November 2010

project(s) of the month
Energy Solutions projects

Energy Solutions is a joint venture company formed by Schmidt Associates and Johnson-Melloh Solutions, that focuses on providing energy efficient systems for Owners.  Energy Solutions has provided guaranteed energy savings contracts to many clients. These projects involve retrofitting existing mechanical and lighting systems with new more efficient systems and guaranteeing improved performance.  But, Energy Solutions is active in other projects as well. They are constructing a 100kW solar array at the Johnson-Melloh office son the west side of Indianapolis. It will be the largest solar collector in the area to date.  The solar canopy will be visible from I-465 and will connect to the power grid.

Rendering of Solar Array

  

Off grid LED lights

Another innovative project Energy Solutions is working on is the parking lot lighting for Delta High School in Muncie, IN. The lighting for this installation will utilize low-voltage LED lights that are powered by solar cells located on top of the fixture. The lights will be totally self-sufficient and disconnected from the power grid.


Energy Solutions continues to demonstrate how high-performance design alternatives are viable options for Owners in reducing yearly operating costs, which is a primary focus of today's culture.


news

November 2010 - Sustainable Stan Award Winner

Brett Quandt, Associate

Brett Quandt, Accounting and Finance Manager here at Schmidt Associates earned the Sustainable Stan Award for November due to his efforts to reduce paper by modifying procedures in accounting.  All of Schmidt's internal accounting is done paperless.  Brett was instrumental in making this change to the office and his award was long overdue.  Brett always seems to have his eyes open for opportunities where he can make difference. Congratulations Brett on a job well done.

New High Performance process tools

To help integrate our high performance design processes into our work we have created some new new metrics to track our designs.  A new tab in Deltek has been created for all projects. This will be the location for project teams to document unique high performance design aspects of a project, energy usage targets compared to ASHRAE 90.1, how the project scored against the LEED rating system, and whether or not the project is seeking any type of certification.  This page will be jointly filled in by the Sustainability Committee and the Project Team.  It will also feed into the Balanced Scorecard to determine if how the office is doing on it high-performance goals that are set each year.  This is a great step in standardizing our high-performance processes and integrating them into our workflow. 

 events

• Carpool to Work day: tbd soon
• Re-tie-rement Swap Party - this fall or not at all

opinion

Thanksgiving time has always been a time when we eat till we can eat no more. Here is a link to an article that I thought would help us think of ways we can be friendlier to the environment during the holiday.  

http://www.metaefficient.com/dinnerware/green-thanksgiving.html

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,  

Sustainable Stan

October 2010

project of the month
College of Business, Indiana State University
Terre Haute, Indiana

The Indiana State College of Business will find its new home in the Terre Haute Federal Building that was constructed in the 1930’s.  This Art Deco building once housed the Federal courts and post office and is currently undergoing its third phase of renovation (Phase 1 included corridor and exterior restoration work, Phase 2 included construction of a new south side entrance and development of a new contract post office). 

The project has been on hold for over two years waiting on State funding.  Approval was received in September to finish the project, which was in the Construction Document phase.  At that time, the Owner made several plan changes and made the decision to go from a stand-alone VAV mechanical system to a VAV system connected to the campus steam and chilled water plan.  A goal of the project is to achieve LEED silver certification.  With the change in mechanical system decision (which doesn't improve over the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline) and the existing building envelope (with poorly insulated windows), early energy modeling suggests that the project will only achieve the 5% prerequisite for energy on the project.  The 5% threshold is being achieved by replacing the existing roof and 1 ½” of insulation, with a new white roof utilizing 4” of insulation.  Even though energy points make up a large portion of the LEED rating scale, this project will still achieve a Silver rating in large part due to its siting in a dense urban fabric and its reuse of an existing structure.  The design team is also looking to use water-efficient plumbing fixtures, highly controllable building systems (individual thermostat controls and occupancy sensors), and innovation credits including green furnishings, acoustical wall separations for classrooms, and using the building as a teaching tool. Considering the lack of credits for energy performance it is an impressive feat to achieve LEED Silver for this project. Congratulations to the team for thinking outside of the box.

news

October 2010 - Sustainable Stan Award Winner

Deb Kunce, AIA, LEED AP

Deb Kunce, Program Manager here at Schmidt Associates earned this month's Sustainable Stan Award for her efforts in educating building users on the benefits of sustainable design. She helped produce a flash presentation that explains what has been accomplished with the building design and how users will benefit from it.  It also helps users understand how they should use their facility to keep it sustainable.  This is a great tool to educate the public on sustainable design and its impact on people's daily lives. Great job Deb. 

