features
watsonville water operations center
“ T hroughou t t he pr o jec t, we eng aged in a rich in v e s tig ation of p o s sibilitie s , f r om t he beginning de sign s tage s t hr ough t he end of cons t ruc tion.” Pauline Souza , As so ciate Par tner & Green Ser vices Direc tor at WRNS Studio
retention basins and treated prior to returning to the groundwater system. The plumbing scheme reduces water use with low-flow plumbing fixtures, dual-flush toilets that use reclaimed water for flushing, and solar-powered faucets. There’s even a fountain installed in the property’s courtyard—one that runs only when recycled water is available to the site.
creates more sound than carpet, but carpet would lessen the floor’s efficiency. Outside, the drought-tolerant native plantings require less than 70 percent of the water standard landscaping would, but because they too only receive the available recycled water, the landscape is sometimes more brown than green. California redwood, owned by the City and slated for fire-hazard clearance, was custom milled eight miles from the project site, to be used for the building siding, and the wood—better suited than alternatives such as plaster or steel to withstand the coastal area’s salty air— will eventually develop a brown-gray patina, merging the facility with its topography. It also has knots.
“From a landscaping perspective, you want that fountain to always be running,” Souza admits. “But it would be disingenuous to use potable water there.” In other words, one can’t help but notice when the fountain is inactive, which echoes the Water Operations Center’s educational mission to represent water as a seasonal resource connected to the local agricultural growing season. The “We’re architects; we think wood shouldn’t have knots,” Souza same goes for the large metal roof: anyone standing beneath it is jokes. “But it’s good wood. And in the end, I think those visual aware both visually and aurally when it’s raining, and when it’s not. aspects all add to the story.”
In addition to its focus on water and resource conservation, There were also challenges to the project that had little to do with the facility is designed to also conserve energy while improvreconciling conservation and design. The usual problems one ing building performance and comfort. The use of naturalwould expect, says Souza—getting new team members up to speed ventilation systems eliminated the energy costs of installing and and on board with the mission, for example, or making careful operating a chiller, as well as the cost and material use of sheetbudget choices to circumnavigate the ideology that money rules metal ducting—far offsetting the price of operable windows the day. The leap from planning to construction was perhaps even and fans necessary for thermal comfort. Heating is provided greater than usual, since many of the techniques are so new. only when required, avoiding the energy penalty of a conventional forced-air system. Building chimneys, roof-mounted solar “What seems reasonable on paper is always informed by personal panels, carbon-dioxide sensors, and high-efficiency mechanical experience,” Souza explains. “For instance, we wanted to do the radiant slab and the structural slab together. But when the guy equipment further contribute to energy conservation, reducing fossil-fuel use and greenhouse-gas emissions. Additionally, who’s actually doing the pour tells you it would be better to use a the City of Watsonville created a partnership with an energy topping slab instead, you have to trust that. And I have to believe company, which allowed the project to engage easily in a power- the results were even better.” purchase agreement for photovoltaics. The AIA/COTE profile on the Watsonville Waters Operations According to Souza, designing and constructing the Water Opera- Center cites lessons learned by both the WRNS team and the tions Center required the firm to educate each team member client. According to that report, working together permitted not on the prevailing ethical goals of the project—a challenge that only good design and collaboration but also an understanding of continues to present itself to the building’s current occupants. In the building as adaptive and living versus static. Additionally, an addition to dozens of employees and visitors, a handful of people early commissioning process revealed ways in which user behavior actually live on-site. To that end, the design was adapted in affected system efficiencies, providing educational opportunities response to the site’s coastal Pacific winds, to maximize comfort to optimize energy-saving features. But Souza argues that the in the outdoor public spaces. Rooftop vent stakes along the greatest lessons learned will be in the months to come—what the building’s ridgeline allow these breezes to be harnessed passively, team will come to know after the building’s occupants have lived drawing warm air out of the interior naturally. Private offices are with it a while longer. equipped with glass sidelights and operable clerestory windows to allow natural light and air to move through the building’s private “Throughout the project, we engaged in a rich investigation of and public spaces. possibilities, from the beginning design stages through the end of construction,” Souza says. “The greatest challenge, though, was— However, there are also elements that require a bit more costand still is—to keep asking the questions that were there from benefit analysis. The hard surface of the concrete radiant flooring the beginning.” abq
78 american builders quarterly nov/dec 2010