by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“I’ve always said you don’t build your way out of a problem, you plan your way out of a problem,” said Jack Diamond at Monday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville.
Diamond, senior principal at Rink Design and immediate past president of the club, addressed the issue of “green” architecture and the international movement toward sustainability in terms of resources, materials and energy.
“In architecture right now, there is a whole new vocabulary that everybody has to start understanding,” said Diamond. “Some of the common terms are ‘life cycle’ ‘carbon footprint’ ‘conservation’ and ‘sustainability’.”
He explained that sustainability is defined as a “balance that accommodates human needs without diminishing the health and productivity of natural systems. We have to live with our natural systems. We have to understand that when we are planning to do the proper type of development going forward.”
Diamond spoke of a project that opened in 1983 that was years ahead of its time in terms of “green” architecture, the Downtown high-rise constructed for the headquarters of Southern Bell that is now the AT&T Building. Its design includes vents that can draw in fresh air to help cool the building at times as well as reflective glass and insulating panels. He also described a system that would have been a way to control the interior temperature.
“We considered building a system that would use a huge block of ice in the basement to cool the offices,” he said. “The ice would be made when the electrical demand was off-peak to save money. We decided it wouldn’t be cost-effective.”
The current trend toward sustainable design is being driven by the global economy and concerns over the environment.
“The economic crisis is about supply and demand. Greenhouse gases from vehicles and manufacturing are leading to global climate change,” said Diamond. “This century, if we don’t understand these facts and do something about it we are going to have a major crisis.”
The United States must take a leadership role in changing the way things are developed, built and operated, he added.
“We use a disproportionate amount of the world’s resources,” said Diamond. “The U.S. uses 48 percent of the world’s energy and 76 percent of that energy is used by buildings. Forty percent of the material in our landfills is construction waste. We use 5 billion gallons of water each day to flush toilets and we withdraw 340 billion gallons of fresh water each day mostly to water lawns and for landscaping.”
Diamond said he considers the “green” movement to be the most significant change in development policy since the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century. That’s when the population started migrating from rural areas to the cities where they could get jobs in the manufacturing sector. That led to the creation of the construction industry, which ultimately led to the establishment of building codes which had previously not been part of the process.
The movement toward sustainability is of the same magnitude and it gains momentum every day, said Diamond. It has already changed the design-build industry.
“Everyone who asks us to design wants a ‘green’ building. Sustainability enhances and protects the ecosystem, it improves air quality, reduces waste and conserves natural resources,” said Diamond. “It reduces strain on local infrastructure and contributes to the overall quality of life. Future generations will benefit from it. As it relates to economics, sustainability reduces operating cost. It enhances asset value and improves employee productivity. It’s also good for public relations.
“The key issue is responsibility. Every developer, every contractor, everybody who works in the field has a responsibility to do the right thing.”
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