Lowry 1 Amber Lowry Justin Jory English 2010-022 15 March 2014 Inquiring Into Place In Utah, air quality

is a major environmental concern, poor air quality not only limits our visibility but can also lead to health concerns. Salt Lake City has begun to improve the levels of pollution and Carbon Monoxide by creating their new buildings to be environmentally friendly. The Natural History Museum of Utah was designed and constructed to be a green building that will lead our community into the future of a more environmentally friendly city. To guide my research, I asked the question, how has the Natural History Museum of Utah, a place that is normally dedicated to learning about the past, become a symbol that exemplifies the future of our environment? This inquiry led me to investigate how the building was designed and created, the architecture behind it, what companies played a major role in the development of this green building, and what exactly makes the NHMU to be environmentally friendly. The Museum is a LEED Gold certified building. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is an internationally

Lowry 2 recognized green building certification developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. The gift of large quantities of copper given to the Museum from Kennecott Utah Copper Mine, played a major role and was a critical component in the creation of the Museum to be designed and constructed to LEED standards. The NHMU Green Team has a personal goal: To educate, implement and support sustainability initiatives for staff and visitors to create a community that is socially, economically and environmentally responsible, to foster an overall environmental stewardship of awareness, education and participation, to establish and measure green practices that result in financial and resource conservation and savings, as well as maintain our Gold LEED Certification. (NHMU.utah.edu) The NHMU was designed by GSBS Architects and the Design Workshop firm, it was built in a way that everything has significance in helping the environment; limited parking, water conservation, solar panels, site design, energy efficiencies, recycled materials and the operating practices that contribute to the NHMU's commitment to sustainability and the environment.

Lowry 3 GSBS Architects embraces emerging principles of architecture to create positive structures that are more

pleasant to be in, less

Natural History Museum of Utah

costly to maintain, and

that contribute to a healthier environment. They have been a

2002 Olympic Oval

recognized leader in sustainable design for more than 3 decades, GSBS has designed 14 LEED- certified buildings including the Museum, and one of the first LEED certified buildings in the world; the 2002 Olympic Speed Skating Oval. GSBS worked with the Design Workshop which is a firm that practices landscape architecture. (Branson, John. Interview) Design Workshop, as shown in the accompanied image, merges artistic vision, environmental sensitivity, community values and sound economics to create compelling places

Design Workshop

that stand the test of time. Design Workshop formed in

1969 and continues to excel in many areas of green design, including restoring natural landscaping, conserving ecosystems, and creating places that are compelling and sustainable, which is exactly what the Natural History Museum of Utah is.

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Limited Parking

As a visitor to the Natural History Museum of Utah, you normally wouldnt visualize the parking lot as a
Museum Parking Layout

way that the Museum is contributing to the future of our environment. When the Natural History Museum of Utah was being designed and constructed, the architects came up with the parking structure, and how they wanted to encourage alternative transportation to and from the Museum for visitors. As you can see in the above image, the Museums parking is very limited in space, its a wrap around lowered level parking. The reasoning behind this is to encourage either alternative transportation, or to get more people to carpool with one another so less Carbon Monoxide is emitted into the air, which in turn will help lower the pollution in Salt Lake City and slowly but effectively create a cleaner air for our future. The Pervious concrete pavement that covers the parking area allows direct recharge of rainwater into the site's groundwater system, which leads us to the Museums
Pervious Concrete

water conservation.

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Water conservation

The Natural History Museum of Utah has a partnership with Water Wise Utah, which is a unique collaborative
NHMU partner Water Wise Utah

project designed to meet the current and future

community needs related to water conservation. (Water Wise Utah. Web.) The way the Museum has contributed to this partnership, is through their two 10,000 gallon cisterns that collect rainwater and snow from the roof of the Museum to irrigate the entire Museum site and landscaping, including the planted rooftop. The water efficient landscaping on the roof is used in hopes to one day make it seem as if the Museum itself is starting to mold itself into the mountainside behind it. Another way that the Museum is reducing their water use is through the installation of high efficiency plumbing fixtures that are used throughout the building.

