For more information on the USGBC please check out these links:

USGBC National Website

USGBC South Florida Chapter

1) For the past two years we have been working with several industry leaders such as the Cabinet Makers Association (CMA) and US Green Builders Council (USGBC) to develop standards for a “green cabinetry” certification. Currently, the CMA and USGBC are writing the standards which will be a continuation of the LEED program. We are still quite a ways out on this but it is definitely in the works.

2) Switched over to all Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified woods. The FSC certifaction means that the wood we use, was responsibly farmed (ex. – harvest 1 tree, plant 2 trees) and not purchased from a vendor who illegally clear cut a rainforest in Brazil.

3) Realizing that finishing was one of the largest contributors to our offset, we started there. We actively sought new and exciting methods of finishing our products using Low VOC, Trace VOC or No VOC products. Industry leaders in the chemical coating industry have really made huge steps in their water based finishes where it is really difficult to tell water based from solvent based coatings. Charter Furniture is in the process of taking it a step further and are in the process of developing a line of signature colors COMPLETELY made with household, natural products with No or Trace VOC levels! How’s that for pushing the bar?

4) We  have eliminated the use of adhesives containing formaldehyde. Our wood glues were switched to a non-toxic, water based glues that is solvent free yet hold ANSI/HPVA Type 1 water resistance…yet it is safe enough to have the FDA’s approval for indirect food contact (ex. – cutting board construction).

5) We are currently developing a high end line of exciting, limited edition designer furniture that is fabricated with sustainability in mind! Think Chic Mid-Century Modern with a twist of funk!

6) In the office…we are in the process of minimizing our impact on the environment through implementing several preservation and conservation. We started by actively seeking an office that was closer to our client base and to home. This simple step saved a tremendous amount of fossil fuels, carbon emmissions and my favorite….gas money! The selection of the office was important too. We wanted a space with plenty of windows so we could use natural light and the sea breeze to cool the office. We also put together a recycling plan so that very little of our office waste actually hits the landfills. And all of our technology items (cell phones, computers, printers, etc.) are recycled or donated.

We have made some big strides but this is just the beginning! We learn everyday about how we can help leave this planet of ours a bit cleaner that we found it. If this is of interest to you, please do your part and vote with your pocketbook. This doesn’t mean pay more for the products your are buying…ask for more of a selection! The more products on the market…the more the category grows…the cheaper the products….more sales….and WAIT!…we’re making a difference on a HUGE scale!

 If you have and questions, comments or if you would like to share ideas about how we can build a more sustainable business, I would be happy to hear from you! Please feel free to post!

What Works Now

By Carol Tisch

New workplace design is more than a catch phrase for Toronto-based Giannone Petricone Associates Inc. It defines the practice and its proclivity for transforming amorphous office spaces into vital instruments of change. Indeed, change is exactly what Wildeboer Dellelce LLC, an out-of-the-box Toronto law firm, had in mind when they decided to pack up their office mascot (a head-turning vintage billiard table) and move to a headquarters custom-tailored to their unique work hard/play hard corporate image.

Wildeboer Dellelce is definitely not your grandfather’s law firm. “It was important that their representation was as a very young, very forward-thinking firm,” explains Ralph Giannone, a member of the Ontario Association of Architects and principal-in-charge of the design/build of Wildeboer Dellelce’s avant-garde new headquarters. “At the same time, they specialize in a very specific field of mergers and acquisitions, and wanted to be sure they were themed that way.”

Therein lay the design dichotomy: the work was extremely serious, but the work patterns of these successful, high-powered attorneys were more aligned with those of a hip ad agency than with an uptight conservative law practice. “It’s very interesting: Wildeboer Dellelce feels very young … both in attitude and makeup. They have senior lawyers, but there’s a general sense of youthful exuberance that’s very different than other law offices,” explains Giannone.

What’s more, Wildeboer Dellelce is ad agency social. “They are really well known for having great parties; whether it’s internal social functions, which are frequent, or the annual industry-wide parties they’ve held once a year for the past 15 or more years,” adds Giannone. Designing the public space for functions capable of holding hundreds of guests was one of the client’s key mandates, the architect notes.

Another edict: no matter how contemporary the interiors, the gorgeous ’50s pool table stayed. “The pool table is a symbol of their company personality: it’s casual, fun and easy—a unique blend of business and pleasure,” says Giannone. While the table was “in your face” obvious, right behind the reception desk in the law firm’s previous office, Giannone Petricone moved it further inside in the new headquarters, using it as a focal point outside the staff lounge on the main public floor.

“This was the kind of iconic element that they felt said to everybody: we’re a different law firm; we’re actually putting our pool table in the lobby,” describes Giannone, “and we treated it as a sculptural piece lit by a great little squadron of three Tolemeo lights. Artemide was actually very excited about it because the Tolemeo is typically used singularly above a dining room table. It had never actually been used for a pool table and never in a series of three.”

Though hell-bent on change, in the end Wildeboer Dellelce did not move far from its previous location at Canadian Place, a large office building in Toronto’s financial district. “They felt they were lost in Canadian Place,” says Giannone, “and they believed relocation was essential to conceptualizing the way they worked. They see themselves as a very small but very boutique practice, and were hoping to find a smaller building where they might be the lead tenant.”

That hope materialized in the form of a refurbished 1960s building (now known as Wildeboer Dellelce Place) in the heart of the financial district on Bay Street (Toronto’s equivalent of New York’s Wall Street). Wildeboer Dellelce signed up for 20,000 square feet—the top three floors—while the landlord was in the throes of completely redoing every aspect of the infrastructure, from mechanical systems to the lobby and elevators. At the same time, Giannone Petricone completely gutted the existing office interiors in order to create a canvas for change.

