Green Design: The Latest in Sustainable Style
BY NORA BURBA TRULSSON
REI
Boulder, Colorado | Ted Jacobs and Karen Skillin, LEED AP | Gensler | San Francisco, California
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BENNY CHAN AND PAUL BROKERING
 Gensler remodeled the Boulder, Colorado REI store to include daylighting and other sustainable strategies. At the front, bike racks encourage alternative transportation, while a bench was crafted from recycled materials.
REI, the beloved co-op/retailer of outdoor clothing and gear, has always made conservation and stewardship of the land part of its mission. In recent years, the Washington-based company, founded in 1938, has started to translate that eco-consciousness into its stores, located throughout the West, Midwest and East Coast.
While REI's flagship stores in cities such as Seattle and Denver are all about sustainability and design, the company has started to turn its attention to its smaller, "core" stores. Several years ago, the firm asked the San Francisco office of Gensler to create a prototype core store emphasizing environmentally friendly strategies and materials by renovating REI's Boulder locale. The architectural firm responded with a design that's not only meant to meet LEED-CI Silver standards, but makes hiking boots, fleece jackets and sleeping bags seem downright fashionable.
The design brief was simple, says architect Ted Jacobs, who, along with senior project manager Karen Skillin, spearheaded the Gensler team. "Our job was to create a physical experience and environment that was commensurate with REI's products and services."
To do the project, Skillin, Jacobs and the design team studied not only the business, but the REI customer. "REI members and customers are very passionate," says Jacobs. "They come to the stores to not only shop, but participate in community meetings, attend classes and see slideshows."
What the architectural team found was that most stores held those community events in the corners or even stockrooms of the stores, and that information for the events was often posted on bulletin boards near bathrooms. Additionally, merchandising opportunities for products were lacking.
 Angular panels, which mimic angles of nearby mountains, are used as backdrops for merchandise displays. A solar skylight illuminates the store, including the raised community room at the center of the floorplan.
The Boulder store was the first chosen to undergo the transformation. Given its locale in great-outdoors country, it is one of REI's highest-grossing stores. The 25,000-square-foot store was also rather typical of the smaller stores — located in a neighborhood strip mall, nondescript and pretty much devoid of natural light indoors.
"Boulder customers are tough," explains Jacobs. "They're passionate about the brand and about their outdoor lifestyle. We knew that they would scrutinize the redesign."
Construction on the project began in early 2007, Skillin says. The original store remained open while an adjacent 18,000 square feet of space was built out to the new concept. When that space was complete, all merchandise and operations moved there while the original space was reworked. When completed, both sides were joined together.
To convey REI's message, the Gensler architects came up with a floorplan centered upon a flexible, 1,200-square-foot community room, elevated slightly above the retail floor and visible not only from the entrance, but from all points in the store. "We wanted this community room to be the heart of the store," Jacobs says. "We surrounded it with glass on three sides so that everyone could see into the activity and designed a portal for the fourth side, where everyone could post announcements and event schedules." The new floorplan also created easy pathways to lead shoppers to merchandise areas. Fitting rooms, which used to be portable pods, were designed to be permanent and placed at the sides of the store.
For the design theme, the architects "leveraged nature," says Jacobs. "We didn't want to put up fake trees and mountains, but we wanted the store to have a modern interpretation of the outdoors in both its style and materials."
To that end, the store's exterior features angular panels of weathered steel, shaped to mimic mountain peaks, and a glass entry canopy embellished with stylized leaf patterns and textures. A large bank of windows at the front of the store not only helps fill the interior with daylight, but serves to display merchandise — something new for this type of REI store. The store's community and sustainability policies are reiterated outside with numerous bicycle racks and a large, welcoming bench — made from material reclaimed from the old store.
 Shoes are sold under a canopy of stylized trees.
Just inside the entry, the mountain-peak theme repeats in the form of freestanding, angular panels that serve as backdrops for merchandising displays. "These display areas are key places to tell the REI story," says Jacobs. "The store can show seasonal items or put together clothes and products to let customers know how to use or wear the merchandise."
Stained concrete flooring near the entry gives way to rubber flooring where the merchandise is located, displayed on new fixtures, some specific for products, others flexible for multiple use. In the back, the shoe area features a wall display of product, set below a metal canopy of branches. Benches for trying on shoes include display areas for more product.
