Seattle Mayor Ed Murray with Amanda Sturgeon, Denis Hayes and others at the legislation signing of the LBCPP.

On Friday, October 7th, Mayor Ed Murray signed legislation to continue the Living Building Pilot Program until 2025. The updated Living Building program legislation expands on a pilot program started in 2009 and increases the number of buildings that can participate to 20. There are new provisions and adjustments in the legislation that align better with city and state laws, as well as streamline building codes to incentivize developers on adopting regenerative building practices.

The Living Building Pilot Program (LBPP) applies to existing and new construction projects that pursue the Living Building Challenge—the world’s most rigorous sustainable building program. The Living Building Challenge calls for the creation of building projects at all scales that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature’s architecture – projects that generate all of their own energy with renewable resources, that capture and treat all of their water, and operate efficiently with maximum beauty and addressing equity.

The legislation incorporates updates from the LBPP Technical Advisory Group (TAG) that met for over a year to recommend adjustments that maintain the rigor of the program while incentivizing Living Buildings. Incentives including a 15% increase in floor area ratio (FAR) and a height increase incorporating 10’ in zones with height limits of 85’ or less and 20’ in zones with height limits greater than 85’.

Additional changes include updates to the two City requirements for projects that decide to pursue the Petal Certification pathway: energy use must be 75% or less of targets established in the energy code, and potable water cannot be used for non-potable uses. With the new legislation, these incentives are now granted outright for developers participating in the LBPP which provides more certainty for project teams, in lieu of the previous system that allowed similar departures achieved through the design review process.

“The Living Building Pilot Program is an important tool to encourage developers who are transforming our City to construct to the built environment’s most rigorous performance standard – The Living Building Challenge – while meeting important implementation targets outlined in the 2013 Seattle Climate Action Plan,” said Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of the International Living Future Institute.

The new adjustments to the LBPP are important to Seattle as a leader in green building and are critical in meeting the City’s climate action goals. Currently, Seattle has two certified Living Buildings, the Bullitt Center and the Bertschi Living Building Science Wing. As construction skyrockets in Seattle, it is crucial that new and existing buildings adopt regenerative building practices and the Living Building Pilot Program intends to further that.

The City of Cincinnati and the City of Miami Beach have also incorporated the Living Building Challenge into legislation.

Extraordinary Projects Meet the Built Environment’s Most Rigorous Performance Standard

(May 12, 2016, Seattle, Wash). — The International Living Future Institute today announced three newly certified Living Buildings, bringing the total number of buildings achieving the world’s most rigorous green buildings program to 11. Additionally, nine new projects have been certified Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB). Today’s certification brings the total certified projects in the Living Building Challenge (LBC) to 44 worldwide, with an additional 331 projects in the pipeline.

The Living Building Challenge calls for the creation of building projects that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature’s architecture. On the path to full certification are several levels that relate to increasingly rigorous standards, including Net Zero Energy, and various Petal Certifications for Place, Water, Energy, Health + Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy, making Living Buildings the only projects required to validate their design goals before achieving certification.

“These are the buildings that show the world what is possible–they provide incontrovertible proof that our built environment can both nurture and shelter us,” said Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of the International Living Future Institute. “Pursuit of the Living Building Challenge requires tenacity and a pioneering spirit, and we salute the teams who have brought these projects to life.”

Living Buildings by the Numbers

To be certified, Living Buildings must achieve the most advanced measures of sustainability in the built environment possible today. They are required to meet a series of performance criteria in every Challenge category, including Place, Water, Energy, Health + Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Three new Living Buildings are now certified:

The Chesapeake Bay Brock Environmental Center

Virginia Beach, VA
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s 10,500 square-foot Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, VA is the first public building to successfully harvest rainwater for potable use. Designed to supply all of its own water needs, the building gathers rainwater, then filters and treats it on-site. The building harvests energy from two on-site 10 kW wind turbines and 46.5 kW of installed solar PV, and features a roof clad in metal tiles that resemble fish scales. The project is designed to be resilient to the effects of climate change and is elevated 14 feet above sea level in anticipation of sea level rise and storm surge.

Old Oak Dojo

Jamaica Plain, MA
The Old Oak Dojo by Next Phase Studios is a 1,000 square-foot community gathering center that is surrounded by three large oak trees, providing inspiration for the project’s biophilic design and strong human/nature relationship. The building, which shares a half-acre residential lot with a community home, is an experiment in dissolving the boundary between public and private spheres, and hosts activities such as yoga, dance, meditation, martial arts lessons and other meetings and gatherings.

Dixon Water Foundation, Betty and Clint Josey Pavilion

Leo, TX
Josey Pavilion by Lake|Flato Architects is a 5,400 square-foot outdoor space on the Texas prairie that educates about and demonstrates environmentally and ecologically sound ranching practices.The project treats blackwater with onsite constructed wetland and features wall panels that occupants can slide or pivot to provide more or less protection from the sun, wind and rain.

More on Living Buildings can be found here.

Net-Zero Energy Building Certifications

Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) rely on exceptional energy conservation and on-site renewable generation to meet all of their heating, cooling and electricity needs. To qualify for certification, projects must achieve the full Energy Petal along with a subset of requirements within the Place and Beauty Petals.

The newly certified NZEB include DPR San Francisco, a 20,000 square-foot commercial building in the heart of downtown San Francisco that is the third certified NZEB from DPR Construction, a national technical builder that specializes in highly complex and sustainable projects. This year’s certifications also recognize a number of residential projects, including three single-family homes and one detached multifamily residence building.

The newly certified Net Zero Energy Buildings are:

zHome Phase II in Issaquah, WA
DPR San Diego in San Diego, CA
DPR San Francisco in San Francisco, CA
Sustainable Dreams in Edmonds, WA
PNC Bank Davies and Andrew Branch in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Chrisney Branch Library – Lincoln Heritage Public Library in Chrisney, IN
2938 Madrona in Bellingham, WA
Ballard NZE House in Seattle, WA
Journey to Net Zero in Seattle, WA

Petal Certified Projects

The projects receiving Petal certification demonstrate they can improve the ecosystem they inhabit. To achieve certification, they must meet at least three of the seven Petals required for Living Buildings, which include Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty.

