Sussel News

The opening keynote at AIA 2012 dishes up a surprisingly politicized main event but transitions smoothly to end on a high note.

Welcome to AIA 2012 in Washington, D.C.
Photo Credit: Paula Melton

A lot of things come to mind when I think about the annual AIA Convention; electoral politics isn't one of them. But today's opening keynote put politics front and center in a variety of ways. And judging by the vibes I felt coming off the standing-room-only crowd, the topic was about as welcome here as it is at Thanksgiving dinner when your crazy uncle (regardless of political persuasion) gets started with his conspiracy theories.

Perhaps the most awkward moment was when Mayor Vincent Gray, after an appropriate and lovely speech about D.C. as "a museum of historical design and a living hub of architectural innovation" couldn't resist the urge to bring up D.C. Statehood—an issue most of the people in the room were unlikely to know or care about (as a former resident of the District, I confess applauding, but I was almost alone).

No designated bike lanes in D.C. last time

Then Earl Blumenauer, Hon. AIA—U.S. Representative from Oregon and member of the Congressional Bicycle Caucus—took the stage to address a topic that's a lot closer to home for architects everywhere: livable cities. Did you know that the last time the AIA Convention was held in D.C., there were no designated bike lanes?

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BuildingGreen goes to town! On our way to D.C. for this year's AIA Convention, we stopped in NYC for a tour of the Bank of America tower that took us from the subterranean depths to the highest heights.

For a number of reasons, the Cook+Fox-designed Bank of America tower at One Bryant Park is an object lesson in how difficult it can be to compare the energy performance of buildings that don't fit neatly into a typical category (is it a data center or a commercial office? a lot of both, and it also has its own power plant).

But for four of us from BuildingGreen, today it was mainly a chance to enjoy the company of the people who care for this building—and to listen to them geek out about cogeneration, ice storage, and the importance of light for the well-being of everyone on staff (not just the people in cubicles). I snapped a few shots while we were there.

We got an incredible view from the 49th floor, where our tour began and ended.
Photo Credit: Paula Melton

During our bright and sunny lunch in a Durst Organization conference room on the 49th floor, there was a bit of chatter about the "inverse relationship between daylight and self-loathing," or something along those lines. Unfortunately, of course, the workers who run the cogen plant don't get natural daylighting in their workspace.

But, says Don Winston, P.E., vice president for technical services at Durst (which co-owns the building, along with Bank of America), these workers are not neglected. When asked about lights in maintenance hallways being on 24/7, he told us that these areas are overlighted on purpose. First, there are safety considerations, but there's also "pride of place." Staff members who don't feel like they've been confined to a dungeon or hidden away in a cave feel valued and take pride in their work.

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As the small wind turbine market feels the pain of temporary holds on state incentive programs, turbine certification could bring the stability and improve the market’s reputation.

New Jersey placed a rebate incentive program on hold due to catastrophic mechanical failures of multiple small wind turbines.
Photo Credit: World Future Energy Summit

The reputation of the small wind turbine industry has tended to fluctuate as much as the output of some of its turbines. Consumers seeing the benefits of wind as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels have at times been burned by mechanical failures and less-than-expected power production.

And on their way to “saving the planet,” some turbine installations have been implicated in numerous bird and bat deaths. While there are numerous financial incentives to install wind, several state incentives have recently been put on temporary hold. These setbacks are potentially the most troubling, as incentives are generally regarded as key to increasing turbine installations.

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