“Our firm is brought in when there is a mandate to re-conceptualize an office or a company,” explains Giannone. “We don’t just come in and ‘do’ an office. We don’t even like talking about it as an office. We approach the problem culturally: Who are you? How do you work? How do you want to work? How do you want to represent yourselves to your clients, to the public? And how can we create the office as an instrument for you to work more
efficiently or more comfortably in?”

These critical questions are standard fare for clients of Giannone and his wife and co-principal Pina Petricone. In fact, the pair’s groundbreaking new workplace design for ad agencies won them the Wildeboer commission. “In the ad world, clients look at office space as a real machine for getting new work, attracting new staff, and retaining really good people. And that was Wildeboer’s strategy as well,” notes Giannone.

When Wildeboer Dellelce retained the architects, the law firm basically asked them to recreate the hip urban vibe of the ad agency offices they had admired in Giannone Petricone’s portfolio. But the lawyers soon learned their designers were all about solutions unique to each client’s particular culture. “We’re different in our approach because we see ourselves as custom tailors. We’re not off the rack: we won’t go in and say from the get-go, ‘here’s the system we’re going to use’ and then start laying things out. We see every project as making a suit for each specific client. If they want a double-breasted suit, that’s what they’re going to get. If one arm is a little longer than the other, you know it’s going to fit perfectly,” says Giannone, noting that this level of intensity limits his firm to two such projects a year.

Still, some clients don’t quite understand the need for the pre-planning and investigation inherent in custom-tailored solutions. “We actually frustrate our clients a little because they often think we’re going to come in, create a space plan and tell them how many people they can house in their space,” explains Giannone. Instead, his 22-person firm begins with a ground-up analysis of the client as a corporate entity, kicked off with a series of one-on-one meetings that include everyone from the president and CEO down to mail room personnel.

The goal is to get insights into the nuts and bolts of what people need, and to find out what junior people think of their company. “Often the president of a company will say he can tell us what his people need, but we want to know what the intermediate staff actually think the space should be like, and how can we help them. For us, it’s about listening, analyzing and making sure the design is going to fit perfectly.”

The process revealed that Wildeboer’s staff worked very long hours. And that management was extremely concerned with creating an office that would attract and retain really good people. Like everyone else in the service industry, their employees were working harder than ever before. Employee comfort and addressing the needs of people who come in very early or work later in the day would be key components of the design.

Probing Wildeboer staff also underscored the fact that attorneys—no matter how progressive and young-spirited—were not willing to compromise on their private offices. Still, what Giannone was able to turn on its head was the notion of office size as a function of pecking order. “We wanted to create an office layout that was as flexible as possible and that meant everyone had to get the same size office—even the partners” he says. No matter how the firm grows or expands, that 9-by-12 office is standard, unlike the very traditional hierarchal law firm approach.

Each office is set up like a machine, explains Giannone. “You have everything you need, but it’s not about space. It’s about how you’re equipped as opposed to your pecking order.” The architects specified a Unifor system by Italinteriors for each office: a hybrid work station-based system that was more desk-oriented. Set against one wall in every office, the panel system can be customized with the attorney’s choice of components. “It looks like a workstation stuck up against the wall, with a desk coming off of it in an L-shape,” adds Giannone.

Offices are set along the building’s fenestration, each equipped with an interior wall of sliding glass panels to allow light to filter through to inboard workstations. “One of our major ambitions is to try to bring natural light to all the people who work in an office. Lawyers really need private offices; but we wanted to create an incredibly bright space for the support staff as well because the people who support each lawyer are vital to keeping things going,” explains Giannone.

Giannone Petricone’s space planning exercise triggered more forward-thinking solutions. The space is programmed with the top two floors (floors nine and 10) as “working floors” and the eighth floor as a destination floor with reception area, meeting rooms and clubhouse (a combined lunch room/meeting space and TV lounge); the space also includes a small gym and shower facilities. This leisure space addresses the needs of employees who come in early and either run to work or go out for a run at lunch, as well as the needs of those who work very late.

“People are working longer hours, and they’re working different, flexible hours: if they’re going to work very late they might want to use the gym to unwind or sit in a comfortable sofa and watch a big screen TV. Giving them a place to get away from it all when they’re working late is an important component of the program,” says Giannone.

On the public destination floor, the architects programmed the space in a surprisingly atypical configuration with circulation spaces on the perimeter and all meeting rooms inboard. The design gives anyone going into or coming out of a meeting a magnificent view of Bay Street. But once inside, the meeting rooms have no windows and no distractions.

Giannone Petricone’s next step was creating the interior design scheme best reflective of Wildeboer Dellelce’s uniquely irreverent, yet ultimately corporate personality. “The fact of the matter is that they are lawyers and they come out of a culture of what lawyers’ offices look like. Though they wanted to be different, we felt it would be more compelling to make them different by using a palette and materials associated with law firms,” explains Giannone.

The solution: traditional brass and oak. “The materials became a running joke,” recalls Giannone. “They would say, ‘We wanted something different, so we’re getting a brass and oak office.’” But Giannone Petricone promised this would be brass and oak in a way they would never see them again!

Indeed the highlight of the L-shaped eighth floor is a breathtaking curved wall of mirror-polished brass. The lustrous 100-foot-long wall curves from the front desk to the pool table, concealing a series of internal meeting rooms, and culminates at the law firm’s main board room. The nod to oak is clean and fresh in the form of lightly stained oak floors and a 12-foot reception desk crafted of exploded chunks of oak. “The idea was to make the chunks stop and start as an idea of movement,” says Giannone.

