Proving that sustainability requires true commitment and collaboration, the new California Academy of Sciences has officially received the highest national environmental ranking for a building by partnering with the San Francisco office of global engineering and consulting firm, Arup.
The Academy has joined an elite group of newly constructed buildings to receive a Platinum rating – the highest possible - in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). LEED is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, which is administered by the US Green Buildings Council.
Arup took a leading role in working with the Academy to devise and document the many sustainability strategies required for LEED certification. As a result, the building achieved 54 credits to claim Platinum – a significant achievement.
Mr Mark Palmer, Municipal Green Building Coordinator for the City and County of San Francisco, offered his congratulations to Arup and the Academy, stating, "On behalf of the City of San Francisco, I am extremely proud and thankful for your unflagging support and dedication to seeing this project through to final LEED Platinum certification. The potential for educating the public on issues of sustainable design and green building is vast. This building's living legacy will continue to be something of which we can all be very proud."
Some of the main areas where the Academy received LEED credits were:
- Water efficient landscaping - a saving of 50% through the use of captured or recycled site water
- Water use reduction – a saving of 76.9% through graywater re-use, low-flow lavatories, kitchen sinks and showers
- Optimization of energy performance – a 34% saving through the use of natural ventilation, heat recovery, displacement ventilation, external shading, reduced power lighting densities and daylighting controls
- Collection of recyclables – the provision of recycling collection and storage facilities for the entire Academy
- Construction waste management – diverting more than 22,906 tons of on-site generated waste from landfill
- Recycled content – 14.8% of the total building materials content, by value, have been manufactured using recycled materials
- Low emitting materials - all indoor paints, adhesive and sealant products, composite wood materials and carpet systems comply with VOC limits
The result is not only a highly sustainable building, but one that will be an important educational tool for the projected 1.6m visitors expected every year.
Besides LEED sustainability consulting, Arup also provided structural and building services engineering (mechanical, electrical, plumbing), fire engineering, acoustics consulting, lighting design consulting, and benchmarking and life cycle analysis services on the project.