Better Buildings at Brown
http://envstudies.brown.edu/thesis/2004/Molly_Macgregor/
Molly MacGregor 2004
How can Brown University build cost-effective spaces that enhance learning and user satisfaction while reducing adverse impacts on the natural environment?
"We shape our dwellings,
and afterward, our dwellings shape our lives."
- Sir Winston Churchill
Why does Brown need better buildings?
Designing University spaces matters. University buildings broadcast ideals by embodying:
Brown University buildings bring a wealth of academic and social benefits to the community. In measuring these benefits, Brown should also be aware of how campus buildings directly and indirectly contribute to environmental and human health problems. The decisions of building professionals determine the extent to which building construction and operations generate material waste and result in energy inefficiencies and pollution. A leading university should only hire educated and responsible design professionals committed to pursuing environmental building policies.
Brown University owns 235 buildings, containing more than 6,000,000 square feet of space. Many of these buildings are costly to operate. Daily, Brown spends precious capital by wasting water, energy, and other natural resources. Annual energy costs amount to between $6 and 8 million dollars and the campus uses about 220 million gallons of water per year, making many of these buildings costly to operate. Unfortunately, this waste is the inadvertent result of designs that merely meet dated, environmentally irresponsible code. Brown's buildings must be held to a higher standard. Future building project design must realize connections between a building, its systems, its occupants, and its surroundings.
What are High Performance Buildings and why are they better?
High Performance Buildings[1] are more economic and environmentally responsive than conventional buildings in many respects. High performance buildings improve:
HPBD is an integrated process that unites design professionals, facility planners, project managers, and future occupants at the beginning of the design process to create healthy and productive learning spaces. High performance designers evaluate the entire life cycle of the building materials and systems, analyzing economic and environmental performance in comparison to typical design results. HPBD also promotes resource conservation, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation features. Highlighting the social and environmental considerations of HPBD will provide an opportunity to educate the Brown community about its connection to the natural environment and enhance the University's reputation and neighborhood relationships.
Initiatives encouraging environmentally responsible building across the United States are increasingly reporting successes. Hundreds of buildings already maximize the health and safety of the occupants, minimize energy and other operational costs while reducing negative impacts on the natural environment. HPBD resources have been growing rapidly, with new technical knowledge, literature, and products coming out daily. A recent national study confirmed the business case for HPBD.
Responding to economic motivations and national trends, designers, contractors, and building owners are becoming more and more interested and involved in HPBD projects. Academic campuses are increasingly leading the trend by including high performance building principles in their planning processes and producing high performance facilities. Although Brown once led the nation in environmental responsible campus building projects, early efforts have not been fully supported recently, causing Brown to lose its leadership position. It is imperative that Brown regain its place as a leader in responsible building design.
HPBD is economically, socially, and environmentally effective. In educational buildings, it is not sufficient to view resource efficient design as an act of goodwill; the maximum benefits and minimum financial risk must be emphasized. The potential benefits of HPBD outweigh any additional costs; my thesis aims to make this connection clear.
Why should Brown adopt High Performance Building practices now?
Buildings last a long time. The longevity of an institution like Brown creates the need for durable, healthy buildings that payback throughout their lives. Once a conventional facility is completed, it is much more difficult and costly to reduce energy and water use, improve air quality, or adjust for new applications than it is to design responsibly from the start. HPBD addresses a range of short and long-term consequences. High performance building is about doing it right the first time. Global warming threats, rising energy costs, and Brown's standard of excellence demand proactive action today rather than reaction tomorrow.
Given the $200-300 million of new campus construction planned over the next ten years, Brown University has a unique opportunity to take advantage of these cost-effective HPBD methods and materials to reduce operating costs, restrict negative environmental impacts, and promote increased student, faculty, and staff productivity and health. Emphasizing the environmental and economic benefits of its new resource-efficient buildings will educate Brown's students, staff, faculty, parents, alumni, and supporters. Brown's new status as a responsible developer will earn respect from the greater community.
How can Brown build better buildings?
The success of a high performance, resource efficient building is measured by how well the interests of the owner, the occupants, and the natural environment have been balanced. Done correctly, the result will be a building that is
There are many ways to improve Brown's campus buildings without increased costs or program sacrifices. Top-level administrators and trustees must support Facilities Management to insist on higher performance in all new campus construction projects. Learning from other universities will allow Brown to adopt cost-effective new technologies, processes, and materials that dramatically reduce buildings' environmental impacts and improve human health while increasing efficiency of operation. These superior design and construction methods result in "High Performance Buildings," designed to provide long-term user satisfaction and use resources responsibly. Brown will benefit from increased implementation of high performance building design (HPBD).
Brown University Trustees and Administrators will need to demonstrate significant support for respecting the natural environment and building occupants. The common misperception that HPBD is cost-prohibitive is a major barrier to generating solid support. When these key decision makers understand the benefits of HPBD and its relationship to Brown's values, they should recognize the need to implement HPBD policies as soon as possible. Executing HPBD is a strategy for achieving a delightful, safe, and healthy campus environment. It is hard to argue against HPBD's value and applicability to Brown University's mission.
Building increasingly higher quality, effective buildings requires improving Brown's overall planning and design process. The first step is to adopt and insist on high performance design guidelines. Agreed upon by the Corporation's Facilities and Design Committee, the Provost's Space Committee, the Department of Facilities Management, and the Campus Planning Advisory Board, these guidelines should be utilized during every major campus construction project. Complementing high performance guidelines, the designer of a new campus building should consider the direct relationship between a facility's capital costs and operating costs. Strategies to incorporate these life cycle costs should be in place before the design phase commences. In addition, Brown should hire a full time energy manger. There are many energy conservation opportunities around campus; an energy manager could significantly reduce Brown's electricity costs and also participate in the high performance design of new campus buildings. In forming a design team, Brown should only select experienced design team members who are qualified to design a High Performance Building and willing to work as a team. HPBD produces the best results if it is a goal from the beginning of the project process, ideally in a charrette setting, and if an integrated design process approaches the building as a whole.
Completing the following recommendations will allow Brown to assemble comprehensive project teams that work together to produce resource-effective buildings where users are delighted to work, study, and live.
These strategies require explicit support and enthusiasm from top-level administrators.