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Green Buildings and
Plants: An Introduction
By Shane Pliska
Excerpt from Our Stake in the Green Build Boom,
Interiorscape Magazine
November/December 2004 |
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Haworth's
commercial showcase in Chicago
demonstrates a planter built in TecCrete.
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Green building is an environmentally minded design movement
that has captured the interests and investment from the nation's
largest architectural firms, construction companies, and manufacturers
of furniture and carpeting.
Spearheaded by the U.S.
Green Building Council's (USGBC) certification process
called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED),
corporations are in a race to provide green products and services
for these new buildings. At a glance, LEED certified buildings
represent a small number. According to the USGBC about 4% of
new buildings in 2004 were awarded LEED certification.
However, that number is deceiving. While 130 buildings met the
stringent rules this year to receive the prestigious plaque,
there are still 1,500 buildings in the pipe line. Additionally,
this November, the USGBC has expanded the reach of the LEED
certifications to include interior renovation and office suite
build-outs named LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI). Taryn
M. Holowka a spokesperson for USGBC said that they expect LEED-CI
to be relevant to 96% of the commercial interior market.
On Top of Trends:
Since plants are often not specified until the furnishings are
selected, those seeking nature indoors need to fully understand
trends in green space allocation and design.
Many of the changes in interior design are being invented and
executed by office furniture manufactures such as Herman
Miller and Haworth.
For example, under the warrant of green design both companies
have aggressively expanded into what can be best described as
the "pre-fab" office. They are not just furniture and cubicle
makers anymore, but they are now providing walls, carpeting
tiles, lighting and in floor modules for wiring and air circulation.
The most obvious benefit to the "pre-fab" office is the fact
that the whole office can be installed, disassembled, and moved
multiple times likes a giant Lego-Kit, thus eliminating need
for a costly renovation or office build-out. That's right, no
more drywall dust, drop ceilings, or inefficient flickering
neon lights. Considering the fact that waste from construction
and renovation equates to 25-30% of total solid-waste in North
America, pre-fab is in fact a very green way to go.
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Haworth's
TechCrete raised flooring system serves
an efficient place to hide wires and HVAC ducting.
Raised 5 to 30 inches above the standard floor, the
system can be used to create a planting bed by
simply removing the tiles and inserting a liner.
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So how does this influence interior landscape design? Greater
efficiencies in space allocation are removing the places that
were once mainstays for office plants, such as dead corners,
large executive offices, and the spacious executive floor. The
good news is that collaborative space is increasing in size.
Herman Miller dealers are now designing spaces where 33% of
the interior is designated for common areas and meeting rooms
(traditionally, only 12% has been dedicated to these spaces).
The visibility and high traffic in collaborative spaces make
these rooms prime for plants.
The buzzword for the common area is 'flexibility'; chairs and
tables are on wheels so employees can move the furniture to
best facilitate their meeting. Therefore it is a good idea to
propose planters on wheel coasters and select hardy plants that
will tolerate the movement.
Once inside these new collaborative spaces you'll notice new
products too. Take for example Haworth's raised flooring system,
TecCrete. This carpet and stone-like tiling system
serves as a more efficient a place to hide wires and HVAC ducting
rather than the traditional drop ceiling. Raised 5 to 30 inches
above the standard floor, the system can be used to create a
planting bed anywhere in the space. Simply remove the desired
tiles and insert a liner.
At its commercial interior showcase in Chicago, Haworth designed
a reflecting pond and bamboo grove from the recess made possible
by TecCrete.
The raised flooring system can also be used to maximize daylight
views. In some structures the elimination of the drop ceiling
can add 12 inches to window exposures. Another technique is
to use TecCrete to create tiered levels within an interior.
The multiple levels can be positioned to allow more people and
plants to have access to daylight views.
There is an infinite number of ways that we can creatively integrate
nature into green architecture. The more we know about new green
products and design, the greater number of reasons we can provide
to have plants specified.
Shane Pliska's column appears bi-monthly in Interiorscape
Magazine. He is the Business Development Manager of Planterra
Corporation, West Bloomfield, Michigan. www.planterra.com.
A Case for Plants
Mr. Ron Wood, a research associate with the Environmental
Quality Group at the University of Technology in Sydney,
Australia, provides a comprehensive list of reasons why
interior plants are key to cost effectively improving
indoor environmental quality while contributing to sustainable,
green building designs:
• Plants are cheaper to use than powerful air filter systems.
• Plants can easily be moved or relocated.
• Plants are environmentally friendly.
• Plants offer aesthetic stimulants to the people in a
room.
• Plants do not cause acoustic problems.
• Plants do not interfere with ventilation systems that
are already installed.
• With professional care, plants provide high results
at relatively low maintenance costs.
• Plants support good motivation by creating a balanced
working environment.
• Plants can be used as attractive room dividers in open
plan offices.
• Plants reduce tiring of the eyes by reflecting the yellow/green
spectrum.
• Introducing plants requires no change to the structure
of a building.
• Plants can discretely solve an environmental problem.
• Plants possibility of a sudden breakdown is relatively
low. |
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