Aardex wrote a book about its User Effective design process and proved its theories by building the LEED Platinum Signature Centre. Situated at the foot of Table Mountain, the Signature Centre is a five-story, 186,000 sq.-ft. building that maximizes its location to help minimize operating costs. Finished in late 2007, the building costs only $8/sq. ft. to operate annually, $2/sq.-ft. less than most commercial space in the area, says Steve Grund, Aardex LLC.
Whether you want to fix your car or your life, there are plenty of authors peddling their words of wisdom. Some are extremely helpful. Others? Well, not so much.
So when Aardex LLC, a design-build contractor based in Golden, Colorado, started to formulate its building approach, it developed a process that focused on the building occupants more than on the building itself. This process evolved into its trademarked User Effective (UE) building design. It has been so successful that it has actually published a book about it.
The book, User Effective Buildings, offers plenty of helpful advice for those who plan, build or work in an office environment in the 21st century.
The User Effective approach considers “return on people” just as much as return on investment. “Aardex started doing one-off buildings for the government. We had a very lean construction focus. In 2002, we evaluated how we did business and what we could do to be even more successful. We documented our best practices and then wrote a book about it,” says Steve Grund, chief marketing officer and principal at Aardex.
Grund says User Effective building focuses on the top 10 office environment needs, based on common worker complaints:
To meet those needs, the Aardex team addresses the following areas on a case-by-case basis:
Lighting and illumination: Most buildings use lighting systems designed to read text on paper, not data on screens.When properly applied, high-quality lighting can actually reduce power requirements and heat generation, reducing overall building energy requirements. “The relatively small expense that lighting represents can yield enormous improvements in productivity,” says Grund.
Windows and daylighting: Windows can be challenges in buildings. They create glare, convection currents and distraction in most office environments. “User Effective buildings take this liability and make it an asset by distributing it in the building for better illumination. It’s a free resource that we use to help improve worker morale and productivity,” he says.
Comfort zones: Studies show that a one or two degree swing in office temperature can mean the difference of workers being too hot or too cold. Obsolete cooling and heating systems leads to dueling thermostats and greater energy consumption. The best solution: individual temperature controls for each workspace.
Indoor air quality and health: Provide a healthy workspace and you’ll reduce employee sickness and turnover. Technological improvements in HVAC systems can greatly enhance employee health.
Office noise: As one of the biggest barriers to office productivity, managing noise can improve concentration and reduce distractions.
Office size and layout: Office space per employee continues to trend downward as real estate costs increase. Thinking ahead can make work areas more usable, comfortable and productive.
Privacy: It’s a balancing act between privacy and encouraging teamwork, and a well-designed work area offers both. Visual and acoustic means can be used, based on users’ needs.
Flexibility: Change is constant in any business; one office configuration may be acceptable until technology, markets or other needs change. Designing buildings to allow fast and efficient reconfiguration allows companies to be more responsive to change.
Safety and security: Increasing employee paranoia and tighter insurance requirements are requiring buildings to offer proper lighting, floor surfaces, access points, sensors and alarms that protect employees from injuries and threats.
User Effective Workplace features:
OTHER USER EFFECTIVE PROJECT FEATURES
Aardex has taken this user-first approach in several projects that serve the office and medical markets and then focused on attaining Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification on its projects.
The Signature Centre in Golden, Colorado, has attained LEED platinum certification, and the Muskogee Community Hospital in Muskogee, Oklahoma, which relies totally on geothermal energy for heating and cooling, is well on its way to a Gold rating, says Grund, and will also become the nation’s first Energy Star-rated hospital by the EPA. The New Centura Health medical office building that Aardex recently opened in Westminster, Colorado, is also on track for advanced LEED certification, says Grund.
“The User Effective building process drove the development and design of the Signature Centre.When we started planning the Signature Centre in 2004, we were not even looking at LEED certification, but as we got into development and construction processes, LEED Gold was staring us in the face, so we aimed for Platinum and got it.
