A JOURNAL FOR THE NEW SUSTAINABLE CITY · 1 win win issue no.1 A JOURNAL FOR THE NEW SUSTAINABLE CITY A JournAl for the new SuStAinAble City brou G ht S to e ou by the we S t i D

WIN WIN issue no.11

A J O U R N A L F O R T H E N E W S U S T A I N A B L E C I T Y

A JournAl for the new SuStAinAble C ity

brouGht to you

by the weStSiDe

brAnCh of the loS

AnGeleS ChAPter

of the uSGbC

iSSue no. 1 : re- imAGininG loS AnGeleS

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

FROM THE GUEST EDITOR

+Q&A WITH ERIC COREY FREED

WE BELIEVE IN ANGELS: A CASE STUDY

CASE STUDY: BUILDING ONE OF THE

WORLD’S FIRST NET-ZERO ENERGY HOMES

THE SIMPLE ROI FALLACY

POLY-HUMAN LOS ANGELES:

PEOPLE LIVE HERE (WITH OR WITHOUT CARS)

MY CITY MY RIVER

BROWNFIELDS AND ADAPTIVE REUSE

SUSTAINABILITY IN PUBLIC ART:

THREE PROJECTS

NEXT STOP: SUSTAINABILITY (TRANSIT IN LA)

SUSTAINABILITY AND THE LA RIVER:

A TOP 10 LIST

Dr. Jorge Partida

eric Corey freed

ferris Kawar

Gerard mcCaughey

Vladimir yelnif

Jack eidt

mia lehrer + Associates

michael roy

rebecca Ansert

Carmen Suero

George wolfe &

thea mercouffer

tAble of ContentS


A JournAl for the new SuStAinAble C ity

Cover photograph by: Justien Tien

WIN WIN issue no.13

DR. JORGE PARTIDA

from the eXeCutiVe DireCtor Dr. JorGe PArtiDA

Congratulations to the westside branch on the creation of the win:win Journal, a labor of love

that represents nearly two years of hard work and dedication. i want to say a heartfelt “thank

you” to all those who volunteered, contributing long hours of service by writing articles,

editing and obtaining sponsorship, all in service of you, the reader. through this milestone

achievement, the westside branch demonstrates its loyalty to its mission of promoting the

diversity of professions within the sustainable and green building industry.

the contributions and articles place the westside branch as thought leaders, by identifying

trends and topics that demonstrate innovation and ingenuity. los Angeles is a proud city and

it has achieved much to promote sustainability. yet, we have much farther to go to resolve the

challenges created by climate impact, outdated buildings and limited resources, as well as

our use of energy, water and transportation.

uSGbC-los Angeles (lA) is proud of the win:win Journal and the great achievements of its

westside branch. in these capable minds, our mission, “to promote sustainability in los

Angeles County’s built environment by delivering access to knowledge, resources, recognition

and networking,” is exceptionally represented. As a nonprofit organization, uSGbC-lA

promotes programs and services that increase community participation and promote access

to healthy environments where people work, learn, live and play.

i invite you to become a member of uSGbC-lA and join us as we seek to transform our

communities by transforming our built environment. Please look for future editions of the

win:win Journal as a regular segment of the new uSGbC-lA, “Green business Quarterly

Journal.”

We are ONE community promoting sustainability

as the vehicle for our transformation

WIN WIN issue no.14

ERIC COREY FREED

A time of oPPortunity from GueSt eDitor eriC Corey freeD

the great city of los Angeles always has represented a city of promise. the rich mix of cultural

diversity, economic density and spiritual symbiosis makes for a unique place. from a planning

perspective, however, the built environment of lA is not without its problems. Some of these

issues are so much more pronounced here (namely: transit, infrastructure and sprawl) that any

solutions smart enough to work in lA automatically qualify to be a model to any other city.

it is with great honor that i present this inaugural issue of the win:win Journal. the incredible

work of many other, smarter people went into to this issue making my job relatively painless.

it is our hope that the words here generate inspiration and spark conversation to help us all

take a more involved role in shaping the future of los Angeles.

the severity of the urban issues in los Angeles present a challenge, but they also provide

an incredible opportunity. our open-minded and innovative spirit enables us to serve as a

testing ground for new ideas. with this in mind, we shaped this issue to focus on tangible and

deployable solutions that could be duplicated through the region.

Our open-minded and innovative spirit enables

us to serve as a testing ground for new ideas

WIN WIN issue no.15

Speaking of replicable models, ferris Kawar shares his story of how a program

at the city of burbank provides refurbished bicycles to needy children. rebecca

Ansert explains her innovative approach to an art installation for a new

environmental learning Center here in los Angeles. their focus on small scale,

grassroots programs is highly scalable, and it could reach hundreds of children

to raise a new generation of sustainable thinkers.

urban Planning has never really been an exact science despite what others

may have thought. the city is an organism, and it must follow the basic rules

of an ecosystem. the strongest and most resilient ecosystems are the ones

with the greatest diversity of people, of activity, of economy, of landscape.

the monoculture zoning of the 1950s and ’60s looked good on paper, but in

practice it stripped the humanity out of our cities. the article on Adaptive reuse

from michael roy at uClA extension addresses this by using brownfields as an

opportunity for infill development.

los Angeles deserves to be more than a collection of sprawling “Spaniterranean”

buildings. what’s needed is a new approach to connect people together. to

in thiS iSSueEric Corey Freed

“Tip the world over on its side & everything loose will land in Los Angeles.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

WIN WIN issue no.16

further build communities, check out the innovative light rail and transit concepts

from authors Carmen Suero and Jack eidt. A recent study from the u.S. Census

bureau confirms what you already know, lA topped the national average in

commute time. bold solutions for getting out of our cars are more important

than ever. what other city would have something called “Carmageddon?”

the greening of our building codes and more stringent requirements are fine,

but the reality is that we also need to take aggressive measures with our existing

building stock and infrastructure. we need to make every building a green

building. to that end, we’ve shared the story of building one of the world’s first

net-zero homes as told by Gerard mcCaughey.

here in California, we’ve put forth several pioneering laws to encourage and

support upgrading our existing buildings. unfortunately, most only go in effect

at a time of permit. there are millions of square feet of existing buildings that

will never undergo a renovation or remodel, and therefore, will never be required

to upgrade. that is where the benchmarking and disclosure laws become so

important. in an ideal world, by association you would not be allowed to sell or

refinance your building unless it met a minimum energy standard (say, energyStar

65 or higher). that is what is needed to make the type of change described in

these pages.

it seems that all of the sexy ideas have already been done. rooftop solar panels,

integrated wind turbines and tint-changing facades might be the buzz of the

green building world, but the real potential energy savings lie in going into

the deep and unglamorous world of energy retrofits and infrastructure. while

caulking and insulation is certainly not sexy, it is what lA needs to evolve our

existing buildings into a bright, green future.

the embodied energy in an existing building is so valuable, yet there are few

financial incentives to keep it. So we rounded out the issue with esteemed

green finance guru Vladimir yelnif and his scandalous look at how return on

investment (roi) is not the best way to make decisions about energy upgrades.

this combination of ideas and visions is an incredible opportunity to transform

our beloved los Angeles into a model for other cities worldwide.

with this, we humbly present to you our inaugural issue. Should you like it,

please share it with your friends and colleagues. Should you feel it lacking, we

welcome your feedback, because the ultimate goal of win:win—in fact of the

branch, Chapter and the greater uSGbC community—is to foster a healthy and

thriving urban environment for us all.

to that end the green building community of los Angeles needs:

your ideas,

your enthusiasm,

and most of all,

your engagement.

Eric Corey Freed is a nationally known architect and author of four bestselling books on green building. His practice areas include living building, biomimicry, sustainable urban redevelopment and sprawl repair. A much sought after speaker, you can hear one of Eric’s hilarious and thought-provoking talks at noteworthy events throughout the year. Check out more on www.organicarchitect.com.

Photograph by: Marielle Suba

WIN WIN issue no.17

1You were based out of San Francisco for quite some time. Compared

to other West Coast cities such as Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco,

why has Los Angeles been slow to develop buildings whose sustainability

goals reach beyond LEED?

it certainly is not for lack of interest or great resources. it really comes down

to an issue of scale. lA dwarfs other cities like San francisco and Portland in

both population and square footage. in reality, los Angeles is made up of several

areas that are unique enough to be their own city. for example, how can you

produce green building requirements that apply to the downtown and to an area

like westwood? the scales, uses, populations are so different that they almost

demand a neighborhood specific sustainability plan.

2What do you think are the largest hurdles for Los Angeles to address

regarding long-term sustainability?

los Angeles is suffering from the basic inherent sustainability issue; no matter

how green or energy efficient you make the individual buildings of lA, you are

still living within a highly car-dependent culture and landscape. if every building

in lA magically became net-zero tomorrow, you’d still have the issue of needing

a car for even the most basic of necessities.

