THE KRESGE FOUNDATION VALERIO DEWALT TRAIN

THE KRESGE FOUNDATION
VALERIO DEWALT TRAIN
THE KRESGE FOUNDATION
TROY, MICHIGAN
VALERIO DEWALT TRAIN ASSOCIATES
500 North Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois 60654
424 Waverley Street
Palo Alto, California 94301
© Photography Karant + Associates
© 2011 Valerio Dewalt Train Associates
WHAT’S INSIDE
INTRODUCTION
KRESGE AS A CASE STUDY
MATERIALS
WORKPLACE
LEED CERTIFICATION
LEAVING THINGS OUT
Original Brooks Farm seen in the distance.
INTRODUCTION
The 19th Century farm rested gently on the prairie, it was a
wholly self sufficient place using both the latest technology
and only renewable resources to produce a harvest. It was
off the grid and with only a few exceptions harmful chemicals
were not present. The Brooks Farm built in 1869 was just
such a place and is now on the Michigan Registry of Historic
Places in large part due to the Italianate design of the
farmhouse. Purchased by the Kresge Foundation as the site
for their headquarters, how could the natural landscape of
southeastern Michigan, the historic farm and significant new
construction be sensibly integrated on a three acre site.
The parti for the design was based on this paradigm; if the
prairie was an ocean of grass, and the farmstead floated
on this ocean, the new 21st Century building would be
embedded in this landscape allowing the historic buildings
to remain dominant. At a number of points the farmhouse,
barn and outbuildings are plugged into the new construction
integrating these separate historic structures into a modern
whole.
In each case the historic use of a building was
considered in its re-use. The farmhouse is the front door to
the campus with reception and meeting rooms for outside
visitors. The barn, always the focus of work on the farm,
now houses the central mechanical and electrical rooms on
its lower level and staff facilities on its upper level, and the
outbuildings are used for mechanical equipment.
The complex is intended to connect the natural and the
manmade, and the past and the future in an environment
which will be a model workplace for the staff and non-profit
organizations eligible for a Kresge challenge grants. The new
building, with two-thirds of its area below grade, is embedded
in the restored prairie. A constructed wetland is integral to
processing and recharging 100% of the stormwater into the
earth. A cistern harvests rainwater that is used to irrigate
the green roofs.
Montana Farmland
The interiors are intended to be an extension of the restored
prairie. Certified wood floors echo the natural grasses that
surround the building, bringing the sense of the natural
environment into the interior. The modular desk systems echo
the geometry of the building – a ribbon of metal that passes
above, through and below the datum that is the surface of
the prairie. Wherever possible low technology materials are
used throughout – wood, steel, concrete, stainless steel, and
aluminum are used.
The building incorporates more than thirty sustainable strategies
which are integrated into the whole, including a system for
recharging stormwater into the ground, geothermal wells,
a light harvesting system, energy saving system controls and
raised floor air distribution among many others. The building
has been certified LEED Platinum by the US Green Building
Council.
The architecture is a composition of a series of planes of two
different materials – Michigan blue granite and ground and
etched aluminum. These planes form ribbons which begin in the
earth, rise up and bend to enclose the space of the new building
and then return to the earth. These planes not only shape space,
but they shape the natural light as it enters the building. The
intent is a composition that is purposely ambiguous, readable in
a number of different ways.
The intent was to build a place which was more than just an
office. In an exhaustive post occupancy evaluation by the Center
for the Built Environment at U.C. Berkeley, the researchers
found 78% of the staff were satisfied with the character of their
workplace – a rating that was one of the highest ever recorded.
The headquarters is a place where every element was willfully
placed into a larger context that celebrated the working farm
as a symbol of harmony and independence. In this context, the
new is subordinate to the old. This was both an expression of
the Foundation’s core values, and reflected what was common
in the 19th Century – a building off the grid – we struggle to
achieve in the 21st Century.
THE KRESGE FOUNDATION AS A CASE STUDY
The original farmhouse seen
in the foreground with the new
addition in the background.
