Morales house remodeled to sustainable glory - BI REVIEW

By RICHARD D. OXLEY
Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer
March 16, 2012 · Updated 11:36 AM

Richard D. Oxley

Tallis, 2, climbs on his dad Craden Henderson at the Morales home open house. Henderson, along with his company PHC Construction, helped lead the remodeling efforts for the home.

Island farmers and contractors celebrated a win last week with the completion of the Morales farmhouse, a model for farming and sustainability on Bainbridge Island.

“It’s a showcase that volunteers really can get together and do something of significance in a community,” said Craden Henderson of PHC Construction. “And that sustainability does matter and it’s cost effective.”

Friends of the Farms hosted an open house March 10 to show off the remodeled home. Another open house for the public is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 24.

The house will be home to interns working on local farms. According to Wendy Tyner, executive director of Friends of the Farms, affordable housing is a barrier that interns face. 

Tyner said interns will live at the house for approximately a year.

“It is a time for people to live someplace, learn about farming, and hopefully move on and have some skills,” Tyner said. “And they will hopefully understand how to write a business plan and become a viable farmer.”

Tyner hopes that after receiving applications from local farmers with interns, the house will have renters by April 1. Interns will pay $50 a month plus utilities.

“It’s become more and more apparent there are more and more interns that need housing,” said Bart Berg of Friends of the Farms. 

“And every year there is this scramble for where these interns will live. And they don’t make much money,” he said.

Originally built in 1953, the 1,000-square-foot residence was home to the Morales family, who locally farmed strawberries and vegetables. The city purchased the house with open space funds about 10 years ago.

Various farmers previously used the house to dry vegetables and seeds.

The house sat vacant for nearly a decade until last year when Berg started an initiative to restore the home.

While Berg was making a number of phone calls to local companies seeking assistance, he came across Craden Henderson with PHC Construction.

“PHC thought about it and we just decided to do all the remodeling ourselves,” Henderson said. “It’s in the range of $80,000 to $100,000 of volunteer dollars from PHC and all of its subcontractors.”

Friends of the Farm kicked in $15,000 to $20,000 of their own funds for the project as well.

Seven months ago, crews began stripping out all the old electric wiring, plumbing and other unusable material. Mold had been discovered since the city took on the property, and that had to be remedied as well.

Henderson praised the project’s use of sustainable materials, such as bamboo flooring and environmentally friendly foam insulation.

“A lot of the time, the insulation is petroleum-based, which isn’t great for the environment,” Henderson said. “This is soy-based, and it has really great insulation properties.”

By assessing air leaks and other deficiencies in the house, Richard Perlot of Heat Holders also contributed to the home’s sustainability by making it more energy efficient. 

Perlot said that most homes in Washington use about 25,000 kwh, and Washington state has a goal of making homes more energy efficient operating with a target of 12,500 kwh. 

The Morales house was such a success; it beat the state standard by 20 percent and uses only 10,000 kwh of energy.

“It makes a really nice way to knitting together suitability through farming with sustainability with architecture and construction,” Henderson said.

PHC had help from a number of subcontractors who all donated time, materials and money to help make the Morales house a success.

Air Systems Engineering, Inc.
Bird Electric Corp.
Premier Spray Foam
Anderson Windows and Doors
AP Plumbing
Fluid Concrete and Design Studio
Teragren
Johnstone Supply
Kitsap Conservation District
Paradigm Building Contractors
CHC Painting
Christian Berg Woodworking
Romark Corporation
Mark Purdy Tile and Installation
Heat Holders
RE Power Bainbridge
Schmidt's Home Appliance and Sleep Center

Adapting to the Future

By Jon Quitslund

Architecture is a social art. It becomes an instrument of human fate, because it . . . shapes and conditions our responses. . . . It modifies and often breaks earlier established habit. (Richard Neutra, 1958)

On February 9^th, the proponents of the Grow Community development finally had their chance to present the project to the Planning Commission, and a three-hour meeting was devoted to the formal presentation, Q & A with Commission members, and public comment.

  

It was a lively evening, with none of the droning explanation and passive listening that sometimes settles over the Council chambers for long intervals.  There was a good audience for the proceedings.  I was present with other citizens who had contributed to the project’s ‘Sustainability Action Plan,’ a book-length document that provides the rationale for a somewhat utopian community.

Several aspects of the project were given a good going-over by members of the Planning Commission and concerned citizens.  Impacts on traffic, characteristics of the faces that the buildings on Wyatt will turn toward Wyatt Ave., plans for handling surface water, and the adequacy of pathways through the open spaces between Wyatt Ave. on the north and Madison Ave. on the east were all discussed. And the need for adequate parking came up, of course: more on that later.

