Terry Thomas Building By Weber Thompson
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.13.08
Courtyard
A year ago I wrote about this Seattle building under the title "Smart Architect Builds Dumb Building." I meant it as a compliment; we need more dumb buildings that work like buildings used to, with natural light and ventilation, and without what Donovan Rypkema calls "green thingies"- expensive new technologies when older, simpler methods are more appropriate.
Now it is done, and it looks terrific. Not only that, they seem to be happy with it, and have even blogged about it. Results so far: it is still a work in progress, but they say "From the first week that we occupied the building, we noticed how the Terry Thomas affected the culture of our firm. While we are still collecting objective information, the general mood is clearly elevated. We attribute this to having proper levels of natural daylight, the ability to open windows and the louvers that automatically open and close as CO2 levels and the temperature rise and fall."
Love the courtyard at night!
Why do I like this so much? They say things like Less is more in Sustainable Design : "Sustainable design is not only the wiz-bang high-tech features of a green building. Simple solutions contribute to a sustainable design, too." They expose the structure and paint it white: "Not only does this tell the story of how the building works, the white paint enhances the light reflection for both daylight harvesting and indirect lighting of open office areas. The design of the beams also serves as a design aesthetic, informing other choices we made in the build-out of our office space."
Noise appears to be a bit of a problem: " We are tossing around ideas to mitigate the sound – white noise machines, additional homasote boards on blank walls – but one of our (unnamed) principals has come up with his own solution: a personal sound isolation booth."
However, it appears that the Terry Thomas building is, as they say on their blog, a breath of fresh air. It is what a green building should be: not just about energy, but about being healthy and happy as well. ::The Terry Thomas
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I love it! I'm retired now but I spent YEARS in an inside office, no windows. It was ALWAYS hot and no air circulation. I love expansive windows and even passive solar energy helps in winter time.
Wooo-hooo! This is THE BEST.
Not all pre-industrial technology was stupid. Some of it was very, very smart and perfected over generations and generations of careful observation, experimentation and evaluation.
This building is just genius!!!!!!!
The pre-industrial technology that I am most hopped up about is VINES. Especially the parthenocissus-henryana family. This is the "ivy" of the "ivy league". Ivies got a bad name from Wright (who legitimized architects' dumbest vanities about exterior surfaces). The parthenocissuses are wonderful deciduous climate control technologies! Between Wright and the unthinking contempt for pre-industrial technologies, vines have been nearly forgotten.
Every time I see another green wall or roof that starts by hoisting a growing medium up onto the wall or roof, along with a high-tech watering and feeding apparatus, it makes me just shake my head. Humanity SOLVED THIS PROBLEM GENERATIONS AGO!!!! Just hack a 4" diameter hole in the pavement at the foot of the building and stick in a parthenocissus start! You will probably not even have to water it after the first year. How simple is that? Just trim it away from windows or vents, if you feel you have to, and let the vine do its thing. All the benefits of living walls and/or roofs with one one-thousandth or less of the work, weight, embedded energy, hassle, chemicals, etc.
It is true there is a little maintenance to consider, but it is a tiny, tiny fraction of that required by either mechanical systems or the living roof or wall.
One also has to select one's vine carefully. For instance, if you choose not to go with the tried and true parthenocissuses, keep in mind that the english ivies (hederas) are an invasive nuisance species that propagates by bird droppings of the seeds. Kiwis are cute, but grow to be very heavy giants for the amount of area that they shade. Any fruiting vines have to be carefully considered because any waste fruit will rot and/or feed rats.
Iin any case, these Terry Thomas Building people are totally on the right track! Let's get over everything having to be an expensive industrial technology. The pre-industrial or so-called "passive" (what a mistaken term!) ones are so superior if done properly.
I also spent years working in the cursed Portland Building. In one of the offices I worked in, we complained for YEARS about the air quality. They'd come in and fuss with the vents, but nothing would improve. Come to find out, when they actually brought in a sophisticated HVAC contractor for the whole building, the portion of the floor we were working in there HAD NEVER BEEN OPENED UP AT THE SOURCE after construction. We weren't getting bad air, we were getting NO AIR. Tells you something if total absence of service is indistinguishable from standard service. That building should be demoed like Cabrini Green.
As a masters of architecture student I am always ranting about the unnecessary gadgetry that we put in/on/and around our "green" buildings because it makes the sustainable/green movement seem more interesting but they always seem to ignore the fact that these system have a life-cycle also...if they don't work the bldg doesn't work at a performance level that is expected and there goes the interest. Less is More...Life-cycle is a mandatory foresight...excessive maintenance is a nightmare...simple happy buildings make happy people/workers/environments/profits/and yes happy owners.