3What makes Los Angeles the ideal platform for addressing

sustainability issues facing the contemporary city?

the same issue that slows its sustainable development is also perhaps its greatest

strength. the size of los Angeles, with this wonderful diversity, culture, variety

and energy, makes it ideal for the development of an urban framework. it could

be (and should be) the ultimate design laboratory. Since lA is a microcosm of

virtually every city, the solutions we develop here can be applied to troubled

cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Dallas or even new york.

4The infrastructure of Los Angeles is arguably one of its greatest

achievements from the past century. How do you imagine the

capacity and age of LA’s infrastructure playing out in the 21st Century?

those of us working with existing cities now face an additional challenge:

resilience. Climate Change has forced us to face hard-to-address issues that

we’ve put off for decades. hurricane Sandy showed new york how vulnerable

our infrastructure really is. how do we prepare los Angeles for the added heat,

drought, power outages and disruption in food supply that await us? we do

not have decades to figure this out, but need to prepare now. unfortunately, it

typically takes a disaster to get cities to take notice.

Q&A with eriC Corey freeD

WIN WIN issue no.18

5Sam Lubell from The Architect’s Newspaper curated an exhibition

at the A+D Museum entitled ‘Never Built Los Angeles’. Why do you

think we haven’t seen more recent visions for Los Angeles that address

its long-term future?

Some of the past visions of los Angeles have been fairly cynical, assuming a dark

dystopia – think “blade runner.” but some of my favorite pieces in that show

highlight the things that have always drawn us here: the sun, the water, vibrancy

and the density. if you go through the work you’ll see common problems that

these designers hoped to solve, decades ago. issues surrounding transportation,

livability and curbing sprawl were continually addressed in innovative ways. we

are not lacking vision, just the bravery to implement that vision.

6If you were to put forth an idea for Los Angeles in the 21st Century

what would it look like?

Changing an existing city is a long-term series of chess moves. Certain moves

won’t be felt for decades, but you need to make the right choices up-front in

order to win the game.

my vision of lA is hyper-local, to reinforce and emphasize the traditional

neighborhood. each neighborhood would be developed into its own hub or

nexus and tied to a large-scale transit plan. high-speed connectors quickly bring

you from hub to hub; local public transit handles your local travel within the

neighborhood. Such hubs would then encourage future development and growth

around the hubs and away from the areas in-between. it would take decades

for development to follow these large moves, but we are building something to

prepare for the next few centuries, aren’t we?

Los Angelesmuseums, restaurants, events,

architecture and movie stars!

Desertopportunity (i chair the Coachella Valley

branch of the uS Green building Council)

San Francisco / NW U.S.Adopted home

Building Ratingsinfancy

Long-term SustainabilityVibrant, abundant, regenerative, joyful

and equitable

LA InfrastructureVulnerable

21st Century Buildingnot yet defined and open to interpretation

Highest Architect MomentStudying under former apprentices of

frank lloyd wright

GETTING TO (REALLY) KNOW ERIC...

WIN WIN issue no.19

7From a quality of life perspective, what do you think LA will really

look like in 2060?

there are two answers to your question. first the dark version: climate change

will continue to slowly change everything for everyone. energy costs, food

availability, and water rights will remain issues for the next century. los Angeles

is no more immune to that than any place else.

but if we turn our attention specifically to los Angeles, the next 50 years could

be a time of a glorious refocusing. through an aggressive and bold combination

of public policy reforms, planning changes, public demand and buying trends,

you’ll soon see a rebirth of neighborhoods and walkability. it will start on an

individual block level and will grow organically. in fact, it has already started.

with the right support from city government through codes and incentives,

development can be focused to encourage these walkable areas.

8What is your highest moment as a green architect?

this interview, right now.

Seriously? well, i hope i haven’t had my highest moment yet! Personally, i like

converting old-school, hard core, traditional developers into green ones. that

is a fun moment when they “get it” and suddenly their view of their own work

changes forever.

Lowest Architect Momentwhen someone calls and tells me they

“already designed it themselves” and just need “someone to draw it up.”

Music Favoriteoldies: the Smiths, Depeche mode, new order, the Cure (you know, the Classics!)

Current: muse, the Decemberists, Placebo, metric, yeah yeah yeahs,

ting tings …

Fine Arts Favorite rothko, Dali, bernini, magritte, Klee,

miro, matisse, hopper, and on and on.

Film Favoritewilly wonka & the Chocolate factory

(1971), brazil, night on earth

Social Mediamost people are boring and in need of a

shock to the system

Dog or CatDog!

Elvis or The Beatleselvis (Costello)

WIN WIN issue no.110

9What is your lowest moment as a green architect?

this interview, right now!

i guess i always take it as a personal failure when a well-intentioned client or

contractor tries to do something green, but end up choosing something toxic or

inefficient for short-term reasons. they always tell me later that they regret it,

and “should have taken my advice.” we build our buildings to last for decades,

why make silly decisions that only benefit you in the right now?

10What incremental green building standard today do you think

represents the greatest upside for the Earth in the long run?

the living building Challenge is far from “incremental.” in fact, it is downright

hard (and why they call it a challenge). but it represents what we need right now:

to make every building a living, regenerative and healthy building.

11Describe your best (regular) day EVER.

this is pretty regular and what i aim for on a typical day: Start with my daughter

waking me up with a light pat on the face and a smile. i then get to spend several

hours concentrating on a design without interruption. when i break for lunch

i find several voicemails from potential clients describing a unique problem

they need my help to solve. the afternoon is spent brainstorming creative ideas

with smart and interesting people. i cap off the workday by giving a lecture to a

packed house.

A late supper with my wife and daughter is my favorite thing to do. After they go

to sleep, i stay up and read or indulge in a nerdy sci-fi movie. not a bad life.

12You are strongly present ‘online’ – texting, Facebook, etc. What

do you like and hate about it?

Actually, i hate texting for business reasons. but everyone else (especially clients

and contractors) seem to love it so i have to participate. i do keep pretty strong

boundaries and wait to respond to texts until business hours.

facebook on the other hand is a great distraction. Since i travel so much, it

allows me to keep up with my friends and family. As you know i have a “special”

sense of humor, so it is my chance to share my weirdness with everyone. except

for the fact that everyone i went to high school with seems to be a right-wing nut

job – i love checking fb daily.

i lecture to about 10,000 people a year, so twitter and linkedin are the only way

i can manage a rather large network and connect with all of the amazing people

i get to meet. before i leave for any city, i use linkedin to connect with local

contacts to arrange meetings and find out what is happening.

using these tools are simply part of my regular workflow, so they use very little

of my time in return for the benefit. i always want everyone to be able to reach

out and connect with me directly and not an assistant or receptionist. People

are often surprised when they call i answer the phone. “who else were you

expecting?”


you may believe in angels, but do you believe in bike angels?

the city of burbank does. in fact, burbank now has more than 200 bike Angels.

The Beginning

each year the city of burbank partners with the Salvation Army to provide local

families who are experiencing financial hardships with gifts for their children.

An “Angel tree,” decorated with tags listing gift requests, is set on display at

municipal buildings and at the local burbank shopping mall. Generally, the

requests include what the children need, such as clothing, shoes, and the most

basic necessities. in 2009, however, city employee elaine Pease noticed that

we belieVe in AnGelS: A CASe StuDy

Ferris Kawar


there were also some requests for bicycles. enlisting the help of fellow workers,

this small group calling themselves the “bike Angels” collected and restored

about a dozen bikes to gleaming condition.

little did they know what they were starting. three years later their growing

band of volunteers restored and donated more than 200 bicycles to overjoyed

children and parents. not only were the recipients of these bikes moved by the

generosity of others, but the more than 200 people who either donated bikes or

volunteered their time to help restore them are just as fulfilled by being part of

the process.

A Place for the Bike in the City of Angels

in the uS less than 1 percent of all trips are made by bike compared to 13 percent

in Germany. even wet and hilly places, like San francisco and Portland, have

stronger bike cultures than los Angeles where we enjoy year-round sunshine

and mostly flat terrain. however, things are changing rapidly as evidenced by

the number of new bike shops, the consistent massive turnouts for los Angeles’

past three CiclAvia street closure events, the expansion of bike lanes and the

inclusion of bike routes in every city’s long-range plans. Another positive sign

is the number of Safe route to Schools projects that are being developed,

a federally funded program to improve children’s safety while walking and

bicycling to school. the bike Angels hope to get more children to use the new

biking infrastructure, which will increase motorist awareness, improve safety on

the road for everyone and help children shed pounds while reducing the amount

of automobile exhaust, which is attributed to climate change and respiratory

ailments such as asthma.