These were all legitimate concerns, touching on problems of first importance to the architect and other contributors to the project.  From the beginning, it has been crucial to provide for dynamic relationships of the residents and the built environment of the new community with its near neighbors and the Island as a whole.

Several people expressed a hope that as this innovative project takes shape, with the developer assuming responsibility for its boundaries, the City and various citizen groups will coordinate efforts to improve the infrastructure of roads, trails, and sidewalks beyond those boundaries.

Just maybe, we can break free of a tendency toward reactive, piecemeal, and contentious responses to our problems and opportunities, and commit to projects that fit into long-range plans.  We could, simultaneously, increase vitality in neighborhoods and provide attractive connections of each place with others.

When I had an opportunity to comment, I started with the quotation from the architect Richard Neutra that appears at the beginning of this post.  “Architecture is a social art.”  The Grow Community project is a bold instance of architecture as a social art.  Many people – both professionals and amateurs – have contributed to the project, and many more will be involved in its unfolding.

When it is imaginative and original, architecure “becomes an instrument of human fate.”  Richard Neutra’s thoughts about the architect’s social role, shaping behavior and breaking established habits, emerged against the backdrop of 20^th-century modernism in the International Style.

The two decades after the end of WW II were an epochal time for architecture in the United States, and for the planning and building of cities and suburbs, with all the infrastructure needed to provide people and commerce with a mobility to match the era’s prosperity and its newfound need for convenience, efficiency, and freedom.  Real progress in the quality of life for the great majority of Americans was achieved in those decades, but in recent years it has become clear that some Faustian bargains were made.

Now the devil’s at the door.  Cheap energy and the other non-renewable resources that made the American dream possible aren’t so cheap any more, and efforts to keep fossil fuels cheap are wrecking our environment.  Land isn’t cheap either, except in places where cities, towns, and suburbs are blighted and jobs are scarce.

Mobility is still important, but sometimes it’s problematic.  People love to travel, but long commutes by car are less and less feasible.  We’re getting more aware of mpg ratios, more interested in carpooling and the availability (or not) of public transportation.  Those who are fit and brave enough to commute by bike or scooter are envied; likewise, those who can walk to work or work at home.

Which is more important: high speed internet access, or hassle-free driving, anywhere, any time?  I think our culture is already redefining mobility, and reexamining the priorities that shape how we spend our time, how much stuff we need to own, what big-ticket purchases our incomes must support, and what we can do without.

Concern for the environmental impacts of an acquisitive lifestyle isn’t the only factor that’s driving these cultural changes, nor is the current economic downturn and the dim prospects for a return to go-go growth.  Thoughtful people are considering in fresh ways what choices and activities make them happy, and what circumstances really contribute to their security.

These changes, and others related to them, are already shaping our future, regionally and right here on Bainbridge.  Which brings me back to the Grow Community, and to the proposition that the architects who build a community can modify and even break established habits.

Marja Preston acknowledged that the prices for units in the new neighborhood are not “affordable” by conventional measures, but she pointed out that if the community’s emphasis on teamwork, common property, and cost-sharing means that you won’t need a car of your own, or a washer and dryer, and if much of your food comes from community gardens, then the total cost of living there won’t be so high after all.

Members of the Planning Commission asked the designers to find room for more parking spaces before the project is fully built out.  I seriously doubt that they will be needed.  We don’t know what the future will hold, so things have to be done step by step, adapting positively to contingencies and possibilities.  I hope this process won’t be hindered by outdated assumptions.

The Art of Creating an Art Museum - Bainbridge Island Review

By CONNIE MEARS
Bainbridge Island Review Staff writer
February 24, 2012 · 2:23 PM

As winter comes to an end, the island’s bare branches might appear lifeless – but if you look closer, you’ll find them covered in buds just waiting to burst.

You might make that same conclusion looking at the site of the future Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

Its gray foundation mirrors winter’s bleak skies, but like the tulips and daffodils, a lot is going on below the surface. Literally.

The museum, aiming for environmentally friendly LEED gold designation, took a detour to incorporate geothermal heating, digging 14 underground wells that will draw heat from the earth. That’s in addition to plans for solar panels on the roof; use of recycled materials, including insulation made from old denim; a vegetated roof garden and a “living” wall. The building, designed by Bainbridge resident and architect Matthew Coates with input from the community, would be the first museum in Washington state and one of only a handful in the country to earn that designation.

“It’s not easy for museums to qualify because they have a high energy need – to keep the temperature and humidity constant for the art, along with high lighting requirements,” Coates said.

And while Coates contemplates possible gold status,

BIMA’s Executive Director Greg Robinson is pretty excited about the basement.