The allusion to custom men’s suiting recurs throughout the space. In the reception area, the proverbial gray flannel suit is referenced with horizontal bands of Maharam upholstery felt, here in two tones of blue—Wildeboer Dellelce’s corporate colors. Hardworking Interface carpet tiles, chosen because they actually look like gray flannel, are spiked with thin fuchsia lines in the same shade as the club room’s bold curved feature wall and the fuchsia that accents the staircase connecting the ninth and 10th floors.

The pink is the one splash of color in a very business-like color palette of brass, oak and neutrals stereotypical of the conservative Bay Street culture. “That splash created an amazing graphic quality: “Think about the tie or handkerchief you put in your chest pocket,” concludes Giannone. “That was our tongue-in-cheek reference to the Bay Street suit.”

‘Pink walls and chandeliers don’t feel right. We’ve had enough of frivolity’

How does design respond to a bleak economic landscape? Philippe Starck, Sir Terence Conran and Kirstie Allsopp debate the future of their industries in these lean times.

Report by Caroline Roux

What is the role of the designer now, when we are taking a beating both economically and environmentally?

Philippe Starck There are other priorities now. Perhaps in 30 years it will be interesting to come back and speak about the beauty of a chair or a lamp, but today that seems a bit obscene. Even during the time it takes to do this interview, people will die from a lack of water. We must try to stop design for design’s sake. Design has always been political, and now more than ever we focus on new goals, which I call democratic ecology. Everyone talks about ecology, but we need to make it happen, not speak about it.

Terence Conran While I partially agree with Philippe, I still believe in promoting intelligent – I prefer that word to good – design that can help improve people’s lives. In economic hard times or not, it’s still the same.

Kirstie Allsopp I hope the current economic crisis will lead to people looking for longevity. In an average house I see an enormous turnaround of stuff. There are plenty of homes where nothing is more than five years old. What happened to the things that preceded them? What happened to the possessions of previous generations? It’s almost like people had no parents or grandparents. Nothing has been passed on.

PS Longevity is something we really to need to think about. We must bring back the idea of heritage and “transfer” things, not just put them in the garbage. The garbage was a trend of the past 30 or 40 years. Now – no more garbage …

TC … which means no more plastic.

PS But there are many things made of plastic, and we don’t know how to make them in any other way. You can’t make the sort of chairs we make now out of recycled plastic – there is no resistance, no intelligence left in the material. So what will we use?

TC Wood is perfectly sustainable, and I will certainly use it. But the big problem behind all this, of course, is employment. If we design everything for longevity and my shoes last two or three generations, what are all our hands going to do?

PS We need to stop thinking about ownership. We need to look at the idea of renting rather than owning.

KA For the British, renting just about anything is alien. We’d need to go through a huge cultural shift.

PS I mean more that when you buy something, you are obliged to give it back. Like we do with bottles. In the future, you buy the chair, you use the chair and, after 20 years, you bring it back.

KA I go to local auction rooms whenever I can. You see things there that cost 25% of what they would have cost 20 years ago. Last week I bought a 1900s wardrobe for £600. It’s fantastic – beautifully made and inlaid, and no one else wanted it.

This comes back to taste. Does it change when the economy changes?

TC In the 70s, when I was doing Habitat and it was the time of the three-day week, we started a range called Basics. We went through the standard house creating necessary things that were good value and simple. We kept it going for a few years and franchised it out to a Japanese store called Seibu. They eventually opened stores called Basics, and later these became Muji. So, you see, some of the best things come out of hard times. We’re probably entering a time of simpler things now. Pink walls and chandeliers don’t feel right. I think we’ve had enough of frivolity for a while.

PS We can’t afford to keep changing taste so fast. Let’s hope fashion in design will disappear. There is a lack of respect when the media says, “You must be dressed in pink”, and some poor girl dresses in pink, and six months later when it says, “You must dress in green”, she’s a monster in her pink dress. We can’t accept this kind of manipulation.

What would you invest in now?

KA If we lived in a warmer climate, investing in property might be a completely different thing. But look, it’s miserable today – you need shelter. For me, having a home is everything.

TC I’d invest in wine. I can look at it and stroke it. And things that improve the quality of life, like art. Philippe, of course, collects houses.

PS I have a sickness for buying houses. [He refuses to divulge how many he owns.] I don’t consider that an investment; it’s an addiction.

Have we learned any lessons when it comes to design?

TC The population is much better educated about their homes. They’re taking things much more seriously when it comes to the furniture, and the house itself. They are concerned with ecological issues.

KA The thing that always strikes me in people’s houses is the number of cookery books. I’d like to see people become as confident about furniture and decoration as they have about food.

PS I think Mydeco [design website mydeco.com] represents this, too. A young guy in London can paint his chair by hand, put it on Mydeco, and a woman in Australia will say, “It’s so nice, much better than Starck.” And she asks him to design something for her. There will be no more superstar designers like me. The next years will be the time of the microstar. It’s our duty, people like me and Terence and Kirstie, to help this new solution along. To make the revolution happen.

New Jersey‘s Star Ledger (11/20) reports, “Although he always considered himself a ‘tree hugger,’ Steve Needle’s commitment to the environment took solid shape on Sept. 11, 2001, the day before his 40th birthday. … Needle, who started building homes when he got out of college, took a hard look at his business practices and decided it was time to build green. It’s a commitment that recently earned him the National Association of Home Builders Green Building Program’s first New Jersey certification for a home he built on Overhill Street in Westfield.” While “green mega-mansions are beyond the range of most mortals, the principles that Needle follows to build his homes can be applied on a smaller scale — to home remodeling and renovation projects. Determining the exact shade of green you’re going for is the place to start.” The Ledger adds, “Going green can speak to saving dollars in energy efficiency, indoor air quality, using sustainable materials and technology, and incorporating reclaimed and recycled products into the building process, for starters.”

