Archive for the ‘Our Offices’ Category

The Eco Education Park

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Yesterday, we met with the Detroit Shoreway Development Corporation. The meeting was positive, and I left feeling even more jazzed than usual about our project. There are plans for improvements to the Michael Zone Recreation Center. It looks to be a great project that will have a huge impact on the neighborhood. Furthermore, I have discovered the “green” rapid station that is nearby is the first of its kind in the country. RTA has plans to make the overall site more appealing-adding plants and trees. I have talked about the office and shown you a few images, but I haven’t really given you an overview of the entire scope. Hopefully, after you read this post, you will see why we are so excited about it.

The building that we have purchased was built in 1885. It is actually 2 buildings with a shared roof. The second building was built in 1887. There is a third building that was listed as a barn, but has been used for a variety of purposes. Currently, the building is condemned, but as it is historically significant, it has not been demolished. We will be leasing the smaller of the two buildings-preferable to leasers that are environmentally or community oriented. The larger space will be our offices. The main floor is a storefront space which will be open plan. It will be used as our conference room, but will feature gallery showings of local artists and host community events.

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Eco Education Park

The outbuilding and environs is the future home of the Eco Education Park. The site will include permeable pavers, solar/wind power, bio swale and storm water management. There will be benches, and educational stations that feature environmental practices. We will highlight such issues as native vegetation, the local watershed and local wildlife. Cleveland’s aging infrastructure needs all the help it can get. Green building practices can take some of the strain off of these public services. Furthermore, many people don’t understand the importance of conserving water and protecting our local watershed. We hope to be able to highlight not just why but how this can be done. The building will become the Eco Education Center. Inside we will feature interactive exhibits that showcase green building practices and products. We plan to have corporately sponsored exhibits where new products can be seen. Plans include a bulb station, where you can compare the energy consumption of traditional, CFL and LED bulbs; and an exhibit on recycling carpet. The Eco Education Center will also be used as a base to highlight sustainable programs. For example, we plan to have a denim drop off station to collect old jeans to make into insulation. Other ideas include a seed distribution program to encourage people to garden and grow their own food. To further connect to the community, we intend to install public seating for the bus line, have garbage/recycling receptacles available and beautify the street through plantings and planters.eep2

Green building and sustainability are ideas that often elude the general public and often members of mainstream construction industry. Furthermore, outside of trade shows, there is little access to information on sustainable products. The purpose of this project is to educate everyone on the process, showing in real time what one can expect on a project of this scope. If we can do it with an old condemned building-anyone can. The Eco Education Park will serve as a repository of knowledge that can be accessed by a large audience; giving everyone a chance to see what “green” looks and feels like.

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A New Term: Deconstruction

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Since I have been talking about terms, I thought i would bring up the most popular new term that I have heard: deconstruction. There is a reason why this term has been bandied about of late. The housing problem is big in Cleveland. While it may not be any better or worse than in other cities around the country, we do have an older housing stock. Marry that with a high foreclosure rate, poor maintenance and high amount of scavenger crime, and you have a recipe for demolition. Furthermore, no one wants to live next to a boarded up home, so many Cleveland residents are clamoring for home destruction. Enter the world of deconstruction. Now, instead of bull dozing and landfilling a property, it can be taken apart and recycled.

We met with a representative of a great company and toured our building site. His name was Igor Rae and his company is Green Deconstruction Services. He was a wealth of information. What his company does is help you salvage what can be salvaged in a project. Our office buildings were built in 1885 and 1887. While the shell is brick masonry, there is still quite a bit of wood in the place. Buildings of that age typically used old growth lumber. That lumber is salvageable and reusable. Furthermore, it is typically of a higher quality than the lumber that we use in buildings today. They pull the nails and screws (which they recycle as well) and sell it to be reused. Deconstruction isn’t just about wood. Much of what is in a home can be reused or recycled. This project means extra tubs and sinks with fixtures. This company tries to find a home for these goods, by reuse, resale, donation or recycling. They salvage architectural details. This site has a lot of concrete. That means a sizable chunk of waste. We hope that it can all be reground and made onto new cement.

windowsGreen Deconstruction Services has recently acquired a new subsidiary. This other company is called Window Restorations. I had heard of this company before and was excited to speak with him about what they do. If you have old single pane windows with weights, then you know how drafty and wasteful they can be. Window Restorations comes in and removes them. But, instead of replacing them with new windows, they refurbish them. The weights are removed and recycled. then, the gap is filled and sealed. Next, they painstakingly replace or reinforce the glass to make it more thermally efficient. Then they reinstall them with a track and can even make them tilt able for easy cleaning. Rebuilding is often cheaper, and is always more environmentally friendly than replacement and throw away. Furthermore, the windows of our site are important architecturally to the front of the building. Their process can help us get historical tax credits, while still saving us money and making the building greener.

