I designed  this compost bin as part of an article by Sarah Moise Young that will appear in the Local Palate magazine January Issue.  Sarah and I constructed this in an afternoon, and the budget was slightly under $200. Hardwire cloth is attached to the open areas, the top is hinged with a 3″ butt hinge, and the separator boxes are bolted to the base runner frames. The slats drop in and are pulled out only to turn the compost or remove it.

Please check out the link:

http://www.dwell.com/articles/raise-high-the-roof-beams.html

Existing

Proposed

While sustainable goals have been integral to the Thompson Young Design approach since inception, today we published our findings from our 2010 projects. This week we also submitted our 2030 sustainability action plan, my favorite item being “no dry cleaning unless significant meeting or event.” I have complied with that for decades, but Yvonne Chouinard of Patagonia brought the inherent green-ness of this to my attention in his book about his company.

Above, PEUI stands for Projected Energy Use Intensity. Simply put it is a measure of kBTU’s/Square Foot/Year. Since you can’t read the graph, I have to tell you that our 2010 projects have a predicted  11.6% reduction from average energy use.  This measurement comes from compliance with the 2006 or 2009 International Energy Conservation Code; I think soon we’ll be able to show this number is a lot higher, which I’ll address below.

 LPD above stands for Lighting Power Density and measures Watts/Square foot. Our 2010 projects show a 12.9 percent reduction below the national average for lighting power density. 

The dark black lines above are the goals for the 2030 challenge . I think that we’re actually doing better than the graph shows. For example,  in many cases we’ve exceeded the minimum requirements of the Inernational Energy Conservation Code (IECC), but because we haven’t measured the energy use or done an energy model for the project, we can’t claim it. So this year (2011) we’re investing in an energy modeling  program to add value to our service and reduce energy use in our projects, and show that we’re closer to the line than it looks from the graph.

One very simple but remarkable thing about lighting power is something drilled into our heads all the time – that fluorescent lights save tons of energy. A 60 watt bulb can be replaced by a 15 watt fluorescent bulb, and energy use is reduced by three quarters.  The translation to the wallett is direct. Simons

The neglected building at 85 Spring Street had a simple long and narrow layout. The depth of the building created a space that provided intriguing opportunities to play off of the the separation between the public connection to the busy street and a much more private retreat.  In the redesign of the storefront, the new glass wall insertion is stepped back from the face of the pre-existing facade. This provides a clear juxtaposition of the old massive, opaque masonry structure to the new light, transparent glazed storefront. In addition in the new storefront is a recessed shift in the location of the  vertical plane which provides further clarification of what is old and what is new. Inside the building, the floors were taken down to an industrial concrete finish, and the ceiling level was raised in the work area to provide a more voluminous space.  Raw wood finishes complete the interior  of the workspace and provide a warm atmosphere. A further complement to the design are the concealed doors that separate the public space from the private work space; these are integrated in a wood wall designed by furniture maker Michael Moran.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/feb/21/a-background-building-that-stands-out/

The Building Enclosure Council

“The Three R’s: Repairs, Renovations & Retrofits in Hot, Humid Climates”
By Joseph Lstiburek, Ph. D, P.E., ASHRAE Fellow

First of all, I had no idea the Stern Center had such a pleasant looking open space on the interior of the block. The lecture was very relevant, and covered crawl spaces, floors, walls, and roofs. Mr. Lstiburek is an enthusiastic speaker, and for people interested in this sort of thing (like me), the talk was pretty interesting. Mr. Lstiburek has a leaning towards sealing up buildings well and ventilating them right – I think he has a slogan for it even, but maybe it’s trademarked.

Part of the discussion revolved around the location of the insulating material and what you can do to protect it. The relevance of the location of the kraft paper on Batt Insulation (Face in or Face Out), Mr. Lstiburek argues, is irrelevant because of the way the Kraft paper responds to the varying relative humidities of the summer and winter months. He suggests that if you use batt to go with the unfaced stuff so that you can’t get it wrong anyway.

Lstiburek has a bias against OSB and other materials composed of wood particles and glue, pointing out that they do not breathe as well as plywood. Another reason for using plywood rather than OSB for the sheathing material.

Another item mentioned was the importance of Capillary barriers in buildings foundations in order to discourage the rising damp effect of water moving up masonry elements.

His website has some good information, and is worth a visit. The principal lesson learned is that we can’t afford to ignore building enclosures, and that in retrofitting historic ones it’s important to do it in a manner that won’t due harm to the buildings given their transition into the age of air conditioning and airtight insulation.

The food bank is worth a visit to see what they do there (free tour, no appointment needed). Among other things, they  receive  food items whose packaging has been damaged in shipping, or ones near expiration, or bulk food that has not been packaged because there was no buyer available. They make this food available to the people that need it in the coastal communities through various programs, one especially good one is called backpack buddies. It provides a weekend meal for children in schools.

A few facts that were thrown out by the staffers that are almost hard to believe:

40% of food produced never makes it to the consumer level.

Trash audits in Charleston indicate that in certain parts of the Charleston County area as much as 30% of waste is  food.

Up until now there has been no composting of food waste at the Charleston Landfill. There has been only yard waste composting, which is pretty good, but this is better.

Let’s hope this program makes it through. I know my household  could divert 20-30% of our garbage from the landfill and into the composting pile. This percentage comes from having done it for 3 years. Living  in   San Francisco before returning here I had become accustomed to composting food and paper items. Surprisingly, it’s less smelly than I thought it would be. It doesn’t smell any more than your household trash if you set it up right.  We had a compost bin next to our outside trash can, and I’d empty the compost we had in our house (collected in a paper grocery bag) on a nightly basis. It was collected once a week along with the trash and recycling and taken to the landfill, composted, then sold as soil. This diverted a huge amount of waste from the landfills. Happy to hear that Charleston is now starting a beta program with Wal Mart, the Charleston Food Bank, and one other group that I forget. It integrates food waste in with the current yard waste compost, which of course diverts food waste from the landfill and has the added benefit of speeding up the composting process. The sooner this happens the better for me.

Monthly Member Bio

Jonathan Thompson, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP & Simons Young, AIA

Founders and Principals

Thompson Young Design, Charleston, SC

In the summer of 2009, Jon Thompson and Simons Young, former Clemson University classmates (March 2006), began their design practice, Thompson Young Design, in Charleston, SC.

After graduate school, Jon worked with LS3P ASSOCIATES’ federal design studio including notable contribution on an Army Reserve office facility at Fort Jackson, SC, and the 840,000 SF Missile Defense Agency Headquarters at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.  Jon led a team in the implementation and delivery of construction documentation Building Information Modeling technology, and as a LEED accredited professional, he strives to optimize design through the use of sustainable design principles.

After practicing in San Francisco with renowned preservation architecture firm, Page & Turnbull, Simons Young returned to his native Charleston, bringing with him a profound respect for sustainability and experience in both large and small re-use, renovation and rehabilitation projects.  While in California, his work ranged from multi-family…..

Link to AIASC Article