It's Easy Being Green

It's Easy Being Green

construction by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

Building an environmentally sound office for his new

headquarters was nice for one architect, but not enough. It had to save him money, too.

Green has been the color of the day, if not the week and year, for Michael Carlson as he's gone about the task of renovating a 73-year old former grocery store into an office and studio for his growing architecture firm.

The downtown Sarasota building Carlson is renovating features cork flooring, Plyboo cabinets and non-toxic, chemical-free glues, caulks and paints - aspects relatively new to what's known as green building. Carlson and his contractors are using some green building staples, too, including natural daylight through transparent interior walls and reduced water and energy initiatives.

Indeed, the project is so green, that the U.S. Green Building Council has deemed it the first LEED CI-certified building in Florida (LEED stands for Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design and CI is for commercial interiors). The designation is significant in construction circles, as green building proponents push to make the concept an acceptable and legitimate building option, not just a fad.

Carlson and a partner paid $900,000 for the building in January and he's spending about $150,000 in costs and materials to 'green' the building - although he says those are renovation costs he would incur if he were just doing it the traditional, non-green way.

Still, the LEED recognition and the feel-goodness from earning it was never the main motivation to go green, Carlson says. One driving force was that he preaches and pitches this type of building to his clients, so he wants to practice what he pitches.

A second and even more pressing motivation for Carlson is purely entrepreneurial and capitalistic. And it's green as well: Money.

"This building will save me money over its lifetime," says Carlson. "I don't care if it saves a bird or a tree or anything."

The 2,500-square-foot building, at 1613 Fruitville Road, was originally built in 1934. In addition to a grocery store, it's also been a paper stock warehouse. Carlson's company, as well as a public relations and marketing firm run by his wife, Grace Carlson, will move into the building June 1.

Changing habits

Carlson says he's been a fan of the green building concept as far back as when he was an architecture student at Ball State University in the mid-1980s, but there hasn't been much of a market for it. He was able to practice it when his firm designed the Twin Lakes office park complex in Sarasota, which earned LEED certification for new construction when it was built.

The concept of building green, while trendy in some environmental and political circles, has yet to take off in the construction industry. Part of that is lack of knowledge about what the true long-term benefits are, Carlson says, while another part is standard resistance to change. Adds Carlson: "The construction industry is notorious for doing things the same way."

While Carlson concedes that on certain green projects some materials might be pricier than more traditional ones, in this project there is little premium cost. And in general, many of the materials in green building are projected to last longer, Carlson says, so a higher price up front might be worthwhile later on.

Carlson's firm, Carlson Studio Architecture, turned 10 years old in March and recently passed $1 million in gross annual billings. He's gone from five to eight employees recently, too.

The firm has had an office in the Gillespie Park area just outside downtown Sarasota for several years, and that's how he became aware of the building, which has been called the Cheney Building.

The three Rs

In addition to the location, Carlson liked the building's open layout. Using that feature, one of his first tasks was to make sure natural light was prominent. He designed the interiors of the building with large windows and glass doorways and the transparent walls will allow employees and clients to see outside from just about every area.

Other features of the building include:

• Using an Energy Star roof, which is designed to optimize energy efficiency by reflecting more of the sun's rays, which in turn can lower the surface temperature of the roof and decrease the amount of heat that goes into the building. This type of roof normally costs about 5% more than a traditional roof, Carlson says, but that cost can be offset with less air-conditioning use;

• Replacing regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs and energy efficient T-8 fluorescent tube lighting;

• Converting plumbing fixtures to low-flow capacity, which Carlson says will bring down water use by 30%;

• Using paints low in VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds, which some research has identified as cancer-causing materials.

Other green features dot the building. The lobby floor is made from cork, which is harvested from tree bark, so it's easily replaceable, Carlson says. And the Interface carpet tiles are chemical free and made from recycled materials.

Carlson followed the three Rs of the green-building concept: Recycle, reduce and reuse. "Once a building is destroyed," Carlson says, "it is gone forever."

REVIEW SUMMARY

Business. Carlson Studio Architecture

Industry. Construction

Key. An architect says turning the inside of a new office green doesn't cost any more than the more traditional way of building.