Annual Boulder Valley Green Building Awards
BOULDER VALLEY'S BEST GREEN BUILDINGS

The Guild has partnered again with the Boulder County Business Report to present the 2nd Annual Green Building Awards.  The selection criteria will recognize interesting dynamic entries worthy of recognition for enlightenment, creativity and leadership, and will not be tied to rigorous data requirements.  All interesting, unique, planet-friendly  buildings are encouraged to apply, even if your building doesn't have fancy certifications or awards.

The Finalists are announced in the Boulder County Business Report and winners were announced during the Business Report's annual Green Summit,  at the Millennium Harvest House Boulder on June 12th. The organizers plan to hold the awards event annually.

2013 Finalists

Green Cutting Edge

Recognizes the best new building or retrofit, incorporating cutting-edge technologies that advance green sustainable building practices. The finalists are:

1. The Golden Hoof. The overall project is about taking a worn out horse and party property and turning it into a sustainable, local food producing, community building farm. This project involves the building of a main house, an agricultural dwelling unit, a studio, a green house and a leech field along with the deconstruction of several buildings and fencing on a farm. 
2. The Westby-Moss Residential Greenhouse. Though considered cutting edge today, this entry incorporates the 1970’s concept of the Earth-Ship. The design intention was a zero energy, off-the-grid, architecturally integrated solar greenhouse, creating a self-sustaining multi-family or single-family residence.
3. WW Reynolds Portfolio Upgrade. Though not necessarily Green Cutting Edge, this entry is being considered for a separate Special Recognition Award. This company, one of the largest commercial property owners in Boulder, has leveraged EnergySmart and Xcel Energy rebates and services to retrofit nearly one million square feet of its commercial properties. This property owner is leading the way – to upgrade its commercial buildings as well as helping tenants, to save money and hedge against rising utility rates. 

Best Green Adaptive Reuse of an Existing Building

Recognizes the adaptation of an existing building to another use. The finalists are: 

1. The Candy Shop Creative Offices. A former candy store, egg roll restaurant, and in more recent years a porn outlet, the building has been renovated into office space offering open plan work stations for multiple businesses. This project features reclaimed gymnasium flooring, energy efficient lighting upgrades, dual-flush toilets and a low-flow showerhead, high-efficiency windows, and the use of recycled materials. 
2. Alfalfa’s Market. This grocery store has taken a sustainable approach in terms of food as well as the way it does business. Alfalfa’s features a green refrigeration system to reduce energy use, energy efficient lighting with controls and sensors, water-conserving fixtures, a green cleaning program, an electric vehicle delivery program and offers customers the ability to recycle packaging waste and charge their electric cars.  

Best Green Commercial New Construction

Recognizes the best green newly constructed commercial building incorporating sustainable or energy efficient techniques and technologies. The finalists are:

1. Via Mobility Services. This building contains administration and maintenance facilities for the non-profit agency that provides transportation services to seniors and people with disabilities residing in Boulder County. It incorporates such "green building” features as a solar panel array, low VOC interior finishes and natural day-lighting. The building also includes water-reducing plumbing fixtures, extensive use of recycled materials, a radiant floor slab in the garage/maintenance area, and self-dimming and occupancy sensing lighting.
2. Quick Left. This software development company, needed a design solution to accommodate their new location and growing business, the main stipulation being employee health and productivity.  The design incorporated natural day-lighting, energy efficient lighting, minimal off- gassing finishes, an oxygen infusing interior garden, as well as, reclaimed, surplus, and recycled materials in an aesthetically pleasing environment. 

Best Green Improvement on a Commercial Building

Recognizes the best retrofit or major remodel of an existing commercial building incorporating sustainable or energy efficient techniques and technologies. The finalists are:  

1. West End Plaza. This mixed-use project comprised of commercial office space, restaurants, residential units, and underground parking hopes to act as a showcase for the energy-saving potential of buildings located on the Pearl Street Mall. To date, the project has received a full energy-efficient lighting retrofit including the exterior, basement parking, and four levels of commercial interiors and residential space. Other features include bamboo and reclaimed hardwood flooring and the use of beetle-kill pine and low-VOC paints. Recycling and composting are available to all tenants. 
2. Boulder Creek Quality Inn & Suites. An ENERGY STAR rated building, Boulder Creek offers guests an introduction to Boulder’s eco-friendly disposition. With 23.5kW worth of solar panels, LED lighting, a guest bike program, EnergySaver electronic equipment, water-conserving fixtures, green key cards, composting and recycling, and a towel and linen reuse program, this management is committed to being a model of sustainable business practices.     