How it Works

the bike Angel program is easily replicable and scalable since all the bikes

are donated and the labor to fix them is volunteered. the only hard costs are

for additional parts, which commonly include brake cables, tires and tubes,

seats, grips, helmets, locks, grease, oil, and scouring pads. Parts can usually

be purchased at discounted prices through cooperating local bike shops, or

wholesale through bike parts distributors. many of the bike Angels’ costs last

year were covered by generous donors, including a $1,000 donation from a

local credit union.

Starting a similar program requires a place to work and store bikes, tools, a

couple of dedicated and knowledgeable bicycle tinkerers to direct and teach

willing volunteers, as well as a method to solicit bikes that have been collecting

dust and rust in garages and back yards. this can be as simple as submitting a

flyer to local elementary and middle schools and posting requests on Craigslist

and other on-line forums.

one of the challenges each year is making sure the bikes fit and match the size

and gender of the people requesting them. for burbank, this has meant the

bike Angels have had to collect far more bikes than requested because they

never know what is going to be donated. other programs can solve this problem

by fixing what they get and offering the restored bikes to worthy recipients

(think boys & Girls Clubs or local organizations that serve families in need).

Additionally, it is helpful to get non-profit status to make it easier to accept

donations.


Getting the Word Out

bike donations and offers to help have expanded thanks to positive media

coverage in local newspapers, online listserves, newsletters and word of mouth.

the burbank downtown mall even hosted two weekend bike collection events,

which netted more than 60 bikes.

bike Angel volunteers, who dedicate many hours after work and on weekends,

come from many walks of life including City employees, residents, students

and folks from area businesses and community organizations. even the burbank

Police and fire Departments give their time, resources and money to make the

program work. this has included the donation of impounded bikes, loaning

tools and contributing cash to make sure each bike leaves with a helmet and

lock. Parents bring their children to learn about giving, as well as to learn how

to repair bikes. Volunteers include all skill levels from “i want to do something

nice for others” to professional businessmen and bicycle mechanics. there

is a team spirit that bonds everyone together as bikes are restored, chrome is

polished and tricks of the trade are shared.

this program is a way to give the gift of wings otherwise known as “mobility”.

“we actually have as much fun … doing this as the kids are going to have when

they receive these bikes on Christmas morning,” said Pease.

however, lt. eric rudd of the Salvation Army may beg to differ.

“Parents who never thought they could provide their child a bike, they get to

be a hero,” he said. ”you see people crying when they come in because of the

generosity of the donors.”


Health, Air Quality and Family Ties

the entire burbank community benefits from the bike Angel program. Some of the

benefits you could provide to your community by starting your own program, include:

• learning all aspects of bike repair

• experiencing increased independence and mobility – as much as 20 percent

of all morning traffic congestion is generated by parents driving their

children to school

• exercising to combat obesity and reduce health care expenses

• Participating in an activity for the whole family

• Promoting reuse and recycling through the restoration of used bikes

• transforming land use as 20 bikes can be parked in the same space as one car

• reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution and expensive road wear

• Saving time – studies show that biking is faster than driving during rush hour

for more information contact the burbank recycle Center (818) 238-3900.

Ferris Kawar is the recycling specialist for the city of Burbank and a LEED AP. Among his past accomplishments Ferris is most proud to have been a co-founder of Greenopia, a consumer-friendly guide to green businesses, residential program coordinator for Sustainable Works, a non-profit environmental education organization, and for his work on multimedia projects about climate change. Ferris sits on the Board of Advisors for Sustainable Works and is a steering committee member of Green Business Networking. He bikes his daughter to day care and rides to work every day – rain or shine.

Bike rainbow photo by: Richard HammondAll other photography: Courtesy of Burbank Bike Angels


los Angeles, with its moderate mediterranean climate, ample sunshine and green-

conscious residents, possesses the ideal market conditions for constructing net-

zero energy homes. to make this transition cost-effective for both builders and

homeowners, Angelenos can look across the Atlantic for examples of european

efforts that achieved carbon neutrality for residential structures. europe is

approximately a decade ahead of los Angeles and the rest of the united States in

the adoption of increased energy-efficiency standards for homes, as a result of the

european union’s signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 and its ratification in 2002.

the Kyoto Protocol, a legally-binding agreement, committed to reducing greenhouse

gas emissions throughout the continent by eight percent of 1990 levels by the

year 2012. each of the 15 ratifying countries had to develop its own roadmap

for reaching their individual targets – or run the risk of being fined for failure.

the planning process for many countries quickly turned to reducing carbon with

greener residential structures; in the mid-1990s european homes accounted for

approximately 25 percent of annual carbon dioxide emissions.

the united Kingdom passed their own legislation requiring that all new public

or social housing be carbon-neutral or net-zero energy by 2013 and new private

CASe StuDy: Gerard McCaughey

building one of the world’s first net-Zero energy homes


homes by 2016. to this end, the british government implemented a number of

initiatives, including a challenge to the construction industry to build a house

that would meet its 2016 green building standards.

in response to this challenge, my former company, Kingspan Century, unveiled

one of the world’s first net-zero energy houses at the premier event of the

building research establishment in 2007. we named it “lighthouse,” as it was

inherently light on the world’s resources. lighthouse was the only structure

unveiled at that event which met the “level 6” building standard – the highest

level – of the uK’s Code for Sustainable homes (CSh).

the two-story, two-bedroom, single-family residence achieved its net-zero

energy certification and six-star (level 6) rating with a combination of key

design and construction considerations. lighthouse achieved the CSh level 6

rating based on its performance in nine categories: energy and Co2 emissions;

water; materials; surface water run-off; waste; pollution; health and wellbeing;

management; and ecology.

• from a design standpoint, the layout of the house upside down from

conventional homes maximizes the use of day lighting and passive solar

heating. the living areas are placed upstairs for natural light and enhanced

natural ventilation. the bedrooms, which require less daylight, are located on

the first floor.

• A biomass boiler that uses wood pellets provides the heating. the boiler,

which also heats the water in the winter, is located in the utility room on the first

floor. this placement provides another energy-saving benefit: the occupant

has a dedicated area in which clothes could be hung to dry as an alternative to

using an energy-sapping clothes dryer.

the uK’s Code for Sustainable homes (CSh) is an environmental assessment system of one to six stars for rating and

certifying the performance of a new home. it is an element of breeAm – the bre’s environmental Assessment

method, a green building rating system that measures environmental performance

against established benchmarks.

breeAm was established in the uK in 1990, and it has grown in scope and has been adopted by other countries, including Germany and Spain. many

aspects of breeAm were adapted for the uS market with the introduction of leeD

in 1998.An important distinction between breeAm and leeD is that breeAm is a government-defined standard,

which aided policy makers in creating legislation that encourage both the use of the assessment tool and sustainable


• Dependence on the biomass boiler for heating, as well as the amount of

wood used, was minimized by the solar thermal panels placed on lighthouse’s

dramatic sloping roof. these panels provide all hot water in the summer and

some in spring and fall.

• the strategic placement of triple-glazed, gas-filled windows maximizes

lighting and ventilation while minimizing the number of windows installed.

• An electrical whole-house ventilation system with heat recovery provides

the background ventilation in the home – particularly during the winter months,

when it extracts heat from warm stale air to heat incoming cool fresh air.

Photovoltaic panels generate power for the system.

• for energy efficiency during the summer, the mechanical system is

complemented with a passive natural ventilation system that employs a “wind

catcher” on the chimney. when open, the device admits cooler outside air

to displace warmer inside air and can be used in conjunction with operable

windows for enhanced cross ventilation.

• the wind catcher, which provides secure ventilation at night, also

functions as a light funnel to illuminate both floors of the house with natural

lighting during the day.

• Adjusting both the passive ventilation devices and the shading on

windows allows the occupant to create the desired indoor environment in terms

of both thermal and luminous comfort as the outdoor temperature rises.


• other considerations to lower the indoor temperatures during the warmer

summer months include the installation of low-energy appliances, which are

low-heat emitting and the use of “thermal heavyweight” ceiling surfaces. these

ceiling surfaces, which include phase change material plasterboard, absorb the

heat in the house and provide natural cooling when the microscopic capsules

embedded in the board change from solid to liquid. At night, the process

reverses to extract the heat absorbed with the help of the wind catcher.

• the estimated annual cost to heat lighthouse – in the temperate maritime

climate of the united Kingdom – is approximately $80. the house also has a

smart metering system to record energy consumption and help the homeowner

identify areas in which consumption could be reduced.

because minimizing the energy required to heat and cool lighthouse was a

critical factor in achieving carbon neutrality and the level 6 rating, the manner

in which the structure was constructed – using offsite construction (oSC) –

played a significant role.

lighthouse was manufactured during a six-week period in a factory-controlled

environment using robotics and other modern methods of construction (mmC).

tremendous gains in quality are achieved when building a house using oSC and

mmC. mmC enhances the structural integrity of a home, because materials are

being cut and assembled with far more precision than is humanly possible.

with mmC, tolerances are significantly reduced to less than the width of a

fingernail – much narrower than even a saw blade – and nails can be driven

into structural materials at the rate of six per second. when materials are

cut to more uniform lengths and machine assembly ensures that elements are

precisely assembled to exacting specifications and further strengthened with

the insertion of more nails, the resulting components create an airtight structure.

this process can reduce heat loss by potentially two-thirds of a standard house.

