Developing Sustainably: 2 Case Studies in Portland, OR June 30th, 2009
Earlier this month, 2nd Green Revolution posted a series of stories about companies in an around Portland, Oregon that use The Natural Step philosophy in their business decisions. All of the companies profiled, including the architectural firm and public utility below, were featured on the documentary, Passion for Sustainability. Just like the companies discussed earlier, Carleton Hart Architects and the Tualatin Valley Water District have taken a big picture view of their work and subsequently developed structures that work in concert with the natural surroundings.
Carleton Hart Architects work to build green homes for low-income families. They take a similar approach to New Urbanism, by creating meaningful neighborhoods, but take the next step, by considering the lay of the land. In their Olson Woods project, this meant working around stands of trees and a pre-existing wetland. Similar to The Kentlands neighborhood, all of the homes have front porches, which encourage people to congregate and interact with each other. Click here for a quicktime video from the documentary.
Water conservation is a major issue, even in places like Portland, due to the inability to store all of the water that falls throughout the year. Just recently, Colorado passed state laws that allowed for the retention of rainwater. This state legislation reflects the burgeoning rain water harvesting (also known as rainwater catchment) movement. In Portland, Cheryl Welch, sustainability coordinator of Tualatin Valley Water District, discusses the potential impact of climate change by saying the rain may fall in shorter bursts of time, with longer spells in between. This potential change in rainfall pattern heightens the need for storage. The Tualatin Valley Water District built a 40,000 gallon rainwater conservation tank beneath a small parking lot during their remodel earlier this decade. This project helped them achieve LEED silver certification in 2003. The collected water is used year round for irrigation and to flush toilets similar to the ones seen here.
Tomorrow’s post will look at a lumber company that realizes the necessity of sustainably harvesting wood.
- Eric Wilson
[image source: Carleton Hart Architects]
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Business, Eric Wilson, Green Building, Sustainability, Sustainable Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
