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Date: August 1, 2004

Global Ecology Center Showcases Sustainability

Palo Alto, Calif. — The recently completed Carnegie Institution's environmentally innovative Global Ecology Research Center sets a new standard for green buildings, showing that an ecologically sound complex can be beautiful, economical, safe and efficient. The 11,000-square-foot, $5.5 million facility on the Stanford University campus in northern California maximizes energy efficiency, minimizes waste, uses recycled material, and is an important step toward fulfilling the department's mission to develop the new science of global ecology.

With the Global Ecology Center's scientists tackling issues such as the global carbon cycle and the role of land and oceanic ecosystems in regulating climate, it's no wonder they wanted a building that epitomized sustainability and would last at least 100 years.

“The building reinforces the philosophy of the department, which is to find a scientific foundation for a sustainable future,” said Christopher Field, director of the Global Ecology Department. The research staff's fundamental understanding of ecology resulted in them immediately embracing the sustainability concepts as an almost intuitively obvious approach to the building's design. In most areas the design exceeded LEED requirements.

The Global Ecology Center houses a laboratory and investigation area on the first floor and offices on the second floor. The structure, layout, and furnishings are designed with the utmost flexibility in mind to accept changes over time. An open lab with suspended shelving and movable workbenches and a highly-efficient, free-span structural system on the second floor allow reconfiguration in the short and long term.

The facility was designed by EHDD Architecture of San Francisco and built by Redwood City based DPR Construction. Rumsey Engineers of Oakland, Calif., designed and modeled a very low-energy heating and cooling system for the building, with innovations including night-sky cooling, radiant cooling, natural ventilation, and a cooling tower. Heat-reflecting coatings, wood that is certified sustainably harvested, and all-native plants reinforce the department's goal to establish a foundation that will lead to a sustainable future for the planet.

“The Global Ecology Center is a showcase of what can be achieved in an energy-efficient building,” said Peter Rumsey, founder and president of Rumsey Engineers. “By working in close cooperation with the client and design team, our expertise and innovation helped created a building that is 57 percent more efficient than a standard design building according to DOE2.1E simulation.”

From the initial design stages, the design intent was to achieve a very high level of integration and efficiency in a manner that could be economically replicated at other sites. For example, the desire for a vertical element in the façade developed into the Cool Tower conditioning the lobby, economically turning an architecturally driven desire into a mechanical feature. When forced air cooling was indicated for the conference room due to solar loads, the architects reconfigured shading and the monitor orientation to eliminate the loads.

A narrow building, oriented to capture north and south light, careful window sizing and extensive use of light shelves results in a fully-daylit interior. Direct solar gain is minimized through shading, while still admitting indirect daylighting. Super-efficient lighting includes occupancy sensors as well as photo-sensors that dim lights to maximize daylight harvesting.

For more information, see http://globalecology.stanford.edu.

Rumsey Engineers, Inc., is a Bay Area-based design engineering firm that specializes in innovative HVAC system solutions for the most demanding commercial installations and critical environments, including green buildings, data centers, cleanrooms and laboratories. The company's philosophy is based on the premise that the best design is simple, elegant and results in substantially lower energy costs. For more information, see www.rumseyengineers.com.