This year’s Petal certifications include the NRDC Midwest Office Expansion in Chicago, IL, the first 3.0 Materials Petal certified project, notable for its “Design for Deconstruction” approach that includes modular glass partition systems that are easily deconstructed.

The 20,000 square-foot visitor center at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens in Vancouver, BC, features an orchid-inspired structure with wavy green roof “petals” that sit above rammed earth and concrete walls and link to the ground via a vegetated land ramp. This project demonstrates the Living Building Challenge’s unique recognition of Beauty and Inspiration in sustainable project design.

Additional, newly certified Petal projects include:

zHome Phase II in Issaquah, WA
NRDC Midwest Office Expansion in Chicago, IL
UniverCity Childcare in Vancouver, Canada
VanDusen Botanical Gardens in Vancouver, Canada
Mohawk Design Studio in Dalton, Georgia

The Dixon Water Foundation promotes healthy watersheds through sustainable land management to ensure that present and future generations of Texans have the water resources they need. To this end, the Foundation demonstrates environmentally and ecologically sound ranching practices on its four properties in north and west Texas, in addition to funding grants, hosting educational events, and partnering with researchers. As a Living Building, the Betty and Clint Josey Pavilion physically embodies the Foundation’s mission. Located on its Leo Unit in Cooke County, the meeting and educational event space provides a perfect setting for facilitating a deeper understanding of how grazing livestock–as well as the built environment–can work to do more good than harm.
The structure itself consists of two buildings of the same size connected by a shared gutter. One building houses the herbarium, restrooms, and kitchen, and the other building houses an education pavilion. The two buildings form a central gathering space around a large heritage live oak tree and are situated to capture cooling summer breezes and block cold winter winds.

As stated by Dr. Lisa Bellows, a North Central Texas College biology professor who uses the facility regularly, “The pavilion is a place for learning and gathering, for laughing schoolchildren with muddy hands and ranchers swapping stories and strategies. But it is also a space for tranquility. There is no omnipresent mechanical whirring that pervades the soundtrack to most Texans’ indoor lives. Seated in the herbarium or resting on the porch, you can listen deeply, to the prairie silence or the shush of grasses and quiet clatter of oak leaves in a breeze. You feel tapped into a purposeful stillness, like being in the middle of a grazing herd, one being working dutifully among many, interconnected in a balanced whole.”

 Betty + Clint Josey Pavillion

Living Certified

Living Building Challenge 2.1

Performance Areas
Site • Water • Energy • Health • Materials • Equity • Beauty

Site

The project sits on a greenfield site on the Leo Unit of the Dixon Water Foundation’s ranches. The site encompass more than 1,900 acres of tallgrass prairie in Cooke County. The bottomlands of the Leo Unit were previously farmed and provide an excellent demonstration site for the restoration of farmland to prairie. The project used a greenfield exception since its primary purpose is to serve as an interpretation of the site and environment.

Habitat Exchange

The Dixon Water Foundation donated a 778-acre conservation easement in connection with this project. This easement will not allow the land to be subdivided and will protect native plants, habitat and wildlife. The estimated value of this donation based on the typical cost per acre in the area is $750,000 to $1,500,000.

Human-Powered Living

This education center is far from the nearest town and the roads are unpaved, making cycling impractical. The majority of the building’s visitors arrive by bus, significantly cutting down on the use of single-occupancy vehicles. For trips from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, carpooling is encouraged.

Water 

The Josey Pavilion acts as a demonstration tool for how to mitigate the negative effects of waste- and storm-water. Rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in a 13,000-gallon cistern. This water is used for sewage conveyance and occasional irrigation needs. The constructed wetland cleanses and returns all of the water used in the pavilion back to the aquifer. Thus the groundwater pumped into the pavilion’s sinks eventually becomes groundwater again. In this way, as guests interact with the project’s water systems, they are connected with a small-scale water cycle that parallels how rain is collected in a watershed, used by plants and people, processed by wetlands—nature’s kidneys — and returned to aquifers belowground.

The onsite wastewater management system for the Josey Pavilion project is a low-energy, low-maintenance treatment system that produces secondary- and tertiary-level effluent for dispersal and recharge via land application. The system includes a primary treatment tank, a constructed wetland using recirculating subsurface flow, a subsurface dosing/storage tank, and subsurface drip irrigation for discharge. The system was designed to treat 150 gpd with a peak daily flow of up to 1,800 gpd.

Reuse Systems

Blackwater treatment: Wastewater is treated by an onsite constructed wetland. Purified water is released into an onsite reed field and allowed to infiltrate back into the aquifer.

Lessons Learned

1. Double-check which plumbing fixtures can be exposed to sub-freezing temperatures and which cannot be.
2. The energy required to move and treat water is significant and was difficult for us to model with uncertain occupancy and rainfall.

Energy 

The challenge for this project was to create a space that would be comfortable for the majority of the year. Whether it is 40 degrees in late November with a 20 mile-per-hour wind sweeping across the prairie or 102 degrees in August, a successful design would need to allow seasonally dressed occupants to comfortably spend a few hours in the pavilion listening to presentations or meeting in the herbarium.
The strategy we used to address this challenge was to create a space that completely transitions from an enclosed shelter in the winter to an open-air shade structure in the summer. The main pavilion is perpendicular to the prevailing winds; three sliding door panels on each long side can be closed to block the wind or opened to allow a breeze. To prevent noise and negative pressure from the wind, the walls are slatted rather than solid. At first it seems that the wind will blow right through, but just a few feet away from the walls, on even the windiest nights, the air is near-still. We designed this system to have an openness factor of 20%, similar to that of a tree and just as effective at slowing wind.