“It’s not a space that a lot of people think about,” he said. “It’s not the sexiest part.”

It’s important to Robinson because it contains the museum’s archival space for art storage, a loading dock, offices and the mechanical rooms. In other words, it’s the guts of the museum, and essential to behind-the-scenes magic. Attention was paid to meet the highest museum standards to be eligible to host exhibits from other museums in the region.

Above ground, Phase I includes the 95-seat auditorium which has already been used for plays, documentary screenings and civic events, and classroom space which hosted numerous KiDiMu summer camps last year, as well as an ongoing Life Drawing class on Tuesdays.



Learning curve
The building’s curve will lead visitors toward the entrance, and the generous use of glass allows people to see into the museum.

“We wanted it to be accessible, approachable, inviting,” Coates said. “Not just a box with cool stuff in it.”

“Sherry Grover taught me about public spaces,” said Cynthia Sears, the museum’s initiator. “People want to know they’re not going to be trapped; they want to know how something works, that they can move at their own pace and won’t get stuck with someone lecturing them.”

Once inside the lobby and reception area, an adjacent orientation gallery will enable docents and teachers to orient small groups and relay “museum manners” before setting off on an aesthetic adventure. That area spills out into the permanent collection gallery and an adjacent children’s and youth-focused space that might house art by kids – or art that is of interest to them.

Around the corner is a small gift shop that will carry touchstones, not trinkets.

From there, the Grand Hall leads to a dramatic staircase that ascends along the building’s curved wall of windows.

The top floor will house revolving exhibits in the main gallery and in the intimate spaces of the Sherry Grover Room and the Beacon Gallery, named for its visibility to those traveling by ferry.

A 300-square-foot roof terrace and garden overlooking the courtyard has been named in honor of Island Treasures  and early museum supporters George Little and David Lewis.

An elevator (or stairs) will take visitors to the small cafe or back to the lobby.

The overall size is ample but not intimidating and natural light, greenery and natural materials will add warmth to the space as well.


A beacon
From the beginning, the project has been charmed, not only in landing such a fortuitous location, but in drawing a team of talented, gracious people.

Board member and engineer Ralph Spillenger, formerly in charge of NASA facilities, has been instrumental in shaving $1 million off building costs, said Sears. “He checks everything. And he’s one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met.”

Coates is so local people forget he’s a nationally acclaimed architect – whose specialty happens to be environmentally progressive buildings.

“It’s been a huge honor to be involved in this project,” he said (repeatedly).

Even one of the building’s design elements metaphorically reflects the magnetic draw the project has had, and will have into the future. When lit, a two-story glass structure facing the corner will act as a beacon, visible from the water and to those pulling in from the ferry.

To learn more, or to get involved, visit www.bainbridgeartmuseum.org.
Contact Bainbridge Island Review Staff writer Connie Mears at cmears@bainbridgereview.com or 206-842-6613.

"The Lorax" Trees for Global Benefits Fundraiser - March 3rd!

SAVE THE DATE - BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

The Lorax is coming to
Bainbridge Island! 

We hope you will join us for a private showing of Dr Seuss'
"The Lorax" on opening weekend to raise funds to support EcoTrust - Uganda's Trees for Global Benefits initiative. 

Your ticket will grant you access to our pre-movie reception where we will have refreshments and kid-friendly activities, followed by a private showing of Dr Seuss' "The Lorax" movie.  All proceeds from ticket sales will support EcoTrust - Uganda's TREES FOR GLOBAL BENEFITS initiative, assisting small farmers in Uganda to plant and maintain trees, a program that helps to offset global carbon impacts while improving economic opportunity.

GO TO:  www.growbi.com/lorax

DJC: Kitsap County gets its first LEED gold office

Daily Journal of Commerce

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A development firm named Asani teamed up with PHC Construction and Coates Design Architects to turn a neighborhood eyesore into an energy efficient building.

All three companies now have their offices in the Granero Office Building on Bainbridge Island.  Asani said the project recently became Kitsap County’s first LEED gold building.

The structure was a municipal shed built in the 1950s and used for truck maintenance.  Today, it is an energy efficient, light-filled office space.  The project was completed in 2009.

Marty Sievertson, owner and president of PHC Construction, said he was delighted to participate in the project and is happy with the results.  “Our people really enjoy the open airy feel and collaborative work environment that was created here.”

More than half of the original structure was reused.  The new building has exterior shades to reduce light pollution, extremely low-water fixtures including waterless urinals and dual-flush toilets.  The landscaping requires no irrigation.  Interior lights are on timers or occupancy sensors and 75 percent of the building is daylit.  FSC wood was used for the majority of the framing and all composite wood is free or urea formaldehyde.

