The current issue of Trim Tab, the official publication of the International Living Future Institute, features an article by Arch Nexus President, Kenner Kingston. Arch|Nexus SAC: Leading by Example. The article details the journey of how Arch Nexus SAC came to be a Living Building.

The Arch Nexus design firm’s Sacramento office is not only the world’s first Living Building to be an adaptive reuse of an existing building, but also the first to receive LBC 3.0 certification, the first Living Building in California, the first Living Building to be owned and operated by a design firm, and the first LEED v4 Double-Platinum building (BD+C & O+M) on the planet. 

Previous to the construction and Living Building Certification of Arch|Nexus SAC, the team learned valuable lessons through working toward LEED Platinum at the firm’s Salt Lake City office. Kenner shares of a tour, when someone asked about water reuse. Kingston admits that at the time, I had no good answer beyond a lack of understanding as to the status of regulation on the topic. After attending GreenBuild 2011, Kenner delved into the topic. Working with a group of like-minded individuals, the Utah Roadmap was created.

Water reuse and core values are the key elements that set the stage for the idea and achievement of Arch|Nexus SAC. Regarding the process Kenner says Achieving Living Building Certification is a testament to the grit that makes us who we are at Arch Nexus. The road was fraught with challenges and many people rose to the occasion. This story, however, is about how we made the opportunity for those heroics to happen, not the heroes themselves.

Arch Nexus is holding a blood drive at the Salt Lake City office on August 24, 2018 from 9:00 AM to 1:15 PM. Employees and the public are invited to participate. Interested individuals are encouraged to schedule an appointment here and enter code NEXUS to find our drive.

Can’t donate the day of the blood drive? No problem! You can sign up to donate year round at any Red Cross or ARUP donor location.

Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. It is essential for surgeries, cancer treatment, chronic illnesses, and traumatic injuries. Whether a patient receives whole blood, red cells, platelets or plasma, this lifesaving care starts with one person making a generous donation.

Groundbreaking for the new Draper Recreation Center took place on Thursday, June 21. Architects and designers from Arch Nexus are working to ensure that the 60,000 square foot facility fosters an energetic space that is appealing to all ages, all year. In addition to being designed for LEED gold certification, the center will feature a competition pool, a leisure pool, connectivity to the existing outdoor pool, fitness and multi-use facilities, a party room, and a fieldhouse.

According to Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, the rec center will be affordable for everyone. “It will be facilities like this one …as we build out a network of recreational opportunities that will help our residents to be active and get out and enjoy this community” stated McAdams. The facility is expected to be completed by 2020.

On Thursday, June 7^th AIA Central Valley presents the Healthy Materials Symposium. The event will feature nine experts through three different sessions, exploring the impacts of materials on human and environmental health, learning of the tools available for prioritizing healthy materials, and identifying strategies for project teams to make informed decisions that promote healthy and sustainable environments.

Featured Speaker: Alex Muller is the Manager for the Living Product Challenge (LPC) at the International Living Future Institute (ILFI). The LPC is an international product sustainability framework and certification program, incentivizing the creation of healthy, regenerative products for all. Alex works daily with manufacturers pursuing the program on supply chain issues, material health and life cycle analysis; and with the program’s third party assessors to continually streamline and evolve the program, to scale its adoption.

Arch|Nexus Director of Sustainability, Patty Karapinar, will present during session 2: Identifying Tools of the Trade. Patty has thirty years of professional experience, including her recent work on the Arch|Nexus SAC location – the first Living Building in California and the first Living Building that is an adaptive reuse of an existing building.

To read more about the symposium or to register, click here.

Arch Nexus is pleased to announce that Jennifer E. Styduhar, PLA, LEED AP –  is now ISA Certified Arborist #WE-12188A. The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) is a network of practitioners, scientists, and students that are recognized as the global source for arboricultural information and knowledge. ISA is known as the worldwide network for science-based information on the value of proper tree care and the benefits of trees to the environment. ISA Certified Arborists meet the standard of qualified, competent, and safe tree care professionals who are sought out the by the public, government organizations, and other professions.