“That’s how well the UE process meshes with LEED certification.We didn’t spend any more to reach the LEED certification than we would have constructing the building to meet our User Effective approach,” he says.
Situated at the foot of Table Mountain, the Signature Centre is a five-story, 186,000 sq.-ft. building that maximizes its location to help minimize operating costs. This Class A office building, finished in late 2007, costs only $8/sq. ft. to operate annually. That’s $2/sq.-ft. less than most commercial space in the area, Grund says.
“From the first day of design, every facet of the building was scrutinized to assure that every construction method or system selected would add value and improve user comfort in the building. That is the hallmark of our process. Nothing is taken for granted or used ‘because we’ve always done it this way’. There can be no cookie cutters with User Effective design. Every assumption must be tested. Each site is unique and everyone on staff is expected to talk it up and challenge the status quo. There is never a default situation. The designers and builders need to keep finding what is new and what works,” he says.
The Signature Centre uses 40 percent less energy than conventional Class A buildings. It’s situated on the site to maximize daylight penetration without causing energy-consuming building heat gain. In fact, 95 percent of the building is lit with daylight.
For temperature control, designers turned away from traditional HVAC systems and ductwork. Instead, the Signature Centre relies on a pressured low-velocity raised floor system that allows limitless flexibility for workspace design and comfort. “Power and data can be installed anywhere in an office area by replacing 2'x2' floor sections with special sections that have outlets built into them. Other sections have an adjustable air diffuser that allows each occupant to control the temperature in his or her work area,” says Grund.
Natural building airflow tempers the air near windows. A chilled beam cooling system in the ceiling plenum is fed by condensing chilled water units with variable-flow pumps. Radiant heaters, supplied by high-efficiency boilers, are located in the floor plenum near windows.
Movable walls, built with lots of glass, allow light into interior offices. “With movable walls and the ability to easily relocate power, data and air diffusers in office areas, we can reconfigure an entire office area or floor in less than 24 hours if we had to,” he says.
Other User Effective and LEED friendly features include:
Waterless urinals, infrared-sensitive hands-free faucets and low-flow showerheads in locker rooms save 1.6 million gal. of water annually. If local building and water use codes would allow, the building could also have used rain and gray water for building and irrigation purposes. The hands-free faucets help reduce the spread of germs and. in turn, employee illness.
These features reduce the building’s energy use by 37.3 percent and save 32.8 percent in annual energy costs. The building also offsets 100 percent of its electricity with clean, renewable wind energy through the utility’s green power program.
During construction, Aardex designers and builders concentrated on using recycled and regionally available materials. The 2'x2' carpet tiles are made with recycled materials. If they get damaged or worn, they can be removed, replaced and recycled.Most metal in the building comes from recycled steel and aluminum; 100 percent of construction debris was recycled.
“Selling User Effective buildings can make sense if the developer can look past initial cost. It may cost more at the front end, but looking at the 40- year life of a building, User Effective features can save money over time and actually make buildings easier to rent or lease,” he says.
For example, if you raise the productivity of a $50,000/year employee by 4 percent, the payback is $2,000 per year. That easily pays back the investment in the space, and any greater productivity improvement falls right to the bottom line,” he says.
“We believe and have proven that a five percent increase in human productivity returns more benefit than the entire cost of the building . Every design element is dedicated to improving the human condition and increasing productivity in the workplace. Our goal with User Effective design is to increase occupant productivity; reduce utility consumption; rely on proven green products and methods; and maintain schedule and construction cost at or less than conventional design to allow head-to-head competition in an open lease market. As we built Signature Centre, we were able to achieve these goals plus LEED Platinum certification with little extra construction cost,” says Grund
Go to www.contractortoolsandsupplies.com/UED.htm. The 210-page book, available in PDF format, is an easy read and provides some valuable insight into making office buildings more user-friendly.
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