The building is near the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal at 710 John Nelson Lane N.E.  Nearby bus routes offer alternative commuting options.

Grow Community Workshop - Friday Jan. 27th

A huge thank you to everyone who attended the Grow community-building workshop last Friday.  We were inspired, amazed and humbled by your interest and your incredible ideas.  We look forward to more thoughtful discussions as we develop a new model for living at Grow Community.

KITSAP SUN: Bainbridge art museum's opening delayed a year

By Tristan Baurick
Published Sunday, January 22, 2012
KITSAP SUN

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — The slow pace of fundraising and construction has delayed the opening of the West Sound's first art museum by at least a year.

The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art had planned to open its state-of-the-art, $13 million facility on Winslow Way by mid-2012. Now, the opening date isn't likely until late spring or early summer 2013, and is contingent on a $2.3 million fundraising push that museum supporters hope to finish before the summer construction season.

"We were just not making enough (fundraising) progress for it to be responsible of us to move on to the second phase," said Chris Snow, a member of the museum's board, which took shape in 2009.
Last year, the nonprofit museum opened an office, classroom and 95-seat auditorium in an Island Gateway commercial building that will eventually connect with the museum's main exhibition building, which had its foundation completed early this month. The design for the finished building calls for a two-story wedge of steel and glass jutting toward the high-traffic Winslow Way-Highway 305 intersection.

Museum supporters say it will be a landmark building seen by nearly all who visit Winslow by ferry or travel in via the highway.

Totaling 20,000 square feet, the museum will have room for a permanent contemporary art collection, traveling exhibitions, retail space and a coffee shop. The permanent collection will specialize in Bainbridge and Northwest artists.

The museum has raised just over $11 million of its $15.3 million capital campaign goal. The money raised beyond construction costs will help pay for the museum's three-person staff and other operating costs.

The $2.3 million that museum supporters hope to raise in the coming months would boost the board's confidence before it green-lights the final construction phase.

"We just couldn't keep going with construction and sleep well at night," said Snow, who is expected to take over as board president this month.

Fundraising slowed after an initial flurry of dollars from local donors. The museum is searching for off-island funding from corporations, private foundations and government granting agencies before it begins a drive for smaller contributions from individuals and families.

"Initially, we worked with the founders and board members and the relationships they have in funding circles," said Greg Robinson, the museum's executive director. "Now, we're trying to go more broadly."

The museum's biggest success in the broader fundraising arena was obtaining a $502,000 grant from the state last year.

"That helps us leverage other funds," Robinson said. "It's kind of like a ... seal of approval."

A key to drawing dollars from large foundations and corporate donors is proving the museum has strong local support, Robinson said.

That's part of the reason the museum began offering its 60-person capacity classroom and auditorium to various cultural and nonprofit groups for free during the summer. The museum began charging fees for its facilities during the winter.

Kitsap Regional Library, the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce and Sustainable Bainbridge have used the auditorium for community gatherings. The newly formed Winslow Art Center makes regular use of the classroom for drawing and calligraphy classes.

The neighboring Kids Discovery Museum (KiDiMu) has held a summer camp and musical theater performances in the museum's spaces.

"We've been very, very grateful to them," said Susan Sivitz, KiDiMu's executive director. "With the extra space, we were able to double the number of offerings during our summer camp."

The two museums plan to continue their close partnership.

"We're showing we have and deserve broad-based support," said Robinson, who led La Conner's Museum of Northwest Art for five years before joining the Bainbridge museum in late 2010.

Snow expects the art museum and Bainbridge public schools to form a relationship that could include regular student museum visits and art instruction.

He would like to see more groups make use of the auditorium, which has a theater-quality sound and video system.

"Off-island money (sources) will step forward if they know there's a positive momentum of support here," Snow said. "But I think we should be building support from people here on Bainbridge Island on principle because this is the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art."

While raising money hasn't been as easy as expected, Robinson said the work required in planning the building played a larger role in slowing the museum's progress.

"I think during the last year, the organization realized the complexity of the planning process, and how long it would take to (develop) the site," he said.

Adding to the complexity was the recent push to have the building reach gold-level certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. The initial design, which incorporated recycled materials, stormwater collection and several other earth-friendly features, had aimed for a lower silver rating.

An added geothermal mechanical system provided much of the LEED ratings boost the museum wanted. The system, which was completed this month, will pull heat from the ground to warm the building, thereby reducing its dependence on the power grid.

For Robinson, building the museum has encompassed much more than the building itself.
The museum began planning construction and fundraising almost immediately after a group of island art lovers gathered around the art museum idea.

"We've been building a whole new organization, not just a building," he said.