As California looks to achieve carbon-neutrality with all new residential

construction by 2020, there are many that consider this target to be merely

a lofty goal. yet the climatic conditions in California – and los Angeles, in

particular – are probably the most favorable in the world for such a mandate.

with lighthouse, builders have a proven example of a net-zero energy structure

that could be easily replicated, and many of the sustainable technologies

employed in its construction are actually over-specified for a warmer-weather

market like los Angeles. the highlighted model would allow Angelenos to

reduce the carbon footprint of both the construction and ongoing operations of

their homes.

Gerard McCaughey is Chief Executive of Infineco LLC, a firm specializing in providing executive-level services to US businesses developing and funding emerging green technologies related to both sustainable building and renewable energy. McCaughey previously co-founded Century Homes, Europe’s largest offsite building manufacturing company with five plants in Ireland and UK, producing more than 8,000 units per year. He sold the company in 2005 to Kingspan Group Plc. McCaughey is regarded in Europe as being one of the leading figures in the green building movement and he was at the forefront of regulatory reform in both Ireland and Britain. He has spoken and written about green and offsite construction in many countries around the world and is a previous winner of Ernst and Young’s Industry Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

© Infineco LLC 2012Photography: Courtesy of Gerard McCaughey


Energy efficiency upgrade investments are being instigated by the PACE (Prop-

erty Assessed Clean Energy) LA program, the growing LA 2030 District and by

state AB 1103-mandated energy use disclosure. This will set a lot of folks in

the Los Angeles basin thinking about whether spending money on high-perfor-

mance building upgrades makes financial sense. The following discussion con-

siders a commonly used approach to this decision called the “simple payback”

or simple ROI (Return On Investment).

think about when you buy a car and drive it a few years and it’s a good car that

gives you the ability to do things. let’s call them benefits. And when you want

a new car, do you just park the old one somewhere and walk away? or drive it

off a cliff?

if you posted a sign that said “Car runs Great, Got my money back, free to

take”, would it be a challenge to give it away?

“of course not!” you say, “heck this car is still delivering benefits so it should

be reasonable and credible (worthy of belief) that the car will have some value

to the next guy who should pay me something for it.” the world of finance

would call this “two-tier repayment” for ownership: first, the “return on the

investment” (or roi) for the stream of benefits over time, and second, the

“reversion” or the value at the end of the holding period. this is at one time

very basic stuff that anyone who ever owned a car can grasp, and simultaneously

can be familiar to any mbA student with a degree in finance.

the SimPle roi fAllACyVladimir Yelnif

why using ‘payback period’ and ‘simple roi’ as a test for building energy efficiency upgrades is wrong-headed


“Payback period” or “simple roi” has a tragic flaw as it does not include the long-

term value creation. the simple payback timeframe is a common test applied

to energy efficiency building upgrades but only focuses on how long it will take

savings alone to pay for the investment. what about the value at sale? is that

really zero? And if it is not zero, why would it not be included it in the energy

upgrade investment analysis? total cost of ownership works for cars and finance

mbAs, but why does it not apply to energy efficiency upgrades to buildings?

Cost vs. Investment

A key difference is thinking of an investment, like solar panels or new windows,

that pay benefits and also last a long time vs. a simple cost with only short-

term benefits and zero value at the end, like a fancy dinner or an advertising

campaign. to identify if something is an investment or a cost involves answering

the following three questions:

• how long will i be getting benefits?

• how much are the benefits?

• how much will the “value at sale” be (also called “reversion” in

finance/appraisal parlance)?

Quick rules of thumb are common and practical as a way to make relative

comparisons between choices, but might be a poor approach for energy efficiency

investments. the presumption with rules of thumb is that they are applied to

simple situations and operate on a level playing field. using simple payback

is a very blunt tool addressing the fear that if an investment is not repaid during

the holding period and the market value at sale is zero the investment is a bad

decision. while rules of thumb like simple payback are common — and in some

situations practical — with energy efficiency upgrades, ignoring the future value

can lead to overlooked opportunities.


An Example

let’s focus on why the value at sale is so vital to the investment decision

analysis. for argument’s sake, let’s use a window upgrade to an older home

costing $10,000. Perhaps the window manufacturer/ installer ran an energy

savings simulation showing a simple payback of 15 years. the improvement

will last a long time, improve comfort and add soundproofing, plus it should

add something to the home value. but how much?

the first thing to dismiss is that the window upgrade adds nothing, to disprove

the “null hypothesis.” the question is basically: is it reasonable or possible

that at sale a typical buyer would give zero value for the upgraded windows?

Said in another, classic way, if two adjacent older homes were alike in every way,

except one had $10,000 worth of new windows and the other home did not, would

a majority of well-informed or well-advised buyers attribute any value for the new

windows? if zero dollars is not credible or worthy of belief, this disproves the

null hypothesis and therefore the upgrades indeed have value. this proves that

the “don’t-know-equals-zero” argument is not only wrong, but knowingly wrong.

So if the window upgrade is worth more than zero, how much more? in an ideal

world the home with the better windows and the one without would both sell on

the exact same day in identical fashions and we could see the difference as due

only to the window upgrade. this would be the Sales Comparison Approach used


in every home appraisal, which is logical and reasonable and also impossible

in the real world. but when the market does not deliver this kind of pure sales

comparison data does the market just stop? of course not, as there are other

ways humans value things without exact data.

nearly every appraisal confronts the dilemma of property features like pools,

kitchen remodels, views, etc. without specific market data based on close,

recent and similar sales. the collective performance of buyer and seller

actions regarding different physical upgrades provides experienced real estate

agents and appraisers a sense of what upgrades are worth. Some of these value

opinions are driven by cost or, more correctly, depreciated replacement cost.

what this means is that for a recent bona fide upgrade the first question is often,

“what did you spend on that new roof?” or “how much was that bathroom

remodel?”

Cost seldom equates to equal value, but behavioral economics has shown that

it can be an important part of the buyer/seller thought process. So wouldn’t it

be great if there were a highly reliable national study showing the relationship

of cost to value for different kinds of standard building upgrades?

Cost vs. Value Study

to anyone who ever says “there is no way to tell what that $10,000 window

upgrade is worth in the market so i am making that zero” you should ask them

if they are familiar with the highly reputable national study of cost vs. value

done every year over a decade by a research firm associated with “remodeling

magazine,” a hanley wood publication. this study publishes the relationship

between cost and market value to a generally estimated 99% statistical accuracy

for 35 significant home remodel projects in 80 different cities and aggregated

into nine regions.

with some regional variation the study shows a consistent pattern that long lived,

bona fide building upgrades have a value at sale directly related to cost. Very

few upgrades in the list show a value at sale below 60 percent of cost and

many between 70 percent and 90 percent, a few higher in some regions. there

are location variations and the overall trend tracks the general economy where

upgrades are worth more in good times than bad. Costs must be reasonable and

mainstream for their markets.

An answer can be found in the study for our question of “what does the $10,000

worth of new windows add to the home value?” it is that since there is almost

no upgrade in any city that is valued at less than 50 percent of its cost, this can

serve as a practical “not less than” reversion value. Value and cost are most

related with new construction so the relationship would be strongest in the first

few years after construction.

So it is not unreasonable to consider a market value of a bona fide, professionally

done, relatively recently and correctly priced upgrade to be no less than 50

percent of its cost. if an upgrade is valued by an appraiser or buyer or real estate

agent at less than 50 percent of its cost, the question becomes “what information

are you using to justify this conclusion that refutes the cost vs. value study floor/

no less than value?”


Talk To Your Local Professional

talking to local professionals to check opinions about value at sale is important.

legitimate arguments to go lower (or higher) for upgrade value contributions

might exist, such as “i interviewed five real estate agents and four of them told

me it was only worth $X” or perhaps, “the replacement cost new has dropped

since that upgrade, it now costs less than you paid.”

but if an appraiser states that “there is no market data to support a value addition”

you need to ask what research has been done to support a position that refutes

the universal national pattern of the hanley wood study. Does the “no market

data” remark just mean “i am not aware of any in my experience and have not

looked” or does it mean, “i conducted legitimate due diligence of XyZ and my

research shows there is no value.” if it is the former, there is a competency gap

and that value conclusion is not in fact the “market value” as defined in federal

bank lending regulations. Key to the market value is that buyers and sellers are

assumed to be well informed or well advised. once again the “don’t-know-

equals- zero” position is not admissible, at least not for any appraisal done for a

federally guaranteed lending institution.

obviously the argument to reject the simple roi/payback is disruptive, the

alternative more complex. it is more work so effort will need to reflect that

and a number of stakeholders will have to be convinced to change their current


Vladimir Yelnif is a pseudonym that the author used in order to not violate his employer’s corporate policy. The author is a banking professional and long standing member of the USGBC-Los Angeles community.