        Report shows the impact of green buildings. GreenBiz (11/20) reports in Boston, MA that “Green buildings have saved the U.S. billions of gallons of water and enough energy to avoid the burning of 1.3 million tons of coal for electricity since the development of the LEED standards. In the process, these high-performance buildings have produced millions of dollars in employee productivity gains, avoided thousands of tons of soil erosion, and created a multibillion dollar market for the green building materials used in their construction.” But the Green Building Impact Report 2008 indicates all of this “still isn’t enough to overcome global climate change.” The report “chronicles LEED’s growth in an industry where buildings consume about 40 percent of the world’s energy and contribute roughly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. LEED registrations and certifications doubled in 2007, compared to the previous six years, and doubled again in 2008 relative to the previous seven years.” The report “calculates that carbon dioxide emissions from commercial buildings in the U.S. must drop 1.6 percent every year to meet an overarching goal of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of climate change.”

        Report Indicates Value Of Green Building Starts Increased Five-Fold In Three Years. The Boston Business Journal (11/20) reports, “McGraw-Hill Construction released a report on Wednesday that found the value of green building construction starts was up five-fold from 2005 to 2008.” According to the document, “starts were up from $10 billion in 2005 to $36 to $49 billion this year and could triple by 2013, reaching $96 to $140 billion.” The Green Outlook 2009: Trends Driving Change “survey found that, since 2005, the perceived benefits of green building have increased as people become more informed about green building. The decrease in operating costs is the most often cited benefit (13.6 percent, up from 8 percent to 9 percent in 2005), followed by the increase in building values (10.9 percent, up from 7.5 percent in 2005).”

Florida post office, facade considered for landmark designation.

The Palm Beach (FL) Daily News (11/20, Rogers) reports, “Palm Beach could soon have two more landmarks. Preservation consultant Jane Day has submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission designation reports for two properties: the town’s north post office at 95 N. County Road and the facade of 236 Worth Ave.” The post office “was designed by Louis Simon, the supervising architect for the public works branch of the U.S. Treasury Department” and the façade at 236 Worth Ave. “was designed by William Treanor and Maurice Fatio for commercial and residential use.” Also Wednesday, “at Commissioner Charles Roberts’ suggestion, the board voted to inform the Town Council that it finds the architecture for a proposed generator building for the Palm Beach Biltmore condominium, 150 Bradley Place, to be aesthetically pleasing but too large.”

Design experts wonder if Obama White House will go green.

The New York Times /AP (11/20) reports, “Design experts wonder if the first family will use the nation’s most famous house as a way to back a serious agenda: going green.” Several experts “who agreed to sketch design schemes for the Obama White House focused on environmentally friendly materials, modern furnishings and high-tech flourishes. And they stuck to a modest budget fitting the current economic climate.” The Times continues, “Change is nothing new for the White House, which is redecorated every four to eight years. … If Obama’s Senate office is any indication, the president-elect’s style is tidy and sleek.” The Bushes also oversaw “ecofriendly changes, including using compact fluorescent lights, energy-efficient cooling units, solar heating and low-flow faucets and toilets. The outside of the White House is illuminated by energy-efficient lighting.”

        In a separate article, the AP (11/19) “asked several interior designers to suggest Obama-style changes for the White House,” and featured their answers.

Leading the News

USGBC – South Florida Chapter Hosts Hallow-Green Party.

USGBC – South Florida Chapter held it’s annual Hallow-Green Party at the newly green certified Hotel Biba in West Palm Beach. The costume gala featured a green Halloween costume contest with Jonathan Burgess winning with his Jerry “Gar-Chia” costume.  Fun was had by all while the worldly sounds of The Beat Bombers played on.

Blog highlights importance of joining a local chamber of commerce.

In the Networking Now blog on Entrepreneur.com (11/3), Ivan Misner wrote about why joining a local chamber of commerce “could be of significant importance.” For networking purposes, “a chamber provides a broad membership base…usually within a defined geographic area.” And, “unlike a referral networking group, professional society, or trade association, a chamber does not limit the number of people who can join from any one profession or industry.” For example, “local membership may include…several commercial interior designers. Membership in this chamber of commerce would thus give you an opportunity too meet more than one prospect for your word-of-mouth marketing team.” In addition, “chambers conduct social and business events where you can socialize and develop relationships,” and may provide “opportunities to give back to the community.” Finally, “serving in the leadership raises your recognition, visibility, and credibility, as well as that of your business.”

Commercial Design

Delray Beach, Florida restaurant showcases designer’s environmental commitment.

Florida’s Palm Beach Post (11/3, Clough) reported that interior designer Lynn Manero, of Lynn Interior Designs in Boca Raton, showcases both her “environmental commitment” and “creative flair” at Delray Beach’s Vic & Angelo’s Italian restaurant. Manero reuses “old materials” and incorporates them in “ways both practical and fashionable.” For example, “the bathroom wall coverings…consist not of wallpaper, but of recycled newspapers from Italy.” The restaurant’s “string lighting includes long-lasting LED lighting, used on the outside patio and along the bar,” and “more than 100 digital low-voltage lights illuminate the dining room.” Low-chemical paints, “energy-efficient” kitchen equipment, and “low-volume toilets in the restrooms” all contribute to Manero’s “‘greenest’ design yet.” Even the “drippings from the air-conditioning system are rerouted to water” the restaurant’s plants.

