| Almost
every man-made element has an effect on our environment and uses up
some of our earth's resources. Although it is difficult to construct
a large building totally out of renewable or sustainable resources,
it was important to try to incorporate at least one or two
environmentally sustainable elements in the new Upper Newport Bay
Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center. In the early design stages
of the building, Ron Yeo, a Corona Del Mar architect, and his
associate Patrick Marr, first started out to see if they could
develop a structure using "waste products" directly from
the Newport Bay. The concept of using the silt and mud that has to
be dredged from the bay seemed like an intriguing concept. |
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Ron and Pat loaded
buckets of mud into their rowboat. They then rolled it into bricks
and had it fired in a kiln. The results were positive and being
inspired by the work of Nader Khalili's domes, they studied the
possibility of using a form of construction as old as civilization
itself – a building created from the clay of the earth.
Unfortunately a dome structure did not fit into the required
building program and resulted in a structure that they felt was too
tall for the sensitive site on the northwest banks of the estuary.
Since the building site was used by native Americans as a camping
area, Ron and Pat felt that it would be good to use the Indian
concept of creating their structures out of materials at hand. The
Shoshone Gabrielinos constructed their shelters out of fresh water
marsh plants of tules, rushes and cattails. It obviously would not
be feasible to build the permanent structure like the Gabrielinos
did, but they felt that it would be a good goal to build out of as
many discarded and recycled materials that would otherwise end up in
a landfill. Considering that California generates more trash than
any other state, this seemed like one of the major goals. (56
million tons in 1998).
Working with the
Landscape Architecture and Planning firm of EDAW, which was
responsible for the environmental and master planning as well as
resource management planning and design of the entire regional park
site, Ron Yeo developed a view analysis and studied various building
locations and concepts. It became very evident that the best
solution for the building was to place it underground and plant
native grasses on the roof. This not only eliminated any potential
view impairment to the surrounding residential area, but also
provided the opportunity to achieve energy-saving benefits of an
earth sheltered building. Many cost saving elements were implemented
into the planning phase. The first step was to reduce many of the
initial elements such as the natural ventilation air towers and
elevator system. The second step was to revise the freeform
structure into a more logical structural system. This is when Ron
worked out the triangular waffle slab system. The cost savings for
typical above ground structure alternates were then studied. The
final compromise was to stay with the earth sheltered concept for
half of the building.
CONCRETE
STRUCTURE
Concrete was the
logical material for construction of this type of structure. Along
with cement, concrete is made from primarily renewable materials,
including sand, gravel and water obtained from up stream river beds
along the Aliso and Trabuco Creeks.
REINFORCING STEEL
The concrete is made
stronger with 100% recycled steel reinforcing bars – rebar. The
rebar was milled by Tamco, California's best (and only) steel mill
in Ranch Cucamonga. There are approximately 300 tons of recycled
rebar in the building made up of:
- 2,400 pounds of
confiscated firearms from 27 Southern California law enforcement
agencies
- 362,400 pounds of used
oil filters (Tamco typically recycles more than seven million
oil filters each year)
- 228,000 pounds of
steel-belted tire cords
- 7,200 pounds of steel
drums and containers.
DOORS AND
WINDOWS
All of the wood for the
doors and windows are laminated from scraps of leftover mahogany
that would normally be thrown away. Carl Hoelscher of SW Sash &
Door in Fountain Valley has been saving pieces of wood for the past
two years for this project. Most of his materials are obtained from
"managed forests." The interior door panels are
constructed with an annually renewable resource of wheat straw.
CERAMIC TILE
Almost every building
project has leftover tile. Leftovers along with factory seconds and
discontinued stock were collected by Ron and his studio staff for
the restrooms. The lavatory counter tops are made from recycled
ground up glass manufactured by STC.
CARPET
The carpets are
manufactured by "Envirelon" from 100% post-consumer
plastic containers. It is estimated that Americans are discarding
plastic containers at the rate of two to three million per hour.
There is only a small amount of carpet in the offices and library,
but they are made up of approximately 7,000 recycled bottles.
BUILDING
FEATURES
The 10,000 square foot
building is dedicated primarily to exhibit space. A portion of this
space is used for multi-purpose events, with 1,400-square feet
devoted to a creative studio that can be divided into two areas for
either hands-on learning activities or additional meeting/lecture
space. In addition to the 700-square foot library/conference room,
there are staff and volunteer offices and a large storage, work and
preparation room. The Outdoor Plaza represents an additional
12,000-square feet of space, and includes the Birds Nest
Amphitheater – the ultimate in outdoor lecture space.
Penny Elia/Ron Yeo |