CONTEXT
The Brooks Farm, a small farmstead eligible for the National
Register of Historic Places, is the site of the Kresge Foundation
Headquarters. Sited along Big Beaver Road in Troy, Michigan,
the site is a three acre island surrounded by single family homes
with their lawns to the south and huge office developments with
their asphalt parking lots to the north. It was never lost on
the design team that placing a sustainable building in such an
unsustainable site was at best ironic and at worst just plain bad.
The planning began with a recognition the site was bracketed by
the two iconic surfaces of the American suburb – the lawn and
its alter ego: the parking lot.
Every suburban house is somehow a farmhouse. Every lawn
is descended from a cash crop.
We need to revisit this past.
The juxtaposition of farm and lawn reminded us that although the
American suburb is truly a product of English town planning, your
average American thinks it is an extension of our agrarian past.
Every suburban house is somehow a farmhouse. Every lawn is
descended from a cash crop. We needed to revisit this past.
Once the prairie extended for miles in every direction from the
Kresge Foundation site. It was a wholly integrated system where
everything was connected to everything else. The balance of the
system was changed when man began to turn the soil, yet for
the most part the farmer kept the system in balance, building
homesteads that were proudly man-made, evolving over time to
embrace the latest technologies.
The 19th Century farm is truly a symbol of harmony and
independence. These buildings were an intrusion on the natural
landscape, but they rested gently on the Midwest prairie. The
farm was self-contained; it used technologies that were
sustainable, renewable and largely free of pollution. From the
very beginning the context, viewed as history, and not in terms
of its present condition, drove the design. First, there was a
commitment to banish both grass and asphalt from the site.
Second, there was a commitment to use to the greatest extent
possible only materials that were available when the Brooks
Farm was built in 1859.
In the end we had three goals, to re-invent the prairie, to renew
the farm as a symbol of harmony and independence, and invent
a new relationship between the prairie and the farm for a 21st
Century building. To this end, our strategy looked at a number of
environmental issues, including the relationship of the complex
to the sun, water, the surrounding natural habitat, the earth, the
Michigan climate, the use of materials and the quality of the
workplace.
Forty-three different sustainable strategies were explored
and most were incorporated in the completed building. The
Foundation asked us to evaluate the contribution of each of
these strategies to our LEED rating, the capital cost of each
and the expected payback, if any. These were reported in a
spreadsheet which ran three pages. From this evaluation,
the Foundation selected thirty-eight strategies to implement
based on three criteria; low or no cost, high return or high
social value. Strategies which were expensive if implemented
but which would not have any material impact on the building,
and strategies which were not effective in this climate or in this
building type were rejected.
The Kresge Foundation new
addition rests below the farm
land in the distance.
DAYLIGHT HARVESTING DIAGRAMS
SUN
The starting point of the design is the basic form and solar
orientation of the building. The long dimension of the building
faces north and south, and is generally glass, while the short
dimension faces east and west and is generally opaque.
This decision reflects the fact that north light is cool and the
penetration of southern light can be managed, while east
and west light is intense in the morning and afternoon and is
difficult to control. The building embraces the sun when it is
advantageous and rejects it when it is not.
When glass is south facing, exterior solar shades and light
The building embraces the
sun when it is advantageous
and rejects it when it is not.
shelves prevent the majority of the solar radiation from entering
the building during the summer. During the winter months,
when the sun is lower in the sky, direct solar radiation is allowed
to enter the building. Year round these horizontal surfaces
bounce a portion of the light into the interior of the building. This
light harvesting is monitored, and artificial lights are dimmed or
brightened to maintain a uniform light level on the interior.
There are two building links connecting the north and south
wings of the new office space – these links have east and west
facing glass. This is an apparent contradiction of the outlined
principles for solar exposure. However, these two links are not
conditioned spaces, they are separated from the adjacent office
spaces by doors. Large glass bi-fold doors open these links to
the interior courtyard during the shoulder seasons. They reflect
another sustainable principle, only fully condition those spaces
that are continuously occupied.