Photography: Courtesy of Stock.XCHNGIllustration & title page graphic by: Heidi Konieczka

While rules of thumb like simple payback are common

- and in some situations practical - with energy efficiency upgrades,

ignoring the future value can lead to overlooked opportunities

thinking. for this reason anyone interested in a correct outcome may need to

be proactive providing buyers, sellers, appraisers, bankers or anyone in the

value chain information about the cost vs. value study. make it clear that taking

a “don’t-know-equals-zero” position is knowingly wrong unless it is stated in

an appraisal or investment analysis that value at sale for the upgrades was not

considered in the value. using a legitimate cost basis is a way to disprove the

prove-the-null hypothesis and to provide a quick route to estimating a not-less-

than value at sale.

human behavior regarding matters of money is often not rational, but driven by

convention and habit. the Simple Payback test for energy efficiency upgrades

could be an example and whose time has come for a modification, perhaps using

the quick and dirty 50 percent of replacement cost reversion. this thinking will

be a change in business as usual and additional discussion and dialog about it

will be needed.


the Subway to the Sea and other public transit manifestations presage a mighty

potential for los Angeles: community-generator. yes, they require billions of dollars

in investment and years of construction dust and detours, and they never quite

solve traffic congestion. yet, alternative transportation that creates living, walking

and working hubs can transform this unsustainable, fossil-fuel addicted, smogged-

out polycentric megalopolis. Despite losing ballot measure J and redevelopment

funding, the los Angeles metropolitan transportation Authority seeks to finance

construction of a dozen planned transit projects, which will draw people out of our

gridlocked cars and allow us to navigate with our senses and interface with our

millions of neighbors.

our multilane traffic-centric thoroughfares paved over floodplains, foothills and

valley bottoms, spreading people about into master-zoned, segregated land-use

districts relying on the car to connect us with each other. orchards and coyote

wilderness became homes and parking lot-encased shopping centers. Developers,

planners and other decision makers forgot the center cities where communities

once congregated, worked, played, created, arrived on trains and buses and lived

and shopped next to one another.

As people clamored to escape the urban miasma, ever-expanding sinking pools

of landfill-going trash piled up on newly-paved street corners adorned with pre-

Poly-humAn loS AnGeleS:People live here (with or without Cars)

Jack Eidt


Perfection is never an option when it comes to 20 million of us looking to get to work on time


chosen tree species and pansies to make it all look lovely. Single-use zoning

created the too-many-sleepers with nowhere to go; city centers that emptied

of life after the 5 p.m. bell rang; massive shopping centers that required a

shuttle bus from the overflow parking to the big box superstore. Consider

that lA has few local parks, communal bikeways or public gathering points.

walking is something you have to drive to do. elysian Park, Griffith Park, Santa

monica beach and topanga State Park all exist on the margins and they are too

SigAlert-breakdown-construction-detour far. People are communal animals

and they need to be able to come together unobstructed by ignition switches,

gas stations and freeway ramps, but how?

A City In Need of A 1,000 Communities

no one solution exists to remedy our sprawling suburb-opoli. we can, however,

recreate our city. we can grow up, which signifies maturation as well as density

by living above shops, working in lofts doubling as offices and sharing parks

instead of private backyards.

when the metro Gold line wound through historic South Pasadena, the city

conceived a transit-oriented village to meet the community’s concern for

neighborhood integrity and conservative revitalization. Cafes and boutiques

anchored the mission-meridian station, flanked with higher density

condominiums, live-work lofts, pocket parks and Craftsman-style single-family

homes. Parking went subterranean. walkers, bikers, shoppers and commuters

followed.

old town Pasadena, the Downtown Arts District and hollywood boulevard

fulfilled the even wider notion of walkable urban communities, yet subway

access remains limited to a fraction of the metropolis and automobile disposition

comes at a premium. third Street Promenade, named for its anomalous foot traffic-

shopping-dining-experiment, necessitates an extensive parking scheme, while

lincoln boulevard and the mcClure tunnel remain to be unclogged, someday,

although not soon enough.

Consider how leeD environmental standards reshaped the neighborhood

Development dialogue. Codified, easily-understandable approaches to sustainable

green building infused urbanism and now allow developers, planners and citizens

to work together toward smart growth that includes natural resource protection,

housing affordability, social justice, climate concerns and public health.

take, for example, how the Gold line is a catalyst for the Chinatown-adjacent leeD-

nD-sanctioned Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan. the plan aims to transform 650

acres of industrial land into an environmentally friendly residential and business

community along a greenified los Angeles river and Arroyo Seco. Parking will be

rented or sold separately, hopefully not at all, allowing new residents to save money

by biking or taking public transportation. without strict affordability standards,

however, one worries that another luxury enclave will surround downtown where

lower-cost housing has long been available. Given the challenges of funding and

the stagnant economy, the final story has yet to be written.

Sharing a city for all economies and ethnicities takes work. lA always was privatized,

its mythos dependent upon possessing our own Cypress trees and tropical palms.

the consequence is, if we build public transit, they will come and we will have to

walk to exit. no backyard is necessary. our neighbors will stroll to the station with

us, we don’t have to talk, we don’t even have to glance at each other, but we’re

there, together.


A New Kind of Old City

the Subway-to-the-Sea and its exposition line precursor is a multibillion-

dollar baby step, yet central to our sustainable future. it may be a bloated

project, subject to major cost overruns. it might supplant funding for many other

projects and regions. it could cause significant impacts during the protracted

construction phase, but it will transform neighborhoods and lives. not all the

changes will be good, but for once, one might walk somewhere, then board a

train that may not even be powered by oil and be whisked somewhere else to

continue walking.

Coming together in urban (dis)harmony sounds trying. yet, with those neighbors

come events, music, friends, commerce, connection, caring and community,

which provide a better living environment by creating a stronger sense of

community. yes, it also brings noise, annoyance, invasion of privacy, forced

respect and maybe even a dose of tolerance and acceptance. it’s often a decent

exchange. Should you think not, the Palmdales and laguna niguels are only a

couple hours of stop-and-go traffic away.

How to Make “Smart Growth” Smart

the benefits of funding transit construction through federal, state and local

sources cannot be overstated, when integrating lA’s disjointed and illogical

transit network to connect with the westside, San Gabriel Valley, Central and

South lA. Providing viable alternatives to sitting on the 405 freeway would have

economic and quality-of-life benefits for the entire county. leeD-nD standards

could be used to guide development of more transit villages while retaining

architectural character and neighborhood integrity. Century City’s high-rise

condomania and drab office-islands might function as 24-hour destination

urbanism with the infusion of subway connections. maybe someday even lAX


The benefits of funding transit construction through federal, state and

local sources cannot be overstated


will join the 20 other uS cities with airport rail service, instead of stranding new

arrivals at the rent-a-car desk.

be advised, rail service never pays for itself per se; it generates wealth by

energizing neighborhoods and facilitates commerce and less resource intensive

commutes. forward-thinking european capitals developed as compact, public

transport-oriented cities with pedestrianized central business districts and

segregated bicycle routes. Do not forget the less-expensive, high-capacity

long-distance buses, such as those in bogota, Colombia and Sao Paolo, brazil,

where land uses and routes have been integrated and streamlined. our orange

line bus rapid transit in the San fernando Valley is an excellent example that

could be replicated in other underutilized right-of-ways throughout the county.

there is no one-solution, only multi-modalism for the polyhuman lA. Perfection

is never an option when it comes to eight million or 20 million of us looking to

get to work on time. but maybe we can learn to say “hello” along the way.

Jack Eidt is a writer, urban theorist, environmental advocate and director of Wild Heritage Planners, an organization based in Southern California dedicated to urban planning and design. He is the founder and editor of WilderUtopia.com, dedicated to environmental sustainability, urban design and planning as well as culture and traditions.

© 2013 Jack EidtPhotography this page: © Jack EidtTitie page photography by: Richard HammondFreeway & downtown night photos by: Tam TranExpo line train photo by: Dan Hampton


this accessory, originally created for A+D Architecture + Design museum > los

Angeles (A+D) highlights mia lehrer + Associates passion for the los Angeles

river. this succession of bracelets represents 70 sections cut through the heart of

downtown los Angeles, and illustrates the intricate relationship between our city’s

topography and the lA river channel. here the river is the jewel framed by the

topography of its watershed. the bracelets can be worn individually or in a group

– they are statement for protecting and loving our river. each bracelet is made of

laser cut aircraft plywood with brass inserts. they are available on demand.

my City my riVerMia Lehrer + Associates

Mia Lehrer + Associates is a landscape architecture firm based in Los Angeles. Principal and founder Mia Lehrer leads a team of talented designers and technically skilled professionals on a diverse range of public and private projects, from inspirational gardens to large urban parks to master plans for highly complex and controversial sites. They have dedicated the past 10 years to raising awareness through various projects and actions including developing the Master Plan for the Los Angeles River Revitalization and adjacent sites. The “My City My River” artwork is a recent creation. Mia Lehrer, Michelle Frier, Astrid Diehl and Margot Jacobs designed and lead this latest effort in making the river “visible”.