New Indiana Energy Code
In May 2010, Indiana adopted ASHRAE 90.1 2007 as their Energy code.  This energy code modifies the requirements for building envelopes to achieve higher thermal values.  Schmidt Associates had been tracking thermal values for their standard wall designs prior to acceptance of the new code, and had already met the requirements. However, to improve the thermal efficiency of our designs the standards have been tweaked to exceed ASHRAE 90.1 by 20% to 40%.  But designers cannot just look at the components (walls, roofs, windows, etc.) of a building singularly. A building energy model needs to done to examine how all of these components work together as well as layout and orientation to the sun and wind, etc. affect the overall thermal efficiency of the design. 


events

• Carpool to Work day: tbd soon
• Thermal Comfort/Fresh Air Day: tbd soon - while the temp. outside is nice
• Re-tie-rement Swap Party - this fall or not at all

opinion

Modifications to building envelopes to improve thermal efficiency will be challenged by Owners and Construction Managers during the design process, especially in a value-engineering mode. The best way to prove these modifications make a difference is to do early energy models for the building design. There are costs associated with increasing the thermal performance of the building envelope, but these increases should be weighed against the operational costs of the facility and evaluated on their payback rate (how long will it take to pay off the difference using the money saved from the energy costs). Sustainable design will continue to be contested especially in a tough economy. It is our responsibility as designers to inform Owners how the building envelope affects building performance. Every building will likely be different - but we have the tools to tell us what makes sense to make higher performance facilities. Analyze away people - just do it early to save yourself headaches later.

Sincerely,  

Sustainable Stan

September 2010

project of the month
Marian University College of Health and Healing Arts
Indianapolis, Indiana

The Marian University Health and Healing Arts will be the home to the new college of osteopathic medicine and the existing school of nursing.  The building will be approximately 140,000 SF and sit on a prominent corner of the campus at 30^th Street and Cold Spring road.  Construction will start in December of 2010 and is scheduled to be complete in June of 2012.  One of the main project goals is to achieve a LEED Gold status.  One of the key design elements to help reach this goal is the use of a water cooled VRV system.  This system is anticipated to exceed ASHRAE 90.1 standards by 20% for energy savings.

In addition to energy efficiency, a rain garden was developed for the project as an integral part of its storm water management program.  After minimizing the building footprint with a multi-story arrangement and preserving grades around significant trees, it proved out that ground level space for storm water detention is very limited. However, as a public display of sustainability goals, it was decided early in planning that storm water would be featured in the overall design, not relegated to underground piping. Acknowledging this emphasis, the rain garden is located in the western ellipse. It occupies a position that is important in the overall campus linkage of the project. Pedestrians approaching the building from the remainder of campus will pass by or through the rain garden basin. A channel of water bisecting the ellipse will carry storm water from the building to the rain garden and visually bind the aesthetic of this campus green space.

Other sustainable design initiatives include shading devices strategically located around the building to allow natural light into the building while passively addressing heat gain and glare, use of low flow plumbing fixtures, and encouraging alternate forms of transportation through bike racks and easy access to bus routes.


news
September 2010 - Sustainable Stan Award Winner

Leonard Porter, Schmidt Associates' Plumbing Engineer earned this month's Sustainable Stan Award for achieving LEED Green Associate accreditation. Leonard has been involved in many of the office's LEED projects, including the recent Ivy Tech Fall Creek Campus Expansion. Leonard has done an exceptional job integrating high efficiency plumbing fixtures and design into our work. It is likely that Leonard's passing of the LEED exam will start a trend with the Schmidt Associates engineers. Congratulations Leonard, LEED GA.


Random Acts of Greenness

On August 20, Schmidt Associates conducted its annual Random Act of Greenness. This year we cleaned Massachusetts Avenue, just before the Indy Fringe Festival, which has attracted over 65,000 people over the last 5 years and continues to grow. This was Schmidt Associates third year o perform the community cleaning effort. Staff worked hard at picking up trash and weeding along each block. It is estimated that over 400 pounds of trash were collected.  Thanks to all who participated and for taking pride in our locality.


events

• (PARK)ing Day: today September 17, Hosted by Architecture for Humanity located in front of Borders at Meridian and Washington St. A temporary park has been constructed in what are normally parking spaces for people to gather and enjoy the community.
• Carpool to Work day: October sometime
• Thermal Comfort/Fresh Air Day: tbd
• Re-tie-rement Swap Party - this fall or not at all

opinion

Even in this bad economy, this is an exciting time in the building design profession. Building technology is becoming more and more important, and there are many new tools to help us understand how designs will perform. Today, not only does your design need to  look good but it needs to perform well too.  In some ways this down economy has brought to light that smarter design can save Owner's money.  Schmidt Associates has done a remarkable job implementing high performance practices into their designs and utilizing technology to understand it better. How can you not be excited?
Yours Truly,
Sustainable Stan

August 2010

project of the month
Decatur Central High School
Indianapolis, Indiana

The Decatur Central High School additions and renovations will reach completion in the coming months. This 460,000 square feet project involved extensive demolition, renovation and new construction over a three year period with school programs in session. One of the key design aspects of the project is its improved energy efficiency. The project is designed to achieve an Energy Star design rating of 87. To be an Energy Star rated facility the building must score 75 or higher. The building utilizes an all-ducted Variable-Air-Volume (VAV), 4-pipe system. The use of heat recovery chillers and an energy recovery system contribute to added efficiency.  Overall the system provides enormous savings in operational costs, with a mere $1.17 per square foot of building dedicated to energy costs compared to the national average of $1.91.