Best Green Institutional Building

Recognizes the best use of sustainable building practices and green strategies within an institutional building. The finalists are: 

1. NIST/Department of Commerce. The NEW Precision Measurement Laboratory (PML) is one of the mostadvanced facilities in the world for research at the frontiers of measurement science. PML was awarded LEED Gold Certification for New Construction by the USGBC. This is as significant achievement for any building, but is especially significant for a laboratory with such high performance requirements, such as stringent temperature, humidity and air-change operational requirements . 
2. University of Colorado Boulder. The building consolidates many high energy use campus laboratories into a single energy efficient building. This is one of the few laboratory buildings in the country to receive a LEED Platinum certification, as well as, the Xcel Energy Design Assistance Achievement Award for energy conservation. This is an outstanding example of green design in a building type that is usually considered an "energy hog”.  

Best Green Multi-Residential Building

Recognizes an apartment building, dorm, or communal living venue incorporating green building initiatives. The finalists are:  

1. Boulder County Housing Authority Josephine Commons.  An affordable senior housing complex located in Lafayette features 100kW of solar panels, a ground-source thermal exchange system, energy-efficient lighting with sensors, sustainable wood flooring, low-VOC paints, and a Free Table program offering residents the ability to donate and reuse household items. 
2. Boulder Housing Partners Red Oak Park.  An affordable housing complex developed in place of an existing mobile home park aims to promote a healthy living environment for its residents. This project features 59 separate ENERGY STAR certified units with electricity provided by a total of 140kW of solar panels. Units include ENERGY STAR appliances, water-conserving fixtures, and energy-efficient lighting. Nearly 400 tons of waste was salvaged and recycled during the deconstruction process in order to comply with Boulder’s GreenPoints requirements.   

Best Green Residential New Construction

Recognizes outstanding new green homes.The finalists are: 

1. The O’Conor Residence. This home is a Four Mile Fire Rebuild focusing on simple form and a smaller quality home, compared to the one lost to the fire, utilizing planet friendly materials and sustainable energy saving strategies. These include a passive solar design- complimented by an active solar array, and the use of green materials in a calm and grounded living environment.  
2. The Sunshine Strawbale House.  Is also Four Mile Fire Rebuild and is targeted to be one of the first Passive Houses in Colorado and potentially the first straw bale Passive House in the U.S.  This house utilizes a prefabricated straw bale system,  triple pane European windows, radiant heating, a ERV post-heater,  a 5kW PV system, and a heat-pump hot water heater all of which adds up to a near zero-energy home.  It also uses recycled roofing insulation, has lime plastered walls with innovative plumbing and is landscaped with a native mountain grass mix to conserve water.  

Best Green Residential Remodel

Recognizes sustainable remodels or energy efficient retrofits of existing homes. The finalists are: 

1. The Cowles Residence. The primary virtue of the house, and what makes it unusual, is the rehabilitation of this, very old home (1873) transforming it into a high performing LEED Platinum building that contributes to the character of the neighborhood. It is likely one of the smallest LEED Platinum houses in the country, and one of the very few LEED Platinum houses withoutonsite solar. 
2. Boulder ZED Spec Home. This house is a complete ‘super green’ remodel and addition project that anticipates the future redevelopment of much of Boulder’s aging mid-century housing stock, and provides an example of what is possible on a nationwide scale. This house meets the local real estate market with a Boulder 'affordable' price tag and dispels the myth that a super green, healthy, comfortable home has to have a price tag of the ubiquitous trophy home.

2012 Winners 

Best Green Adaptive Reuse of Existing Building: Adaptation of an existing building to another use, such as eTown's transformation of an old stone church into corporate offices, recording studio/performance venue or Ocean First Divers' reconfiguration of an auto mechanics facility into a training/outfitting dive-center.

Winner: Etown

Best Green Educational Facility: Best new green building or retrofit of an educational facility, such as Casey Middle School and Columbine Elementary School, and a multiuse educational venue such as the University of Colorado-Boulder's Center for Community student activities center.

