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Green Building: Guidelines for Design
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Transportation affects almost every aspect of resource use, air and
water quality, and urban livability. Reducing the need for automobiles
has major environmental benefits and is one of the most important urban
planning strategies. Building designers and planners can help reduce
automobile use in three ways:
- Integrate complementary occupancies within building projects.
- Encourage pedestrian, bicycle and transit use.
- Reduce the environmental impacts of parking facilities.
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Complementary Building Occupancies
Separation of commercial, retail and residential areas; availability of efficient and reliable public transit; and the dangers of cycling and other human-powered transportation all affect the need for automobile commuting and storage. Parking spaces in mixed-use buildings and developments can often be shared between occupancies with differing schedules, reducing the area of impervious parking pavement, stormwater peak flows and pollution. As well, locating several complementary occupancies within a project – housing, services, retail, commercial and/or light industry – often eliminates the need for many automobile trips, encouraging more low-impact transportation modes, such as biking, walking and mass transit.
Pedestrian and Bicycle
Amenities making streets safer and more attractive to pedestrians, providing bicycle facilities at destinations and creating safe, continuous bicycle paths also reduce the need for automobiles. Santa Monica is already a good example for many cities to follow.
Bicycling, walking and even in-line skating are alternatives to the car for shorter commuter distances, and for greater distances when combined with public transit. Building design strategies can encourage these options by providing secure bicycle parking, shower and changing facilities. These are a powerful complement to the network of safe bicycle-ways in Santa Monica’s Bicycle Master Plan.
Encouraging pedestrian activity is not only a way to decrease automobile use, with its fossil fuel dependence, air and water pollution, it is also a way of bringing life to the streets and increasing the safety of the community. If people feel safe on the sidewalks, they also feel safe in the city. Buildings can improve the comfort and safety of pedestrians with appropriately scaled and detailed facades and views of the street for building occupants. If pedestrians are also provided with a choice of sun or shade, they are more likely to use these outdoor spaces. An attractive street generates places for social interaction, increasing the vitality of the neighborhood and providing improved commercial opportunities.
Development projects designed for pedestrians and cyclists are increasingly valued places to live, work and visit. Examples in Santa Monica are the Third Street Mall and Main Street in Ocean Park. Owners of buildings that enhance the quality of the neighborhood will benefit both directly and indirectly – increased pedestrian traffic is better for retail businesses, and people are attracted to vital areas, enhancing the market value of the buildings.
Reduce the Environmental Impacts of Parking Facilities
Urban runoff from paved surfaces carries with it pollutants such as fuel, oil, paint, heavy metals, pesticides, human and animal wastes, and trash. By reducing surface car parking areas, increasing the permeability of surfaces not used for car movement, and integrating natural landscaping into car parking areas, urban runoff can be naturally treated, groundwater supplies replenished and pollution entering Santa Monica Bay reduced.
Trees and other vegetation adjacent to building or parking areas offer welcome shade and lower outdoor air temperatures in the summer, creating more comfortable transition spaces between indoors and outdoors for building users and visitors. Shading of parking areas and building surfaces reduces the amount of solar radiation reaching them, which significantly lowers building cooling loads and operating costs. Furthermore, natural landscaping within the city provides habitat for many plant and animal species, and green areas are more attractive to building users and pedestrians than hard.
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Last updated: Monday, 03/23/2009
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Real-Time Solar in Santa Monica
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The 180 kW solar array atop the Civic Center Parking Structure can be
monitored using a system called Fat Spaniel. The system records data
every few minutes about the panels’ power production. Every
kilowatt-hour of clean solar energy production reduces the amount of
pollutants entering our atmosphere.
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To see the power output of this groundbreaking building, click on the images or here.
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