4 Comments

1. 
   Mike Eliason | May 01, 2012 10:31am | #1

   yale's paul rudolph hall
   yale's paul rudolph hall (formerly the A&A building) was only a disaster because of a series of really poor renovations/alterations - after a massive fire. it was restored a few years ago and looks/works/performs much better. the bad concrete/exposed rebar issues seems mostly to have been builder sloppiness which was exacerbated by weather. on large projects, architects aren't specifying rebar placement/layout - and the ACI standards for structural concrete in 1963, as in the 2008 reno, required 2" of concrete for bars larger than #5, 1.5" for #5 or smaller. that standard wasn't followed in the field.

   concurrent to the reno was a horrible, horrible addition by charles gwathmey.

   as for a contemporary concrete building with stunning facade? look no further than morger, degelo + kerez's kunstmuseum lichtenstein - which was polished to a marble-like sheen. walls were prestressed to avoid the need for expansion joints. the swiss are some of the best when it comes to concrete.
   http://www.zement.at/service/literatur/fileupl/01_11_kunstmuseum_liechtenstein.pdf

2. GBA Editor
   Martin Holladay | May 01, 2012 11:17am | #2

   Response to Mike Eliason
   Mike,
   I've heard about the renovations of the A&A building at Yale, but I haven't been back to New Haven since the work was done.

   Back when I was an undergraduate, in the early 1970s, the building was only a few years old, and the concrete façade was already in dreadful shape, with exposed rebar everywhere. It was a hostile, even nightmarish building to walk by. At sidewalk level, the building proclaimed a hatred of human beings. Leaning against it was a painful act.

   Here is a photo of a section of the concrete façade that has no rust stains or exposed steel:

   
3. 
   EdLT5aX2Za | May 02, 2012 07:36pm | #3

   Summary of Peter Pfeiffer's comments
   Thanks, Martin, for the succinct summary of Peter Pfeiffer's comments at the NAHB conference. He summarizes true-green building better than most practitioners. The good news is that designers, builders, and homeowners can adapt their ways and develop homes vastly more green than the current stock by following a few simple ideas:

   -- Build small. It’s best to use less of any building material. Smaller homes have less impact on the environment both during their construction and throughout their lifetimes.

   -- Remodel your home rather than building a new one. You’ll avoid the cost and environmental impact of buying an entire houseful of new materials. Focus your efforts on improving the efficiency of an existing building instead.

   -- Choose long-lived high-quality building materials. Materials with a long lifespan have less environmental impact than those that wear out quickly. Plus they require less maintenance.

   The details are, of course, more complicated than this. But if you neglect these principles, no amount of green adding-on will reduce the environmental impact of the original bad decisions.

4. 
   watercop | May 02, 2012 10:26pm | #4

   Preaching to the choir - west glass, pool pumps, water heating
   West Glass

   I'm in a cooling-dominated climate (Florida) and I advise clients as to the best approach to west glass is a multi-tiered defense-in-depth:

   0) Avoid it in the first place

   1) If you must have west glass, pick a site with tall leafy trees on the west side

   2) If you don't have west trees shielding your west glass, put a deep covered porch on the west side

   3) If the porch is out of the question, consider deep overhangs or awnings

   4) if the trees, porch, overhangs or awnings aren't doable, depress the SHGC (solar heat gain coefficient) of the west glass via insect screens, after-market films, or internal films.

   5) Install light colored blinds and close them during the day.

   Of course, if you are going to pull blinds on windows all day, why have the windows in the first place?

   Pool pumps - I have replaced several pool pumps with Pentair Intelliflo units and documented 75-90% reduction in energy use while providing clients MORE daily hours of pump operation...my primary specialty is high performance high efficiency HVAC, but I readily and cheerfully admit that a variable speed pool pump pays back far faster than any HVAC solution in my toolbox.

   Pool pumps are a 365 day load whereas HVAC is used only when needed.

   South of I-40, a centrally located heat pump water heater, possibly with demand-switched recirculation if circumstances warrant, is hands down the best hot water solution...far more cost effective than all manner of solar thermal bling.