© Mia Lehrer + AssociatesPhotography: Courtesy of Mia Lehrer + Associates



in los Angeles many of our industrial buildings, like the products or components

of the products they manufactured within, were built to be disposable. As the

products became obsolete, so did the buildings. the motto “take, make, waste”

of the industrial age left behind economic, environmental, and social issues

yet to be resolved, which is the theme of this inaugural issue of win:win. As

a consequence, we are left with a legacy of underutilized and vacant buildings

and properties, many of which are located in less desirable locations of the city.

At first, the easy solution was for developers to avoid these locations and build

or develop somewhere else. however, if we are to “establish a restorative,

long-term relationship” in a sustainable way, what better way to show it than

by the reuse of these existing buildings or redevelopment of these properties?

incentives, such as brownfields redevelopment, along with leeD Sustainable

Sites Credit and tax incentives and credits provide additional incentives for

redevelopment.

brownfielDS AnD ADAPtiVe reuSeMichael Roy


this article provides an overview of the environmental, economic and social

advantages of redeveloping these properties. there’s also a glimpse into the

future by comparing “the before”, the City of huntington Park, with “the after”,

the successful adaptive reuse of the industrial properties in the hayden tract in

Culver City, as well as a discussion about some of the challenges facing future

redevelopment projects.

Since the prior use of many industrial properties caused surface or sub-surface

site contamination, the properties can be designated as brownfields. A brownfield

is defined as a property on which expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be

complicated by the presence, or perceived presence, of contamination. the

uS environmental Protection Agency’s (eVA) brownfields Program provides

grants of up to $200,000 to fund environmental assessment, cleanup and job

training activities at designated sites. brownfield sites do not include properties

that are the subject of a planned or ongoing removal action and are listed on

the national Priorities list as Superfund Sites, or are proposed for listing; or

properties that are the subject of a unilateral administrative order, a court order,

and an administrative order on consent or judicial consent decree.

the redevelopment of brownfields sites may require the participation of many

stakeholders inside and outside of the community such as local community

officials and members, local, state and federal governments, private developers

and non-profit organizations. A successful development of a brownfields site

necessitates that all these stakeholders work together to assess and clean up

the property and achieve a common redevelopment goal.

According to the ePA, brownfield redevelopment benefits include:


• $17.39 is leveraged for each ePA brownfields dollar expended at a

brownfield.

• 7.45 jobs are leveraged per $100,000 of ePA brownfield funding. As of

Sept. 2001, 72,250 jobs have been generated through the Program.

• brownfield sites tend to have a greater location efficiency than alternative

development at greenfield sites, resulting in a 32 percent to 57 percent reduction

in vehicle miles traveled associated with these sites and a reduction in air

pollution emissions.

• residential property values increased between two percent and three

percent once a nearby brownfield was assessed or cleaned up. 1

[ 1. Anatomy of brownfields redevelopment, brownfields Solutions Series, ePA-560-f-06-245, october 2006]

leeD Sustainable Sites Credit 3, brownfield redevelopment awards one point to

rehabilitate damaged sites where development is complicated by environmental

contamination and for projects where asbestos is found and remediated, to

reduce pressure on undeveloped land.

there also are many federal, state and local tax incentives and credits that allow

brownfields redevelopment to use resources normally spent to pay taxes for

other purposes, which can help save the cash needed to address contamination

issues. the extra cash flow resulting from a tax break also can improve a

project’s appeal to lenders. Several examples of tax incentives and credits


include the federal brownfields tax incentive, where environmental cleanup

costs are fully deductible in the year that they are incurred; the new markets

tax Credit program; and the historic rehabilitation tax Credits incentive, which

offers private investors a tax credit that can be claimed for the year in which

a renovated building is put into service. under the incentive, there are two

separate tax credits - one for the restoration of certified historic properties and

one for the rehabilitation of older but non-certified properties. many states also

adopted their own financing programs and approaches to enable integration

of traditional state development programs into the brownfields financing mix.

Such programs include tax incentives and credits, targeted financial assistance

as well as direct brownfields financing. these programs provide the tools for

reclaiming these properties and reusing them for our future needs as we transition

from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.

in addition to tax credits and incentives, brownfields sites may also benefit

from the city of los Angeles Adaptive reuse Program. the goal of this program

is to encourage the development of live/work housing in the city to reduce

commuter miles and create a “24/7” inner city. under this program, adaptive

reuse is defined as the conversion of existing economically obsolete buildings

to new residential uses,\ including apartments, condominiums, live/work

units and hotels. the program streamlines the permit and approval process

by relaxing parking and density requirements as well as fire and life safety

measures. historically significant buildings are always eligible and must be

listed on the national register of historic Places, the California register of

historical resources or the los Angeles list of historic Cultural monuments.

more than 10,000 units of housing have been completed or are in the planning

stages since the Adaptive reuse ordinances went into effect in 1999.

The “Before”

our example of “the before” is the city of huntington Park, which is located

approximately six miles southeast of downtown los Angeles. in the northeastern

part of the city lies approximately 100 acres of underutilized and vacant properties.

these properties represent a small percentage of the total land area of the city,

which is approximately three square miles. the history of huntington Park is

quintessential California, starting with Spanish explorer francisco Salvatore

lugo, arriving in Southern California, claiming the land in the name of the king

of Spain, and later naming it rancho San Antonio in the early 1800’s. At the

beginning of the 20th Century, the real estate firm of burbank and baker offered

lots of land south of randolph Street for sale at $75 to $350 each. in an effort

to lure a railway through their development, burbank and baker called the tract

huntington Park in order to convince railroad tycoon henry huntington to run

his Pacific electric red Cars through the city. huntington Park was incorporated

as a city on Sept. 1, 1906.

the benefits of redeveloping brownfields properties in huntington Park include

their proximity to downtown los Angeles and the Port of los Angeles via the

Alameda Corridor rail line, and its demographics. the city possesses a young

population where almost 67 percent of the residents are between the ages of

five and 44 years. Also, if the Alameda Corridor is converted to a passenger rail

line, it could provide public access to this area from other parts of Greater los

Angeles, much the same way the red line did in the early 20th Century. there

are signs that the redevelopment process is already underway with construction

of the new los Angeles united School District’s South regional high School

#7 and the adjoining Community Center at the corner of Gage and Cottage

streets. the high school and the community center are located within a half-

mile of the proposed brownfields redevelopment location.


The “After”

the hayden tract is Culver City ‘s largest and oldest industrial area. it was

transformed into an eclectic group of businesses ranging from traditional

manufacturing to design and entertainment-related firms that are now studios

and offices for people like graphic designers and software engineers. los

Angeles architect and Southern California institude of Architecture Director

eric owen moss, whose studio is in the hayden tract, built a collection of

experimental buildings called Conjunctive Points, which occupies a large

portion of the tract. featured businesses include ogilvy & mather, Animax

entertainment, Allen Dance Studio and Smashbox Cosmetics.

the hayden tract is a product of the city’s redevelopment Plan. the plan

identified four project components that the redevelopment Agency works on to

not only improve, but to prevent the spread of blight throughout the community.

the hayden tract, which consists of 1,286 acres, or 42 percent of the Culver

City’s land area, is located in redevelopment Zone no. 4, in the northeastern

area of the city. the success of the hayden tract has proven to be a nationwide

model of successful and creative urban redevelopment.

New Challenges

brownfields redevelopment and adaptive reuse offer us many opportunities

to reverse the trend of the disposable and create a permanent legacy for the

community and the environment. there are environmental, economic and land-

use incentives in place including brownfields redevelopment, leeD Sustainable

Sites Credit and tax incentives and credits. there are challenges, however, one

of which being the loss of Community redevelopment Agencies (CrA). in

2011, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of a state law resulting from

the passage of Assembly bills 26 and 27 that abolished CrAs. CrAs, which

used a portion of property tax money to partner with developers to encourage

development in blighted areas, controlled approximately $5 billion in state

revenue. the second challenge we face will be to address the social aspect

of sustainability - overcoming the stereotype that these former industrial and

manufacturing locations are “dangerous’” or “undesirable,” which can affect

their ability to attract businesses to relocate or start up in these locations.

when these challenges are overcome, re-developed buildings and properties

where the disposable products of the industrial age were once manufactured

will be the sustainable businesses of the 21st Century.

