Autodesk Sustainable Design Curriculum Lesson Two Modeling the

Autodesk Sustainable Design Curriculum Lesson Two: Modeling the Sustainable Building Site § § § The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion Modeling the Socio-Political Region Modeling Regional Demographic Information Modeling The Economic Region Modeling the Regional Built Environment and Critical Infrastructure © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design In 1939, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright proposed his philosophy of “Organic Architecture, ” which he advocated that architects could utilize to create buildings that would appear to “grow out of the site. ” Cucumber Falls, Ohiopyle State Park, Fayette County, PA Photo by Jim Shaulis, Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, (http: //www. dcnr. state. pa. us/topogeo/photogallery/images/cucum ber. jpg) © 2009 Autodesk Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Kaufmann House”, a. k. a. Falling Water, Bear Run, Fayette County, PA, 1936 photo by Figuura Naudotojas, Wikimedia Commons, GNU Free Documentation License , Creative Commons Attribution Share. Alike 3. 0 License.

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Seventy years later, Jason F. Mc. Lennan, the author of the “Living Building Challenge” expressed a similar idea: “Imagine a building designed and constructed to function as elegantly and efficiently as a flower. “ “Imagine a building informed by its ecoregion’s characteristics, and that: • generates all of its own energy with renewable resources, • captures and treats all of its water, and • operates efficiently and for maximum beauty. ” (Living Building Challenge http: //www. ilbi. org) © 2009 Autodesk Image: A brilliant orange gerbera daisy, by Wikimedia Commons user Kwj 2772, 2008 licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share. Alike 2. 0 License http: //creativecommons. org/licenses/by-sa/2. 0/

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design What would a designer need to know so that a whole urban area and the buildings and other structures within it could literally be made to “grow out of the site”, in the way that a crystal, a flower or a tree grows? What would a designer need to know so that this town or city, and all its buildings could be: • • constructed, illuminated, heated, cooled, ventilated, powered and plumbed for human use and habitation, using only the energy and water that was available on the site? How could the “ecoregion’s characteristics” inform the design process of such a place? © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Information Modeling tools and methodologies encourage designers to answer Sustainable Design questions such as • • • What are the ecological, sociopolitical, and economic forces currently at work in this place? What is the ecological, socio-political, and economic history of this place? What will these forces and these histories require, permit, and help us to do as designers of sustainable places? The concept of “the region” is useful to a designer because it helps to contrast a specific smaller site from a surrounding larger-scale area of interest and influence. Successful sustainable design hinges upon an understanding of the importance of a meaningful regional context, within which environmental, social and economic criteria are integrated and can be modeled. The modeling of a region can use narrative, quantitative and graphical methods to depict the sustainable flow of energy, matter, and information over time. © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Regional Climate, Local Climates, Microclimates, and Weather Models Climate is the predominant organizing first principal for modeling an ecoregion. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is the latest numerical program model adopted by the National Weather Service as well as by the U. S. military and many private meteorological services. Although the most talked-about climate models of recent years have been those that relate rising average global temperatures to worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide, regional and local climate models have a greater impact on effective sustainable design. Architects and building engineers are increasingly paying closer attention to the need to design for changing climatic conditions at the regional scale. © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Understanding the Building Site in the Context of Ecosystem Structure, and Function and Restoration What is ecosystem restoration, and why is it a worthwhile goal of sustainable design? Once restored, ecosystems can once again provide valuable services that contribute to human well-being. These services can be subdivided into four main categories: • • provisioning such as the production of food, fresh water, wood, fiber and fuel; regulating, such as the control of climate, floods, diseases and water purification; cultural, such as aesthetic, spiritual, educational and recreational benefits; and supporting, such as nutrient cycling, soil formation and crop pollination; (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA). 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington. ) © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion Diagram of flow of energy in a south Florida regional ecosystem, using H. T. Odum’s system of generic ecosystem modeling symbols from "The Environment of South Florida, A Summary Report, by B. F. Mc. Pherson, et. al. 1976, Geological Survey Professional Paper 1011 , U. S. Geological Survey, Miami, Florida © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: British Columbia, Canada from “Vancouver rocks”, Geological Survey of Canada, courtesy of Natural Resources Canada © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: Georgia Depression Ecoprovince, British Columbia, Canada © 2009 Autodesk From Water Stewardship: Ground Water Resources of British Columbia, Chapter 9 — Ground Water Resources of the Basins, Lowlands and Plains, 9. 1. 2 Nanaimo and Georgia Lowlands by K. Ronneseth, W. Hodge, and A. P. Kohut. Ministry of the Environment, British Columbia, Canada.