Waldorf-Astoria Hotels to open $420 million hotel-anchored mixed use development in Philadelphia.

In its Week in Review section, Hotel & Management Magazine (11/3) reported that the “Waldorf-Astoria Hotels, one of the luxury brands of Hilton Hotels Corporation, along with Mariner Commercial Properties, Inc. of Ardmore, Pa., Brook J. Lenfest, and Dallas-based Gatehouse Capital Corporation announced…the development of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Residences Philadelphia.” This “$420 million hotel-anchored mixed-use project” will be located “at the northeast corner of 15th and Chestnut Streets.” The 58-story “classically contemporary granite and glass” tower “is to be designed by Cope Linder Architects of Philadelphia. As a newly constructed property, the hotel will have a variety of opportunities to support a sustainable footprint,” including “vegetative roof systems,” an “active chilled beam HVAC system,” and “an unprecedented degree of building automation.”

Audubon Arkansas to break ground for Little Rock nature center.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette (11/4, Netterstrom) reports that Audubon Arkansas, “after nearly a decade of fundraising and securing leases and missed deadlines,” will break ground on Nov. 14 for a “$1.1 million [nature] center that should open in 2009.” Ken Smith, executive director of Audubon Arkansas, explained that, “instead of building new, the organization will gut the former Granite Mountain community center for office space, a learning lab, and community room.” In addition, “cisterns will be installed on the building’s corners to collect rain water for irrigating the landscape,” and “two peaks in the building’s roof will hopefully become home to birds.” Smith said that “the building could be Little Rock’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certified building.” City directors were expected on Monday “to approve resolutions forwarding $148,500 in federal Housing and Urban Development funds for the project, along with a $ 50,000 city contribution.”

Residential Design

Paric Corp., Lawrence Group complete $42 million senior-living community in Indiana.

The St. Louis Business Journal (11/4) reports that on Nov. 3, St. Louis-based Paric Corp. announced that it “completed a $42 million,” 337,000-square-foot “senior living community for the Stratford Cos. in Carmel, Ind.” The “continuing-care retirement community” is made up of “172 apartments” and “40 detached bungalow units” designed to “serve a variety of continuing care needs, from assisted to independent living.” The community also boasts “on-site amenities,” including “an indoor pool, library, salon, spa, and a full dining and kitchen facility.” The project’s architect was the Lawrence Group, which also “provided the interior design for the project.”

Sustainable Design

Chicago’s Mohawk Group achieves LEED Gold for Merchandise Mart showroom.

Interior Design (11/3, Tamarin) reported that, in Chicago, “commercial carpet manufacturer Mohawk Group has achieved LEED Gold, the second-highest environmental certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, for its Merchandise Mart showroom.” After undergoing renovation and expansion “by Ken Wilson, the founder and principal of eco-centric Envision Design,” the showroom’s “energy requirements” are now “100 percent…offset through green energy credits.” In addition, “more than 85 percent of the wood used for construction and furniture was sourced from Forest Stewardship Council-certified forests, while 100 percent of its paint and adhesives are low-VOC or zero-VOC.” Wilson stated, “The Mohawk Group is a firm believer in the importance of environmental responsibility — for its products, processes, and now its showroom.”

Wilmington, North Carolina, City Council to consider LEED funding for convention center.

North Carolina’s StarNewsOnline.com (11/4, Gannon) reports that, as “work continues at the convention center site in downtown Wilmington,” the “City Council will consider giving convention center architects more money to design it as a” Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) “certified building.” Currently, the Wilmington River Group LLC “is moving ahead with the design of the six-story, 157-room hotel, which includes a glass facade facing the river, rooftop and lobby bars, a restaurant, swimming pool, and other upscale features.” On Nov. 5, the City Council “will consider spending $125,000 to try to obtain a LEED certification for the convention center, which is under construction. … The total includes $25,000 for architectural designs, and $100,000 for documentation to submit for the certification.”

Plans afoot to transform San Francisco‘s Civic Center into “sustainable resource district.”

Sustainable Industries (11/4, Stroud) reports that “San Francisco’s Civic Center is being transformed into a ‘sustainable resource district.’” The plan for the center “features solar rooftop photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, living roofs, and water conservation fixtures.” When it is finished, “the $20 million project is expected to represent a 33 percent energy use reduction, an 80 percent decrease in potable water use, and a wastewater discharge reduction of 45 percent, according to the city.” Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) “said he hopes the Civic Center…will represent a global educational model of sustainability.” Currently, “planning, design development, and public outreach” for the “plan is slated to launch in late 2008,” and “the first projects are expected to be installed in late 2009.”

Grand Rapids, Michigan, Brownfield Redevelopment Authority approves Eastown project.

Michigan’s Grand Rapids Press (11/4, Knape) reports that the City of Grand Rapids’ Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has approved “plans to tear down the former Fifth Third Bank branch and redevelop it for retail and housing in Eastown.” After getting state approval and financing, the “development team of Guy Bazzani and Baird Hawkins plan to build a three-story retail and apartment building at 1350 Lake Drive SE beginning next year.” The mixed residential and retail project “is expected to be LEED (Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design) certified for its ‘green’ building features.” In fact, Bazzani “hopes it will be the city’s first zero-carbon footprint building if plans for utilizing geothermal energy for heating and cooling pan out.”

Business

Article highlights importance of good data-saving practices for small businesses.