Michael Roy is a Senior Associate for Building Sciences at Citadel Environmental Services Inc. in Glendale and Valencia, where he collaborates with architects, engineers, industrial hygienists, geologists and safety specialists to provide environmental management services for public agencies and private industry. He received his B.S. in Architecture from the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York and his Certification in Global Sustainability from the University of California, Los Angeles. Citadel is a corporate sponsor of UCLA’s Institute of Environment and Sustainability. Roy is a member of the US Green Building Council, a member of NetImpact.org, and a former docent at the Heritage Square Museum in Pasadena.

© Michael K. Roy 2013Graphic by: Heidi KonieczkaHayden Tract photo by: Scott HamptonFence photo: Courtesy of Stock.XCHNG


1Title: hyperion-Son of uranus at the environmental learning Center

Artist Team: freya bardell and brian howe; www.greenmeme.com

Location of installation: hyperion treatment Plant - los Angeles, CA

Client: City of los Angeles Department of Public works

Dimensions: 22 ft (h) x 35 ft (w) x 5 ft (D)

Materials: Caltrans road signs made of high grade aluminum

Construction techniques: laser-cut aluminum signs, pre-assembled, bolted to

concrete wall

Contractors: flix fx

Budget: $75,000 (hundreds of signs donated by Caltrans)

Project Completion: 2011

hyperion-Son of uranus is an installation for the new environmental learning

Center at the hyperion wastewater treatment Plant. the south facing exterior wall

is treated as a 3D map of los Angeles broken into a grid of squares proportional

to the thomas Guide mapping system. its distance from the wall is determined

SuStAinAbility in PubliC Art:three ProJeCtS

Rebecca Ansert



by pipe dimensions within the wastewater network of each grid square. the

grid-like structure bulges where pipes are largest, creating a unique topography

from volumetric waste water data. this map visualizes a new topography for

los Angeles based on experiencing the invisible infrastructure beneath us that

handles our waste – a topic that typically leaves our thoughts once we flush

the toilet. reclaimed Caltrans road signs were used as the sculptural material,

which was inline with both the theme of the work – mapping the underground

network and being able to place this amongst the city’s grid of streets – as well

as the context as an environmental learning center advocating the principles of

the waste hierarchy: reuse, reduce, recycle.

Photography: © Greenmeme (Freya Bardell and Brian Howe)


2Title: riverside roundabout

Artist Team: freya bardell and brian howe; www.greenmeme.com

Location of installation: riverside bridge and roundabout

Client: City of los Angeles / hntb engineering

Dimensions: 100’ diameter

Materials: Stone, landscape, Cisterns, leD lighting, Permeable Pavers, PV

panels,

Budget: $1.2 million


this artwork, part of the riverside Drive bridge improvement Program, will be

sited in the first roundabout in los Angeles. Stone sculptures will be cut with

faces of individuals from the community, randomly chosen over a period of

the next two years. the sculptures also capture storm water coming from the

bridge and process it through a series of fountains, where it will then be filtered,

stored and distributed throughout the landscape.

Images: © Greenmeme (Freya Bardell and Brian Howe)


3Title: orit haj

Artist Team: Jenna Didier and oliver hess; www.didierhess.com

Location: Vasquez rocks natural Area Park; Agua Dulce, CA

Client: los Angeles County Arts Commission

Architect: Gruen Associates

Dimensions: 4ft (h) x 7ft (w) x 22ft 10in (D)

Materials: rammed earth from the excavation preparation for the interpretive

Center foundation, bronze and concrete

Contractors: Andreas hessing, Scrubjay Studios; Seth ernsdorf, ernsdorf

Design

Budget: $52,000 (installation labor contributed by the community)


orít haj are indigenous words from the tataviam language, which translate to

river and mountain. much the same way the tataviam culture and its language

dissolved into inspiring artifacts and legends, so too this artwork will transform

and dissolve with time. the sculpture evokes the shape of the unique formations

at Vasquez rocks and bridges the natural earth forms to the angular language

of a man-made interpretive Center. Community members helped build the soil

layers of this slow release time capsule, embedding personal artifacts within it

as they labored. these artifacts will reveal themselves over time as the rammed

earth slowly erodes. hidden deeply within the form is a bronze sculpture,

designed by the artists, for a generation to discover far into the future. As

people return to the site at various points in their lives, the sculpture, like the

rocks, will be changing – contours and the artifacts they contain will gradually

alter in response to human and natural forces.


Photography: © Patrick McElhenney

Rebecca Ansert, founder of Green Public Art Consultancy, is an art consultant who specializes in public art project development and management, artist solicitation and selection, and creative community involvement for private and public agencies. She earned a Master’s in Public Art Studies at the University of Southern California and she has a unique interest in how art can demonstrate green processes or utilize green design theories and techniques in LEED-certified buildings. She founded her Los Angeles-based firm in 2009 in an effort to advance the conversation of public art’s role in green building.


neXt StoP: SuStAinAbility (trAnSit in lA)

with the passing of measure r in 2008, $40 billion in transportation upgrades

will be injected into los Angeles County over the next 30 years. Some of the

most visible projects, specifically new rail lines, will cut through many sections

of the city, dramatically changing the way we experience it.

At the same time, an overall increase in the public’s awareness and advocacy

for environmental issues resulted in state laws that mandate how to address

sustainability in the future development of communities. in California, laws such

as the CAl Green building code, which sets minimum mandatory sustainability

guidelines for buildings and Sb 375, which requires all regions to include a

Sustainable Communities component in their regional transportation Plan,

are now the baselines to which planning and building initiatives must adhere.

Cities are augmenting these state mandates with new planning strategies, which

address the concern and demand for sustainable development at the local level.

Carmen Suero

EXISTING METRO LINES AND STATIONS

PROPOSED METRO LINES AND STATIONS

POTENTIAL SUSTAINABLE TRANSIT COMMUNITIES (AS IDENTIFIED IN THE “FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSIT COMMUNITIES REPORT” PRODUCED BY THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR)

EXISTING METRO LINES AND STATIONS

PROPOSED METRO LINES AND STATIONS

POTENTIAL SUSTAINABLE TRANSIT COMMUNITIES (AS IDENTIFIED IN THE “FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSIT COMMUNITIES REPORT” PRODUCED BY THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR)


this intersection of increased local transit funding, expanding cultural awareness

and sensitivity to environmental issues, along with updates to many of the city of

los Angeles’ community plans, creates an opportunity to develop an integrated

planning approach for the city. this, in turn, will lead to the creation of more

sustainable communities, which will be better equipped to take advantage of

the various benefits offered by the development of public transportation.

the city of los Angeles created a task force charged with developing guidelines

for the development of Sustainable transit Communities (StC). StC’s extend

beyond transit-adjacent zones and encompass the redevelopment of much

broader areas to more effectively create vibrant, livable communities. this

StC methodology has been further developed into the city of los Angeles

transit Corridor Strategy, which now groups adjacent transit communities

acknowledging the potential for synergies among communities.

these new strategies re-examine the prevailing approach to planning in which

transit and transit-adjacent planning occur separately due to differences

in sequencing, financing and ownership. At present, the incorporation of

sustainability primarily revolves around the transit-adjacent areas and rarely

extends to the design of the transit system, or station design. it is a missed

opportunity for developing a wholly integrated system, which ultimately comes

at the expense of the surrounding communities.

in contrast, these new strategies lead to transit planning that is informed by

and developed in conjunction with StCs, instead of separate and in isolation.

neighborhoods that previously would have objected to a new station or shown

contempt for the lack of inclusion in the planning process will benefit from the

development of a more comprehensive plan in which stations are thoughtfully

woven into the fabric of the community and designed with a more acute

sensitivity to character and context.

the convergence of local financing, citywide planning changes and heightened

environmental awareness is creating a unique opening for los Angeles to not

only strengthen its infrastructure, but also to provide a comprehensive roadmap

for economic vitality and livability. while the concept of sustainable transit

community plans is still in its infancy, it provides the necessary foundation for

the development of a far-reaching transportation system that meets the needs

of the general public, our communities and the city’s long-term viability.


Carmen Suero is a lead designer with Parsons Brinckerhoff in the Architecture and Buildings Group in Los Angeles. She has more than a decade of experience in mass transit architecture and sustainable design. Carmen was responsible for the design of transit stations and the incorporation of sustainability practices on such noteworthy projects as the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension Light Rail Project, Exposition Light Rail Transit Project Phases 1 and 2 in Los Angeles and the MidCoast LRT in San Diego. Carmen is a LEED Accredited Professional and holds a Masters in Metropolitan Research and Design from the Southern California Institute of Architecture, she resides in Los Angeles.

