Parkerhill, Smith, and Cooper

This past field trip was to Parkerhill Smith and Cooper. It is a design firm located in Lubbock, Texas and is the first LEED certified building in the Lubbock area, with a silver certification. PSC does commercial work and employs interior designers, architects and engineers. The firm consists of two main offices next door to each other and a few smaller satellite offices. The first building was built before LEED and is therefore uncertified but was built with many of the same materials and concepts seen in the second building.

On this trip one of the things we discussed about materials was the length of their life. I had never thought about how sometimes a product that is cheaper upfront ends up costing way more in the long run. For example, flooring typically chosen by schools is damaged easily requiring frequent replacement. It also requires a lot of up keep with cleaning and regular stripping and waxing. Not only do you have to pay for all that labor but it also dangerous because it uses harsh chemicals. Therefore a product with a longer lifespan can help accumulate building points for LEED.

There were many interesting “green” features about the LEED office. The first was the sock air ducts. These were made out of fabric instead of metal. It is basically a fabric bag with small holes running along the sides that allow air out. These ducts are more efficient than metal ducts because it provides more direct air circulation. Metal ducts also require frequent cleaning because of dust build up. The bags don’t need this as often because they deflate when air isn’t blowing through them. Also, air seeps through the fabric itself blowing the dust off the round duct.

The second interesting feature was their green roof. This means that part of the roof is a garden like area with lots of plants. Dirt is a very good insulator but is very heavy so you need a larger structure to hold up the green roof. The structure makes the building more expensive upfront but ultimately a green roof saves heating and cooling costs. It typically takes three years before you start seeing a return on the investment.

The third feature was the parking lot and it tied in with the green roof. The parking lot is part of a water irrigation system that helps water the plants on the roof. In past years when there hasn’t been such a harsh drought, the system actually provided all the water needs for the roof. When it rains, water runs down the slanted parking lot towards a trough that then takes the water back up to be used. However, because the parking lot carries oil from cars and other debris, the water must first pass through a patch of grass that acts as a filtration system. PSC had to get special permission from the city of Lubbock to allow the workers to park on grass. To prevent the cars on the grass from contaminating the water, they made thin strips of regular parking surface right where a car’s tires would rest. This way it made the parking lot less expensive and greener.

The field trip to Parkerhill Smith and Cooper was a very informative trip. I gained a lot of new design ideas, and how to apply them to an environmentally friendly space. I learned a lot about LEED certification also. It was really cool to see all the neat things that are aesthetically pleasing, helpful in saving money in the long run and beneficial for the environment.