Smart-Office "Mobilizing a political critique of the envelope capable of addressing its

multiple attachments and complexities may enable us to frame architecture not merely as a representation of the interests of a client, of a

certain political ideology or an image of utopia, but as an all-too-real, concrete, and effective political agency able to assemble and mediate the interests of the multiplicities that converge on the architectural project."

-Alejandro Zaera Polo

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Sustainable Williamson is presently developing the Smart-Office. This project is an innovative community space which will be used to spark the imagination and serve as the epicenter for the Sustainable Williamson programs as well as the CASE network. Located in a high-visibility downtown location in the Historic Mountaineer Hotel, and situated next door to Williamson’s “Coal House” built in 1933 made entirely of 65 tons of bituminous coal which serves as the Tug Valley chamber of commerce and a visitor center for the area. Creating innovative linkages which transcend traditional conflict based approaches (i.e., “us against them”), Sustainable Williamson and the Chamber of Commerce have been working together toward a common goal of revitalizing the community. The ultimate goal is to connect the two spaces with a plaza made of brick comprised of recycled fly ash from coal fired power plants to symbolize this relationship.

The Smart-Office will act as an incubator for job training in sustainable/green certifications. It is our hope that we will be able to provide these various standard development organizations (SDO) with end-user feedback which may stimulate insight into potential innovative overlaps between different certifications as well as provide cost effective applications. It is our hope that Williamson’s Smart-Office will be the first among many which will set a new precedent for an open-source approach to enriching various sustainable certifications. Moreover, these findings will be applied to several sustainable construction projects in Williamson thus making Williamson (as a whole) an incubator for creating new approaches to sustainable construction. In collaboration with regional community and technical colleges as well as Coalfield Development Corporation’s innovative workforce development program, participants in Smart-Office trainings will assist actions to retrofit the building based on LEED Platinum certification for Commercial Interiors guidelines. Platinum is the highest certification level offered by the US Green Building Council. LEED for Commercial Interiors is a point system based on categories that relate to some of our most pressing environmental issues: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Interior Environmental Quality, Materials and Resources, and Innovation. The following are a few examples of how we intend to achieve some of the points required:

Sustainable Sites: Renovation and restoration in the existing downtown area where there is existing infrastructure which saves money, energy and resources. The Smart-Office has a “synergetic” relationship with the hotel and the town of Williamson. The space serves as a model of sustainable development to be replicated throughout the region which includes built in linkages between specific design elements of the Smart-Office and the “Six Components of Sustainability” utilized by both Sustainable Williamson and the Central Appalachian Sustainable Economies Network (CASE).

“The Coal House” Built entirely out of coal from the area. The South facing windows of the “Smart Office”

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Water Efficiency: Besides using low flow fixtures we are using: o Gray water for toilet flushing o Rain water from the roof of the hotel to water the plants on the green wall.

Energy and Atmosphere: The space is designed to maximize the solar heat gain in the winter and minimize it in the summer eliminating the need for the conventional HVAC system a majority of the time. The Smart-Office is a unique space because it is surrounded on all but two sides by conditioned spaces therefore the heat loss and heat gain is limited to the South wall and the East wall.

o Windows: The existing storefront windows on the south and east have been replaced with double pane glass and the aluminum framing has been insulated with Aerogel. This will seal out drafts, stop condensation, and add insulating space filled with Argon between the glazing but we did not stop there. The solar thermal panels raise the insulation value of the storefront window to R value of 30 when in place.

o Mobile Solar Thermal wall Panels: We have designed a unique mobile thermal collection, storage and insulating system that take advantage of the southern orientation of the space. The units can collect and store solar heat using phase change heat storage, insulate the windows, radiate the heat back into the space. Even when closed windows that contain PV glass provide views to the outside and generate electricity for wall mounted displays.

o Active solar thermal system will provide additional heat to the space in the winter, evacuated tube solar water heaters will be connected to the air to air heat exchanger in the space providing heated fresh air all winter along and in the summer the hot water will be redirected to the Hotel’s water heating needs.

o Solar powered awnings deploy automatically based on the exterior temperature, time of day and the season of the year. The awnings have self-contained motors that are powered entirely by the sun. They will protect the south face of the smart office from the sun’s heat and reflect light into the transom windows for daylighting. Awnings also serve as a demonstration for the rest of the main street.

o Thermostat controlled ceiling fans and natural ventilation provides gentle breezes for cooling throughout the space in the spring and fall.

o High Efficiency HVAC: If the passive and active solar systems still cannot meet the load, a high efficiency wall mounted split system HVAC unit will be used to control the temperature and humidity of the space.

o Net Zero Energy Design: A Solar Photo-Voltaic System on the roof of the hotel will be dedicated to provide the electricity for the Smart-Office and be sized to meet the annual net energy load of the space.

