Green Building Projects

Ecotrust Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center

The Ecotrust Natural Capital Center, in the former 1895 Rapid Transfer Building, was recently restored according to green building standards and is now home to companies and agencies committed to maintaining the environment through “green” products, services and policies. The building remodel included ground floor retail space with two floors of office space above. The project added a penthouse and roof garden. Interface helped design the garden water supply and drainage, which acts as a vegetated sod roof to filter and retain rainwater, thus reducing stormwater flow from the building. The 70,000 SF renovation incorporated as many environmentally responsible components as possible, qualifying it as the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) “Gold” building in the western U.S. Interface also provided design services for a number of the building’s other environmentally friendly systems, including daylighting and energy conservation.  Interface maximized daylighting through modeling of specific tenant spaces to minimize energy consumption and through controls that reduce artificial lighting whenever daylighting is sufficient. Building control systems designed by Interface included motion sensors to reduce lighting use and HVAC energy when the space is vacant. Security-type micro switches on windows shut down the HVAC in favor of natural ventilation when windows are opened. Through the use of computer energy modeling and specification of appropriate energy-using components, energy consumption was reduced an estimated 20 percent over a "code" building, even with retention of all the existing uninsulated brick exterior and interior. Water consumption was reduced an estimated 20 percent against a "code" building through selection of water-conserving fixtures and faucets.

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