The building is seen stretching over the Gabion Wall below,
providing sun shade to the interior space.
The long dimension of the building faces north and south, and is generally glass, while the
short dimension faces east and west and is generally opaque.
WATER
The intention is to manage the rainwater by eliminating any
runoff from the site, and the burden on the community’s
stormwater system. This approach has both financial and social
benefits. The management of rainwater begins by covering as
large a proportion of the site with natural landscaping and with
pervious paving.
Where rain is collected from roof areas, it replenishes the water
in wetlands south of the building where it is filtered naturally.
Pumps lift the water from the wetland, refilling the corrugated
metal farmer’s cistern located just south of the barn. The
remaining water is recharged into the earth through a system
of bio-swales, a shallow channel in the ground surface covered
The intention is to manage the
rainwater by eliminating any runoff from the site, and the burden
on the community’s stormwater
system.
with vegetation which acts like a sponge running around the
south and east edges of the parking lot. Beneath the lot is a two
foot layer of crushed rock which supports the traffic surface and
creates a porous cavity which also acts to recharge the water
into the soil. The use of potable water is limited due to careful
design of the plumbing system.
The net effect of the entire system is to minimize the impact on
the City’s water system: reduce the demand for potable water,
reduce the volume of sanitary wastewater, treat stormwater on
site for harmful chemicals from the parking lot, and recharge
the treated stormwater into the soil.
The workspace and conference
room at Kresge look over the
on-site water retention basin.
WATER MOVEMENT DIAGRAM
Water soaks into the earth to eliminate run-off from the site.
Vegetation common to
Southeast Michigan is used
throughout the site.
THE NATURAL HABITAT OF SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN
For the most part, all plant materials used on the site are native
to southeastern Michigan, creating a lively natural habitat for
flora and fauna. The specific selections were based on each
plant’s resistance to drought, eliminating the need to use potable
water to maintain the plants. The cistern provides rainwater to
irrigate the green roof areas, where the shallow soil requires
supplemental water.
The development orchestrates views
of nature from within while creating
a healthy habitat for people, plants,
beneficial insects and birds.
GEOTHERMAL WELL SYSTEM
EARTH
The earth is used both passively and actively to reduce the energy
consumption of the building. Two thirds of the area of the new
building is located on the lower courtyard level. Large portions
of the building perimeter are embedded in the earth, where
the year round temperature is roughly 55 degrees; cooling the
building in the summer and heating it in the winter. In addition,
large areas of green roofs also shelter this lower level, where
the evaporative effect of the irrigation system cools these roofs
during the summer and when dry, insulates the roof in the
winter. The green roof also reduces the formation of a “heat
island”, and due to its water absorbing properties, reduces the
impact of rainwater on the municipal stormwater system.
In addition the earth is mined for energy using a network of forty
400 foot deep geothermal wells laid out in a grid in the parking
area. Water moves through this closed loop system of 1-¼”
diameter plastic pipe to three large heat pumps which serve all
the buildings on site. During the summer the heat pumps move
heat from the building into the earth, while the reverse happens
in the winter, heat is moved from the earth into the building. The
efficiency of the heat pumps is significantly increased by the use
of water at a relatively constant temperature.
During the cooling season the operation of the system slowly
raises the temperature in the surrounding soil, while during
the heating season the reverse occurs. This fact drives two
important aspects of the design. First, the wells must be spaced
at least twenty feet apart to avoid heat pollution between wells.
Second, the heat extracted must balance the heat rejected into
the earth during the year.
Looking out onto the green roof,
which provides natural insulation to the office space below.