In addition to our passive comfort strategies, we chose a limited number of efficient lights and appliances and monitored these systems closely with an internet-based energy monitor (eMonitor). The energy that we would not eliminate through efficiency was offset with a grid-tied 4 kW solar array.

Lessons Learned

We worked with Cooke County Energy, the local energy co-op, to design a system that works with their existing grid infrastructure. We learned that fees for producing electricity and putting it back into the grid can be substantial depending on the utility and will fully access payback and weigh options when considering net metering versus battery storage in the future.

 Health 

Being immersed in the natural environment–away from noise, light, and chemical pollution–is beneficial for both physical and mental health. By creating a building in this environment that encourages visitors to learn about and engage with nature, the Josey Pavilion can benefit both the short-term and long-term health of its visitors while teaching them how improve the health of the prairies and the planet. The Dixon Water Foundation works regionally and internationally to reverse the trend of globally disappearing native prairies due to poor land management and a lack of understanding about the holistic value of our native prairies. As a demonstration tool for the Foundation, the Josey Pavilion helps connect visitors to the land and encourages them to pursue a more sustainable future. Additionally, all 186 materials that comprise the education center were thoroughly vetted to ensure that materials were Red List-free, locally sourced and manufactured, and harvested sustainably – all efforts to promote health.

Civilized Environment

Every space in the project is either open to the air or near an operable window or door and has a direct connection to the outside world. The building successfully tempers the climate and enhances visitor experience by shading the sun, blocking the wind, and providing protected views. Though protected, visitors are still connected to the outside, experiencing filtered daylight and natural ventilation in every space of the project. Creating the project to be a fully restorative Living Building helps reach the same ecological equilibrium achieved at Dixon Water Foundation ranches while creating an immersive experience of biophilic place. The building goes well beyond the criteria of providing shelter for learning and tells a stronger story that expands the audience of the Dixon Water Foundation and fully supports a deeper understanding of rangeland conservation and its important collateral benefits, including carbon sequestration and water, energy and ecosystems balance.

Healthy Interior Environment

Indoor air is full of pollutants that can be dangerous to human health. Although we were able to eliminate many hazardous chemicals from the building materials, air quality can be diminished by potentially hazardous non-Red List chemicals or by items brought into the building.

The surest way to ensure healthy indoor air is through the use of outdoor air. Every space in the Josey Pavilion, from the main pavilion to the bathrooms and catering kitchen, is naturally ventilated with 100% outdoor air. Our air quality testing has shown the quality of our indoor air and CO₂ levels to be the same as outside, meaning that occupants of the Josey Pavilion are breathing the same quality air as if walking through a prairie.

Biophilic Environment

In developing the spaces and sequence of movement, careful attention was paid to human biophilia and the innate human desire to connect to the patterns and processes of water. Visitors are given a safe, sheltered, and comfortable perch from which they can survey the horizon. We ultimately sought in our design to provide refuge and even enticement through experiencing the prairies beyond or witnessing rainwater captured and conveyed during a storm. It is in the combination of such elements that the human experience of nature or the environment is enlivened. The materials used are left as close to their natural state as possible and display their natural character.

The wood grain, the rust finish of steel, and raw concrete are all familiar elements of the Texas ranch. As such, there is a certain beauty inherent in the naturalness of these materials. These materials weather and change with time and evoke an honesty and authenticity that is lost in the modern built environment.

Materials 

Overall, our material strategy can be summed on in the following points:

• Use as few materials as possible.
• Use materials in as natural a state as possible.
• Use smaller manufactures and distributors.
• Assess local materials and create methods of use.

Red List

Some chemicals on the Red List–for example, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and asbestos–were easy to avoid, as they have been phased out of the material economy through regulation due to their negative health or environmental effects. Other chemicals, such as polyvinyl-chloride (PVC) and formaldehyde, are ubiquitous in materials throughout the construction industry and the majority of our Red List material research was devoted to substitution of products containing these two chemicals. A few successes that we had were replacing PVC drain piping with High-Density Polyethylene and finding PVC- and halogenated flame retardant-free electrical wire insulation manufactured for naval ships.

For eliminating formaldehyde, we used as much natural, unprocessed wood as possible, and where we had to use plywood or Medium-density fiberboard – we were able to locate sources in the Pacific Northwest. Rather than finding substitutes for sealants and adhesives, we focused on solutions that eliminated their need entirely. Most materials are mechanically bolted together, rather than chemically adhered. This strategy, along with our natural ventilation strategy (which eliminated the need for a “tight” building), assisted in creating a Red List-free building.

Embodied Carbon Footprint

The primary strategy to reduce embodied carbon was to design a building primarily made of wood. Wood contains significantly less embodied energy than either concrete or steel. To further reduce embodied carbon, most of the wood used for this project was salvaged Sinker Pine, so very few additional trees were felled to build the Josey Pavilion.

Net Positive Waste

Most of our leftover building materials were repurposed onsite. The useable excess lumber was stored to be made into benches later on while the unusable lumber was mulched onsite. Excess gravel was used to prevent erosion in nearby onsite streambeds and excess soil was spread around the building to improve the ground for native grasses.

Metal was recycled at a nearby plant, and anything else that could not be reused onsite was hauled off by the contractor in his personal truck and put out for the curbside recycled service in his neighborhood. The only material that could not be recycled was a small amount of leftover gypsum, which was picked up by the installer. During construction, a trash dumpster was never used onsite.

Salvaged Materials

All of the wood siding and much of the remaining wood used in the project was salvaged Sinker Pine from the rivers of eastern Texas and Louisiana.

Equity 

Visitors to the Josey Pavilion usually carpool and arrive by car since the project site is in a sparsely populated area, but once they step out of their vehicle, the entire site is accessible by foot. The path that leads to the front entrance is flanked by a constructed wetland that purifies the project’s water and informational displays that explain how the system works. Once a visitor approaches the building, they enter into a shaded porch rather than directly into an interior space. All parts of the building are accessed from this protected exterior corridor, which is punctuated with framed views of the expansive prairie.