Solar Panels When the Natural History Museum of Utah

was built, it allowed visitors to be able to see a

North Side Rooftop Solar Panels

rooftop demonstration of the sun's power: solar panels fueling the building's lights

Lowry 6 and exhibits. When you first visit the Museum, youre encouraged to start your tour at the top level which is the sky terrace. This level includes the outdoor patio, which features rows of solar panels and a garden to capture storm water, as you can see in the image above. The Museum's solar panel installations is one of the largest in the state, including 1378 solar panels that help generate 25% of the energy that the Museum uses. That unbelievably equals to 60 Salt Lake City households. To fully elaborate on the solar panels at the Museum, they are linked to Rocky Mountain Power, which allows the Museum to sell any extra energy to them to help fulfill the needs of the grid for future energy use of Salt Lake City. (Antonov, Teodor. Tour)

Buildings construction

GSBS architects worked with Rocky Mountain Power engineers to create an energy-efficient design for the building and install electricity-saving

Early Construction Stage of Natural Light

components such as an evaporative cooling system, radiant heat and improved insulation. As I was interviewing John Branson, lead architect on the Museum project, he quoted, Approximately 20% of the structural and architectural materials were harvested, extracted and manufactured
Lead Architect, GSBS John Branson

Lowry 7 locally, resulting in a smaller carbon footprint. (Branson, John. Interview) The Rio Tinto Center has included into the building, light concrete pavement and white roofing material to reduce or eliminate elevated temperatures which improves the surrounding environment and air quality for the future. Also, while designing the building and during the construction, they made it to where 90% of the regularly occupied spaces would have access to the natural light of the day and outside views, (as you can see in the featured image above) which helps to reduce energy use and saves in energy costs. David Pershing, who at the time of the Museums opening, was the University of Utah's senior vice president for academic affairs, who also paid the power bills for the University of Utah stated, "We believe that the museum will be a wonderful gift to the community and to the young people of the state. (NHMU. UofU. Web.) As youve read above, the Natural History Museum of Utah is a leader in their environmental contribution to the City of Salt Lake. What makes them a leader is firstly, the following of LEED standards in the construction and design of the building, which made it to where everything has significance in helping the environment. Limited parking, which helps lower car pollution and the emittance of

Former Senior Vice President, Academic Affairs U of U

Lowry 8 carbon monoxide into the air. Water conservation, by using rainwater to water the landscaping throughout the entire site, and high efficiency plumbing to also reduce the Museums water use. Solar panels, which generate 25% of the Museums energy used, and the remaining goes back to Rocky Mountain Power for the grid, and lastly, the buildings construction, which created an energy-efficient design and electricity saving components that in turn will improve the surrounding environment and air quality. Finding out that there are companies and organizations out there that are specifically working on integrating our communities into a more environmentally friendly city, should encourage everyone to research and find out for themselves just how harmful poor air quality is to the environment and our health, and to not only think about what they could do to help contribute to a healthier more environmentally friendly future for the next generation, but to actually act on those thoughts. By using the Natural History Museum of Utah as a symbol and model, you would be able to follow their example by beginning to conserve water, using public transportation or carpooling to help lower the emittance of carbon monoxide, recycle to lower waste buildup, turn off lights when you leave a room, volunteer and/or donate to a conservation project, and most importantly teach not

Lowry 9 only yourself but also the next generation to respect nature, the environment, and what thatll mean to the continuing future generations of our city and state.

Works Cited Antonov, Teodor. Private Informational Tour. 21 Feb. 2014. Branson, John. Personal Interview. 25 Feb. 2014. Natural History Museum of Utah, Rio Tinto Center, U of U Green Building Media Fact Sheet. Natural History Museum of Utah. Sustainability. University of Utah. 2012. Web. 10 March 2014. Natural History Museum of Utah. Water Wise Utah Partners. Web. Natural History Museum of Utah. Wattsmart Business Case Study. 2013 Rocky Mountain Power. 2013 July. Web. Winters, Rosemary. New natural history museum to feature solar power. The Salt

Lake Tribune 27 April 2011. Web.