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The distance materials were transported (below) was a factor in determining
their greenness.
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A. California bay laurel for stair treads and meeting tables,
California black walnut for stair treads, California black acadia
for project rooms, and California big-leaf maple and Douglas fir
for meeting tables, all windfall from Olema, CA.
B. Salvaged doors and windows for second-floor focus rooms
from Berkeley, CA.
C. California black acadia for project rooms and salvaged
metal for third-floor focus rooms from San Leandro, CA.
D. Reclaimed brick for first-floor conference rooms from
San Francisco, CA.
E. Monterey cypress for meeting tables from street trees in
Half Moon Bay, CA.
F. California sycamore for lunch tables from a yard tree in
Geyersville, CA.
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G. Certified substrate for workstations from Oregon.
H. Reclaimed barn siding for a strategic conference room
from the Midwest.
I. Certified red oak veneer for workstations and millwork
from Northwestern Pennsylvania.
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J+K. Wool carpet from Iceland and New Zealand.
L. Hemp for window coverings and slipcovers from Romania.
M. Black butt eucalyptus for veranda floor from Australia.
Criswell Lappin
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In fact, that's the story throughout: when you set uniquely high standards,
you're bound to fall short. Consider something as humble as the cabinets
in the kitchen pantries on each floor: the doors are made of pressed
sunflower hulls; the knobs are smooth river stones. But the metal pieces
connecting the two? They're as conventional as can be, with a manufacturing
lineage that's hardly pure. In general, says Gensler project designer Diane
Rehn, the goal of minimizing impacts on the environment as much as possible
got tougher with each additional component in a particular area.
"There are varying shades of green; you can't go to a hardware store
and specify recycled steel studs," Rehn says. "When you're selecting
a wood, it's fairly easy. But when you get to things like desk chairs, with
dozens of components from who knows where, it's more complex to get something
really green." That's why Gensler decided to go with Aeron chairs;
viewed through the sustainability prism, they were better relative to the
competition, even if only so-so in an absolute sense. "Work chairs
are a lot of plastic and a lot of steel," project director Dominic
Sarica sighs.
Even the most striking instances of reuse can come with angles of doubt.
You obsess about them, or declare partial victory and move on. For example,
a small conference room on the second floor: the walls are made of
framed windows chosen on-site at Urban Ore, a legendary salvage operation
in Berkeley. "We wanted to get some humor in the building, break up
the monotony," Bartolucci says. "Is the paint on the frames 'good'
paint? Probably not. But we're reusing old windows!"
The conference room that's her favorite, though, is the main one on the
second floor. The centerpiece is a vast table made of planks from a
single bay laurel tree found lying on the ground at a yoga retreat in Marin
County. The walls are made of wood from a Midwestern barn. The doors were
milled from raw wood debris by Woodworks, an organization in Oakland that
employs disadvantaged youth. The ceiling insulation? Natural fiber
made from aspen wood. "This room kind of represents what we want to
be," Bartolucci says. "It's honest and open."
The conference room also shows that even when sustainability is a priority,
it's not the only goal. "Transparency is a key thing, and this is a
technology-based company," Bartolucci says. So the conference room
has glass walls as well as the barn wood, and the huge doors slide easily,
often staying open. The videoconferencing system is elaborate beyond Max
Headroom's dreams.
While Moore settles in, Gensler is applying the lessons it has learned.
The firm's new San Francisco office, on the waterfront south of
the Ferry Building, will be geared toward qualifying for LEED's new commercial
interior certification, with an emphasis on reuse of materials. And
the San Francisco team has passed along its experiences at the Presidio,
both positive and negative, to Gensler's company-wide sustainable design
committee.
For all the strain that comes from pushing limits, the Gensler designers
see progress in the way the building industry is responding to the emerging
market demand for all things green. "Even when suppliers couldn't come
through for us," Burry says, "we heard a lot of positive feedback:
'We don't have product yet, but tell us what you find. And give us
a year.' When a client like this takes a stand, it makes a few manufacturers
wake up."
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