Riceland Cabinet - SoL Harris/Day Architecture

Embracing Environment
Sol/Harris Day designs and builds own green office building in North Canton
By Mark Watt | Photos courtesy of Sol Harris/Day
F
or years, Sol Harris/Day Architecture has embraced green design, working to provide forward-thinking clients with sustainable, high performance buildings. Now the firm has one
to call its own.
The 43-year-old architectural and
construction services company recently
moved into a new, $700,000, eco-friendly
facility located at 6677 Frank Avenue
Northwest in North Canton. Jutting
from a grassy hillside with gray cor-
rugated metal paneling and yellow flat
metal panel accents, the 5,600-squarefoot, two-story building provides a
modern and efficient work environment
that meets increased space demands for
a growing team of architects, interior
Proud to be part of the team at the
new SōL Harris/Day Headquarters
Riceland Cabinet
326 N. Hillcrest, Building A, Wooster, OH 44691
330-601-1071 ♦ www.ricelandcabinet.com
32
designers, construction managers and
support staff. It also serves as a functional showroom of green building, with
a range of sustainable techniques and
building materials utilized.
“We felt it was important that if we
were to build a new headquarters that
we practice what we preach by building green,” says Domenic Ferrante, vice
president of architecture with Sol Harris/
Day, which acted as both construction
manager and architect for the project.
“And from that, we decided to use this
project to showcase different products
that can be used on our clients’ projects.”
Projected to achieve LEED Gold certification through the U.S. Green Building
Properties | July 2012
Proud to contribute to the exciting new headquarters for SōL Harris/Day
PHILIP BAILEY 8616 FROMES AVE. CANTON, OHIO 44721
LICENSED & INSURED PLUMBING CONTRACTOR
OHIO LICENSE #15944
PHONE/FAX: 330-497-6268
CELL: 330-352-5316
[email protected]
Photo by Mark Watt
LICENSED & INSURED PLUMBING CONTRACTOR HIO LICENSE proud to be Opart
of#15944 the team for
PHONE/FAX:330-­‐497-­‐6268 SōL harriS/day headquarterS
CELL: 330-­‐352-­‐5316 STONECONTRACTOR v TILE
LICENSED & IBRICK
NSURED PvLUMBING [email protected] SLEEK STRUCTURE Providing a modern
look, the building features an aluminum
and glass curtainwall façade and both
corrugated and flat metal paneling.
Council’s rating system for green buildings, the new Sol Harris/Day headquarters
is indeed a living example of sustainable
principles – quite literally, in fact.
Among numerous green concepts
incorporated into the design, perhaps
the most prominent is a live roof system,
which incorporates pavers and modular
green roof trays, filled with planted
sedum and a mixture of other plants.
“By incorporating a live roof and
other green features here, we’re
able to show clients these systems
firsthand so they can better understand how these technologies work,”
Ferrante says.
The project began in the fall of
2010, according to Ferrante, when Sol
Harris/Day decided to make a move
after 17 years of operating within an
office at 3722 Whipple Avenue. Staff
had increased 30% to 23 employees
during a five-year growth spurt, and
as a result the firm had simply outgrown its 2,400-square-foot space. In
September, the company purchased the
Frank Avenue Northwest property, just
minutes away.
A house on the site was razed and
dismantled, most of it to be recycled
elsewhere, while a barn near the back of
the property was sold to a private party
on Craigslist, removed and rebuilt elsewhere in town.
THOMAS BRICK
OHIO LICENSE #15944 PHONE/FAX:330-­‐497-­‐6268 CELL: 330-­‐352-­‐5316 [email protected] COMPANY
Beachwood 216.831.9116 v Westlake 440.892.9400
www.thomasbrick.com
proud to be part
of the team for
sol Harris/day’s
new headquarters
/
Formed for functionality
THE
Since 1934
The
208 Schroyer Avenue SW
Canton, Ohio 44702
330-454-3033
Fax: 330.454.3033
www.furbay.com
Independently & locally owned
a full-lIne electrIcal dIstrIbutor
www.propertiesmag.com 33
SPECIALIZING IN EXTERIOR MASONRY REPAIR & RENOVATION SINCE 1972
COMPLETE
INSPECTION/ASSESSMENT OF
FAÇADE CONDITIONS
•
TUCKPOINTING/CAULKING
216-881-4142
Fax: 216-881-6557
•
•
•
BRICK & STONE
REPAIR/REPLACEMENT
SEALING/WATERPROOFING
CLEANING/PRESSURE WASHING
Photo by Mark Watt
•
4408 St. Clair Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio 44103
Proud to be part of the team at the new
SōL Harris/Day Headquarters
ORGANIC OPTION A live roof system
incorporates modular green trays filled with
sedum and a mixture of other plants.
Design of the new office began in
late 2010, with construction throughout
2011. The building officially opened on
January 3, 2012 with a ribbon-cutting
ceremony in May.
The sleek, metallic structure – with
an aluminum and glass curtainwall
façade – works from the site’s natural
topography, which includes a hill that
rises toward the back half of the property. Employee parking is situated atop
the hill with a second-story entrance to
the building at grade.
A leader in custom matching and product blends, Belden
Brick has consistently focused on making a quality product
that sets the industry standard.
Belden Brick… The Standard of Comparison Since 1885
An ISO 9001:2008 Registered Quality Management System
An ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System
www.beldenbrick.com
34
Properties | July 2012
A visitor parking area, at the front
of the site, leads guests to the first floor
main entrance. Inside the main entry, an
informational wall leads to a contemporary, white, solid surface reception desk
located at the core of the building. Here
and throughout much of the building,
sealed concrete flooring and exposed
12-foot ceilings with wood trusses provide a warm and natural environment.