New rail lines will cut through many sections of the city, dramatically

changing the way we experience it

© Carmen Suero 2013Map Graphic: Courtesy of Carmen SueroGas station photograph: Courtesy of Stock.XCHNGMetro photograph by: Dan Hampton


SuStAinAbility & the lA riVer: A toP 10 liSt

George Wolfe and Thea Mercouffer

George Wolfe and Thea Mercouffer are a husband/wife team living in Venice, California, who have, somewhat accidentally, gotten involved in the LA River revitalization movement.

George led an historic expedition down the entire 51-mile river in 2008 to demonstrate its navigability, which helped win federal protections for the watershed. He initiated, and continues to run, canoe and kayak trips for the general public via his organization LA River Expeditions. Thea filmed the 2008 Expedition and she has gone on to create a full-length documentary that tackles our relationship to water in Southern California. “Rock the Boat: Saving America’s Wildest River” had its LA premiere in October 2012, and it has won several festival awards, including People’s Choice, Best Feature, etc. George and Thea share their Top 10 list of things they’ve learned about the river by way of their involvement with the cause.


1first and foremost, it’s a river — not a ditch or a flood control channel.

that’s the first thing that everyone needs to get educated about and get

over, whether you grew up here or you are a transplant. the flood control

measures don’t negate the river’s preeminence. you can’t seriously address

new solutions to managing our increasingly concerning water-supply problems

without learning to treat your river like a river again.

2 Arguably, it’s not illegal to access the lA river. the haphazard jumble

of communications about the “flood control channel” is just one reason

we’ve all been led to believe that the public isn’t allowed to access its own

river. in several places, signs on chain-link fences say you could be fined by

lA County, while other sections are open and inviting. Public access is key to

river revitalization, so threatening fines is counterproductive to sustainability.

And when the few people who do get ticketed (e.g., fishermen, bird watchers,

etc.) end up in court, the judges routinely throw out the citations (usually just

a loitering charge). the California Constitution’s section on water supports the

2,000-year-old set of public trust doctrine laws going back to roman times,

which reiterates the public’s inalienable right to access its waterways. in short,

with regard to the lA river, this continues to be a legal grey area that has yet to

be properly tested in court. Granted, when people do access the river, they’ll

need to be careful to use it safely and responsibly.

3Plenty of cities have revitalized their rivers, and in a relatively short period

of time, put them on the balanced path of sustainability. in Seoul, South

Korea, the mayor found the resolve to save their hometown river by substantially

altering the degraded downtown riverfront; now it’s a thriving, handsome

destination that’s a boon to businesses and the pride of its citizens. munich,


Germany, did a similarly dramatic transformation of its channelized isar river,

turning it into a model of sustainability and urban design. San Antonio’s river

walk is viewed as a successful redesign that brings in money while continuing

to nurture a sustainable river corridor for residents and tourists alike. from the

hudson river in new york City to the Platte river in Denver, urban rivers are on

the move. if we can succeed here in lA, there’s no river in the world that can’t

be transformed, healed and put back on the path of sustainability.

4lA’s situation with the river isn’t hopeless, we just have to get over our

dysfunctional history with water. lA’s first 100 years of non-native settlers

relied solely on the lA river as the chief water resource. it was why the Spaniards

settled inland instead of the bay, and so it became our city’s foundation. but

since the floods of the early 20th Century and the river’s partial channelization,

we developed an aquaphobic mentality, nurtured by flood control bureaucracies

and a drama-addicted media.

5we throw away the equivalent of 1,541 rose bowls full of fresh rainwater that

drains through the lA river each year. the impact of throwing away free and

clean water is that we turn around and then spend, literally, a billion dollars to

import fresh water from elsewhere, including owens lake, the Colorado river,

the Sacramento river Delta, the Sierra mountain range, etc.

6river revitalization doesn’t have to be expensive. we’ve often heard that

the key impediment to river revitalization is the lack of money to implement

things like the city and county river master plans. that’s not true. the 2011

excursions that we pioneered with the “Paddle the lA river” pilot and all its

coalition partners showed that municipalities needn’t spend a dime to get


We throw away the equivalent of 1,541 Rose Bowls full of fresh rainwater that drains through the LA River each year


results. they simply need to get in sync with their motivated citizenry — or just

get out of the way. People clamoring to use the river, even as it is today, illustrates

that we don’t need to wait 15 to 50 years, as some municipality representatives

estimate, to see change. Angelenos are creative, and once they can indeed plan to

use the river without onerous hoops to jump through, they will find manifold uses

to make it an increasingly vital connecting space.

7“Chinatown”—the classic film about the conflict of power, profit and water

in pre-wwii los Angeles—continues today in that there are now roughly 500

water management agencies in Southern California, each vying for increasingly

limited resources. there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, however, troubling

signs are emerging. San Diego has seen their water rates double in each of the past

two years. now, imagine this situation going on all over the world, throughout the

21st Century. there will inevitably be fierce battles over water, and it’s likely that

only the most powerful entities will control access to the best water resources.


8Some agencies that could benefit most by utilizing the river better are

sometimes their own worst enemy. lA County opposed state legislation

(Sb 1201) that sought to open up public river access to include educational

and recreational considerations. that near-sighted view fails to account for the

help that would otherwise come their way by the citizenry and businesses eager

to reinvent lA along its river corridor, and so they stand to lose out on future

cost savings resulting from that help. the Army Corps of engineers made

some great strides starting with the 2011 pilot program and other conservation

project, but they could make a much bigger commitment. if only the Army

Corps would apply the same zeal to restoring the river (while still retaining

flood protections) that they applied to pouring all the original concrete!

9you can have a great deal of influence by simply declaring something

you want and going for it — one person or a small group of committed

individuals really can make a huge difference. in thea’s film, poet, journalist,

filmmaker and political activist lewis macAdams tells of how, back in the

early ‘80s, he and some friends cut a hole in a fence and declared the river

open. lewis went on to found friends of the lA river, the most recognizable

name associated with the river’s revitalization. Similarly, in 2008, George and

Canoe photographs: Curtosey of George Wolfe & Thea MercoufferBridge photograph by: Scott HamptonOther photography: Courtesy of Stock.XCHNG

a few friends and associates stuck their necks out to demonstrate that the whole

river was navigable in order to win protections for it. years later, the mayor,

city council members and Army Corps brass followed suit and got in boats in

support of this type of recreation. in 2013 it looks as if another stretch of the

river, the five mile Glendale narrows, will be officially opened for recreational

use. And, of course, thea’s film is now poised to have a great influence locally,

and with festival audiences around the world. each of these ventures began with

individual gumption to make a difference in the world.

10it’s just a matter of time before we get our river back. why did we nearly

bury our namesake river? because the mentality of that time was that we’d

always have infinite sources of cheap water to pull from. why is it important

for us to have a revitalized river — socially, environmentally, economically?

because the mentality of our time is that we understand our natural resources

are finite and that changing our ways is not just a choice but a necessity for

our long-term survival. now the public really needs to get energized and be

proactive in terms of asserting their rights and creating their own river projects.

the revitalization of the river is an idea whose time has come, and there’s a great

amount of power in that.

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Angeles Chapter on their inaugural issue of

Win:Win. We look forward to the ongoing civic

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Softfirm loves to see exciting things get started. We congratulate the Westside Branch of the USGBC on

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With a goal to foster the advancement of green building and healthy communities,

the Westside Branch of the USGBC-Los Angeles is committed to the future of

sustainability.

Our online journal, Win:Win, is dedicated to models and methodologies that

inspire us to achieve transformative change in the built environment. Each issue

is dedicated to one core topic or theme. Content quality and variety are key, with a

goal to push the boundaries of both critical thinking and presentation.

All authors have granted the USGBC-LA chapter the non-exclusive right to use

their submission including pictures and graphics in its online journal, educational

programming, advertisements and any other means the USGBC-LA chapter chooses.

Our articles are available under the Creative Commons license, and we hereby

grant permission to our authors to reprint their work, as long as they acknowledge

in the reprint that the piece first appeared in Win:Win and include the author byline.

For submission and sponsorship information please refer to www.usgbc-la.org.

CONTRIBUTING TEAM:

Julie Du Brow - Managing Editor | dubroWORKS PR/Marketing

Erin Gehle - Creative Director | softfirm

Shawn Gehle - Instigator | Gensler

Michael Gottlieb - Copy Editor | Advanced Green Solutions

Heidi Konieczka - Production Director | Gensler

Lauri Lappin | Pacific Cove Development

Nancy Levens - Associate Editor | Veneklasen Associates

Andrew Paden | Environmental Science Associates

Scott Sachs | Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo

Audrey Vuong | Loescher + Meachem Architects

BROUGHT TO YOU BY MEMBERS OF THE WIN:WIN JOURNAL COMMITTEE

USGBC LA WESTSIDE BRANCH

Documents

A JOURNAL FOR THE NEW SUSTAINABLE CITY · 1 win win issue no.1 A JOURNAL FOR THE NEW SUSTAINABLE CITY A JournAl for the new SuStAinAble City brou G ht S to e ou by the we S t i D