Sacramento's 2009 Design Challenge is located on the campus of Cosumnes River College. Entrants designed a 36,000 square foot building known as the Winn Center for Construction and Architecture. The building will be used as both a model and a living laboratory to celebrate sustainable environmental design. 

Sacramento's first place winner is The Winn Center: A Breath of Fresh Air by Team ecoARCH. Team members included Nathan Dea, Barry Gonsalves, and Alex Villalobos.

Through the use of natural and sustainable materials, the new Winn center strives to be that "breath of fresh air" as a bright, glassy, welcoming presence on the east entrance of campus. The emphasis placed on the community center, raised up over the berm, shows its importance, and makes it an iconic symbol for the community, which the college is a center of. The center courtyard serves as a place of gathering, as well as a vent to bring in fresh air and release hot air. Every space is lit by natural daylighting, and is self regulating - bringing in cool air from below and venting it from above.

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Learn more about the Natural Talent Design Competition and see the runner up team boards.

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Green-Collar Jobs Pioneer Majora Carter to Speak at IIDA Leaders Breakfast

On Thursday, September 10th, USGBC-NCC will join the International Interior Design Association Northern California Chapter (IIDA) in sponsoring the 2009 IIDA Leaders Breakfast with world-renowned environmental activist Majora Carter.  During the breakfast ceremony, the IIDA Northern California Chapter Leadership Award of Excellence will be awarded to honoree Dan Huntsman of Huntsman Architectural Group for his contributions to the practice of commercial interior design and architecture since founding his firm in 1981.  Bill Watson, founder of Coordinated Resources Inc, will be honored with the IIDA Northern California Chapter's Distinguished Achievement Award for his exemplary contributions to furniture procurement and design support services.

Carter founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 and has since developed several ground-breaking projects-such as the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) Academy.  The BEST Academy is a pioneering green-collar job training and placement program that has enabled over 150 graduates to achieve economic sustainability while expanding the green economy in their community. 85% of BEST graduates are employed after four years and 10% are in college.  For her transformational work in environmental justice, Majora Carter has been named one of New York City's "50 Most Influential Women" for the past two years by the New York Post and was named "NYC's most influential environmentalist" by BBC World Service. 

Majora's work is part of a greater green-collar jobs movement that is also taking shape in the Bay Area with the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, a job training program providing green pathways out of poverty for young adults in Oakland facing barriers to employment.  The USGBC-NCC is currently recruiting companies who are interested in employing green-collar workers through the Green Employer Council. For more information on the USGBC-NCC Green Employer Council, please contact Ashleigh Talberth.

Learn more and register for the event.

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Environmental Building Strategies: LEED Exam Writing Tell All

Matthew Macko, co-founder and principal of Environmental Building Strategies (EBS), a San Francisco-based LEED consulting firm tells the story of his experience working with GBCI to write the new LEED AP+ BD+C 2009 exam.

In early February 2009 I received an email stating among other things that the GBCI (Green Building Certification Institute) was looking for volunteers to write the new LEED for Building Design & Construction (BD+C) 2009 exam.

On the flight from San Francisco to Washington for the three-day mid-week exam writing session, I reflected on my own LEED v2.2 exam experience and what value I could add. I had brutally memorized the Reference Guide like a cramming college student, had some background with green building in the residential sector and knew energy modeling from experience at my company. What I didn't know is that I would be virtually the only one there with energy-related knowledge. Read on...

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LEED Going Strong in the Bay Area with EBOM

CB Richard Ellis SF Bay Area Green Sheet, July 2009

As the economy continues to falter, construction and leasing activity remain at a virtual standstill. Because of this, applications for LEED New Construction (NC), LEED Commercial Interiors (CI), and LEED Core and Shell (CS) certification have not increased at the levels previously expected. However, LEED application activity is still strong, buoyed by projects seeking LEED Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EBOM) certification. As of the beginning of the third quarter, 88 Bay Area projects have applied for LEED EBOM certification, as opposed to only 78 applications in all of 2008. The 88 existing buildings represent nearly half of the total number of LEED applications in the Bay Area; in 2008, only a third of all projects sought LEED EBOM certification. Read on...

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Sprint Store Achieves LEED Certified Rating

Sprint's first pilot store in their LEED for Retail Portfolio achieved a LEED Certified rating as of March 2009. Dan Geiger, USGBC-NCC Executive Director, presented the plaque in a ceremony on July 16th. The store, located on Mission between 4th and 5th St in San Francisco, was renovated with green features including efficient lighting, Energy Star equipment, thermal comfort controls, green power, efficient plumbing fixtures, recycling, and green housekeeping. Learn more about LEED for Retail and the LEED Portfolio program.