Garden Building To Feature Earth-Friendly Elements, Energy Savings
April 12, 1999
GAINESVILLE — With building construction and operation accounting for about a third of all energy consumption in the United States and creating about a quarter of all landfill material, putting up a new office building or house can be hard on Mother Earth.
With that in mind, University of Florida researchers have teamed up with local county and city officials to design and construct a building they say incorporates energy-conservation methods and construction techniques that soon may be commonplace in the typical home.
Summer House, an environmental education and visitors’ center at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville, will use about one-third the energy of other buildings its size when it is finished in about 10 months. The 11,176-square-foot building will incorporate recycled construction materials that will significantly lessen the project’s impact on the environment.
“Summer House is a remarkable example of what community and industry cooperation can accomplish using sustainable principles,” said Don Goodman, director of Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. “The result will be the construction of … a building that will complement and enhance the natural surroundings and beauty of the gardens. It is a project that brings all the elements of sound environmental stewardship together.”
Brad Guy, research assistant for UF’s Center for Construction and Environment and project manager, said the building will have a rating of 23 on the state Energy Performance Index and will be a model for energy efficient building in Gainesville. The highest rating allowed on the index is 100 for high energy usage. By comparison, a typical residential home may have a rating in the 90s.
In addition, Guy said the building will use “off-the-shelf” products that are readily available for both commercial and residential use. Other features of the house include:
- a composting toilet that uses no water to flush,
- rain water collected from the roof to flush the building’s other toilets,
- gray water from hand sinks for outdoor irrigation,
- carpet with fibers made from recycled 2-liter soda bottles,
- low-toxicity paint,
- ceramic tile made from recycled glass,
- steel framing,
- energy-efficient fluorescent light fixtures,
- a metal roof with 25 percent recycled content,
- extensive natural lighting and ventilation requiring only 40 percent of the building to be air-conditioned, and
- a geothermal heat pump that takes water from the ground, where water is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and uses it as a source of cooling and heating.
Guy said the building features passive solar design based on four individual modules separated by a cross-shaped lobby and display area. Dormers above the lobby will provide day lighting, and a cupola in the center of the building will provide natural ventilation.
Some of the material to be used was taken from deconstruction projects, such as a demolished Gainesville area church. The material would have ended up in a landfill; instead, wood planks were taken to make the house’s porch.
Guy said the building will cost about $1 million dollars, or about $84 a square-foot.
He said the Summer House will serve two purposes: as a visitor center that serves the needs of the gardens with an expanded gift shop, cafe and kitchen, multi-purpose room, conference and office space, and as a model of sustainable construction in the real world.
Adrienne Burges, senior account executive at Gainesville Regional Utilities, said her company will sponsor a kiosk inside the building that will highlight energy and water conservation.
She said they have committed about $125,000 to the project by supplying natural gas, electricity, water lines and lighting design and also made a $25,000 cash donation.