Once in the main pavilion, visitors will find that the entire space is customizable with human power alone. Each of the wall panels can slide or pivot to allow more or less protection from wind, rain, or sun. During the winter, the space can be entirely protected with the slatted walls acting like tree branches. The slatted walls slow the wind in order to keep the space comfortable, allow air to pass through for ventilation, limit noise, and maintain equal pressure all throughout the building.

Access to Nature

As a rural project on private land that welcomes visitors, this project increased the public’s access to nature. The Josey Pavilion also facilitates a deeper understanding of how sustainable living as well as the built environment can work to do more good than harm to our environment and preserve the beauty and longevity of our natural resources.

Beauty

The Josey Pavilion is designed to work in concert with nature and support the mission of the Dixon Water Foundation, which is to promote healthy watersheds through sustainable land management, enabling the preservation of our watersheds and native prairies. Familiar forms are situated to frame the extensive prairie landscape and embrace an existing heritage live oak. Long porches allow visitors to admire the simple palette of natural materials used to construct the project. The pavilion provides a perch to view the distant horizon. Visitors admire the scale of the native grass seed heads cast in the concrete threshold of the herbarium. The Josey Pavilion connects guests with the surrounding land and provides places of respite from which visitors can learn more about the important work of the Dixon Water Foundation.

Inspiration + Education

Environmental educators teach about nature with ease, but teaching and learning in nature offers a paradigm shift for the learner as well as the teacher. Environmental educators, however, often encounter numerous obstacles, from scheduling around weather conditions to restroom availability. With the open-gate invitation to the Josey Pavilion, teaching in nature has become a reality in the Cross Timbers region of Texas. The Josey Pavilion has unified ecological information flow in a human-constructed structure without interruption of the natural cycles of the earth. It is a perfect place to teach and learn about nature while enjoying being in nature.

The 2014 Holistic Management International Conference was held at the Pavilion’s education center. Attendees hailed from Canada to Africa and learned about motivating, connecting, and supporting farmers, ranchers, and land stewards through the practice of holistic management. Such management improves environmental health, sustains economic viability, and enhances the quality of life of farm and ranch communities. Local ranchers hold monthly meetings at the education center and find comfort and familiarity in the simple execution of the pavilion’s vernacular form, in particular its large overhangs and deep, inviting porches. Civic and school students frequently travel by bus to visit the education center, at which they learn about watershed health, wildlife, and native plants. Kids on the Land, a program sponsored by the Foundation, uses an integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) approach to teach children about the region where they live. The program uses the Josey Pavilion to help connect children to the land and encourage them to live more sustainable lives.

The Old Oak Dojo is a small, privately owned ancillary building, built next to a multi-family residence. It resides on a wooded lot in a dense urban neighborhood of Boston. The multipurpose studio space is available for educational gatherings and performances, and serves as a community space where neighbors can congregate to create healthy and resilient communities. The project functions as an experiment in dissolving the boundary between public and private spheres. It provides a hub for the community to meet, learn, eat, celebrate, and play—and thereby restore our wholeness as citizens.

Between the Dojo and the residence sits a courtyard with an exterior patio and gardens. The site is a small piece of protected natural landscape nestled in the urban bustle of Jamaica Plain. A 130-year-old oak tree lends gravity to the space and gives the Dojo its name, suggesting an ongoing dialogue between the built and natural worlds. The project uses passive ventilation and daylighting throughout all spaces. Uniquely, a significant amount of the building–from frame to finishes–was built with recycled, repurposed or salvaged materials.

This project was designed by Next Phase Studios and built by NPS contractors. The design evolved around found/reclaimed materials that were available locally when the project began construction. Because the design team and the construction team were the same people (due to the small scale of the building), the design process was a fluid dialogue and improvisational at times, adapting to the site and constraints.

Old Oak Dojo

Living Certified

Living Building Challenge 2.1

Performance Areas
Site • Water • Energy • Health •
Materials • Equity • Beauty

Site

The Old Oak Dojo is located on a wooded half-acre residential lot in the dense urban neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. This area of Boston was developed as farmland very early after colonization. It became a Victorian suburb in the mid-1800s, during which time the existing home was built. While the property has been modified over time–the home has become a multifamily residence in reaction to increasing population density–the majority of the house has been restored to its Victorian origins. The footprint has not changed since the early 1930s.

At 924 square feet, the Dojo itself is sited over the footprint of the previously existing barn that was constructed on the property in the early 1930s. The barn was made from salvaged materials and transformed into a bike shop in the 1970s but was abandoned in the 1980s. This structure was declared beyond rescue, yet provided a range of salvaged materials that were integrated into the new building.

Today the site is a well-developed urban plot with established plantings and gardens mixed into the rugged and ledge-filled yard in a particularly green section of the city. The mature tree canopy contains several old oaks and white pines. There is abundant native groundcover. The site abuts an abandoned half-acre lot, which serves as green space to offset the housing density of a neighboring triple-decker. There were a wide range of ornamental and non-native plantings used throughout the gardens, which had been infiltrated by invasive species in the last decade or so. While the invasive plants have been removed, the existing gardens, mostly outside the project site, have been retained. All new plantings are native.

Urban Agriculture 01

After soil testing revealed high lead content, we created raised beds using materials that we already had on-site or could source locally. We constructed the perimeter of the beds using cinder blocks (left over from Dojo construction) and reinforced with scrap iron (left behind on the old shed). We partnered with two local permaculturists to design beds that would best address the challenge of limited sunshine due to tree cover. Three of the beds are cultivated by us; the fourth we offered to neighbors as a community plot. We’ve primarily focused on crops that can tolerate cooler temperatures and shade, such as kale, chard, mustard greens, lettuces, scallions, carrots, radishes, and herbs. The beds with the highest sun exposure have tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, and peppers. It was hard to keep up with the harvest! We had more food than we could manage. In the fall, we host workshops on preserving and saving seeds.

