Green Architecture and LEED Gold Certified: $125 Million Building Has All the Right Stuff

Green architecture never looked better. Site preparation for construction of a new, green building has started in Oklahoma City. Once completed, the $125 million building will be the first gold certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building in Oklahoma City. It is a new research tower for The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF). It will harness the wind with turbines that provide the building with two-thirds of its electricity. The building is designed around the features instead of designing the building and then trying to decide how to make it green.

Green Architecture Features

The building is a 185,000 square foot tower. Synergy California designed the 24 wind turbines which are to go on top of the roof. They are double helix shaped with solar panels and natural light expansions. The natural lighting is designed to go deep within the tower. Other green architectural features are a living roof and rain garden. They prevent run-off pollution and insulate the roof. Water conservation is practiced by landscaping with native plants and recycling air conditioning condensation to water them.

Green Architecture Makes a Statement

According to Dr. Stephen Prescott, the president of OMRF, "This unique research facility will be key to bringing some of the world's most talented biomedical scientists to Oklahoma." According to Dr. Prescott, the building is a model of energy efficiency and preservation. "It's a statement about being forward looking and state of the art in every thing we do."

OMRF has already successfully recruited from Duke University, University of North Carolina, Yale University, the National Institutes of Health and London's Imperial College of Medicine. The facility is expected to house 300 new OMRF researchers, physicians and technicians.

Green Architecture Wind Turbines

According to Aerotecture, the company that designs the wind turbines, the concepts of aerodynamics and architecture are blended together for integration into the form of the building or to add to existing buildings. The estimated output of the 510V is 1kW in 32 mph winds. The turbines do not exceed 250 RPM. At this speed, the blades are visible as they spin making it much safer for birds.

Reinhold Zeigler, a partner in the company states:

"It is becoming clear that the future of our electric power will come less from large coal, gas and nuclear power plants, but more from millions of mirco generators and turbines, photoelectric solar panels mounted on the roof-tops of the city with wind-turbines in the countryside. Existing national power girds won't disappear. They will operate more like the Internet, as part of a complex web through which people will supply electricity, by uploading, as well as downloading it."

Clearly, green architecture is evolving and now is the time for it to make its impact. Our economy is facing disaster after disaster. It looks as though some of the answers to our problems are right before our eyes. Imagine buildings that produce their own, clean energy and even sell some of it back to the power companies.

Check here for our other green articles such as How to Go Green in One Hour, Green Cleaning Products and Choosing Organic Produce.

Sources:
The Oklahoman, Susan Simpson
http://www.omrf.org/OMRF/News_Releases/Releases/2009/20090327.asp