HAWAII GATEWAY ENERGY CENTER NAMED IN TOP 10 2007 U.S. SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS

04/25/2007

KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII (April 20, 2007) – The distinctive Hawaii Gateway Energy Center building at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority has been selected as one of the 10 best “green” buildings in the United States for 2007.

The prestigious selection was made by the Committee on the Environment (COTE) of the American Institute of Architects and announced this week in honor of Earth Day, which is observed annually on April 22.

All the COTE selections are projects that protect and enhance the natural environment by “addressing significant environmental challenges with designs that thoughtfully weave architecture, technology and natural systems,” said the AIA. This is the 11th year of the nationwide juried recognition program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Entries into the program were evaluated based on a unique set of requirements that looked at 10 performance metrics recognizing both the quantitative and qualitative elements of successful sustainable design. Public education of sustainable practices was also a key component of the projects.

Designed by Ferraro Choi Associates architects of Honolulu and opened in 2004, the $3.5 million, 3,600-square-foot building is a dramatic demonstration of a “zero-net energy” structure, in that it produces more energy than it uses.

The HGEC does this by using building form and principles of thermodynamics to create a balanced air circulation. Indoor cooling is achieved by passively drawing outside hot air across cooling coils filled with 45-degree Fahrenheit seawater pumped from 3,000 feet deep in the ocean at the NELHA facility.

Power needs, meanwhile, are provided by the expansive on-site photovoltaic array that utilizes the site’s abundant sunshine to generate an average of 90 kWh of electricity per day. “This project really uses all of Earth’s devices, then dramatizes that with this visible structure,” the AIA jury noted.

The Hawaii Gateway Energy Center is located seven miles north of Kailua-Kona at the entry to the NELHA facility at Keahole Point. The unique building is easily recognizable because of its futuristic-looking solar panel array above the structure, known as a “space frame.”

The HGEC is the focal point for both visitors and residents to learn about the internationally-recognized NELHA facility, where sunlight and warm and cold ocean water are being used in high-tech, cutting edge renewable energy applications and aquaculture/mariculture food production.

Public education and outreach programs at the innovative center are aided by Friends of NELHA, an independent, non-profit volunteer organization. The HGEC is the first phase of what is anticipated to develop into a campus for renewable energy and related high technology research on the 6.5-acre site.

The Hawaii Gateway Energy Center has already won several citations for its forward-looking design and purpose. In 2005, the HGEC won the Honolulu AIA Award for Sustainable Design and last year it received the AIA Northwest and Pacific Region Citation Award.

It also was awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) New Construction Platinum certification for sustainable design by the United States Green Building Council, one of just 25 buildings worldwide awarded the designation to date. Ferraro Choi Associates has designed two other buildings in Hawaii which have received various degrees of LEED certification from the USGBC.

Bill Brooks, the lead architect of the HGEC and a principal in Ferraro Choi Associates, called the HGEC a “signature structure” and successful demonstration project that could serve as a model for the private and public sector in Hawaii to use sustainable architectural design principles in new projects and buildings.

Will Rolston, the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center manager, said the HGEC “feels like it’s a living environment…very connected to nature. It’s a building that really opens up people’s minds to renewable energy, global warming and innovative solutions when they come up here.”

The top 10 projects chose by the AIA for its annual award came from more than a hundred entries from around the United States. Among the winners were a model single-family home, two non-profit headquarters, a library, a school and a water treatment facility that doubles as a park.

Winning projects were located in Boston, Stanford and Santa Monica, California, Texas, Arkansas and other states. The projects will be honored at the 2007 AIA national convention in San Antonio, Texas, May 3 – 5.

Contact: Guy Toyama
Phone: (808) 329-7873 / (808) 938-6325
Email: gt@emapinc.com