the health effects of building design on people's health. For example to focusing on measures to improve indoor environmental quality, such as increased ventilation, day lighting, views to the outdoors, and low toxicity finishes and furniture. By having the building certified by an independent third party and by designing well above code required minimums, a company might have a better defence against employee lawsuits for sick building syndrome symptoms, building related illnesses, and other ailments.
The benefits of green buildings also reinforce a company's brand image. Besides that, communities are also more likely to support green projects than traditional projects, and it is easier for such projects to qualify for many government contracts, subsidies, grants and tax credits.
Undoubtedly, for the future everyone in the green building industry will be focused on lowering the key barrier of cost. Designers are also responsible to working hard to bring the costs of green buildings into line with benefits.
All the participants within construction industry have to work aggressively to lower the costs of building green by accumulating their own project experience and strengthening their focus on integrated design approaches that might lower some costs while increasing others, but with a net positive cost reduction impact.
Other than that, designers have to find ways to finance green building improvements that reduce or eliminate the first cost penalty that often frightens away prospective buyers, using incentive payments from utility "public purpose" programs, and local, state, and federal governments to maximise leverage. There are also a growing number of third party financing sources for energy-efficiency and renewable energy investments in large building projects that can defray or offset added initial costs. (Yudelson, 2008)
Moreover, it is also important to use good project management and cost management software to show the benefits of various green building measures in real time. Having good information about costs, benefits, and return on investment can be critical to keeping good green measures under consideration, instead of losing them to strictly financial considerations.
Basically for the four of the case study that I have studied each has their own characteristic base on the function of the space. First of all the size of projects is a very big contrast due to occupancy of the space. The Ben Franklin Elementary school is a learning space for kinder garden students which can fit in about 450 students, Eastern Sierra House is a single family residential home, Alberici Corporate Headquarters consists of around 200 people each day and Seonyudo Park is a public space for people to rest and walk.
The cost of all projects also gave a very big difference. A kinder garden school and An office needs a big amount of money to maintain the whole building while a residential and a public park doesn't require such amount of money to maintain. An office is a place where the occupants work and the space that being occupied is mostly the working area while the kinder garden school is mostly for students to stay focus within the space to learn both have slightly similarity which is require to have sufficient light and air ventilation to stay focus and comfort because the occupant normally stay within the space for certain amount of time. Compare with a house and park, it's a place where the occupant feel relax and relief from the stressful office or learning space. Therefore staying for a long period of time in the office or school will cause the occupant feels stress, pressure and tiring which is a total contrast with a house and park. Some of the green strategies applied in a working space and learning space are also different compare with a private and public space. For example an office or school needs sufficient lightings such as cool lights to keep the workers stay focus on their works while a living home usually uses warm lights, for the park it is mainly natural sunlight due to it is an open air space. Case studies one, two and three uses natural day lighting to light up the whole space but the Alberici Corporate Headquarters and Ben Franklin Elementary School consists of more and bigger windows for more day lighting to come through the space and better air ventilation which is different from Eastern Sierra House. Some of the materials used are different as well due to the durability and cost. For example for the kinder garden school, the furniture applied in the space should be safe for children in which they should not have sharp edges, material used should also be nontoxic as the children's health is priority to learning environment. As for an open air park the materials applied should be extremely durable because they are exposing to sunlight, rain and other element that may cause the structure to deteriorate.
Conclusion, sustainable design can be applied to every space but different system is require base on the function and usage of the space. Different material plays a different role in each space as well depends on the environment and climate. Throughout the whole essay I gain more knowledge of sustainable design and how it affects the whole space.