I am very excited about these guys. LEED credits are obtained by diverting materials from landfill, and this is a great start. I can’t wait to hear more about their evaluation.

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Office Update

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

As you probably know by now, we have purchased a site for our new office. Since closing at the end of the year, little has happened. I have spent a few hours each day at the site-changing locks, putting plastic on windows and cleaning up some of the garbage. We are looking at appraisers now, and meeting with all manner of people.

Yesterday was a lovely day, and I was excited to clean up the future retail/office space and take down the heavy drapes. The space flooded with light and I began to see our vision coming through. The space is about 950 square feet and has front and rear access, as well as a shared common hallway. It will make a great retail space! Over the weekend, I cleaned up the upstairs space. While it has previously been used as an apartment, we hope to find an office tenant. Most of the rooms feature beautiful crown molding and baseboards. Under the carpet are wooden floors and I hope they can be made beautiful.

Of course with any renovation, there are always surprises. The out building needs to have an entire wall reconstructed. We expected it to be our biggest problem. Surprise! Not so much. The one building has masonry problems at the top, but they are worse than expected. It seems the roof will have to be lifted on jacks and several courses of masonry replaced. Were it not triple layers of brick, I am sure that it wouldn’t be standing today. We are awaiting the report from the masonry company that inspected yesterday.

Of course, the roof is the first thing. The shingles will need to be replaced, of course, as will much of the sublayer. The structure is not sufficient to handle the weight of a planted roof, so we are looking at the options. One option would be to completely rebuild it, but I think that is cost prohibitive. Another is to add a bright colored roof to reflect light. In order to achieve LEED status, we will need it to have a high SRI value (Solar Reflectance Index). Additionally, we wanted to add solar panels to the roof, so the entire roof project is going to take a while. It makes the simple cleaning seem like a waste of time, but I feel I need to be always moving forward. I want the people in the Eco Village neighborhood to realize that we are working on the site and it will be no longer be an eyesore, but soon a thing to be proud of.

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New Year and new diggs

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

We are so excited about the new building project that we are working on. I went today and changed several locks and put in some new light bulbs. I used CFL bulbs. They are on sale at Home Depot right now, a four pack for under 6 bucks! As is typical with anything like this, the doors are split or warped and so the new locks didn’t really fit right. Still, new doors are not the first thing to get fixed, as nearly all the doors in the place will be changed. I also took some pictures of the neighborhood. We are fortunate to have a bus stop right out front, and nearby is the 65th street rapid station. rta Just across from the rapid station is the Michael Zone Recreation Center. They have great green spaces and the building view is great.zone

We also met with an insurance broker today. We want to start with liability right away. Who know what can happen as we have site inspectors and such tramping through the property. The broker is familiar with green insurance products. One important point he brought up, is that if you plan to have a green building, you should make sure that your insurance is green as well. Property is valued at its green value, not just general value. For example, if building materials are damaged or stolen, you are entitled to the exact replacement value. Specialized materials (say recycled gypsum board) are replaced with the same thing (instead of standard drywall). Green buildings make use of as much existing materials as possible. If someone breaks into your site, and makes off with all the trim boards that you cut to size after lovingly pulling nails and refinishing, make sure that your insurance recognizes the labor and time that went into those materials, so you can be justly compensated. Our broker represents many insurance companies, and we will let you know more when we sit down with the final quotes. Fireman’s Insurance provides the most benefits for green buildings, but Travelers has recently entered the arena. When we meet with him again, I will tell you about the pros and cons…

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The Secret is Out! Great Lakes Design Collaborative will be moving in 2009!

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

As the year draws to a close, we at Great Lakes Design Collaborative are taking a look back at some of the cool things that happened over the year. The biggest news is the acquisition of a new building for our offices. The deed will be recorded in the morning and we will be starting 2009 with a new project. I plan to have a daily blog update on our progress, as we shoot for LEED certification on a building that is over 100 years old. For everyone who has thought about going green, feel free to ask questions as we move forward. I will let everyone know about the trials and successes in all areas of the project-from permits and construction to certification and recycling. Here is a picture of the site as it stands today:

As the site looks today

As the site looks today


As you can see, this is a big project. We are excited, because we want to help be part of the change of the entire EcoVillage neighborhood. The buildings are located at the corner of 58th and Lorain, adjacent to the Eco Village Townhouses. Around the neighborhood will be the new Green Cottages being built by the Cuyahoga Community Land Trust. The entire site will be green and we are going for LEED certification, at a Platinum level. The space on the right will be refurbished and leased. There will be two spaces for lease, and we are currently looking for interested tenants. The space on the left will include a gallery space and our offices. The rest of the site is another exciting project, but you will have to watch for more details! Want to see what the site will look like? Check out this great rendering:

The future home of GLDC

The future home of GLDC

We are happily working with the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Corporation, and are happy to be a part of their vision for this under appreciated area.

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