Winter 2008

Greenbridge Part of Green House Show
Greenbridge, the mixed use project that’s under construction in Chapel Hill is part of the National Building Museum’s exhibit—Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design—which is featured at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey through May 4. Greenbridge has received attention for its eco-effective design strategies and broad thinking about quality of life, which includes providing much needed downtown living and retail opportunities. Greenbridge will include 98 condominium residences at various price points and 35,000 square feet of retail in the historic neighborhood of Northside.

Bernheim Arboretum goes Platinum

The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Bernheim with its highest certification, LEED Platinum, for construction of its Visitor Center. This is the first Platinum rating awarded to a building in Kentucky or the surrounding region–Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee. The WM+P team collaborated with the architect of record, Barnette Bagley Architects of Lexington and TOPIA design. The large team of passionate professionals also included Gray Construction and Prajna Design/Construction, both of whom were integral to the execution of the project. By integrating the client’s mission of “connecting people with nature” and a sustaining design agenda, this visitors center intentionally blurs the distinction between indoors and out, uniting architectural and garden spaces with a combination of pergolas, trellises, arbors, and glass. As the public threshold for the arboretum and research forest, the new Center functions as the portal and point of introduction for visitors to this 14,000-acre arboretum. The Center also explores the theme of the building as teacher, making its sustaining strategies like passive and active solar design, geothermal heating and cooling, and local and regional materials part of the exhibition.

Future Energy Visions
In January, William McDonough was a keynote speaker at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. His remarks included the presentation of a conceptual sketch exercise for a mixed use tower for a desert climate (right), an adaptation of the office tower of the future commissioned by Fortune magazine. “In our cities, we have to think creatively about density,” he said. “For any region, sustainability is about preserving the cultural and natural context while providing a beacon for verifiably sustainable growth. This scalable concept is designed to give that complex objective a physical form in a desert climate. We believe that Cradle to Cradle thinking is the surest and fastest way to reach thresholds on the path to results that are 100 percent positive. This is the goal–where everything we create can contribute positively to society, the economy, and the environment–that we are working toward using today’s products and technologies.” The Summit was the site of announcements about Masdar, a new initiative in the region with a master plan by Foster + Partners. Sir Norman Foster delivered the closing keynote address at the Summit. McDonough referenced the initiative: “Through Masdar and other path-finding projects, we can reach our goal of a delightfully, diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil, and power–economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed.”

Software Park in China
William McDonough + Partners has begun work, with WSP Energy, on sustainable development strategies and design guidelines for the Dalian Software Park for Shui On Development Co. This is a large scale project in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, PRC; this work is for Phase II and will proceed with reference to the LEED Neighborhood Development framework.