Best Green Health-Care Facility: This is the best green, sustainable and energy efficient facility dedicated to human or animal health care, such as Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, Boulder Valley Women's Health Center and Aspen Meadows Veterinary Specialists.

 

Best Green Multi-Residential Building: Apartment building, dormitory, a communal living venue incorporating green building initiatives, such as Imagine!'s Smart Home, or CU's Williams Village North.

Winner: Williams Village North - University of Colorado Boulder

 

Green Cutting-Edge: Best new building or retrofit, incorporating cutting-edge technologies that advance green sustainable building practices, such as Synergistic Building Technologies' innovative greenhouse designs or Ocean First Divers' thermal recycling of waste heat.

 Winner: Synergistic Building Technologies

Best Green Improvement on a Commercial Building: Best green retrofit or major remodel of an existing commercial building incorporating sustainable or energy efficient techniques and technologies, such as Eco-Products, The Geological Society of America and Ocean First Divers.

 Winner: Etown

Best Green Residential: Encompasses outstanding new green homes, sustainable remodels and or energy-efficient retrofits of existing homes, such as 1247 Scrub Oak, Hohensee residence, Plinke residence and Doub - Solar Harvest.

 

Best Green Improvement on a Historic or Old Building: This is the best retrofit or major remodel of an aging building revitalized into a new facility such as Main Street Mat Co., Chautauqua's cabin renovations and the Gold Miner Hotel.

 Winner: Etown

Best Green Hospitality Facility: This is a hotel, retreat or resort that is a new or retrofitted facility using green, sustainable building improvements, or new energy efficient technologies, such as Peaceful Meadows Retreat and the Gold Miner Hotel."

Selection Committee

• Henry Mueller, Principal, Henry Mueller Design (Committee Chair)
• Joseph Vigil, President North Colorado Chapter, American Institute of Architect
• Tasha Halevi, ASSOC AIA |  LEED AP BD+C, Project Manager, Architectural Energy Corporation
• Jonathan Koehn, Regional Sustainability Coordinator, City of Boulder
• Dan Powers, Community Relations Coordinator, Western Disposal Services
• Rois Langner, Mechanical Engineer,  Rois Commercial Buildings Research Group, National Renewable Energy Lab
• Dale Miller, Senior Instructor Environmental Studies Program, CU Boulder

Categories

Best Green Adaptive Reuse of Existing Building.
This is the adaptation of an existing building to another use, such as eTown’s transformation of an old stone church into corporate offices, recording studio/performance venue or Ocean First Divers’ reconfiguration of an auto mechanics facility into a training/outfitting dive-center.

Best Green Educational Facility.
This is the best new green building our retrofit of an educational facility such as Casey middle School, Columbine Elementary School are multiuse educational venue such as CU's Center for Community student activities center.

Best Green Healthcare Facility.
This is the best green, sustainable are energy efficient facility dedicated to human or animal health care such as, Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, Boulder Valley Women's Health Center, or Aspen Meadows Veterinary Specialists.

Best Green Multi-Residential Building
This is an apartment building, dorm, a communal living venue incorporating green building initiatives, such as, Imagine!'s Smart Home, or CU's Williams Village North.

Green Cutting-Edge.
This is the best new building or retrofit, incorporating cutting-edge technologies that advance green sustainable building practices such as Synergistic Building Technologies’ innovative greenhouse designs or Ocean First Divers’ thermal recycling of waste heat.

Best Green Improvement on a Commercial Building.
This is the best green retrofit or major remodel of an existing commercial building incorporating sustainable or energy efficient techniques and technologies, such as, Eco-Products, The Geological Society of America, or Ocean First Divers’.

Best Green Residential.
This encompasses outstanding new green homes, sustainable remodels, or energy efficient retrofits of existing homes.

Best Green Improvement on a Historic or Old Building.
This is the best retrofit or major remodel of an aging building revitalized into a thriving new facility such as The Main St., Matt Company, Chautauqua's cabin renovations, or the Gold Miner Hotel.

Best Green Hospitality Facility.
This is a hotel, retreat, or resort that is a new or retrofitted facility utilizing green, sustainable building improvements, or new energy efficient technologies, such as, Peaceful Meadows Retreat, or the Gold Miner Hotel.