Yesler Community Center

City Projects Case Study Case City Projects Seattle Parks and Recreation

Photo courtesy of Mithun Square Feet: 22,800, 2 stories Benefits

Site: 60,000 square feet n 42% reduction in energy use Location: First Hill neighborhood n 63% less water use Construction Cost: $158/square feet n 76% of construction waste diverted from landfills n 95% of building is naturally ventilated and daylit Completed: January 2005 n 41% of products and materials from regional sources LEED Facts - NC Gold Project Overview Located along a major arterial in central the perception of openness and safety as well 46 69 Seattle, Yesler Community Center serves as as the health attributes of natural lighting Sustainable Sites 11 14 a neighborhood hub. The building contains and ventilation. a gymnasium, teen center, childcare facility, Water Efficiency 3 5 Full time staff at the community center is fitness center, computer room and meeting typically three to five people. Volunteers and Energy & Atmosphere 8 17 rooms. program leaders make up the remaining staff. Materials & Resources 6 13 Public spaces are all visible from the interior Visitors to the community center ranges from circulation area or commons. The commons is 10 to 500 people on a daily basis depending Indoor Environment 13 15 visually linked to the street, which enhances on the programming and activities occurring. Innovation & Design 5 5 the experience of community and public life The center is occupied six days per week and while providing for casual reconnaissance. is open until 9 p.m. most nights, opening Points Achieved Points Available Hundreds of daily occupants benefit from alternately at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

city green building Photo above courtesy of Ela Lamblin Photo courtesy of Mithun

The Public Art Program of the Mayor’s Office Sustainable Sites program was revised so that half of the of Arts & Cultural Affairs integrates artworks parking requirement was met below and the ideas of artists into a variety of Yesler Community Center is located on grade in a structure tucked underneath the southern edge of Yesler Terrace, which public settings. the gymnasium wing. This leaves an open was built by the Seattle Housing Authority area on the downhill side for outdoor play Title: Current Events in the 1940s on the south side of Seattle's in connection with the child care center. Artist: Ela Lamblin First Hill neighborhood. Yesler Terrace Sunlit terraces and walkways surround the Completed: 2005 consists of several hundred two-story major volumes of the building. rowhouse apartment dwellings with small Commissioned: 1999 Community front yards. The community will undergo To preserve and protect large red oaks Centers Levy 1% for Art Funds. a planned transition that includes the on the site, the building was set back and tree wells were dramatically enlarged. This stainless steel gazebo-like structure, introduction of office and neighborhood commercial space into the overall mix. Plantings were selected to reduce water with a twirling wind-catch and aluminum use for irrigation by 63 percent, eliminate tubular bells, uses wind and rain to provide Yesler Community Center lies along pesticide use, and support a variety of visual and aural interest at the entry to the "Blue Ring," a proposed open space soil insects and microrizae unique to the Community Center. Rain provides network in Seattle that connects inner the Northwest. Red trig dogwood and percussive punctuation on the stainless city neighborhoods. One of these future vibernum tolerate the dry shade on the steel skin, and sounds emitted from the open spaces lies along the building's west north, and vine maple and sword fern are wind-turned aluminum slit gongs whirl side, so that building and greenbelt are shaded by large existing trees on the east about inside the dome. connected to the nearby International side. On the south side, rockrose, native District. creeping raspberry and ceonothus are The site is on previously developed urban planted in front of a heat absorbing wall. land. Because lead and asbestos in the All light fixtures are shielded to reduce building materials of the adjacent old uplighting, consistent with LEED dark sky community center were present in the criteria. The membrane on roof surfaces soil, the site was officially classified as a has a reflective index of .65 and total brownfield and cleaned up prior emittance greater than .9 for reduction to construction. of the heat island effect. Light colored The primary means of travel to the site concrete is used on exterior sidewalks, are buses and walking. Six different bus shaded by large existing street trees. routes have stops within 1/4 mile of the building. While city parking requirements Water Efficiency call for 42 stalls, the owner received a The use of native plantings minimizes design departure to build only 36, a outdoor water use on site, limiting it 15 percent reduction. Special parking to 1,000 gallons per year. This natural areas are designated for vans, carpools landscaping scheme will conserve and alternative fuel vehicles. As a result 29,862 gallons per year, saving Parks and of community design meetings, the Recreation $448 per year in utility costs.

