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Tour Highlights Features of "Green" Sustainable Architecture

West Valley Branch Library - A Model for Environmentally Responsible Design

March 3, 2004 -

Domenic Onorato, West Valley project manager for the City of San José Public Works Department led today’s tour, highlighting some of the more visible features at the facility, including the preservation of mature redwood trees, a drought-tolerant landscape, and a mix of carefully shaded windows with clerestory windows and skylights.

Approved under the City Council’s Green Building Policy and constructed through the collaboration of three City departments – Public Works, the Library system, and Environmental Services – the library is the City’s first building to achieve LEED Certification and distinction as the nation's, in fact, the world’s – first "green" library.

"We are very proud of this significant investment in green building," said Councilmember Linda J. LeZotte, the Council’s leading proponent for energy efficiency. "San José is taking positive steps towards sustainability. Designing more buildings like West Valley will help the City reduce long-term operating costs while increasing community satisfaction."

The building was designed and constructed to use 30% less energy and 50% less irrigation water than standard buildings. It also incorporates natural day lighting and a variety of chemical-free fabrics and materials to improve the indoor air quality and comfort for library patrons. Additionally, more than 25% of the materials used during the construction were made from recycled products, such as soda bottles. Twenty percent of the building materials were manufactured locally, contributing to the local economy.

"What you see here today is a model for environmentally responsible building design and construction,” stated Richard Desmond, manager for San José Public Library’s $212 million library branch bond development program. “We will be employing these same principles of “green” sustainable architecture as we continue upgrading San José’s branch library facilities, but any community can adapt them to their own construction projects for the benefit of local residents and surrounding communities."

Maryanne Welton, project manager for the design firm of Rob Wellington Quigley, FAIA, noted that employment of green design principles extended to the public art created for the library, saying “It’s unusual, but advantageous for a city to bring the artist in at the early stages of the project. As you can see in this example,” she said, pointing to The Storytelling Tree, a fanciful ceiling installation of found objects located in the children’s room, “the artist - Elizabeth Connor of Seattle, WA—scoured garage sales and flea markets to obtain the raw materials for this piece."

Eight nations (Canada, Mexico, China, India, Japan, Spain, and Italy plus the United States) have registered projects with LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which is the accepted industry standard for evaluating and certifying green buildings. It was launched in the spring of 1999 by the U. S. Green Building Council, the nation's foremost coalition of leaders from across the building industry, government, and other organizations that are working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. Half of the projects registered with USGBC are in California.

In October 2003, the State of California released an in depth analysis on the cost of building green. Entitled The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings, the report presents the most comprehensive study ever done on the costs and financial benefits of green buildings. The report concludes that the financial benefits exceed the cost by a factor of 10 to 1.

For additional background information, see:
Tour Guide of the Library's LEED Certification
City of San José Green Building Policy
What is Green Building?
U.S. Green Building Council LEED Certification

Download the Tour Guide (327K PDF, Adobe Acrobat required)

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