With its quartzite-clad facades, crenellated council chamber ceilings and mirrored glass windows, the municipal complex of Chandler City Hall, Arizona, exudes elegance. More importantly, however, it is (on the whole) environmentally conscious as well.
Chandler Arizona City Hall Earns LEED Platinum
Flexibly designed office spaces conveniently accommodate shrinking and growing departments (namely, via a demountable wall system for interior partitions) while sidestepping the need for major construction, which translates into fiscal savings and environmental conservancy. Work areas are sensibly set up near the windows, curtailing the need for electrical lighting during the day (although the lighting itself can be dimmed to 10 percent of full output through photocell control). An intricate and beautifully vibrant shading system harnesses the power of the wind through 1,890 hinged, perforated stainless-steel panels and strategically placed, colorful LED lights, every movement of the wind resulting in a mélange of brilliant color and a naturally cooler indoor climate. The cooling tower’s blow-down water is treated in an eco-friendly and aesthetically graceful manner – a waterfall at the side of the courtyard-facing garage flows down to be treated with ultraviolet light in an underground tank and then distributed to the restrooms and landscaping system. It is a sound method of reusing water, particularly since it is treated without the use of chemicals.
While this complex has utilized environmentally helpful structures and tactics, the difficulty of creating an entirely eco-friendly building is nevertheless still apparent in this project. For instance, though I admire the elegant beauty of the quartzite stone, I am concerned about the possibly detrimental environmental effects of mining it. In addition, while the fact that the civic center is built on a brownfield site is certainly a boon to the environment, yet it is also a possible bane to the health of the center’s occupants and visitors. Though it is fortunate that no greenfield sites were destroyed in building the complex and the brownfield site surely must have been detoxified to some extent, there is the lingering thought that the land was at one time polluted with (I am assuming) industrial chemicals and that a land with that kind of history is bound to affect the physical well-being of those who are habitually near it.
Though the use of exterior lighting (the frosted glass of the council chamber building is back-lit at night) may be counterintuitive for a green building, there is something to be said for the splendor of the lighting and the admiration it inspires. Some couples have actually incorporated the city hall into their wedding pictures, which testifies to the significant role that this building and its luxurious lighting play in the lives of civilians. Nevertheless, the use of such lighting will earn a more conscience-clearing justification once solar panels are installed.
One of the most pleasing aspects of this article is the evidence of a shift in LEED perception – it is now seen as being more, rather than less, economical, than constructing traditional buildings. According to Marian Norris, Assistant City Manager, LEED was chosen for this project since it is perceived as being economically sound and fiscally responsible towards taxpayers. As more city governments adopt this method of thinking, it is to be reasonably hoped that LEED and green building industry standards in general will ultimately become the building industry standard.