Habitat Exchange 02

The Old Oak Dojo partnered with the New England Forestry Foundation to develop an offset habitat exchange imperative. The New England Forestry Foundation verifies they are a supporting member of the Land Trust Alliance and has adopted the organization’s “Standards and Practices” as guidelines for conducting their operations. The project chose NEFF because they have been nationally recognized for their dedication to the conservation and ecologically sound management of privately owned forests in New England through exemplary forest management, land protection and environmental education. They have conserved more forested acres than any other organization in New England. They are a registered 501c3 nonprofit.

Car-Free Living 03

The site is positioned in between two major Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) train stations along the city’s Orange Line in one direction and the E Branch of Green Line and access to multiple bus routes with stops within shorter distances. A quarter kilometer from the site runs the Southwest Corridor, a 4.7 mile (7.6 km) long linear park system that provides off-street bike and pedestrian pathways, green space and programmed civic park space. The park connects the site to Forest Hills neighborhood and MBTA train station to the south and Back Bay neighborhood and MBTA train station to the north.

The project is very accessible for those not traveling by car. In fact, the design and construction team often commute to the project by bicycle.

More directly relating to the site and its immediate surroundings is an existing pedestrian pathway acting as an informal connection between two distinct neighborhoods, and runs through the property at its edge, next to the studio. The path allows for connection to mass-transit, local schools & local commerce. The site was developed with the intention of preserving and maintaining use for existing pedestrian traffic patterns.

Water

Domestic is supplied from the municipal system. There are two fixtures that use municipal water within the building – a low-flow kitchenette faucet and a low-flow valve. The composting toilet uses no water for flushing. Reused rainwater is sterilized using UV, and then used for seasonal irrigation. Water from the cistern is not considered potable by the city and is only allowed for irrigation use.

Ecological Water Flow

Stormwater management systems include rainwater collected from the Old Oak Dojo roof and direct recharge.

Rainwater collected from the 900sf roof either is collected in the rainwater barrels or, if falling directly to the ground, percolates. The building is raised off the ground on elevated footings to allow for stormwater infiltration and to limit disturbance to the existing water flow. Collected rainwater is used for irrigation.

Stormwater Overflow: There is sufficient space onsite for 100-year storm retention (6.60 inches per hour for 24 hours). There is no stormwater leaving the site.

Greywater management systems on site are pending approval from the MA Department of Environmental Protection. The only graywater produced by the Old Oak Dojo was recorded through the water meter at 471 gallons during the 12-month performance period. The water is produced by the low-flow aerators in the kitchen and bathroom sinks. The graywater collected from the sinks is currently stored in cisterns, as the project is not connected to the sewer.

Blackwater management systems: Although there is an existing sewer line connection onsite, the Old Oak Dojo applied for a variance in order to install an indoor composting toilet that does not connect to the municipal sewer system. The variance requires that the owner haul the blackwater, greywater from sink, and solid compost produced from the toilet for disposal. Disposal is scheduled and conducted annually within 100 miles of the project site.

Water Petal Appeals and Lessons Learned

A variance was required to allow an indoor composting toilet at the Old Oak Dojo. After 12 months, the State of Massachusetts Board of Plumbers and Gas Fitters awarded Variance 6-1 on March 26, 2014, setting a new precedent for the approval of indoor compost toilets in the City of Boston. Proposed rainwater catchment through a green roof, with filtered rainwater used for handwashing, filtered graywater used for irrigation, or on-site leach field treatment of gray and blackwater were all rejected with our appeal.

The project team is still struggling with the MA Dept. of Environmental Protection to approve the use of UV filtered graywater from sinks for irrigation.

Energy

A Net Zero Energy Building, the Old Oak Dojo total energy demand for all of 2015 totaled 3,680 kwh, which  was 18% less than the modeled/predicted allocation of 4,500 kwh/year. The off site grid-tied rooftop PV array hosted by the neighbor produced 5,030 kwh over the course of 2015. Therefore, the Old Oak Dojo successfully recorded a net positive energy production of 1,350 kwh in 2015, or 37% more energy produced than energy consumed in a year. Approximately 75% of the energy demand comes from heating the building, with a 2015 annual consumption of 2,758 kwh for heating.

Passive and active systems and strategies for heating/cooling as well as ventilation include cross ventilation, operable windows, operable window wall, super insulated envelope, solar orientation, passive solar design, electric radiant heating in the floor, energy recovery ventilator (ERV), curtains for additional insulation when the building is not in use, electric baseboards.

Passive and active systems and strategies for hot water, lighting, plug loads, and other building uses include LED lighting, ample daylighting and an electric instant hot water heater.

Energy producing systems

PV array is hosted by a neighboring building, as the project site is covered with tree shade from the existing oaks.

Health

Primary health considerations for the project focused primarily on adequate cross-ventilation and natural ventilation. As the Old Oak Dojo hosts many activities that range in physical activity (meetings and gatherings, meditation, yoga, dance), it is important to bring in fresh air to the occupants and users. When the weather does not allow for windows and doors to be opened, the project uses an energy recovery ventilation (ERV) system. The ERV system is user-controlled and can be adaptive to a variety of activity. At all times, the occupant can regulate the optimal exchange of fresh and indoor air.

Secondary healthy considerations included cleanliness and indoor air quality – eliminating contaminants tracked into the building by requiring shoes to be removed in the entry, along with a walk-off mat the size of the entry room and curtains separating the entry from the rest of the interior.

Civilized Environment

Every occupiable interior space of the project has operable windows that provide access to fresh air and daylight. As the building is mostly open (with the exception of the storage/HVAC closet and the bathroom), the entire perimeter of the building has ample windows, an operable Nanawall, and smaller operable windows along the less prominent façade.