Building and Materials Reuse: Instead of building a standalone building the Smart-Office demonstrates what can be accomplished using an existing building. The goal is to make as few changes to the space as possible thereby saving money and preserving history.

o Building Reuse: Taking advantage of the existing transom windows for daylighting and restoring the existing terrazzo floor preserves both the materials and the history of the building.

o Construction Waste was donated to the local Habitat for Humanity Restore or returned to the owner of the hotel for reuse.

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o Chairs and Desks are either reused or build out of recycled materials from the Habitat for Humanity Restore.

o Local Materials and Manufactures will be used whenever possible. Part of the goal of Sustainable Williamson is to restore the economic base of the area by providing access to new jobs.

Indoor Environmental Quality o Fresh air will be provided by an air to air heat exchanger and the bottom panel of the

storefront will be made operable to let in a breeze when needed. o Green Wall: The vestibule will be separated by insulated translucent glazing and a

vertical green wall that will be irrigated by rain water from the roof. The plants on the green wall will provide pollution control and reduce the CO2 in the space when fully occupied.

o Daylighting: The existing transom windows provide daylight and will be enhanced with internal storm windows and lightshelfs that reflect light deep into the space and act as thermal shutters at night. LED lighting that is controlled by the amount of incoming ambient light will provide backup to the daylighting. Every space in the Smart-Office will have access to daylight.

Innovation: There are many innovations included in the design some of which could be used to achieve innovation credits for LEED. Some examples:

o Innovative approach to insulating existing non-thermally broken aluminum storefront without removing the framing

o Solar thermal storage using Phase Change Heat Storage o Shared solar thermal hot water system o Mobile insulation panels and solar collectors

By using these concepts and others we expect to achieve 88 of the 110 possible points. Eight more than required for Platinum Certification.

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Climate analysis and recommended design strategies for Williamson, WV. Climate Consultant V5

Living Building Challenge TM is a program of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and the International Living Building Institute. The Challenge is a step beyond LEED Certification instead of simply applying best practices it strives to achieve a new relationship between buildings and the environment. The Living Building Challenge therefore has “imperatives” instead of points and it is based on achievement instead of planning or design. The Smart-Office intends to strive to achieve as many of these goals as possible and apply for the Living Building Challenge and Net Zero Energy Certification after the office has been occupied for at least a year and gathered all the required data.

Electrical

Preliminary Electrical Energy analysis Performed on HOMER micropower optimization modeling software

Component Production Fraction

(kWh/yr)

PV array 5,281 59%

Grid purchases 3,637 41%

Total 8,918 100%

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Training layout with closed insulation panels

Kinetic Design: Because of the highly integrated and multi-use aspects found in the Smart-Office, the design team will utilize kinetic design which will allow the small space (only 835 SF) to morphologically adapt to the following uses:

Office space for Sustainable Williamson

Research archive (video, photo, audio, etc.)

Various “on the job” training settings

Conduct participatory design charettes

Technology demonstration center

Community film theater (evenings)

Conduct remote classes with partner universities

Sustainable certification demonstration center

Art gallery (weekend shows)

General resource space

Mobile Exterior Walls serve many purposes when open they let in light, direct gain solar heat, and provide views. When closed they can either serve as a solar collector with integral heat storage or an insulating shutter for the window opening. Heat is stored inside the panel using two layers of Phase Change Materials which offer heat capacity of 180 Btu’s per Square Foot of wall surface. The surface of the panels can be used as display areas and for teaching. These become window displays at night and when the walls are used to insulate the windows. Some of the walls will have view windows made with Pythagoras Solar Photo-Voltaic Glass that will provide vies when the panels are closed and generate a small amount of electricity to power an ipad interactive displays that describe the technologies used in the building.

