Articles & Interviews

Performance-Based Design
The Cascadia Center for Sustainable Design and Construction strives to be the first of its kind - an urban mid-rise Living Building. The vision of the Bullitt Foundation and its director, Denis Hayes, is to develop a game-changing place that creates a ripple effect to change the way designers, cities and occupants think about their buildings. 

Targeting 100! Envisioning the High Performance Hospital: Implications for a New, Low Energy, High Performance Prototype
This groundbreaking new research effort reveals how hospitals, which account for four percent of all energy consumed in the U.S., can achieve a 60 percent reduction in energy utility use by redesigning the way they use energy. The most salient outcome of this work is the definition of a process that brings together architectural, mechanical and central plant systems to deliver significant efficiencies.  Download materials here:

• Targeting 100! Executive Summary
• Targeting 100! full report
• Energy in Healthcare Fact Sheet
• Targeting 100 Infographic

An Interview with Amanda Sturgeon, Perkins + Will
For more than a decade, Amanda Sturgeon has been a leader in the emerging sustainable building field. Working in both the private and public sectors through the course of her career, Sturgeon has been a leader helping convince clients and colleagues to embrace energy-efficient design. This is why Sturgeon received a BetterBricks Award for Architect in 2008.

An Interview with Peter Clegg, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Architect, author and educator, Peter Clegg, is a senior partner with the London based firm Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. Peter visited the Northwest in late 2009 for the BetterBricks-sponsored Transformational Lecture series, where he caught up with BetterBricks to discuss the current challenges and opportunities within sustainable architecture.

An Interview with Norm Strong, Miller | Hull Partnership
In 2007 Norman Strong, managing partner of The Miller | Hull Partnership, a venerable Seattle architecture firm, received a BetterBricks Award in the Advocate category. In this interview, Strong shares his insights on the current state of the green building industry and how architects are continuing to progress energy efficiency.

Research Based Design
This article presents SRG Partnership's evolution in embracing a research based design approach through a collaborative relationship with the University of Oregon's Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory. This partnership has transformed the approaches of the firm's design leaders, the management and business model for a multi-office practice, and related impacts to the rapidly evolving profession of architecture.

Shining a (Natural) Light on Green Schools
This article in Green Inc., a New York Times energy and environment blog, discusses the unique collaboration between of the University of Oregon's Energy Studies in Buildings Lab (ESBL) and Da Vinci Art Middle School in Portland, Ore. Architecture firm SRG Partnership worked ESBL to design the green prototype classroom, which uses natural dayligting, passive heating and cooling systems, solar roof tile and other green features that yeild a 70 percent efficiency improvement over Oregon building code requirements. 

A Conversation with Guy Battle - July, 2009
Guy Battle is one of the founding partners of Battle McCarthy Consulting Engineers, a multi-disciplinary practice that specializes in the design and delivery of sustainable solutions for the built environment. Guy has worked on a wide range of international projects and is credited with developing an innovative approach to sustainable environmental master planning. Brian Libby, blog author and BetterBricks contributor, had a chance to catch up with Guy before a lecture in Portland, Oregon.

An Interview with Patrick Bellew, Founder of Atelier Ten
Patrick Bellew is the founding director of Atelier Ten and a Chartered Building Services Engineer with more than twenty years' experience in the design of high performance buildings and their systems. His success in integrated innovative technologies with noteworthy architecture has been acknowledged by the Royal Institute of British Architects, who've made him an Honorary Fellow, one of only three in his field. BetterBricks had the privilege to catch up with Patrick before a presentation to conduct the following interview.

An Interview with Peter Rumsey
BetterBricks recently caught up with owner and managing principal of Rumsey Engineers, Peter Rumsey. Peter has worked in engineering and energy consulting since the mid 1980s, and is widely recognized as global player in energy efficiency and a leader in sustainable building design.

Getting to Net Zero
Many designers, engineers and developers are pushing the envelope by designing and building carbon neutral and net zero buildings. What is a net zero energy building (NZEB)? Paul Schwer, P.E. LEED AP has written an article, found on the BetterBricks website, called "Carbon Neutral and Net Zero Buildings-How Soon Can We Get There?" explaining the importance and describing NZEB.

Daylight Dialect - Architectural Lighting, March 2008
Daylighting is a common 'high performance building' strategy and is an essential element of integrated design. However, even the experts have a hard time explaining what a well daylit space is. This makes it challenging for integrated teams to have a meaningful conversation about daylight in buildings and even more challenging to design daylit spaces. This article by Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, Director of the Integrated Design Lab in Boise, appeared in Architectural Lighting. It outlines the problem and proposes important definitions to develop a pathway toward a common daylighting language, or daylighting dialect.

Integrated Lighting - Architectural Lighting, April 2008
Integrating daylighting and electric lighting is an important part of full building integrated design-some would say it is the most important part. However, it is not without its challenges. This paper outlines the concept of holistic lighting design comprised by both daylighting and electric lighting sources. It presents some of the road blocks to holistic lighting design and highlights several important aspects for designing the lit environment.

Mount Angel Integrated Design Roundtable Discussion - Part I
Hear from the principal project team members responsible for the design of the new theology building. Through an extensive, collaborative process that searched for synergies between the elements of climate, use patterns, smaller loads and corresponding systems, the team was able to achieve a high performance building expected to save 62percent more energy than the code. This was all achieved at a lower cost.

Mount Angel Integrated Design Roundtable Discussion - Part II
Part II, focused on daylighting, continues the roundtable discussion about integrated design, among principal project team members responsible for design of the Annunciation New Center for Theological Studies graduate theology building at Mount Angel Abbey.

Mount Angel Integrated Design Roundtable Discussion - Part III
Part III of the Mount Angel integrated design roundtable discussion focuses on building envelope design challenges.

Energy Performance of LEED® for New Construction Buildings
New Buildings Institute has just released the broadest study to-date of measured energy performance of LEED buildings. The study gathered whole building energy data from 121 LEED New Construction buildings across the country that had been occupied for at least one year.

Meeting the 2030 Challenge with Integrated Design
How to meet the 2030 Challenge with a new way of thinking about design: searching for synergies.

Lillis Business Complex, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR - A Five Year Review
What started as a simple remodel of the University of Oregon's existing business school grew into the new Lillis Business Complex - a LEED certified, four-story, 140,000 square-foot building that demonstrates responsible business through sustainable design. Completed in December, 2003, the Lillis Business Complex is a focal point for not only the business school, but the University for its green design and prominent presence on campus. In this article, Kent Duffy, Principal at SRG Partnership, Inc. assesses the building's performance and provides a snapshot of the integrated strategies that contribute to energy efficiency.

Green Revisited
The 2006 study shows essentially the same results as 2004: there is no significant difference in average costs for green buildings as compared to non-green buildings.

Eco-Charrette
Explains the history of this design strategy and how it can be applied.