The introduction of natural daylight to the store was a key element in both the merchandising and sustainability strategies of the renovation. "Customers want to see the true color when they're buying product," says Jacob. "Daylight allows this."
In addition to the large bank of windows at the front of the store, the design team made liberal use of Solatubes, which beam daylight into the store without heat gain. Numerous Solatube openings were fitted with custom fabric light fixtures. "The designs were meant to be evocative of a tent," explains Skillin. Light sensors adjust illumination from standard light fixtures on gloomy days or as the sun sets.
 Much of the lighting for the community room and the rest of the store comes from Solatubes, which were customized with tent-like shades.
More natural light comes through an atrium skylight at the store's center. The skylight is embedded with integrated silicone solar cells that send energy directly into the store's electrical system. The application is thought to be the first retail use of building-integrated photovoltaics of its type.
Skillin points out other green elements of the Boulder store, including low-flow faucets, urinals and toilets; solar hot water, Energy Star appliances, recycled-content rubber flooring and low-VOC paints. Much of the construction debris was recycled into the renovated space or diverted to other area projects. "The store has a recycling program," says Skillin, "and a green housekeeping contract." Additionally, the renovated store has a self-guided tour of its green features.
The renovation was completed in late 2007, and the new design has proven to be a hit, not only with REI shoppers, but with the Boulder community as well. "We like to think of this store as a retail lab for learning," says Jacobs.
Architecture and interiors: Gensler, 2 Harrison St., San Francisco, CA 94105; (415) 433-3700 or www.gensler.com.
General contractor: Westwood Contractors, Inc., 1142 Broadway Plaza, Suite 210, Tacoma, WA 98402; (253) 779-0772 or www.westwoodcontractors.com.
Lighting: Architecture & Light, 60 Brady St., San Francisco, CA 94103; (415) 676-3999 or www.architectureandlight.com.
Solatube daylighting systems: Solatube, 2210 Oak Ridge Way, Vista, CA 92081; (888) 765-2882 or www.solatube.com.
The Origen at Las Vegas Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada | Randy Spitzmesser, AIA, LEED AP | Tate Snyder Kimsey | Henderson, Nevada
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM BONNER
 The exhibition building, with its rotunda entrance, glows by night, competing with the lights of the nearby Strip.
Within sight of the neon, the hubbub and the over-the-top fabulousness of the Strip, there exists another, completely opposite, side of Las Vegas. Opened to the public in June 2007, the 180-acre Las Vegas Springs Preserve celebrates the birthplace of the city, a historic site where Native Americans, Spanish explorers and early pioneers found life-giving waters. The preserve includes historic structures, new buildings and outdoor spaces that let visitors learn about the city's past, present and future, as well as life in a desert ecosystem.
The design of the visitors' center complex was handled by Tate Snyder Kimsey. The architectural firm broke down the complex into three adjacent buildings: a 53,000-square-foot exhibit building, a 24,500-square-foot guest services building and a 550-square-foot restroom structure. The complex was dubbed the "Origen," combining the words "original" and "generations" as a nod to the site's history.
"This is the centerpiece of the Las Vegas Springs Preserve," explains principal Randy Spitzmesser, who led the Tate Snyder Kimsey team in the project's design. "The underlying theme was to tell the cultural and geological story of this place — how people came here for the springs and left some kind of remnant. We needed to build a container for the site's stories, and water had to be the most important design element."
Not only did the complex have to be the pivotal experience for visitors at the preserve, the structures also had to exemplify the preserve's mission to both honor the desert environment and be at the cutting edge of sustainability. Tate Snyder Kimsey designed the Origen complex to meet LEED Platinum standards, the highest level of green building standards.
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Glass doors with a watery pattern mark the entrance to the exhibition building's rotunda. |
The genesis of the project's design came from water, says Spitzmesser. "We used curved pathways and walls to mimic creeks, rivers and water-carved canyons," he explains. "The buildings feature materials that look weathered by moisture or have perforations that pass moisture."