Healthy Air

The kitchenette does not have a permanent cooking apparatus, so there is no dedicated range hood. Kitchenette is located adjacent to the bathroom and shares a dedicated exhaust that is integral to the Zehnder Energy recovery unit. The bathroom uses the same system, and the exhaust vent can boost when needed. The composting toilet has an exhaust fan that provides a negative pressure to the bathroom.

The main entry has a large walk-off mat in the foyer; no shoes are allowed in the building. The walk-off mat is cleaned and maintained on a monthly basis, or as needed.

The Old Oak Dojo’s healthy air system is responsive to the variable occupancy and activity demands experienced in the space, meticulously controlling fresh air supply and exhaust management as well as user comfort (e.g., relative humidity and interior temperature). The CO2 monitor sounds an alarm when CO2 PPM exceeds 1,000, signaling that more fresh air is needed.

Due to the substantial weather fluctuation that is experienced in New England, optimal air conditions are not always achievable with the use of the Nanawall; for this reason the Old Oak Dojo is also equipped with a high-efficiency Zhender energy recovery ventilation (ERV) system that pulls fresh, outside air into its air exchanger. The fresh air is filtered, either preheated or pre-cooled to match the user-regulated indoor temperature, and pre-humidified or pre-dehumidified to maximize user comfort, before being expelled into the interior. The design of the supply and exhaust system for the ERV system responds to the spatial program of the Dojo by supplying the high activity zone of the Dojo with a constant flow of fresh air based on potential air quality levels needed for intensive aerobic activity.

Biophilia

The Old Oak Dojo is a project designed to include elements that nurture the innate human attraction to natural systems and processes. The six established Biophilic Design Elements have been represented throughout the entire project building and site.

There are three old oaks on this property: two white and one black. The black oak towers over the old shed, spreading its canopy so broadly that nothing on the property is visible from Google Earth, but a wide swath of green. By maintaining the existing 130-year-old oak tree, it actually created an opportunity for evolved human-nature relationships: a place of both prospect and refuge, curiosity and enticement.

The Old Oak Dojo is the story of dancing with this tree. The building is set on piers to protect and aerate the root system. The tree is the oldest living site feature at Chestnut Place, and it anchors the design, sustaining the geographic, historic and ecological connection to this place. Keeping the Old Oak and integrating it into the landscape and ecology IS the spirit of this place.

Views and vistas were a large driver behind the overall building design. Windows are installed in the two walls surrounding the tree, creating the experience of a living terrarium from within. The pattern of long vertical windows and wall panels is not dissimilar to walking through a grove of trees, where the long and short views alternate, both physically and in the patterning of sunlight.

While the Dojo is rectilinear and very simple in form and the forms may not mimic nature, there are several natural shapes and forms throughout the landscape of the site. This idea is further reinforced by the freeform shape of the raised beds—the built components of the landscape—which relate and respond to the natural outcroppings and older gardens that have been maintained throughout the total property. These forms are shapes that resist straight lines and right angle.

Meditation at Boston’s Old Oak Dojo. Photo Courtesy of Old Oak Dojo.

Materials

As the Old Oak Dojo’s name may imply, the design of the Dojo revolved around the use of wood because it is both locally available and easy to appropriate for second use. The fundamental strategy for achieving the materials imperative for LBC was to source the majority of building materials from locally reclaimed and repurposed deconstructed buildings. First, the team would assess what was in stock at the local Boston Building Resources Reuse Center. Because this project was design/build, Next Phase Studios was able to quickly adapt the design of the building to match the reclaimed materials that were available locally. For example, the long shed roof (originally a series of smaller roofs with multiple pitches) was redesigned to take advantage of the LVL beams available at Boston Building Resources Reuse Center. Additional salvaged materials included truss joints, wood and glass interior entry doors (no new doors were used on the project with the exception of the Nanawall), doorknobs, ceiling fan, countertops, sink, and pendant light fixtures. Luckily for us, the owner also had access to a family’s house that was being deconstructed nearby. Much of the millwork from a home office and bedroom was deconstructed and refinished into kitchenette shelving, drawers, countertops, cabinets, bathroom sink and vanity, and entry cubbies. The salvaged antique heart pine T&G flooring was sourced from Longleaf Lumber, Inc. in Cambridge, MA, and coated with a PolyWhey Floor Satin finish from Vermont Natural Coatings. Finally, the remaining new lumber was sourced locally from Maine and is FSC-Certified mixed.

In order to streamline the construction process and the LBC Conservation Management Plan, Next Phase Studios chose to use a design/build approach – where the design and construction team are the same entity. For a project this modest in scale, it was easy for NPS to implement atypical construction practices regarding materials conservation during construction. Unlike typical construction practice today, no overage percentage was factored into material calculations. The precision in the calculations was crucial because many of the building materials that were specified for use were custom ordered, had extended lead times, required minimum quantities, associated premiums, and on many occasions had implications with product delivery. The construction of the Old Oak Dojo exemplified the idea of multilife materials. The overall awareness and appreciation for the cost and, above all, the optimization of all building materials, was critical for the design-build team.

Similar care was taken in the recycling, sorting and waste diversion aspects of the job. Detailed descriptions were generated by approved recycling centers for the end use of all building materials deemed unusable by the Project Team. Information including recycling processing documents, material shipping procedures and information pertaining to products that are manufactured using recycled materials must be generated for end-of-life phase recycling documentation.

Red List

Materials that presented challenges due to Red List requirements were primarily electrical components and some FSC-certified products that used cured resin solids with <0.1% of formaldehyde for finish coatings or surface coatings. Other products such as the Foam Control EPS Rigid Insulation board also contained less than 1% of HFR.

Regarding electrical components, several products used on the project contained Red List materials. Often, to overcome this, NPS would analyze each product, researching the healthiest product available on the market and even having products custom manufactured for our application. In the end, the due diligence research would often settle on the healthiest available product that still met Massachusetts State Code.