Nearby, a mixed-use “living room” –
featuring a custom mural of a city skyline
– includes a variety of seating areas suitable for casual meetings and temporary
workspace for employees or visitors. It
also serves as an employee dining space
with a kitchenette along the back wall.
Beyond the reception area is a design
studio, a conference room, an IT closet
and several private offices. An open
stair leads to the second floor, which
houses a private meeting room and
support workroom, as well as a second,
larger design studio.
“When we were planning the project, we took the same approach that
we would with our clients,” Ferrante
says. Group meetings and one-on-one
interviews with staff helped to steer the
direction of what would be the most
efficient design for the building, and
what features were most important to
help employees get their work accomplished day-to-day. “A lot of what we
heard was a desire for an open, collaborative work environment.”
Both of the design studios – where
much of the firm’s work takes place
– are spacious, uncluttered areas with
staff clustered together around simple
workstations. Custom built by staff, the
workstations are essentially comprised of
thick, three- by seven-foot maple doors
laid horizontally on 31-inch supports.
Larger, raised collaborative worktables
in each studio provide space for group
work on architectural drawings and
other projects. A private office is situated just off of each studio, but with
large glass doors to provide open views.
Photo by Mark Watt
PROGRAMMED WITH PURPOSE Beyond a
reception area at the front of the building (top)
are a pair of design studios, including Studio
A on the first floor (middle) and the larger
Studio B on the second floor (bottom). Each
embraces a collaborative work environment.
Green goals
Inside and out, the new building
acts as a showroom of green strategies
www.propertiesmag.com 35
Photos by Mark Watt
ROOTED IN RESOURCEFULNESS The building juts from a grassy hillside (left) and utilizes the sloping property to guide excess stormwater
runoff to a rain garden onsite (right). In fact, because of the rain garden, as well porous pavers in the front parking lot and the live roof
system, all rainwater is captured on site where it settles into the ground – so there is no need to be connected to the county storm sewer.
and materials. As Ferrante explains,
the primary efforts toward energy
efficiency and sustainability included
creating a super-insulated building,
devising an efficient rainwater runoff
management system and taking advantage of natural light.
The building’s exterior shell is essentially ground face block and corrugated
metal siding with 10-inch-thick insulated concrete forms (ICFs) used for
the foundation and lower level walls.
The ICFs – created by pouring concrete between two rigid insulation
boards, which are “stacked like Legos,”
Ferrante says – provide maximum insulation, supported with a high efficiency
HVAC system.
“The HVAC system is fairly traditional but it’s very efficient,” Ferrante
says. “If the temperature is cool in the
morning, for instance, the system will
pull in that cool outside air to lower
the temperature within the building,
versus using a refrigerant.”
Helping to insulate the building is
the live roof system, which regulates
DepenD on our proDucts…
Count on our ServiCe!
Offering 50+ years of experience in sales, leasing, rentals &
repairs of commercial multi-residential laundry equipment.
2009 national winner - Maytag’S Multi-houSing exCellenCe award
• Coin & Card Operated Laundry Facilities
• Laundry Solutions You Can Depend On
• Maytag & Whirlpool commercial laundry equipment
• Design Laundry Room Layout
• Installation, repair & equipment maintance
23103 Miles Rd., Unit C., Cleveland, OH 44128
216-475-2040
800-628-2588
www.lakesidelaundry.com
36
Properties | July 2012
the inside temperature, particularly
in the first floor design studio directly
below. Doubling as a second-floor
patio, the mix of planted modules
and pavers are placed atop a seamless,
liquid-applied roof membrane, in turn
protecting the membrane from harmful UV rays.
The live roof is also part of a larger
rainwater runoff management system,
with rainwater consumed by the succulent plants residing within each
module. Other gravel-filled modules
on the roof serve as scuppers to allow
excess water to pass through during
heavier rains.
The employee parking lot nearby
is pitched to guide rain to a gravel
detention area beneath the southeast
corner of the lot. Here, rain is also
guided past prairie grass planting and
down a gravel slope to a rain garden
below, which wraps the perimeter of a
first-floor patio.
A trench drain, a separate grassy
retention area and permeable pavers in
the visitor parking lot also work to retain
water on the site.
“The problem with stormwater
runoff is that as we continue to build
[in this country], the infrastructure
that was put in place 50 years ago just
can’t handle the [increased volume of
rainwater],” Ferrante says. “So there
is a push for developments to handle
stormwater runoff onsite to ease the
strain on the infrastructure. There is
virtually no water that travels offsite
here during a rainshower.”
The final piece of the overall green
strategy was the use of natural light
throughout the building. Ferrante
notes that the building was designed
to allow light to penetrate deep into
the building and, as a result, views to
outside are available from virtually
every occupied space.
we’re never really involved in the movein. That was the biggest challenge for
us and gave us good perspective on how
clients feel when they are moving into a
new building. We can relate better than
ever before.”
Jeff Day, principal with Sol Harris/
Day, says he’s proud the company has
realized its vision: to create a highly
functional and vibrant work environment that embraces the sort of green
building technologies the company has
encouraged clients to adopt for years.
“When we talk to our clients about
sustainability and energy efficiency, this
is what it is all about,” Day says.
“I can certainly see the increase in
productivity within the office because
of the natural light and the open environment,” he adds. “In fact, for me it
was even more dramatic of an improvement than I anticipated, even though
we’re in the business of designing these
spaces. To see it firsthand, to feel it
and experience it, this has been huge
for us.” P
A new view
After several months operating within
the new facility, the firm’s staff continues to be invigorated by the new work
environment – and by the project itself,
which provided the staff with valuable
experience, Ferrante says.
“Since we designed and built this ourselves, it gave us a good perspective on
what clients go through,” he says. “We
are comfortable and used to watching a
building go up during construction, but
www.propertiesmag.com 37