Florida‘s Bradenton Herald (11/4, Gagliano) reports, “Information technology professionals agree data storage is not something small businesses should take lightly.” Still, “it’s up to individual management at each” small “business to ensure good data saving practices,” even if “data storage standards for small businesses are often determined by what each company can afford.” Mike Harshbarger, co-owner of Computer Renaissance in Bradenton, advised “businesses to back up information frequently, implement an automated tool to do that regularly, and store the resource in a separate location from the main data source.” The article mentioned the personal experience of David Rouleau, owner of Every Last Detail, an interior design company. “A computer crash caused” Every Last Detail “to lose records on consultations and client payment schedules.” It took the company nearly “three months to restore the information. Now, Rouleau saves each day’s business on CDs to avoid a similar incident.”

Banks, credit card companies lower credit limits to small businesses.

New York’s Long Island Business Journal (11/4, Glasser) reports that as more “consumers struggle to pay down debt, banks and credit card companies are slashing available credit limits to reduce the amount they would lose if customers can’t pay up.” For example, “American Express, Capital One, and Citigroup have all said they’re reining in the amount of credit available.” A National Small Business Association report found that “44 percent of small businesses used credit cards for funding in 2007.” Now, these “businesses could see their spending power plummet.” Roslyn Goldmacher, president of Long Island Development Corp., said that “the brunt of the credit card tightening will be felt by startups and small home-based businesses, the majority of which use credit cards to fund operations.” Still, Stuart Lubow, chief executive of Great Neck-based Community National Bank, pointed out that, “generally speaking, there’s still credit available to creditworthy businesses.”

Architecture and Engineering

Norman Disney & Young to work on Dubai‘s Nakheel Harbor & Tower project.

The Construction Contractor (11/4) reports that the engineering firm of Norman Disney & Young (NDY) announced that “it will work on the landmark Nakheel Harbor & Tower project in Dubai.” The company “will provide mechanical, electrical, fire, and hydraulic services for the kilometer-high Tower,” which “will have more than 200 floors, 150″ elevators, “and enough facilities that residents need never leave the building. It will also lead the way in sustainable design.” To date, the Nakheel Harbor & Tower “is NDY’s biggest project,” and the company has launched a Dubai office to help manage the project.

Materials

Minnesota groups form masonry council to promote traditional brick, block, stone.

Finance and Commerce (11/4, Johnson) reports that, “overall, masonry is losing market share to precast systems that are perceived to be cheaper and easier to install than traditional brick, block, and stone.” In Minnesota, “the local masonry industry is hoping to change that with a strong marketing push” to “convince architects and engineers that masonry products are sturdier, longer-lasting, and more pleasing to the eye than competing products.” To that end, the Minnesota Concrete & Masonry Contractors Association and the Minnesota Masonry Concrete Association “recently formed the Midwest Masonry Promotional Council as a joint marketing arm,” hiring “architect Craig Hinrichs as its technical marketing director.” According to the council, Hinrichs’ “goal is ‘educate and encourage’ owners, developers, architects, and engineers to ‘design and use more masonry products, materials and services.”

Technology

Chambers of Commerce in Ohio, Pennsylvania announce “Tech Belt Initiative.”

In the Business blog in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (11/4), Tom Breckenridge wrote that the “Chambers of Commerce in Cleveland” and Youngstown, OH, and Pittsburgh, PA, “have announced ‘The Tech Belt Initiative’ to draw more federal and private dollars to” technology-based “development along a 134-mile corridor.” In order “to pursue the initiative,” about “30 business-development groups, universities, and hospital systems from Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh have formed a steering committee,” which will “craft a marketing plan to attract more venture capital and entrepreneurial talent to the mega-region.” In addition, the committee will “lobby for more state and federal funds to buttress emerging tech-based development.” The committee will also focus on “business advances in alternative energy, biosciences, information technology, robotics, advanced manufacturing, and advanced materials, such as polymers and specialty steels.”

Also in the News

Oregon Convention Center hires first sustainability coordinator.

Oregon‘s Portland Business Journal (11/4) reports that the “Oregon Convention Center has hired” Brittin Witzenburg as “its first sustainability coordinator.” Witzenburg “will manage existing practices and policies that reduce waste through reuse, recycle, and compost strategies, and research and implement cost-effective ideas to further reduce the convention center’s carbon footprint, such as purchasing renewable energy and other strategies.” In addition, the convention center “recently announced its recertification and elevation to LEED-EB Silver by the US Green Building Council. Witzenburg will be responsible for maintaining the certification requirements and coordinating recertification in five years.”

Columnist advises readers how to ascertain a builder’s financial viability.

In the House Talk column in the Wall Street Journal (11/4), June Fletcher answers a reader’s question about ascertaining a “builder’s financial viability.” Fletcher explains that, “since last year, an estimated 20 percent of builders went out of business, according to Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research for the National Association of Home Builders.” The majority “were small or mid-sized builders who didn’t have enough cash in reserve to cushion them through a downturn.” For a public company, Fletcher advises readers to “analyze the earnings, debt, and cash flow…to determine its long-term financial health.” For a “small, privately-held” company, she urges readers to “talk to suppliers and subcontractors to see if they’re being paid promptly, to recent buyers to see if they are satisfied, and to local regulatory and consumer agencies to see if any complaints have been filed against the company.” She also counsels readers not just to “consider the builder’s financial staying power,” but also to “think about [their] own.”

Cleveland Museum of Natural History moving forward with renovation, expansion plans.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer (11/4, Litt) reports that, despite the current economic turbulence, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History continues its “plans for a large-scale renovation and expansion.” In an Oct. 30 interview, “Denver architect Curt Fentress discussed his latest thoughts about how the museum can revamp exhibits,” become “more visitor-friendly, and give itself a strong new architectural presence in University Circle.” In addition, “Fentress has to figure out how the museum can win a coveted Gold or Platinum rating from the US Green Building Council’s” Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Fentress also must demonstrate “how the museum can expand or renovate in phases, while remaining open to the public.” The museum “hopes to finish the preliminary design by December or January, and to begin sharing plans with the University Circle Design Review Committee shortly after that.”

