 EHDD began in 1946 as a firm that designed buildings and has grown to a medium sized firm that now has sustainability as one of its main assets of distinction. The firm has several LEED professionals to help guide clients with their sustainable projects. Three of their projects have earned a LEED platinum rating and have completed other LEED projects as well. They have also completed two Zero Energy and Carbon Neutral buildings. The company lists ten goals of sustainability:
- To design all buildings to use half as much energy as the strict California Energy code allows.
- To have the best engineering and designing teams to achieve the first goal.
- To commission their buildings as standard practice.
- To measure the actual energy performance of their finished buildings.
- To conduct post-occupancy evaluations on all projects.
- To green specifications to include a full range of sustainable products on projects.
- To build the sustainable design expertise of staff with the focused environmental program.
- To advocate sustainable design in their clients and communities.
- To create an office culture that demonstrates how a sustainable can improve quality of life at a reasonable cost.
- To do all the other goals with professionalism and high quality design..
One of the showcase projects that EHDD has done won the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Top Ten Green Projects. This project was the Chartwell, a school in Seaside, California. The key ideas for the Chartwell project, as listed by EHDD themselves, were:
- To create the best possible learning environment by providing exceptional daylighting, views, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort.
- To make the sustainable design strategies a visible part of the students' education by developing the site as a teaching tool with natural drainage and native and food-producing plants.
- To inspire and excite the community about the possibilities of sustainable design and in turn generate support and private funding.
- To reach net-zero electricity use through exceptional efficiency and adding photovoltaic (PV) capacity to meet the remaining electrical demand.
- To reach these goals with only a modest cost premium.
All of these goals are intertwined in the resulting Chartwell campus. Tall, north-facing windows and clerestories provide excellent daylighting, support the net-zero electrical goal and improving student needs. Sloping shed roofs for good photovoltaic orientation and an extensive measurement and verification system support optimal function of the building and provide learning opportunities for the students. Radiant heat provides a quiet learning environment and reduces the size of mechanical equipment and mechanical rooms. Framing the structure at two feet on center reduces the amount of material used on the project and also saves on overall construction costs. These are just a few examples of how the five key ideas mentioned above formed the basis of the design. The project also involved extensive research embodied in a published case study on Design for Deconstruction (DfD) funded by an EPA research grant. EnviroCitizen.org believes that if other building design firms will pay attention to details such as those focused on by EHDD, the world will become a much greener place to live.
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