A2SO4 Project Manager Participates in Major Sustainability Workshop

2009-06-15

Mark Darrall, LEED AP, an A2SO4 project manager and co-developer of A2SO4’s EcoIntegration green design initiatives, joined nearly three dozen colleagues in support of Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard’s goal of making Indianapolis “the greenest city in the Midwest” by reimagining Indianapolis’s largest public building as an example of energy and water efficiency.

A two-day workshop entitled Greening of the City-County Building was created by the Indianapolis Office of Sustainability, the City-County Building Authority and Indiana University’s Director of Sustainability Bill Brown. It was inspired by 1993’s “Greening of the White House” project and was facilitated by the Built Environment Team of the Rocky Mountain Institute of Boulder, Colorado. Darrall said, “I’ve always admired the work of RMI; it’s an honor to be able to work alongside them. They’re our greatest minds in the areas of systems thinking and sustainability.”

The Indianapolis – Marion County City-County Building was constructed from 1960-1962. “The building is a good example of Modern design of that period,” Darrall says of the 28-story structure, “It’s actually fairly sophisticated, with insulated-glass windows and an interior partition system that allows easy reconfiguration.” However, like most buildings of that era, it uses much more energy and water than current building designs and much more again than a sustainably-designed building.

The group was encouraged by the Rocky Mountain Institute team to have “Big Audacious Ideas.” “We decided that when we had these ideas, they had to at least be technically feasible. It’s safe to say some were pretty big and pretty audacious!” Darrall said.

Other ideas discussed by the team exemplified integrated design, which A2SO4 has adopted as a proper model for design practice. “Under this model,” Darrall said, “we can leverage the cost of one design decision to actually help reduce the total cost of the project while improving performance.”

SustainIndy chose from nearly 100 applicants a diverse group of thirty-six designers, building technology experts, facility operators and finance and real estate specialists. Darrall said, “The diversity and size of the group allowed ideas to be aired out very rapidly. I’m confident that many of the measures we decided were feasible could eventually be realized in the building itself.”

More information on the project may be found at http://www.sustainindy.org