For example, the XHHW jacketed wire used for the Dojo’s electrical work does contain a brominated flame retardant which is a Red List chemical. After substantial research on electrical wire we found that XHHW is the healthiest jacketed wire available that meets UL and Boston Electrical Code requirements. For our application we specified a multi-wire plan that needed to be housed within the enclosure of the built structure. Unlike typical PVC jacketed wire such as Romex, the XHHW jacketed wire is not rated to be run in enclosed spaces such as ceilings or walls. In order to meet the demands for our design aesthetic and electrical needs, we needed to run the individual XHHW wires (RED, Black, White, Green) in flexible metal conduit throughout the Dojo, which was not only design intensive but a hurdle financially. The overall goal was to use the healthiest product available.

Embodied Carbon Footprint

To reduce the embodied carbon footprint of the Old Oak Dojo, the team relied heavily upon sourcing locally salvaged materials, thus reducing the amount of embodied carbon used to harvest, source, manufacture, and transport new construction materials. This included salvaging materials found onsite (during deconstruction of an existing storage barn), using reclaimed surplus material (new materials that would be considered “scrap” to be used for other purposes on the job site), materials deconstructed from the owner’s family’s existing residence nearby in Newton, MA, and other deconstructed and reclaimed materials that were sourced from New England, and purchase from Boston Building Reuse Center in Boston, MA.

Responsible Industry

Sterritt Lumber Company is one of the first adopters in Massachusetts to recognize the importance in providing the building and construction industry with sustainably harvested and extracted lumber, as well as recognize fair labor practices. The company also acknowledges the importance of protecting local and regional forests. Next Phase Studios and NPS contractors have a long working history with Sterritt Lumber Company, partnering for LEED certified projects or other projects looking for FSC certified lumber. This partnership ensured that we met the Responsible Industry imperative, especially considering that a majority of the construction materials used for the project included wood.

For salvaged materials and salvaged wood, NPS looked to Boston Building Resources. Principal Rick Ames has been a board member for this nonprofit since 1993. According to their website, “the Reuse Center at Boston Building Resources is a charitable nonprofit that accepts donations of new and gently used materials for resale. It opened its doors in 1993 and was known until recently as the Building Materials Resource Center. Anyone can shop at the Reuse Center. Additional discounts are given to Plus members—people who meet our income guidelines, as well as any charitable nonprofit organization. Standard members and the public will pay a slightly higher price on Reuse Center items, but the extra income helps this nonprofit to be sustainable and grow.” NPS Architects has often specified that all deconstructed project materials be donated to the Reuse Center.

Through this relationship, NPS Architects approached the Reuse Center with the initial design of the Old Oak Dojo, and the Reuse Center contacted NPS directly whenever a large donation of salvaged wood or deconstruction project was available for the Dojo.

Appropriate Sourcing

One of the trickiest materials to navigate through the appropriately sourced imperative (and several other Materials Petal imperatives) was the use of locally and responsibly sourced structural plywood. Eventually, the Sterritt Lumber company put in a special order for FSC-certified lumber ply that was harvested in Eastern Canada, that, through exception, was sent west to a plant for structural lamination because no plants existed locally. Manufacturing such plywood was a new process for the local lumber company.

One of the most interesting portions of the appropriate sourcing imperative was the concept of locally sourced consultant travel – from the design team to the carpenters, NPS contractors were careful to limit the amount of distance between any team member or subcontractor and the site. Most notably, all but one employee of the design/build architect and contractor team (Next Phase Studios as both entities) rode public transportation (the T) or biked to the project site. Everyone commuting to the project stayed within a 5-10 km radius of the Old Oak Dojo, the only exception being the specialty installer for the Nanawall, who came from 193 km away.

Conservation and Reuse

In an effort to reduce the environmental burdens from end-of-life materials processing and from extraction and processing of raw materials, the Old Oak Dojo team created a comprehensive conservation management plan. Prior to use, all available building materials were sorted, protected and stored in the dedicated areas of the project site. The overall scale of the project allowed for the project team to optimize the transportation of products that needed to be recycled. Materials remained onsite until a full load was generated and it had been determined that the materials could no longer serve any further use for the construction of the new building.

The process of storing, sorting, and reworking materials to ensure compliance with the conservation management plan was labor intensive, but we never had to purchase small quantities of new miscellaneous building materials to complete tasks onsite. The construction team was able to use the materials that they had available as long as they were used in an appropriate manner. This practice was additionally beneficial because it expedited the entire construction process. By preserving the integrity of the smallest scraps of materials, laborers began to reconsider their concept of waste. By not categorizing something as garbage, workers began to realize that materials could be reused. The construction of the Old Oak Dojo exemplified the idea of multilife materials. The project manager, who was heavily involved in the material research and approval process of all building materials, had a great sense of value for all the building materials arriving onsite. An overall consciousness of the time and energy invested in researching the perfect products for every application tremendously informed the decisions made throughout the entire construction process.

Summary of Salvaged Materials

Metal Grates were reworked and used as handrails for the new construction. Crushed stone found onsite was reused onsite. Marble tiles found in the existing barn were re-worked and saved to be reused. Structural brick piers were reworked to use as pathway edging. Usable dimensional lumber salvaged from the existing barn was reused for the construction of the proposed structure; unusable dimensional lumber was recycled.

Equity

Half a dozen houses away from 14 Chestnut Place is 207 Chestnut Avenue, which represents one of the neighborhood’s heartbreak stories.

Around the time 14 Chestnut Place was purchased, a developer had also purchased this 15,000-square-foot lot, which housed a century-old home perched atop the Roxbury puddingstone that characterizes this hill. Despite community opposition, the developer demolished the house and spent weeks hydraulically smashing up the fragile puddingstone, which can crack easily and had the potential to damage nearby homes. He leveled the site, put up a 10-foot retaining wall, a parking lot, and two two-family homes that block their neighbors’ light.