Site Plan Graphic courtesy of Mithun city green building city green building Photos courtesy of Mithun

There is sufficient permeable surface to for passive cooling and ventilation for most Energy consumption was further reduced manage 20 percent of precipitation on-site of the year. When the center is in heating with condensing boilers for the hot water through infiltration. mode during winter months, ducted heating system (90 percent efficiency); Without the possibility of on-site heating-only minimum ventilation is variable frequency drives on hydronic stormwater reuse, conservation is the used in conjunction with heat recovery pumps; heat recovery in air handling units; main objective for water cycle design, and for pre-heating ventilation air. high-performance insulation package the strategy is low-flow fixtures. Low-flow All major spaces can be used during the that exceeds code requirements; and, urinals and showers were installed. The day without artificial lighting, including fluorescent lights with dimming ballasts use of low-flush urinals (0.5 gallon-per- the gymnasium, a condition believed to be that adjust to increasing sunshine. flush) saves an estimated 20,000 gallons unprecedented in a building of this size. Together, the integrated strategies improve per year in the building. Low flow showers The gymnasium is the first in Seattle that the energy performance of the building (1.8 gallons per minute) save another relies on natural lighting and ventilation. by 42% beyond the ASHRAE 90.1-1999 15,000 gallons per year. The efficient The ventilation system, refined through Standard, or more than 325,000 kWh plumbing fixtures added no capital cost thermal modeling, brings cooling air each year. That is enough energy saved to but will reduce annual operating costs. through low level louvers located at the supply power to 36 Seattle single-family The combination of all of these fixtures perimeter of the gymnasium on one side households each year. Seattle Parks and results in a 30 percent reduction in indoor and releases it through higher level vents Recreation will benefit through reduced potable water use over standard fixtures, and clerestory openings in the ceilings utility bills, saving an anticipated $7,900 conserving 132,900 gallons per year and that are integrated with the daylighting each year. generating $1,796 in annual savings. features, relying on principals of thermal Seattle City Light funded over $20,000 in stacking. Gym vent doors open without Energy & Atmosphere consultant services through their Energy motors during warm weather. Smart Services Program; $15,000 was The principal energy conservation strategy For balance, each interior space has provided for natural ventilation modeling at Yesler Community Center consists multiple sources of natural light, an and $5,000 was provided for advanced of design features that dramatically arrangement which also provides cross- commissioning. The Seattle Daylighting enhance natural ventilation and also make ventilation. All windows and skylights are Lab contributed services for daylight calculated, comprehensive use of daylight. also tasked for ventilation in order to move modeling and education. As a result, there is no mechanical comfort maximum volumes of air through the cooling, and the building relies on natural building for minimum cost. To achieve Materials & Resources light instead of electric lighting during the greatest benefit and efficiency, Because of the owner's need to keep daylight hours. detailed daylighting and natural down long-term maintenance costs and The community center is set into a south- ventilation studies were run in tandem to count on a building life of 50 years, facing hillside and branches into three for every room. Detailed analyses were building structure and materials must be major volumes to enhance southern performed for the proposed skylight and very durable, as well as sustainable. High exposures. The branched footprint means window openings, and the positions and durability and low maintenance materials that most of the building can function dimensions of windows were refined to specified in this project include: brick as a perimeter zone, and manually and allow effective use of photocell controlled and concrete facades; stainless steel base electrically operated windows can be used lighting ballasts throughout the building. flashing at masonry walls; concrete floor in city green building city green building the commons area; built-in walk-off mats temperature range is regulated by a Rating & Awards and grills at all entries; high-performance system that is largely under occupant U.S. Green Building Council LEED® for New KEE roofing membrane; galvanized steel control. Construction Gold Rating deck on gymnasium and commons; In addition, several standard measures Chapter and Regional ASHRAE Technology