Following that theme, visitors follow a winding, creek-like path through desert landscaping to arrive at the main exhibition building, where the entrance is tucked between two tall, curving, canyon-like walls. In plan, the exhibit building includes three large galleries, a theater, exterior exhibit spaces and offices, all organized around a two-story rotunda.
The building's exterior materials include board-formed, cast-in-place concrete walls, weathered steel panels and, at the rotunda entrance, water-colored glass. The airy rotunda, lit by a band of windows shaded with perforated weathered steel panels, reiterates the story of the springs — there's a stream beneath the room's glass and stainless-steel floor. A polished stainless-steel orb in the rotunda's ceiling represents the sun, while a curving bench at the room's edge is backed with metal cattails that bear donor names.
The exhibit building's three main galleries feature high ceilings and bamboo flooring, and include exhibits detailing everything from flash-flood cycles to the area's ranching history. Outside, bats, lizards and snakes get neighborly in special exhibits. In the circular theater, visitors can watch an orientation film about the site narrated by actor/activist Martin Sheen.
 Inside the rotunda, banks of windows bring filtered light into the space. A stream is visible beneath the room's glass and steel floor.
The adjacent two-story guest services building has a more rectangular plan, and includes a gift shop, ticket office, first-aid station and office space on the first floor, and a second-story restaurant with balcony, home to chef Wolfgang Puck's latest Las Vegas café.
Like the exhibit building, the guest service building materials include cast-in-place concrete, weathered steel and glass. The angled walls are marked by bas-relief concrete lizard sculptures. "Each scale on the lizard recognizes a donor," explains Spitzmesser.
Inside, the guest services building is anchored by a dramatic ocular staircase, illuminated by banks of windows that cast light on a circular layer of crushed, recycled glass in the floor near the base of the stairs. The generously sized gift shop also features bamboo flooring and offers, via flexible display cases and racks, merchandise that has, for the most part, a green, eco theme. Puck's restaurant also follows the green theme, with a menu emphasizing organic choices.
Even the restroom structure includes the watery theme. "Oversize pipes hang down from the ceiling," says Spitzmesser. "There's a little spray of water that comes out with a light show for hand washing."
 Weathered steel marks the exterior of the guest services building, which includes a second-floor restaurant.
In all three buildings, Tate Snyder Kimsey incorporated numerous sustainable strategies. Natural daylight illuminates the interiors, with the harsh desert sun mitigated via the perforated steel panels. The buildings' exteriors also include horizontal louvers spaced to block summer sunlight. Waterless urinals and ultra-low-flow toilets save water, as does the use of drought-tolerant plants. The concrete walls incorporate a high level of recycled fly ash. Other recycled materials were also utilized. Wood products were certified with the Forest Stewardship Council principles, and low-VOC paints, finishes and furnishings were specified.
Since its opening last summer, the Las Vegas Springs Preserve and its Origen visitors' center have proven to be successful in numerous ways. Tate Snyder Kimsey won AIA Nevada's 2007 Honor Award for the project — this in addition to the 2003 Unbuilt Award the firm received from AIA Nevada while it was still on the drawing boards.
Most important though, the Las Vegas Springs Preserve and its Origen complex have proven to be a runaway hit with visitors — both locals and tourists — who are seeking an alternative to the typical Las Vegas casino experience.
Architecture: Tate Snyder Kimsey, 709 Valle Verde Court, Henderson, NV 89014; (702) 456-3000 or www.tatesnyderkimsey.com.
Landscape architecture: e Group, 817 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004; (602) 462-9000 or www.egroupinc.com.
General contractor: Tiberti/Whiting Turner, a collaboration between J.A. Tiberti Construction and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, both of Las Vegas, NV; www.tiberti.com and www.whiting-turner.com.
Exhibit design: West Office Exhibition Design, 225 Third St., Oakland, CA 94607; (510) 251-9633 or www.woed.com.
RiverClay Condominiums
Denver, Colorado | Klea Jones, IIDA | Jones Design Group | Broomfield, Colorado
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL KOHLMAN
 The sleek kitchen is accessorized with recycled or repurposed items.
Interior designer Klea Jones' most recent project is green … and green. It's a model for the RiverClay Condominiums near downtown Denver that is both green in the use of sustainable furnishings and accessories, and literally green in terms of the color of some of the walls, furniture and rugs. "The color is a memory point," explains Jones, who specializes in model-home design. "We wanted potential buyers to remember they were looking at a sustainable project."