Other sustainable design components are on display for this facility, including a pervious concrete parking lot that reduces the drainage flow for the site. The facility provides distinct wings for it's unique learning community teaching approach. It is safe to say that this facility is leading the way not only in it's teaching approach but in it's example on how to achieve energy efficiency.


news
August 2010 - Sustainable Stan Award Winner

Katie Corson, Schmidt Associates' Marketing Manager, earned this month's Sustainable Stan Award for integrating sustainability into Schmidt's marketing materials. 

An example of these efforts is the new Schmidt Associates ecotainer beverage cups for visitors to the office. These cups are made from fully renewable resources and are compostable (far superior to the previous wax coated paper cups and they are environmentally friendly). Katie has done a great job of making sure that we aren't just incorporating sustainability into our designs but also into the offices materials and practices. Demonstrating that Schmidt Associates also walks the walk. Make sure to congratulate Katie and tell her to keep up the good work.


2030 Update
The Sustainability Committee's goals for the next 3 months are as follows:

• Finalize Sustainability Policy
• Update Sharepoint's Sustainability Page
• Integrate Sustainable design goals into Project Dashboard
• Expand Sustainable Stan Journal audience
• Finalize sustainable projects case studies
• Create sustainability training sessions for Owners
• Develop timeline to meet LEED EB requirements
• Create Life Cycle Cost Analysis Document
• Create office standard for building envelope
• Integrate sustainable design efforts into marketing materials

We will keep you posted on our progress towards these goals and other exciting developments.

LEED Projects update
Certified

• Community Hospital, LEED Gold, LEED NC 2.2
• BSU Dehority Complex, LEED Silver, LEED NC 2.2
• Children's Bureau, LEED Gold, LEED NC 2.2

Registered

• Vincennes Clark Middle School, LEED Certified, LEED for Schools 2009 (construction just completed)
• Meadowood, LEED Silver 2.2 (on-hold)
• Schmidt Associates Offices, LEED Certified, LEED-EB (in development)
• Ivy Tech Fall Creek Campus, LEED Silver, LEED-NC 3 (under construction)
• BSU Studebaker East, LEED Silver, LEED-NC 3 (out for bid in October)
• Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine, LEED Gold, LEED-NC 3 (in design)
• Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), LEED for Schools 2009 *
• #15 ES (Thomas D. Gregg), LEED Silver (construction just completed)
• #19 ES (Frederick Douglass), tbd (in design)
• #28 ES (Henry Longfellow), LEED Certified (under construction)
• #31 ES (James A. Garfield), LEED Silver (construction just completed)
• #39 ES (William McKinley), LEED Silver (under construction)
• #47 Key Learning (Thomas A. Edison) (in design)
• #55 ES (Eliza A. Baker), LEED Silver (construction just completed)
• #58 ES (Ralph Waldo Emerson, tbd (in design)
• #59 Gifted and Talented Academy (Merle Sidener), tbd (in design)
• #61 ES (Clarence Farrington), LEED Gold (under construction)
• #67 ES (Stephen Foster), tbd (in design)
• #70 ES (Mary E. Nicholson), LEED Silver (in design)
• #74 ES (Theodore Potter), tbd (in design)
• #79 ES (Carl Wilde), LEED Silver (under construction)
• #83 ES (Floro Torrence), LEED Certified (in design)
• #88 ES (Anna Brochhausen), LEED Silver (construction just completed)
• #91 ES (Rousseau McClellan), tbd (in design)
• #94 ES (George Buck), LEED Certified (in design)
• #99 ES (Arlington Woods), tbd (in design)
• #103 ES (Francis Scott Key), LEED Certified (under construction)
• #105 ES (Charles Warren Fairbanks), tbd (in design)
• #107 ES (Lew Wallace), tbd (in design)
• #109 ES (Jonathan Jennings),tbd (in design)
• #315 Cold Spring School, tbd (in design)
• Arsenal Tech HS - Lone Hall, LEED Certified (pre-construction)
• Arsenal Tech HS - East Gym/Pool, LEED Silver (pre-construction)
• Arsenal Tech HS - Media Center, LEED Certified (pre-construction)

      * - Schmidt Associates is the Program Manager for the IPS projects and the LEED Administrator
events

• Random Acts of Greenness - Massachusetts Avenue cleanup/ice cream social - August 20 - look for more info via email
• Carpool to Work Day/Park for a day/Office picnic - September 17, Sign-up now for the first Stan's Cornhole Tournament - look for more info via email
• Thermal Comfort/Fresh Air Day - tbd
• Re-tie-rement Swap Party - this fall or not at all

opinion

We've made some strides this last month standardizing our building envelope walls and roofs, as well as utilizing Revit to help the Energy Model for our projects. Meeting the 2030 challenge will take a shift in our typical designs however and push us to integrating more passive systems in our projects. It will not be easy to meet this Challenge but we are headed in the right direction. We need to continue to educate ourselves and our Owners on the benefits of the goals and how we can achieve them.  Keep up the good work.

Yours Truly,

Sustainable Stan