]]> http://jamescharter.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/week-of-11308/feed/ 0 jamescharter http://jamescharter.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/22/ http://jamescharter.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/22/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:50:20 +0000 jamescharter http://jamescharter.wordpress.com/?p=22 ]]> Architectural Digest does Multimedia Kitchen Feature

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The Miami Herald (9/23, Viglucci) reports, “The Royalton, one of the last of the 1920s Land Boom hotels in downtown Miami, has been treated to a faithful historic renovation: From period doors and light fixtures to the poured terrazzo lobby floor, the formerly gone-to-seed building is once again a solid citizen on Southeast First Street.” Include “wireless Internet and energy-saving upgrades, and it’s the kind of painstaking makeover you might expect for a loft conversion, or a boutique hotel, or a yuppie condo.” But instead, the building has been converted into housing for “100 people with very low incomes, 80 of them recently homeless, many of them with disabilities.” The project “is the product of a collaboration between a nonprofit agency and a for-profit developer of affordable housing” which “raised $18.5 million by combining Wall Street investment, government grants and federal tax credits given to encourage renovation of historic buildings.” The Royalton, “built in 1923 in a Classical Revival style… somehow avoided the fate of other downtown hotels from the era which turned into flophouses.”

Innovations in superyacht design on display at Monaco Yacht Show.

The Financial Times (9/23, Sheahan) reports, “In 1990, at the first Monaco Yacht Show, few could have envisaged the growth of the superyacht industry. Then, privately owned boats over 30 metres in length were a rarity, today they have almost become entry-level vessels in an exclusive yet thriving market.” Each September, “a mix of 95 of the world’s biggest, most extravagant, elegant and ostentatious vessels squeeze into Monaco’s exclusive harbour where, including the shoreside exhibitions, the world’s premier superyacht show plays host to 500 exhibitors.” Among the “fascinating” new designs on display in Monaco are the “Veloce — a radical angular, high-performance megayacht.” Also, the “Marco Polo, a 102-metre futuristic looking boat designed by Fincantieri Yachts and one that aims to combine modern and retro styles while providing large internal spaces that do not feel cut off from the outside.

        In a separate article on the economics of the superyacht industry, the Financial Times (9/23, Mallet) reports that the “thriving market” in these ships “has tracked the sharp rise in the number of the world’s super-rich and the value of their assets.” According to “the Yacht Report, which monitors the superyacht business, the number of superyachts under construction or on order worldwide rose to 445 this year, compared with 81 just 10 years ago.” However, “those working in the yacht business do foresee a softening of the market in ordinary yachts and smaller superyachts — between 30 and 50 metres — and say the U.S., in particular, has already experienced a slowdown in the market for yachts costing between $1 million and $8 million.” Today’s superyacht owner “also makes rigorous demands — and profitable ones for the specialist marine industry — when it comes to features such as helicopter landing pads, satellite communications, security features and even mini-submarines.” One current project “is for a 125-metre motor yacht with a medical centre, audio-visual entertainment systems, helicopter landing pads and space for a car as well as 10 VIP suites and a superbly equipped galley.”

Ambitious development project is “bigger than a real estate decline.”

The St. Petersburg Times (9/24, DeCamp) reports that Pasco county, Florida’s County Commission voted 5-0 “to approve the development of homes, offices and a movie theater on 2,500 acres off State Road 54.” The former family farm is slated to become a “mega-development just as the Tampa Bay area waits for a sour real estate market to sweeten.” But Perry Reader, Florida president of developer Crosland, said “the downturn hasn’t damped the potential of the project,” adding, “A project this large is bigger than a real estate decline.” According to the terms of the agreement, the “concept is supposed to encourage more centralized neighborhoods of homes, offices and shopping, reducing sprawl and preserving natural areas.” Or, as one of the developers told one of the neighbors, “we’re going to build a town behind your property.”

Homebuilders hope bailout package will bring some relief.

The Wall Street Journal (9/24, Corkery) reports, “Investors and analysts are divided over whether the government bailout of the financial industry can stem home builders’ pain.” Some sector analysts are worried that the bailout “its present form, doesn’t immediately address some of the builders’ biggest problems,” such as the “downward pressure foreclosure sales are putting on house and land values.” Though the industry has been “battered for about two years amid tumbling home prices and rising defaults,” it “has advanced since midsummer.” But major homebuilder Lennar, “which reported its fiscal-third-quarter results Tuesday, did little to boost confidence that the government bailout would help the housing market turn a corner” after reporting that its revenue “fell 53 percent in the quarter ended Aug. 31 from the prior year.”

After opening with a description of the wind turbines that are expected to provide three percent of Boston’s Logan International Airport’s energy needs, USA Today (9/17, Yu) reports on the “environmentally friendly initiatives being embraced by major U.S. airports.” The country’s “largest airports are aggressively implementing green measures to save on energy costs and to generate favorable impressions among travelers.” According to Steve Howards of the consulting firm Clean Airport Partnership, “Airports have been spending hundreds of millions in terminal facilities that are aesthetically pleasing but aren’t designed to conserve energy.” But now, “like many other industries, airports are embracing the green zeitgeist, triggered partly by better social awareness and improving technology.” Among the modifications, Denver International and Fresno Yosemite “recently installed solar panels in their backyards in hopes of generating enough energy to save on their electricity bills;” Seattle-Tacoma “will install garbage and recycling compactors later in the fall and will begin weighing trash and charging concessionaires by the pound for removal;” and “Minneapolis-St. Paul has spent $150 million in storm water management and de-icing-fluid recycling, including five large de-icing pads that are about 15 acres each.”