The owner plans to host many visitors at the Old Oak Dojo although the existing parking is limiting. Rather than increase the parking area, the owner decided to shrink parking in order to create a more beautiful entry to the Dojo. Given their close proximity to the subway and the Southwest Corridor bike path, everyone who comes to visit is encouraged to leave their cars behind—it is communicated in the Dojo’s website, invitations and program materials. The site is located in Transact L4, and there is no impervious surface dedicated to transportation on the project site.

There’s a feeling of intimacy in this little lot on the hill. The Dojo is small, cozy and welcoming; the house is lined with windows so that visitors feel welcome to enter; and the property has meandering gardens and pleasant sitting areas. Cars, high-rises and concrete have been left far behind.

Democracy and Social Justice

The Old Oak Dojo is a gathering place for people in the community who wish to discover together how to make Jamaica Plain—and other nearby neighborhoods—a better place for all. Long-known as a racially and economically diverse community, in recent years, Jamaica Plain has faced increasing gentrification. Part of the Dojo’s purpose is to be a welcoming space for all members of its community, to raise questions, and to explore solutions to the challenges of gentrification and exclusion by being in dialogue together. We will also rediscover what happens when communities come together to play, celebrate, eat, work and learn with one another as that is what creates a foundation for trust.

Through her extensive relationships with civic organizations in Boston, the owner will be partnering with nonprofits, community organizations and neighborhood associations to design and develop programming at the Dojo. These programs will be offered to community members through those organizations’ outreach channels as well as the Dojo’s website, mailing list and Facebook presence. The owner will also continually offer events open to the public, where people will be welcome to drop by, help out in the garden, participate in movement classes, cook together, relax on the benches and hammocks, climb the oak trees, play music, and dance.

Although this is a private residence (accessory dwelling by code) which does not require compliance with ADA and ABA, the project did provide accessible spaces because it is open to the community. These include:

1. Kitchen with accessible sink (no panels on cabinets below sink)
2. Accessible storage at countertops
3. Graded access with ramp for accessible entry into the main level of the building
4. ADA-accessible restroom with grab bars and clearances

Rights to Nature

The project is designed to protect adjacent properties from any noxious emissions that would compromise these properties’ ability to use natural ventilation. Operational emissions are minimal given the project typology and use, and all emissions are free of Red List chemicals, persistent bioaccumulative toxicants, and known or suspected carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic chemicals.

The enclosed diagrams illustrate compliance with the imperative requirements as follows, per an L4 transect:

• The project may not block sunlight to adjacent building façades and rooftops such that they are shaded above the maximum height of 10 meters (maximum shade height on adjacent façade, measured on the winter solstice between 10 am – 2 pm).
• The project may not shade the roof of a development with which it shares a party wall, unless the adjoining development was built to a lesser density than acceptable for the transect.
• New landscape is to be considered when evaluating the shading.

One existing tree was relocated to a more centralized site location, shifting future shading away from the property line and adjacent buildings. No new trees were planted on the property. The existing trees are sizable, with dense canopies that shade the building and roof of the Old Oak Dojo as well as neighboring properties.

There are no natural waterways (ocean shorelines, rivers, lakes, wetlands, ponds and creeks) on or adjacent to the project property.

Beauty

The Old Oak Dojo is infused with a personal and intimate DIY spirit. It not only influences how we build and fill the space with materials goods; it also affects how we’ use the space. The layout of the Dojo supports this feeling of openness and flow. There is a clear line of sight from one end to the other, with one space flowing into the next. That creates a progression of movement from the cozy mudroom to the heart of the Dojo (18’ x 18’) to the smaller extension (12’ x 10’) to the narrow hallway of the kitchenette—and finally to the shed that houses the rainwater cistern and the compost toilet tank. Someone busy preparing food and drink will still feel connected to the action at the center of the gathering—and that matters because whenever people gather in the Dojo, it will be the participants themselves who attend to food and waste rather than anonymous service providers. Part of the purpose of the Old Oak Dojo is to attune people to what we eat, where it came from, what we throw away and how we take care of our shared space. It is perfect that the kitchen window overlooks the garden and the water and waste facilities. The tight relationship between these spaces helps make visible the closed-loop system of food, water and waste that we wish to highlight in this project.

No matter where you stand in the Dojo, there is a direct relationship with nature. We’ve designed the windows and glass doors of the Dojo to optimize the relationship with the Old Oak as well as this unusual urban wild. (See essay on biophilia for more about the relationship to nature.)

The abundant glazing invites continuous interplay with light and shadow. In summer, the leaves of the Old Oak cast shadows that will dance across the floor throughout the afternoon. Sunlight creeps in from every side of the room, filtered gently through high and low windows. The slanting roof gives the body of the Dojo an uplifting feeling, a sense of movement and weightlessness. Even from the outside, the Dojo feels like a building on the move, as if it had just slid momentarily into place, en route somewhere beyond the gardens. This airiness suits its name: Dojo means “place of the way” where martial arts students gather to study the art of movement.

Inspiration + Education

The Old Oak Dojo hosted an opening day celebration and “Village Week,” inviting about 100 friends and neighbors to 14 Chestnut Place in Jamaica Plain. As neighbors gathered, they began to rediscover how to create healthy and resilient communities. The 924-square foot studio, which shares a half-acre residential lot with a community home, is an experiment in dissolving the boundary between public and private, commercial and noncommercial realms.

The Dojo has educational signage within the building noting the Living Building Challenge features of the design and construction. The website, www.oldoakdojo.com also lists current blog posts and an events calendar.

A couple of interesting topics related to the users and upkeep of this space are mentioned in the case study brochure:

1. Activities are self-organizing. We invite people who share our commitment to creating a more racially, socially and economically just world to propose activities and events.
2. The Dojo operates in gift culture, which means we don’t charge fees for its use. If you love this place as much as we do, please volunteer your time to help us maintain its beauty.
3. Sustaining the Dojo as a Living Building requires every visitor’s participation. Please help us manage energy, water, waste, and recycling so that this building continues to serve the natural world.