Sustainable Building Technical Manual - Etn-presco.net

As local governments consider site selection for and design of municipal, commercial,and residential structures, they also need to consider disaster resistant planning.Choices that keep in mind possible long-term weather trends can help jurisdictionsavoid costly post-disaster relief and rebuilding measures. (See also Chapter 25, “TheFuture of Green Building.”)L O CAL A C T I O N S.➤The Stapleton Redevelopment Project, approved in March 1995 by the Denver, Colorado,Planning Board, is developing a mixed-use plan for the 4,700-acre site of the city’s formerinternational airport. The project is based on sustainable principles. It strives not only tointegrate urban development, transportation, natural systems, and wildlife habitat, butalso to create a balanced mix of uses and densities—including parks, housing, and businesses—forefficient, accessible, and diverse neighborhoods and communities.The city’s planning team is using a geographic information system (GIS) to assembledata on climate, water resources, land use, transportation, infrastructure, and communityenergy resources. This information will be used with the computer-based PLACESmethodology to model present and future development options. Denver will be able topredict the impact and cost of development and design resource-efficient sites beforeany new structures are built.The Stapleton Redevelopment Project also plans to reuse the airport terminal itself,turning the building into a site for new green businesses, as well as a center for establishedcompanies focusing on national and international business opportunities in theenvironmental and technology fields. Finally, the project will tap nearby communityand academic resources to sponsor sustainable educational and training opportunitiesat the airport-terminal site.➤The Pennsylvania-based Slippery Rock Foundation, with a grant from the HowardHeinz Endowment, has developed Guidelines for Sustainable Development that providedesign, construction, and operations suggestions. The guidelines provide basicgreen site-development recommendations, for example, the reuse of existing structuresand already disturbed areas, evaluation of site resources, minimization ofpaving and impervious surfaces, and analysis of the future impact of a site withinthe broader context of community.➤The town of Carrboro, North Carolina, has instituted an architectural process thatallows flexibility in site design and development. Carrboro’s Arcardia neighborhood,for example, is in the process of developing 33 lots on 16 acres that have narrowerthan-usualstreets and homes built to satisfy passive solar guidelines. The homes featureradiant-heated floors and some photovoltaic hot-water systems; their landscapedesign reflects attention to water conservation and use of native plants.➤The city of Austin, Texas, Sustainable Building Guidelines encourage habitat preservationand site restoration, landscape designs that provide passive solar cooling, and the additionof plants and fountains to municipal buildings with main lobbies or to “frontyards” of municipal buildings to create pleasant public gathering places.➤The new Clark County, Nevada, Government Center boasts landscaping that is bothdrought-tolerant and complementary to the building design and the natural environment.The center’s planners have concentrated turf in a single multipurpose, functionalarea that provides a visual oasis as well as a community space for theater, music, andpublic gatherings.➤The village of Charlotte, North Carolina, is developing a mixed-use building project of164 dwellings on 22 acres—while minimizing additional roads. Sustainability and ecologicalconcepts, including construction-waste recycling and the use of graywater forirrigation, are part of the development process.