        New Detroit terminal opens up to natural light. The AP (9/17, Karoub) reports, “Detroit Metropolitan Airport’s new terminal has more retail and restaurant space than its predecessors, the latest in energy-efficient lighting and refueling technology and room to expand.” However, “it couldn’t account for” the fact that it would be “opening amid an industry retreat: Saddled with high fuel costs, airlines are cutting flights and raising prices, leaving some other airports to consider delaying big projects.” Still, “the $431 million colorful terminal opening Wednesday further raises the airport’s national and international profile.” Design-wise, the new terminal offers “both an aesthetic and environmental boost for travelers” with its “660-foot glass wall curtain, which floods the upper and lower levels with natural light,” a stark contrast with the “dark, dreary lower level” that it replaced.

        Wind turbine manufacturer opens plant in Newton, Massachusetts. The AP (9/17) reports, “TPI Composites has opened its new plant in Newton where it will make blades for wind turbines.” The new facility “will make high-performance wind turbine blades for distribution to the wind energy market across the U.S.” Newton Development Corporation Executive Director Kim Didier “says the TPI plant offers a promising future and an opportunity for economic prosperity in Newton and Jasper County,” and adds that “the plant is part of the community’s effort to bring sustainable economic growth to the area.”

Chicago builders still finding demand for McMansion-sized homes.

Ints Local Scene column, the Chicago Tribune (9/19, Podmolik) reports that demand remains strong for “McMansions” in some parts of Chicago among “people who can afford to be in the upper brackets of residential real estate.” A “case in point,” the Tribune adds, is “an 11,605-square-foot home by King’s Court Builders in Naperville,” Ill., that has “his-and-her libraries and listed for $4.95 million.” It sold “before it was able to participate in the Chicago Luxury Home Tour.” In Hinsdale, Ill., another builder “already had a few potential clients for a spec house he planned to build on a teardown lot even before he closed on the purchase and bulldozed the house.” He plans to build a house with a “footprint…as big as the village will allow, he said, because that’s what clients want.” Still, the Tribune points out that “builders say some of the extravagances and sameness” of the earlier McMansion era is “going by the wayside.” Instead, clients are asking for “ecologically responsible building techniques and use of sustainable materials — at least until buyers realize it limits their design choices.”

New Hampshire lake’s cabins making way for luxury homes.

On the front page of its real estate section, the New York Times (9/19, F1, Zezima) reports that the shores of New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee has been home to “quaint, unassuming cottages, modest places to hang your hiking shoes or moor a boat,” but now they are becoming teardowns “to make way for something much, much larger, like the 6,000-square-foot, $3.9 million home being built on the site where a 1950s island cottage once stood.” The original cottages are still in demand, but the lake is rapidly becoming a place for “opulent waterfront homes and compounds.” The Times adds that the “the shift in the second-home market started about 10 years ago, well before the current turmoil in the real estate and financial markets, agents and economists say, as more wealthy people built houses on the lake,” located “less than two hours by car from Boston and about five and a half hours from New York City.” Popular amenities in the new homes are “backyard fire pits, marble tubs and finished basements that might include a full bar, an exercise room, a regulation-size pool table and a mud room.”

Small businesses may find alternative publicity options useful.

In the Wall Street Journal‘s (9/16) Independent Street blog, Kelly Spors wrote that “how businesses get noticed is changing quickly in the Web 2.0 world, and there are new ways that companies can get help.”  One way that Spors recommended for small businesses to get publicity is through the “seemingly endless number of small-business contests…sponsored by media outlets, small-business vendors, and nonprofits.”  Businesses that win can get “lots of free, generally positive, publicity.”  Another option is for businesses to use press-release submission services.  These services allow businesses to “submit text for a press release” that they will “distribute…in various places reporters might find it.”  Spors noted that by paying more for this service, a business can “get better search-results placement.”  Finally, businesses can also use “pay-for-performance PR,” where they only pay “PR agencies only when [they] actually get publicity.”  Spors cautioned, however, that with this method, businesses run the risk of spending a lot “if it ends up working out too well.”

Survey indicates owners see opportunity for small businesses in recession.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal (9/16, Smith) reported, “Even in this economic downturn, small businesses remain bullish on growth and are poised to weather the storm, a survey by Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit business software company showed.”  Findings from the survey indicated that “nine out of 10 small-business owners reported seeing opportunities for their businesses in the current recession and more than 75 percent expect growth.”  Rick Jensen, senior vice president of Intuit’s small-business division, noted that small businesses “continually prove to be the driving force of our economy.”  The survey also found that although “70 percent of small-business owners said their personal passion…will help them get through the downturn,” many are frustrated “with the administrative side of running a company.”  In fact, “64 percent said they wished they could spend less time doing paperwork and invoices and get back to running their business.”

Home Depot to lower prices in bid to draw customers back in.

The AP (9/17, Heher) reports, “At a time when shoppers are forking over more money for everything from groceries to gas, The Home Depot Inc. is planning to put some prices in reverse.” The chain is “set to start cutting prices this week on as many as 1,200 items from trash bags to toilets as it kicks off its latest effort to boost anemic sales and win back customers who’ve ditched the home improvement retailer for its competitors.” Among the “marked-down items” are “energy-saving devices such as insulation and thermostats and products deemed ‘project starters’ such as paint and toilets that are the building blocks for do-it-yourself tasks.” The campaign to bring costumers back comes “as the home improvement industry is besieged by a souring economy and an even worse housing market.”