Group Ordered New Offices Sunny Side Up
There's one new office building in Santa Monica that is painted gray from front to back. And portrayed as green from top to bottom.
The three-story structure helps heat and cool itself, provides most of its own light and water, and produces enough of its own electricity to power many of its computers and other office equipment.
Those working at 1314 2nd St. would expect nothing less from their new $8.3-million set of offices. That's because they are environmental lawyers and scientists who say their goal is to help preserve the Earth's natural resources by promoting "green" policies: conservation, recycling and efficient energy use.
The building is the new Southern California office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. It will open today with the ceremonial snipping of a green ribbon by actor Robert Redford, a longtime conservationist who has served as a member of the council's board since 1975.
Redford said the building uses "off-the-shelf technology" that is available to all builders.
"I couldn't be more pleased that NRDC chose Santa Monica, my hometown, for its Southern California base of operations," he said.
Designers say the 15,000-square-foot "Robert Redford Building," as it is being dubbed, is one of the most self-sufficient office structures in the United States.
Its roof is built to catch rainwater and funnel it into underground tanks that store runoff along with captured bathroom "gray water" from the inside. A filtration system in the basement cleans the water so it can be recycled for outdoor landscape irrigation and used to flush the building's toilets.
Lighthouse-like skylight towers poke through the roof in three places, sending sunlight cascading down two-story light wells into interior corridors. From there, natural light pours through glass walls and doors to illuminate individual office areas.
The towers also serve as cooling columns. Low-velocity fans triggered by thermostat sensors draw hot air upward from interior areas and from offices that have old-fashioned transoms over doorways. Exterior office windows can be opened to let in fresh air. Hot water circulated through radiators provides heat.
A rooftop solar array produces 7,500 watts, which the council's leaders say is about 20% of the building's workday requirement. Room occupancy sensors and low-wattage fluorescent lighting fixtures are expected to help cut electricity consumption to about two-thirds that of a regular office building.
