Taking Up the Challenge

The firm’s first project to come to fruition under the challenge is the 3,500-square-foot Schaar’s Bluff Gathering Center in Dakota County’s Spring Lake Park Reserve. It ranks within the top 1 percent of all sustainable structures, as compared to the U.S. Department of Energy Target Finder’s registered buildings. It generates its own power with an onsite wind turbine, reuses rainwater to flush its toilets, and incorporates wood reclaimed from a sawmill that park employees once operated on the site.

The building is designed to react to current weather conditions. Its HVAC system is linked to operable windows so that the two don’t work against each other; automated shading devices react to the sun’s path. It even feeds local animals with its edible landscaping. In short, the firm didn’t merely meet the current year’s challenge goal—it vaulted almost all the way to the 2030 level.

“With Schaar’s Bluff, we established the energy goal for the project as striving toward a net-zero-energy building,” Wagner says. “In our design process, we are always comparing our progress to what’s laid out in the basic building program, the project budget, and the aesthetic goals and objectives. Now we have added a fourth component to the basic set of ingredients: the energy budget.”

Wagner says new and existing clients are eager to sign on once they understand the implications of sustainable building. The firm has tried to develop a body of data it can use to educate clients about the process. The new regime doesn’t cost a whole lot more up front, and it doesn’t significantly change the look of the firm’s projects, Wagner finds. But it does rearrange the design process. This is not a process of greenwashing a traditional building—this is green to the core.

“It requires a little bit more discipline, a bit more sticking to your guns,” he notes. “The aesthetic of the project grows out of the initial objective, which is your energy budget. Every decision you make, you are checking it against that goal and making sure you are staying within the boundaries that you have set for yourself.”

Architecture 2030 encourages its participants to use a variety of strategies to meet challenge goals. These might include innovative design, generation of onsite renewable power, or purchasing up to 20 percent renewable energy or certified renewable energy credits. The toughest part, so far, is finding vendors and materials to help meet the standards.