Greenbuild: What Not to Miss in 2009
Urbanites' Guide to Greenbuild
by Yetsuh Frank
It’s a remarkable testimony to the success of Greenbuild that this post needs to be written. But with over 100 sessions available at what is now a massive, sometimes overwhelming, conference I thought a few might find it useful to learn which of the sessions in Phoenix intrigue me the most. In general, I’ll be looking for subjects that relate to our work in New York and speakers that aren’t likely to pass through the Northeast. If you want to suggest your own picks or want to let us know about something great you'd like to see at our own Urban Green Expo, let us know at expo@urbangreencouncil.org.
WEDNESDAY – 8:30 am – BROWN SERIES
BR15: Mixed Mode Buildings: Combining the Best of Natural Ventilation and Mechanical Cooling
Fully passive buildings might be a realistic goal in temperate climates, but in the Northeast the extremes of our winter and summer seasons make it less viable. So mixed-mode strategies have to be in our toolkit moving forward. The west coast is way out in front on this subject (I know, they are blessed with more temperate climates), probably why the panel is loaded with folks from Berkeley and Boulder.
BR08: Re-Membering: The Patterns of Living Systems Design
Also of great interest Wednesday morning is this panel including Bill Reed. Bill gave an incredible presentation on integrated, or whole system, design thinking at our Salon last year. He’s co-authored a great book on Integrated Design and is always a great speaker to catch if you get the chance.
WEDNESDAY – 2:00 pm – BLUE SERIES
BL15: Daylighting Transparency and Building Envelope Design
Daylighting design is one of my great loves so I am always excited to panels on this very important and poorly understood topic. Even some very good architects out there think that designing for daylighting means simply adding vast expanses of glass to the exterior- a recipe for disaster in most cases. It’s also a design element for which we lack sufficient assessment tools, hampering it’s adoption by the design community.
BL07: Oops! Learning from Unexpected Results in the European Design Process
While I have some trepidation that this panel is designed to simply embarrass us with the fact that Europe’s mistakes perform better than our greatest achievements- the panel is so strong that I imagine it will include some truly inspiring projects. And Europe is leading the way in many regards on green building so we shouldn’t be shy about stealing every trick we can. Other notables in the Blue Series: BL04: How Bus Rapid Transit is Enabling the Rennaisance of One of America’s Grandest Avenues BL02: iGreen: How the Web Empowers Designers to Build Sustainably
WEDNESDAY – 4:30 pm – GREEN SERIES
GR04: Urban Food Systems: From Vertical Farming to District Level Food Strategies
We held two programs on this subject in New York this year. We held a Salon on Urban Agriculture featuring Dickson Despommier from Columbia and Benjamin Linsley from Bright Farm Systems. And there was the enormously well received Hungry New York which featured Carolyn Steel and where we focused on local food systems and purveyors rather than techy subjects like Vertical Farming. So it’s a broad subject in which I feel well versed- but I have never heard of any of the speakers on this panel so I’m really looking forward to some new perspectives on a familiar subject.
GR06: Water Resource Use and Green Design
Setting aside the deep irony of any straight faced discussion of water resources in a city which has little in the way of water resources but is surrounded by imported lawns and sprawling golf courses- there are few people that know as much about water policy and resource issues as Robert Glennon. We hosted a great reading and discussion with Mr. Glennon in New York this year. He’s both funny and very smart. If this is your subject his book, Unquenchable, is your book.
THURSDAY – 8:30 am – RED SERIES
RD04: Walking the Talk: An Examination of Sustainability in Design, Construction and Urban Development Relating to Light Rail
Despite it's wordy title, I’m really looking forward to this session. We don’t do any work on transportation at Urban Green, We look to folks like the Regional Plan Association for that, but there is a lot of discussion in New York about the viability of light rail corridors vs. new subway lines (the 7 line extension, for instance, or the 2nd avenue subway.)
THURSDAY – 2:00 pm – ORANGE SERIES
OR15: The Often Overlooked Component of Sustainability: A Holistic Approach to Indoor Air Quality in Design, Construction and Occupancy
Indoor air quality is hugely important and understood by few. With all the focus on outdoor air issues many people still don’t understand how bad the air quality is in most buildings- where we spend the vast majority of our time. Glad to see a panel on this subject that appears to have a strong scientific background.
THURSDAY – 4:00 pm – YELLOW SERIES
YL15: Mount Angel Abbey Academic Center: Innovations in Daylighting & Passive Cooling
I’ve already noted my soft spot for daylighting and other passive design strategies. Charlie Brown hails from my alma mater, the University of Oregon, and the book he co-authored, Sun, Wind & Light, changes my life a little every time I open it. On top of all this the subject is Mount Angel Abbey, the site of Alvar Aalto’s unbelievably fabulous library and my earliest architectural epiphany (a whole other story.) So- not a panel I can miss.
FRIDAY – 8:30 am – PURPLE SERIES
PL06: Design With Nature: The Omega Center for Sustainable Design and Biophilic Design
A strong panel discussing a truly cutting edge project. There may be only a few morsels applicable to urban buildings, but even one will make the time worth it.
PL14: Shooting the Moon: Designing a High Performance Office Building for NASA Ames
Another very strong panel on a truly remarkable project. Any time you get the chance to hear from McDonough’s office on their current work you should take it.
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