Office layout with windows open

Presentation layout with closed solar collectors

“We need to switch to a realist view of causes not as conjunctions but

as actual connections in which one event produces another event.”

- Manuel DeLanda

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Additionally, the Smart-Office will be act as a hub for job training, specifically targeting distressed and at-risk counties throughout Central Appalachia, beginning with West Virginia and Kentucky (see adjacent graphic). Sustainable Williamson will play an essential role for developing this aspect of the project which will specifically focus on energy optimization and sustainable construction training certifications. This also has a design component as the Smart-Office will be a real world “training manual” providing the trainee with video based “train the trainer” programs (highly integrated virtual/real curriculum built into office design – synthesizing the real day to day applications and the virtual office design) as well as providing various on-site applications of energy optimization applications and well as sustainable construction certifications. We intend to expand this training model throughout the town of Williamson, integrating a training component into every sustainable construction project that is developed thus creating Williamson (as a whole) as an incubator for energy optimization and sustainable construction training for the distressed and at-Risk counties of Central Appalachia. Specifically, the Smart-Office will provide training services for replicating our “jobs creation” approach to solar PV installation as well as serve as a training center for developing Local Energy Action Plans (LEAP) for surrounding distressed and at-risk counties in Central Appalachia.

The Smart-Office will also operate in an “attractor” fashion as our design team has adopted an rural morphological approach which emphasizes social forms which are expressed in the physical layout of the city of Williamson, and, conversely, our team will identify how physical forms produces or reproduce various social forms, in this case “sustainability.” In this approach, “sustainability” is not generally understood as object-centered, in that it emphasizes the relationships between components of the city as they are expressed in their social form. It is our hope that we can intentionally construct a creative architectural atmosphere which is not limited by one or more structures by adopting complexity as an underlying methodological framework for creating an emergent setting which continuously generates novel approaches to rural sustainable economic development. For example: The awnings used on the Smart-Office serve as a model for other business in Williamson, as they begin to understand the benefits, energy savings, rain protection, and glare reduction (so people can see into the storefront windows). The other downtown business may adopt the use of awnings and downtown Williamson will be a pleasant place to walk and shop thereby benefiting the community as a whole. Elements modeled on a small scale in the Smart-Office can be adapted to a larger scale goal.

One form of emergence which we intend to integrate into the Smart-Office project is technologically based open-innovation (e.g., Arduino), and the policies that could allow innovation to flourish. First, the Smart-Office will showcase new technologies such as Pythagoras Solar Photo-Voltaic Glass Unit and Enfuse Comprehensive Energy Management System. These novel technologies will then be integrated into various projects throughout the city of Williamson while emphasizing end-user innovation and in turn increasing the likelihood of technological innovation to occur.

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What has already been completed: Deconstruction: In collaboration with Coalfield Development Corporation, local workers were trained in Deconstruction (the careful removal of structures so that the materials may be reused) was held prior to the removal of any materials in the building. The walls and equipment in the space that will not be need were removed and given to the local Habitat Restore or reintegrated into design through a collaborative art project.

The only changes visible on the outside of the Historic Hotel will be new awnings.

Deconstruction- the art of gently removing materials from buildings so that they can be reused

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High Performance Windows have been installed. If we removed the existing single glazed non-thermally broken storefront it would affect the historic exterior of the building so we retrofitted it from the inside. We replace the glazing with double pane glass carefully chosen to let in a high percentage of visible light but would have a low thermal transmission. Since we wanted the heat in the winter we selected a glazing that would allow for passive solar heating during the winter months. The Aluminum frame was insulated on the inside with SpaceLofttm AeroGeltm insulation keeping the historic nature of the building intact. This type of installation can be completed on other storefronts without requiring the complete removal and replacement of the window system. Roof mounted PV system: Local workers have already installed the first phase of the solar PV system. The power is currently being used to help the Hotel meet their electrical needs.

Gilliam Solar, LLC Install crew on the roof of the Mountaineer Hotel with the new solar PV array

The window on the left is high performance glazing with

an insulated frame.