anodized aluminum windows at all wall were taken to protect indoor air quality, Award 2006 openings; and, heavy duty extruded including: modeling and commissioning AIA Washington Council Civic Design windows at high monitors. for thermal comfort; low-VOC adhesives Award 2006 Building materials and finishes were and sealants; low-VOC paints; and, carefully selected to conserve resources two-week flush-out prior to occupancy. The Teams through reuse, recycled content, local Seattle Parks and Recreation also Owner sourcing, and sustainable growing developed and implemented a green Seattle Parks and Recreation and manufacturing processes. Green housekeeping program that utilizes low www.seattle.gov/parks building materials include: concrete toxic cleaning products. The program's Architect & Landscape Architect mixes using flyash; efficient composite implementation included training and Mithun wood trusses in short span areas, left educational materials for Parks staff www.mithun.com natural and cleaned with an innovative and janitorial service providers. Mechanical baking soda blasting; gypsum Keen Engineers (now Stantec) wallboard with 96 percent recycled Lessons Learned www.stantec.com content; strawboard in all casework and n Yesler Community Center achieved Civil & Structural wainscoting; FSC-certified maple used high performance in all of the six Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Inc. in the two largest rooms; linoleum and LEED categories through integrated www.cplinc.com high recycled content carpet for the design strategies. For example, Electrical floor of childcare center. energy strategies combine daylight Hultz BHU Cross Engineers Over 95 percent of the ceiling structure with optimized natural ventilation http://hultzbhucross.lbu.com to reduce the need for artificial is left exposed. By allowing the structure Lighting light and eliminate the need for to serve as the finish, over 18,000 square Candela mechanical cooling. feet of ceiling finishes were eliminated. www.candela.com In addition to using less material, the n The idea of relying on natural light Daylighting construction waste generated on-site and ventilation in a regulation Seattle Daylighting Lab was carefully sorted for recycling. Over gymnasium was strongly resisted at www.daylightinglab.com 77 percent of construction waste was the beginning of the project, primarily Contractor diverted from landfills, recycling because of fears of distracting glare Berschauer Phillips Construction Co. 1,362 tons. that have been experienced in historic www.bp-construction.com Local sourcing of building materials examples. Simulation and modeling Commissioning reduces transportation impacts and undertaken as part of design of the Engineering Economics Inc. strengthens the local economy. The gymnasium space allayed fears, www.eeiengineers.com project support these goals by sourcing and the facility has been a popular 41 percent of products from within and comfortable amenity for To Learn More 500 miles of the site, and of these, the community. City Green Building is making green building 80 percent were manufactured from n The process emphasized broad standard practice in Seattle through materials harvested locally. education and collaboration among education, technical assistance and incentives. Indoor Environment design team members and owner. www.seattle.gov/dpd/greenbuilding n Taking full advantage of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs promotes The most significant contribution education embodied in Yesler the value of arts and culture in and of to indoor air quality is in the natural Community Center will require close communities throughout Seattle. ventilation and lack of mechanical monitoring of system components www.seattle.gov/arts cooling, resulting in increased ventilation to gather data on power and water Parks & Recreation provides facilities, parks effectiveness throughout the building. usage, as well as tracking of total and urban forests that improve quality of life As a result of the southerly orientation, consumption. This will require in Seattle. www.seattle.gov/parks branched building footprint and funding and commitment from the LEED® is the national benchmark for high extensive fenestration, approximately owner as well as close cooperation performance green buildings developed 90 percent of the interior spaces have between city departments and by the US Green Building Council. daylight and views. A comfortable their members. www.usgbc.org Seattle City Light offers financial incentives and technical assistance for commercial customers through Built Smart Services. www.seattle.gov/light/Conserve

December 2008 Seattle Daylighting Lab supports architectural daylighting design strategies. www.daylightinglab.com

City of Seattle Department of Planning & Development www.seattle.gov/dpd/greenbuilding