Green Case Study - Brownfields
Ohlone College Newark Center for Health Sciences and Technology Newark, California
Ohlone College 140,000 square-foot Newark Center for Health Sciences and Technology officially opened its doors to 3,000 students on Jan. 28, 2008. Ohlone College Newark Center is the first campus in the world to be awarded LEED Platinum.
In 2004, the EPA awarded the Ohlone Community College District a $200,000 grant to clean up a 31-acre brownfield contaminated with the pesticide toxaphene from its previous use as agricultural land. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control oversaw the removal and cleanup of 34,100 cubic yards of contaminated soil on the site of the future campus.
The building construction was funded through a $150,000 bond. The campus is designed for solar-energy cogeneration, design services and ergonomic learning spaces.
Up to 50% of the building’s energy needs will be generated by 1585 solar panels, Silicon Valley's largest array. Additional LEED points were awarded for the following practices*:
- 26 miles of geothermal ground coils
- two 10-foot diameter enthalpy wheels, fresh-air energy recapture systems that save up to 25% of costs for cooling and heating
- water efficient, Bay Friendly® landscaping
- ground denim insulation, more efficient than traditional fiberglass
- carpet made from 30% to 38% recycled plastics
- up to 97% recyclable, ergonomically-designed furniture
- recycled content terrazzo flooring
- “Machiche” Guatemalan hardwood, responsibly harvested using Forest Stewardship Council guidelines
- brownfield remediation of pesticide-contaminated soil
- wetland restoration site to become Living Laboratory for campus
- low VOC emission paint
- 91% of the construction waste on the Ohlone Newark project was recycled
In the first six months the building was operating at 63% of Title 24 standards, well below the energy model projection of 82%.
Architect: Perkins+Will
MEP Engineers: AlfaTech
Landscape Architects: Conger Moss Guillard
Cost Estimators: Davis Langdon
Ergonomic Design: Steelcase and One Workplace
Contractor: Turner Construction
Hospitals are beginning to assess their impact on the environment. The health-science courses include waste generation, reduction and recycling, biodegradable products, electricity reduction and indoor air quality in their curriculum. Biotechnology courses integrate green technology, including solar, wind and some biofuels exploration. The campus culture focuses on sustainability, no longer operating in a fixed learning environment, and the building's construction follows suit. A giant window on the second floor displays the working enthalpy wheels.
Insulation, made from blue jeans, and the geothermal coils for heating are displayed. For the community. it's a great place to come and see what a green building is all about.
Excerpted from:
Green College Press Release
http://www.californiagreensolutions.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl.h,content=1737 and www.ohlone.edu/org/newark
GreenTechnology Magazine online
Tassafaronga Oakland, California
Tassafaronga is located on a former brownfield, tainted with asbestos, lead, and toxic insecticides. on 7.5 acres, in a neglected section of East Oakland, having been transformed, in a mixed-income community-the first project in California and one of the earliest nationwide to achieve Gold LEED-ND plan certification. Within that reclaimed community, the 157 new rental units have been built to Platinum LEED-Home standards.
“Habitat for Humanity is erecting 22 affordable, for sale townhomes here, designed by Baker with construction fueled by homeowner sweat equity. In its aspirations to lift the entire community's pride and culture through social and physical diversity, Tassafaronga reflects the influence of HOPE VI, with its New Urbanism and Defensible Space planning principles. That model's emphasis on walkable, high-density communities, punctuated by pocket parks-connecting to the surroundings without sprawl-dovetailed with the goals of LEED-ND, emerging as a pilot program just as Tassafaronga headed into design.
With sensor controls, tenant education, and other measures, Tassafaronga's energy usage remains 20 to 30 percent below California's progressively stringent code. Exemplary in yet another way, the ex-pasta factory reuses everything from the concrete shell, wood framing, and roof to concrete floors (ground, sealed, and polished) and structural steel (supplemented for seismic codes). “
Owner Oakland Housing Authority
Architect David Baker + Partners