The condominium designed by Jones and her team from Jones Design Group is one of the first sustainable model homes in the Denver area, but achieving that distinction was not without its challenges. The project was started in January of this year, completed in March and had a tight budget. And, as Jones discovered, it's not easy being green when it comes to interiors. "Green product choices are still rather limited when it comes to furniture and accessories," she explains, "especially at a more moderate price point. But the industry is catching up fast. Things were coming online even as we did the project."
Jones was asked to do the model in a two-bedroom, 1,454-square-foot unit within the condo project, which had been designed to LEED Silver standards and was being marketed for its sustainable appeal. The model, therefore, had to reflect the project's mission statement. "The target market was both the young professional with no children and the empty-nesters," explains Jones.
 A table made from reclaimed wood sets the tone for the dining area.
The scheme the design team suggested was one that mixed a sleek, urban appeal with touches of natural materials and textures. The punch of green to the color palette came about when the design team realized that the sustainable furnishings selected had a fairly monochromatic, neutral color scheme.
Finding and choosing the pieces for the setting took research. "We wanted just about everything we put in the rooms to be green," says Jones, "and as we went along, we learned things like the seagrass we wanted to use because it was 'natural' was boiled in diesel fuel, so we chose seagrass boiled in palm oil, but that destroys habitats … and on and on. We decided to do our best to stick to our mission."
For the living room, the team chose a sofa and loveseat made by a manufacturer that's a member of the Sustainable Furniture Council, upholstered in a bamboo and cotton fabric. The coffee table was made from reclaimed wood, and the seating area is underscored by a lime-green area rug, made of 100 percent New Zealand felted wool, a renewable resource from sheep raised on sustainable farms. The adjacent dining room's table was also made from reclaimed wood, and the Euro-style chairs were made with recycled leather.
 The living room includes seating upholstered in bamboo and cotton, and a coffee table made from reclaimed wood.
The smaller bedroom was furnished as a study, featuring a chair made from a recycled bicycle, split-bamboo wallcovering installed with water-based adhesives, and a bamboo desk chair. In the master bedroom, the platform bed is bamboo, also from a Sustainable Furniture Council manufacturer. The sheets are also bamboo and cotton. A bright green, curvy side chair is made from recycled seatbelt straps.
The accessories are also green, recycled, repurposed or simply great finds from the design team's forays to everything from garage sales to secondhand shops. "We made a lamp with an old aspen tree from one of the designer's back yards," explains Jones. "We also made our own drapery hardware." For the living room, they found accessory pillows made with recycled polyester and created their own art, blowing up photographs of a Denver roller coaster onto canvas, then painting the abstracted images with leftover house paint. Even the wine bottles on display in the kitchen were "repurposed," donated to the project by the design team after an enjoyable consumption process.
"We also used live plants throughout the model," says Jones. "That's something many builders won't do these days, but here we thought it was important because plants help interior air quality."
 A bamboo bed is covered in bamboo and cotton sheets, while the chair is made from recycled seatbelt straps.
Naturally, the design team used low-VOC paints and finishes in the model and fitted the light fixtures with compact fluorescent bulbs.
Since the model opened in March, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, so much so that the designers and developer collaborated on a handout that walks visitors, room by room, through all the sustainable materials used in the condominium model.
Interior design: Jones Design Group, 590 Burbank St., #205, Broomfield, CO 80020; (303) 350-3500 or www.jonesdesigngroupinc.com.
Architecture: Samuel Engineering, Inc., 8450 E. Crescent Parkway, Suite 200, Greenwood Village, CO; (303) 714-4840 or www.samuelengineering.com.
Developer and builder: Zocalo Community Development, Denver, CO; www.zocalodevelopment.com.
Sofa and loveseat: Rowe Fine Furniture, www.rowefurniture.com.
Dining and coffee table: Moe's Home Collection, www.moeshomecollection.com.
Bed and dresser: Greenington, www.greenington.com.
Bicycle chair: Bike Furniture Design, www.bikefurniture.com.
Seatbelt chair: Phillips Collection, www.phillipscollection.com.
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