Along with Jennifer’s certification, new, in-house services available from Arch Nexus include:

Urban Forest Management Plans

Tree Health Care/Maintenance Plans

Existing Tree Inventory and Cataloging

Tree Assessment and Risk Management

“Right Tree, Right Place” approach to Tree Selection

Arch Nexus’ Director of Sustainability, Patty Karapinar, presented at the April 2018 Getting to Zero National Forum, held in Pittsburg Pennsylvania. Patty, along with Nexus Energy Analyst, David Griffin, presented: How Rigorous Planning and Effective Design Help Hit Ultra-Low Energy Goals 

It takes collaboration between a number of stakeholders to design and construct zero energy projects. Join the owner, architect, engineer, and LEED consultant on two small- to mid-sized office buildings both working toward ZE and Living Building Challenge design goals. These include the first city building (and fourth building of any type) in the world to achieve ZE and Living Building Challenge in Fort Collins, and a Living Building in Sacramento. Hear perspectives on how a strong integrative process leveraged synergies between occupant, building, and district scale goals and how you can apply these strategies in your own community.

The presentation slideshow is now available online here.

Arch|Nexus President, Kenner Kingston, is presenting at the 2018 International Living Future Institute Conference in Portland, Oregon. Kenner, along with others will share overviews and lessons learned from Living Building Challenge projects in the Thursday session BEYOND THE ABC’S OF LBC: CERTIFIED PROJECT CASE STUDIES. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of how team structure, design process, climate and context have impacted projects of various types, scales and transects.

Friday, May 4^th, Kenner presents SUCCESS IS ACTION-ORIENTED: FRAMEWORKS AND MINDSETS FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE OPERATIONS. It takes preparation for owners to embrace the LBC as an operational philosophy and inspire regular authentic actions. Friday’s session will demonstrate how the Challenge enhances the experience of all people who pursue it through the crucible that is DOING. Click here for more information on the LF18 conference and sessions.

Employees from Arch|Nexus SAC participated in an Earth Day festival at Sutter Middle School. Using the school garden designed by Arch|Nexus, the  garden club harvested vegetables, cooked up a meal and served it at the event.

Arch|Nexus and Sacramento City Unified School District worked together to create the Urban Agriculture Garden at Sutter Middle School. The project helps the Arch|Nexus SAC office in their effort to become the first certified Living Building in the state of California. Since the project area at Arch|Nexus SAC could not support all of the urban agriculture garden space required to fulfil the Urban Agriculture Imperative of the Living Building Challenge, the project has utilized an option known as Scale Jumping, which allows cooperation between projects and neighboring properties, to create solutions otherwise not possible.

The Urban Agriculture Garden at Sutter Middle School uses the same sustainable methods used to create Arch|Nexus SAC and includes solutions that support California’s water conservation goals.  The garden has been designed to use collected rain water as its source for water. Rainwater is collected on the roof of the main school building, then directed to building roof drains and gravity fed directly into two above grade cisterns. Rainwater is stored and distributed as needed for garden irrigation. Additionally, all of the materials used to create this garden have been thoroughly vetted to be Red List compliant, meaning they are free of harmful chemicals.

Get an inside look at the creation of a world-renowned cancer treatment center… in LEGO form. Taking more than 250 hours and 47,000 LEGO bricks to complete, Arch|Nexus Visualization Artist, Josh Allred gives you a deeper understanding of architectural modeling.

Professionals from Arch Nexus presented at the Annual Intermountain Sustainability Summit held this week in Ogden, Utah. David W Griffin II, Patty Karapinar and Holli Adams presented Living Building Challenge: Making Ideals a Reality.

The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is a performance-based rating system which sets a high bar for buildings of the future. Among other things, the LBC requires net-zero water, rigorous materials selection, and Net Positive Energy for certification. Griffin, Karapinar and Adams detailed how Arch Nexus, turned these ideals into practice when designing the Arch|Nexus SAC office. They discussed the many challenges faced throughout the design process, the transition to occupancy, and tracking efforts to ensure certification compliance.