Best of Greenbuild 2014
In addition to announcing that the company will now offer Environmental Product Declarations for a broad range of its sanitary ware products, Kohler introduced its Rada line of faucets and showers to the U.S. market at the show. Designed primarily for the healthcare market, the digital thermostatic technology offers touchless control of temperature and flow to reduce the risk of contamination. The faucets are designed to work without an aerator or laminar flow insert, limiting opportunities for bacteria to grow. Here, Rada’s associate director for new product development, Kevin Peel, demonstrates the faucets at the booth.
A partnership between the Near Westside Initiative, Syracuse University, the Northside Urban Partnership, and Syracuse Habitat for Humanity, Salt Works handcrafts artisan furniture from lumber salvaged during the renovation of historic warehouses in Syracuse, New York. Salt Works employs low-income residents while training them to become master craftspeople, and proceeds from the company go back into the community. Products include coffee tables, end tables, dining tables, and benches made of reclaimed old-growth hemlock, spruce, and yellow pine. Shown here at the booth are Maarten Jacobs (left), director of the Near Westside Initiative, and Dan Cowen (right), program manager at Northside Urban Partnership.
Women in Green Power Breakfast
This third annual event, sponsored by the carpet tile manufacturer Interface, honored women in the industry who have emerged as sustainability leaders. The breakfast kicked off with an introduction by the host chapter’s executive director Shannon Stage (shown). Featured speakers included Martha Jane Murray of the Clinton Initiative, Gina Duncan, executive director of Fondation Enfant Jesus, Robin Carey, founder of Social Media Today, and Priyanka Kochhar of The Energy and Resources Institute. They discussed how empowering women is critical in the pursuit of a sustainable future. Carey noted that more women need to learn how to code and get a more technical education, while Murray told the audience of mostly women, “The architecture profession is not just for those that can afford to build.”
To bring a taste of Bourbon Street inside the convention, Greenbuild invited local artist Stephan Wanger to display Bead Town Art throughout the expo floor. The colorful, photo-realistic murals are made of recycled Mardi Gras beads that have been individually cut and hand-mounted with adhesives onto boards. Wanger was first inspired to create Bead Town after discovering that the majority of trash from the annual Mardi Gras parade is plastic beads. In addition to an interactive component, where attendees glued beads on a mural depicting the city, completed murals showcased icons of the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, from the state flag, to swamps, to the area’s unique architecture. Wanger’s organization works to foster teamwork among students, and sells prints to raise money for trust funds.
Cory Strischek and Laura Ewan with RTKL were at the show promoting The DART, a free, interactive tool to guide designers toward Performance-Driven Design (PDD), a strategy to improve the economic, social, and environmental value of the built environment. According to Strischek and Ewan, RTKL felt that as a large, influential firm it was their responsibility to help demystify PDD strategies and share this knowledge as a public resource outside of the firm. To utilize the online tool, users go through a series of steps to identify, strategize, and prioritize sustainable goals. Relevant documents can be saved in a cart, and are then merged into a PDF that can be presented to clients.
In addition to demonstrating the remarkably lightweight UltraRope elevator hoisting technology with a carbon fiber core (to be used in the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah among other high-rise projects), KONE presented a new sleek turnstile solution at the show. The KONE turnstile 100 enables full integration of the KONE People Flow Intelligence solutions from the lobby area to the user’s final destination. Constructed of high-quality steel and glass, the turnstile can be used for a range of building types, from modern offices to airports.
During a midday event on the convention show floor, BuildingGreen, publisher of Environmental Building News, announced the winners of its annual Top-Ten Green Building Products. Manufacturers were recognized for making fundamental changes to the “business as usual” way products are manufactured in the A&D industry. Winners included an insulation from Johns Manville that has eliminated halogenated flame retardants, a Clean Energy Collective that makes it easier and more affordable for consumers to have access to PV panels, and chairs from KI that use AirCarbon Plastic, a new material made from agriculturally sourced methane rather than petroleum. Shown here is the Grazie chair from KI, one of the two new lines to use AirCarbon in their manufacture.
New to the U.S. market, EchoPanel from Kirei is a sustainable solution for controlling sound reflection. The Green Tag-certified EchoPanel tiles and panels are manufactured using recycled PET plastic bottles, eco-friendly dyes, and no added adhesives. At the booth, Kirei’s John Stein demonstrated the clip attachment system and hollow structure of the collection’s Wave Tile option.
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