A part of my childhood was shared in the lovely city of Chicago. I was surrounded by great tasting pizza, chilly winters, the beautiful Lake Michigan, and most importantly, ingenious, irreplaceable architecture. I have always had a soft place in my heart for architecture. The planning, designing, and ambience that reflects functional, technical, and aesthetic considerations is embraced by the manipulation of light and shadow as the sun slowly moves across the sky.
Today’s Inspiration: Uncommon Good, a non-profit organization with a mission to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty while working to restore our planet, has created the first of its kind architectural Whole Earth Building.
The Whole Earth Building (WEB) was completed in April 2013 and is now the home for the organization along with being an environmental education center. 90% of the building is on-site earth, and this unique structure has a zero carbon footprint.
The building itself is an innovative approach to combat the footprint caused by standard buildings. Traditional buildings are one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions along with construction waste. According to the US EPA, standard buildings account for 36% of total energy use, 65% of electricity consumption, 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, 30% of raw materials use, 30% of waste output, and 12% of potable water consumption!
The WEB uses little more than the earth itself as building material. Additionally, it can withstand up to an 8.0 earthquake, is comfortable in all types of temperatures, and is fire resistant. According to the Uncommon Good website, the WEB environmental features include:
- Walls, ceilings, roofs and floors made of on-site earth
- Extremely minimal use of other materials, such as steel or cement, that require a great deal of energy to produce
- Thick walls provide passive cooling and heating
- Wind-scoops increase natural cooling without energy usage
- Triple glazed windows absorb heat-emitting UV rays, cooling the structure
- Electricity both for the construction and the building’s operation is supplied by photovoltaics
- A solar thermal system supplies hot water
- Sustainable materials for cabinets, doors, and other fixtures
- Drought tolerant, native plant, wildlife habitat landscaping surround the building, emphasizing plants that are of significance to the Tongva tribe
- A garden rooftop provides additional insulation and wildlife habitat
- A landscaped stream bed begins in a meditation garden on the grounds of the Claremont School of Theology and captures rainwater to return to the water table
- Solar operated incinerating toilets conserve precious drinking water
- Light shelves that can be extended or retracted, depending upon the time of year, to take maximum advantage of the light, heat or shading
- Earth air tunnels designed by engineering students from Harvey Mudd College cool outside air and pump it into the building with a solar fan
I send my highest regards and congratulations to Uncommon Good for the partnerships they have built and the precedent they have established to address environmental concerns while staying true to their mission.