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: Coast Forest Region and Forest Districts British Columbia, Canada Coast Forest Region and Forest Districts, by Ministry of Forests and Range, British Columbia, Canada Copyright © Province of British Columbia. All rights reserved. Reprint with permission of the province of British Columbia www. ipp. gov. bc. ca © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: The Chilliwack Forest District, British Columbia, Canada © 2009 Autodesk The Chilliwack Forest District, image by Ministry of Forests and Range, British Columbia, Canada Copyright © Province of British Columbia. All rights reserved. Reprint with permission of the province of British Columbia www. ipp. gov. bc. ca

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design © 2009 Autodesk The Chilliwack Forest District, wall map, image by Ministry of Forests and Range, British Columbia, Canada Copyright © Province of British Columbia. All rights reserved. Reprint with permission of the province of British Columbia www. ipp. gov. bc. ca

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: Coastal Douglas-fir Zone (CDFmm), Chilliwack Forest District, British Columbia, CA image by Ministry of Forests and Range, British Columbia, Canada, Copyright © Province of © 2009 Autodesk British Columbia. All rights reserved. Reprint with permission of the province of British Columbia www. ipp. gov. bc. ca

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: Coastal Douglas-fir Zone (CDFmm), Chilliwack Forest District, British Columbia, CA Coast Douglas-fir Vancouver, BC, 1887, William Mc. Farlane Notman, © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: The Regional Watershed Little Campbell River watershed S. Surrey. BC Canada, Lower Mainland (Region 2): Focus Watersheds, Greater Georgia Basin Steelhead Recovery Plan, BC Conservation Foundation, 2009 The Little Campbell River watershed does not flow into the Fraser River. It is a highly productive stream in terms of producing biomass, but its potential for supporting wild fish populations, such as the slowly recovering Steelhead Salmon, is limited by the size of watershed and a lack of large woody debris and boulders needed for habitat. This is a highly urbanized (rural development) system, on the list of sensitive streams. Intensive agricultural activities have led to reported fish kills and low dissolved oxygen levels. There has been significant habitat disruption of the riparian zone © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: Biogeochemical Cycling “Simplified Representation of the Global Carbon Cycle”, adapted from “Carbon Sequestration Research and Development”, 1999 Genomics: GTL Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Ecoregion / Bioregion: Regional Stormwater Management Models Screen shot of the EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design • Regional Soil-Water Chemistry Models Enable researchers to examine the reactions and characteristics that influence soil chemical reactivity • • Regional Erosion Control Models Help researchers to understand how to prevent water pollution and soil loss. Total Regional Ecosystem Biomass Models Biomass is the mass of organically bound carbon (C). Total ecosystem biomass is measured at the regional scale to better understand how to mitigate atmospheric carbon emissions and to measure the health of the ecosystem. Regional Biodiversity Models Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems, and is measured in terms of Species Richness , the Species Index , and the Shannon Index. Total Regional Ecosystem Health Metrics Six major concepts are most often used to describe ecosystem health (Costanza 1992): • homeostasis • the absence of disease, • diversity or complexity, • stability or resilience, • vigor or scope for growth, and • balance between system components. © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Cultural and Socio-Political Region First Nations totem pole & longhouse at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. University Endowment Lands, BC, Canada © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling Regional Demographic Information "Census Bureau Legal and Statistical Geographic Entities" U. S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, 2009, © 2009 Autodesk Voting District Map, South Surrey-White Rock. Cloverdale (British Columbia), source, Elections Canada

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling The Economic Region Connecticut Economic Model (REMI), (Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), "The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Connecticut’s Film Tax Credit", 2008) © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Economic Measures of Sustainability Advocates of Sustainable Design assert that it has measurable economic benefits, including: • Reducing construction costs through more efficient processes and reduced waste of construction materials. • Cutting operating costs by using less energy and water. • Creating, expanding, and shaping markets for green products and services. • Generating higher commercial tenant ROI by increasing worker productivity and reducing worker absenteeism. • Providing higher market resale values. © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Social Measures of Sustainability Advocates of Sustainable Design assert that this approach to creating the built environment has measurable social benefits. These include: • Enhancing occupant comfort and health by improving indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and daylight levels. • Improving overall quality of life by providing healthier and more pleasing places to live and work. • Explicitly addressing issues of environmental justice and social equity. • Minimizing strain on local and regional infrastructure. • Heightening aesthetic qualities. © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Modeling the Regional Built Environment and Critical Infrastructure The day-to-day reality of a region that exhibits sustainability across all three dimensions - ecological, social-political and economic- is one where people have access to a reliable infrastructure that will support them in meeting their basic needs and pursuing their desires. • electricity generation, transmission and distribution; • natural gas production, transport and distribution; • oil and oil products production, transport and distribution; • telecommunication; • water supply (drinking water, waste water/sewage, stemming of surface water (e. g. dikes and sluices)); • agriculture, food production and distribution; • heating (e. g. passive solar, natural gas, fuel oil, district heating, coal, fuel wood); • public health (air quality, noise abatement, solid waste management, regional/municipal recycling, sanitation, hospitals, ambulances); • transportation systems (fuel supply, railway network, airports, harbors, roads, bridges and other inland shipping routes); • financial services (banking, clearing); • security services (police, fire safety, military). © 2009 Autodesk

The Regional Context for Sustainability and Sustainable Design Summary Modeling a sustainable building site is an exercise in establishing the most meaningful ecological, social and economic regional context. Ecologists seeking to classify large regions have discovered that climate, geology and biological communities interact via ecosystem processes to form ecoregions where energy and matter are cycled very efficiently and very productively. This has inspired designers, engineers and builders to create a built environment that can harmonize and perhaps even mimic these processes. Introducing the social and economic aspects regional context introduces a significant degree of complexity, but powerful information modeling tools and methodologies exist to support this goal. © 2009 Autodesk

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