CLIMATE
The Southeastern Michigan climate is subject to extremes of high
At the same time, every office and conference room in the
and low temperatures, bright sun and long periods of overcast
building is equipped with operable windows allowing for
skies, and periods of very low and very high precipitation. Due
natural ventilation.
to these extremes the relationship between the climate and the
building to cool the building using air supplied at 65 degrees to
building is complex.
the building. Cool air is released into the space from outlets
A raised floor is used throughout the
in the floor. Heat given off by people and equipment rises and
For the most part the east and west facing walls of the building
collects near the ceiling where it is removed by the return
are opaque and super insulated – protecting the interior from
air system. On the other hand, a typical overhead system of
the penetrating morning and afternoon sun and extreme
ductwork must supply air at 55 degrees for cooling. The ten
temperatures. The roof is also super insulated for the same
degree difference in supply air temperature between overhead
reasons. In all these cases the building defends the interior
and under-floor systems means that outside air can be used
from the climate.
more extensively to cool the interior.
BUILDING SECTIONS - OPERABLE WINDOW DIAGRAM
OPERABLE WINDOWS
MATERIALS
The Brooks Farm was used as a standard for the selection of
materials. The twentieth century saw an explosion of chemicals
in the processing and installation of many building materials.
The use of primitive low technology materials was emphasized:
steel, aluminum, stainless steel, concrete and wood were used
throughout. There is virtually no laminate or ceiling tile in the
project, and PVC was only used for the roof and waste piping.
Wood floors, wood walls and interior glass walls drastically
reduced the area of drywall and carpet.
There are a host of measures which can be used to calibrate
how intelligently a building uses materials. The recycled
content of the building is 32% including the steel structural
frame and the exterior aluminum cladding, while 87% of the
construction debris was recycled. 65% of the building materials
were manufactured within five hundred miles of the site. Where
particle board is commonly used for cabinets and furniture, this
product was replaced by rapidly renewable wheat board. The
paint used throughout the building is milk based.
In the use of materials it is often the details which are the most
interesting. The retaining walls on site use a system of rock
filled baskets called “gabions.” Each basket is three feet thick,
where the exposed face uses a crushed Michigan granite, while
recycled paving is used in the back hidden behind the granite.
The volume of recycled material used in this system far exceeded
the volume of paving present on the site when construction
began. In this way the gabion system provided a “home” for
waste materials which might have ended up in a landfill.
The recycled content of the building
is 32%, while 87% of the construction
debris was recycled.
Recycled paving fills the retaining walls throughout the site.
Rapidly renewable wheat board is used as a particle board substitute in the furniture.
Interior spaces use durable
materials. Natural light fills
the office space through large
windows. Clerestory windows
were used in locations to direct
light to interior spaces.
The byproduct of all the effort that
went into the design of the building
should be to the benefit of the staff
and visitors.
WORKPLACE
First and foremost, the Kresge Foundation Headquarters is a
workplace. The byproduct of all the effort that went into the
design of the building should be to the benefit of the staff and
visitors. Every material was reviewed to insure its short and
long term performance met the highest standards of indoor air
quality. The raised floor system of delivering conditioned air
allows for extensive individual control using adjustable vents
in the offices and workstations. A system without individual
controls often leads people to “fight the system” often engaging
in behaviors that hurt energy performance.
Conference room with natural
light and views to the outdoors.
Visitors are connected to the
surrounding environment.
IN THE END
The best technology is effective, it
is everywhere and it is invisible.
Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of HP
The Kresge Foundation Headquarters does not look like a
sustainable building. Not long ago Carly Fiorina, then CEO of
HP, said that the best technology is effective, it is everywhere
and it is invisible. This is the lesson of sustainable architecture.
It is first and foremost, a cultural statement, and as such it
must be integrated into the fabric of our experience. So our reinvented prairie is the dance floor, the restored 19th Century
buildings of the Brooks Farm waltz across this iconic plane
with its traditional architecture, while the new structures move
to a different choreography in an entirely modern uniform.
The juxtaposition of these very different costumes expresses
a surprising relationship between history, modernism and
sustainability.
Looking back at the farmhouse
from office space.
VALERIO DEWALT TRAIN ASSOCIATES
500 North Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois 60654
424 Waverley Street
Palo Alto, California 94301
© Photography Karant + Associates
© 2011 Valerio Dewalt Train Associates
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