Design & Construction process

Getting to 2030: Frameworks & Roadmaps to help you achieve portfolio-wide performance improvements

Being a truly green firm is about more than just being “able” to deliver LEED projects. It's about aligning overall company vision, management, operations and project delivery with the demands of integrative design and collaborative relationships – and measuring company performance improvements as a result. Whether your firm delivers LEED on every project – or not, you can develop the internal systems, processes and protocols to ensure a higher level of performance across the board.

Tangible Change: Materials and the Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge Materials Petal is intended to induce a successful materials economy that is non-toxic, transparent and socially equitable. In this workshop, participants will gain an understanding of how to meet the material-related Imperatives of the Living Building Challenge: I-10 Red List, I-11 Embodied Carbon Footprint, I-12 Responsible Industry, I-13 Living Economy Sourcing, and I-14 Net Positive Waste as well as introduce and explain the Declare Program.

Net Positive Energy: Power and the Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge Energy Petal is intended to signal a new age of design, wherein the built environment relies solely on renewable forms of energy and operates year round in a pollution-free manner. In this in-depth review of the Energy Petal, participants will gain an understanding of how to create Net Zero Energy buildings. This interactive session will present detailed case studies of several Net Zero Energy certified buildings - identifying the design and operational challenges these projects had to overcome to meet their Net Zero Energy goals.

Dematerialization Applied

As a follow-up to "Dematerializing Buildings" at BE14, this session will explore how the dematerialization and lightweighting of buildings is being put into practice. Many of the technologies discussed in the March 2014 session are now being put into actual application while more new technologies are entering the pipeline at a rapid rate. Driven by energy and environmental concerns, some projects are now quantifying the material savings and embodied carbon reduction resulting from lightweighting strategies.

Building Science Puzzles

At BuildingGreen, I spend about one-fifth of my time doing building investigations, mostly residential. In this session, I will present the building assessment information for a series of investigations (one or two commercial/institutional buildings), we will work to identify the problem(s) and possible solution(s), and then I will present the actual solution (right, wrong, in between…). Come ready to quip, throw jabs and darts, but, please, no suits (law or three-piece…although there is overlap, of course).

Installing commercial windows and curtain walls without thermal bridges, air or water leaks

This session will look at the basic shapes of aluminum and fiberglass products used for frames, and identify the basic principles to be used to develop functional details for both new and retrofit construction. We will isolate the heat, air, and water control layers in windows and connect those in precast, solid masonry, and framed walls. Issues of structural support, construction sequencing, building movement, and high humidity interiors will be addressed. Numerous examples and case studies rich with photographs and drawings will be used.

Multifamily Ventilation 302

Central ventilation systems in multifamily buildings are a vital building system that often compromises overall building performance (ie they don’t perform to code almost 100% of the time). Correcting ventilation problems can produce significant energy savings in multifamily buildings while also improving occupant comfort and health. Central ventilation system restoration is an emerging energy retrofit that has had its bumps along the way.

Marc's Zero Net Energy Deep Energy Retrofit

A building energy geek gut-renovated a small house. Learn about the decisions made, and consequences thereof; about choices of construction assemblies, materials, windows and doors, and mechanical equipment. Successive blower door test data will illustrate how the building was tightened to exceed the Passive House standard. Detailed energy use data will be presented, and performance data of the solar electric system, heat pump, heat recovery ventilator, and heat pump water heater will be presented, and will be compared to the energy model.

Pushing the Envelope and Air Barrier for Commercial and Institutional Cold Climate Buildings and Lessons Learned

This workshop will investigate the design process for analyzing and constructing a building envelope to meet aggressive air-sealing goals for new and renovated commercial and institutional projects in cold climates. Example details from four case study buildings will be shared with a central focus on decisions, changes, best practice guidelines, thermal analysis, lessons learned and specific challenges encountered during the construction process.

Affordable Passive House Commercial Buildings - Secrets Revealed

Designing high performance commercial buildings will cost 10% - 25% more to build than conventional buildings – right? Adam Cohen of Structures Design/Build, LLC has been designing and building Passive House Commercial Buildings at costs comparable to typical new construction and is achieving Passive House level results. This workshop will explain the basics of Passive House design principles specific to Commercial Buildings.

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