DESERT RAIN
Bend, Oregon, United States of America | Living Certified
The Living Certified Desert Rain residence is located in the arid high-desert region of Eastern Oregon. Local average annual precipitation is only 12 inches and dry years can produce as little as 7 inches of moisture. In this demanding environment, achieving the Water Petal and supplying 100% of the project’s water needs from captured precipitation is arguably the most challenging part of the Living Building Challenge.
Taking inspiration from the local cacti, Desert Rain includes high efficiency, low-flow fixtures and a large storage tank (35,000 gallons) in order to get through the worst droughts. The project team designed a system that budgeted 42 gallons of water per person per day (gpd), compared to the national average of 100 gpd, but their performance period demonstrated actual water use at about 30 gpd. Knowing that they couldn’t waste any precious rainwater, they successfully advocated to replace the code-mandated first flush diverter (which is designed to dispose of the initial “dirty” water during a rain event) with gravel filters at the bottom of each downspout.
Their constructed wetland system, which accommodates all of their greywater, currently redirects treated greywater into the irrigation system. All three residential buildings use Jet vacuum flush toilets, which use roughly a quarter gallon of water per flush, and the sewage is routed to a central Phoenix composting unit. The residents closely monitor the levels of their cistern as well as the composting unit and modify their behavior appropriately in order to live within the carrying capacity of their site.
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY BROCK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER
Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States of America | Living Certified
In 2016, the Brock Environmental Center became the first commercial building in the mainland United States permitted to capture and treat rain for use as drinking water.
Given the plentiful and consistent availability of rain in Virginia Beach, the challenge in achieving Net Positive Water was primarily getting the regulatory approvals to allow treated rain to meet both potable and non-potable water demand. At the onset of design, the project team met with regional representatives from the State Department of Health and the Virginia Office of Drinking Water (ODW). The project team’s challenge was to design waterworks that met all National Science Foundation (NSF) standards and state-regulations, but were appropriately scaled for a very small project, and could be maintained by an in-house staff operator on a daily basis. Two standing seam metal roofs capture rainwater, filling two 1650-gallon cisterns, enough to withstand 23 days of drought. Rainwater is filtered with four log filters and disinfected with ozone and UV. Chlorine was subsequently added and the project owner, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, is appealing this requirement. This rainwater system supplies all water uses within the Center. In the years since the project received approval, they have passed all of their testing requirements with flying colors, and have even started producing their own beer from the treated rainwater—a Bohemian Pilsner called “Rain Barrel: A Bay Saver’s Brew”!
FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America | Living Certified
The Frick Environmental Center is a Living Certified building dedicated to experiential environmental education. The facility and its four-acre site act as a gateway to Pittsburgh’s wooded 644-acre Frick Park, and embody the neighborhood-to-nature ideal that served as inspiration for the park’s formation more than 90 years ago.
To achieve the Water Petal, the project team installed reduced-flow and ultra-high efficiency plumbing fixtures. A greater challenge was managing the water demand from the historic fountain. As part of the original park masterplan, the fountain provides a gathering place for community, but achieving the water height as originally designed would greatly impact the project’s energy and water demands. Being able to minimize the volume of water used in the fountain, while still achieving the biophilic visual and audible properties of moving water was the goal. The solution was to redesign the main basin to be only four inches deep with a low, bubbling jet of water. For select public events, including Earth Day, the fountain still has the ability to employ a dramatic full-height jet of water.
The project site’s water flow preserves and restores the park’s ecology, which is especially important in an area that endures non-point source pollution and combined sewer overflows. The site’s natural sub-drainage divide aligns with the historic allée. To the north, stormwater is captured from the permeable paver areas into below-grade infiltration basins, where it is filtered and slowly released into the Fern Hollow watershed. Stormwater falling south of the allée at the building proper follows a non-linear path to replenish the Nine Mile Run watershed, through a series of interactive, multisensory water features. Rainwater cascades in a dynamic curtain of water from the building’s northern roof edge, called the Rain Veil, which is visible from both the interior and exterior. From there, the rainwater channels into the Rain Ravine – a stepped sandstone water feature evocative of the shale geology of the region. The water playfully meanders down the hillside of the amphitheater, continuing its journey to the wetlands below, helping to restore this section of Nine Mile Run, which has been historically susceptible to erosion from flooding.
