Greenbuild 2012: San Francisco - GreenSource Magazine

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The Greenbuild Blog

GreenSource has sent a team of contributors to San Francisco for the the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual conference. Read their on-the-ground reports—covering everything from new products on the tradeshow floor to plenary sessions to parties—November 14-16.

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San Francisco Recommendations

GreenSource has asked a group of notable figures in San Francisco’s sustainable building community to recommend must-visit new and historic buildings, as well as their favorite places to eat, drink, shop, and more.

Pictured: Fort Point/Wikipedia

Meet the Experts

Greenbuild 2012: San Francisco

What's Old Is New Again
America’s innovation capital is transforming its industrial heritage into an engine of the 21st-century economy.

Photo © Billy Hustace

The Best of San Francisco

New Bay Area Projects
We examine some of the city's most innovative green buildings, from the Public Utilities Commission Headquarters to apartments for formerly homeless residents.

Photo © Bruce Damonte

Continuing Education

California Greenin'
San Francisco takes the most stringent building code in the country to the next level.

Illustration by Richard Perez

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"My San Francisco" Video Tours

The Ferry Building
Gensler's Scott Dunlap takes us on a tour of "a famous city's most famous landmark"--recently reborn and "restored to its grandeur" thanks to a major renovation.

The Old U.S. Mint
HOK's Paul Woolford takes us on a tour of "one of the first sustainable buildings in California" and explains how its design enabled it to survive the 1906 earthquake.

California Academy of Sciences
Brett Terpeluk, who worked closely with Renzo Piano on this acclaimed LEED-Platinum project, shares its unique design challenges—including a ramp so complicated a rollercoaster expert was called in and a pre-opening "small disaster" with the lighting.

Watch Part 2 | Watch Part 3

The Contemporary Jewish Museum
San Francisco architect Bonnie Bridges explains how Daniel Libeskind's museum defied her expectations.

San Francisco Federal Building
Thom Mayne walks us through his firm's Federal Office Building in this excerpt from a film by the Checkerboard Film Foundation.

San Francisco News and Features

San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood, prefabricated in a factory in Sacramento.

Cities Court Creatives with Micro-Units
As wealth disparities in the United States have reached Dickensian proportions, housing disparities have followed. Condo developers are creating increasingly lavish apartments for the super-rich, while those with modest budgets find themselves priced out of city centers. One solution is to encourage the building of micro-units, apartments of about 300 square feet or less.

Image courtesy Panoramic Interests

Bay Area Case Studies

San Francisco International Airport Terminal 2
Gensler
Welcome Departures: Improving travel experience and building a sense of place drive sustainability in an unlikely building type.

Photo © Bruce Damonte

Tiburon Peninsula House
Butler Armsden Architects
Lasting Impressions: Memory inspires a homeowner to demand sustainability.

Photo © Matthew Millman

Bar Agricole
Aidlin Darling Design
Down to Earth in Style: Located on a gritty street in San Francisco, Bar Agricole's green interiors accommodate food, drink, and fellowship, establishing a sustainable community resource.

Photo © Thomas Winz

Hillside House
SB Architects
Down to Earth: A hill-hugging residence bucks the norm in Marin County.

Photo © Mariko Reed

Marin Country Day School
EHDD Architecture
Stepping Up to Zero Energy: With the second phase of its campus plan, a private school on an idyllic site aims for net-zero.

Photo © Michael David Rose

North Beach Dental Office
Montalba Architects
Open Up and Say Ah: A dental office embraces the greenery and daylight of an adjacent park.

Homer Science & Student Life Center
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Forward Thinking: Marrying ecological concepts and spiritual values, a century-old Catholic school¹s new facility promises substantial energy savings and a sustainable legacy.

Wolfback Ridge House
Rothschild Schwartz Architects
Grounded: A nature-loving couple¹s home merges with the Marin Headlands.

Photo courtesy Rothschild Schwartz Architects

355 11th Street
Aidlin Darling Design
New Skin Reveals the Past: A beer warehouse in San Francisco¹s South of Market area finds new life as a mixed-use building without forsaking its industrial heritage.

Climate Works Foundation
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Naturally Inspiring: A nonprofit¹s office interior in the City by the Bay gives off abstract, natural vibes in its design, but in practice, this group is changing the world for the better.

Cavallo Point
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Historic Expansion: Combining meticulously restored buildings with unobtrusive new ones turns an army base at the Golden Gate into a luscious resort.

California Academy of Sciences
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Verdant Laboratory: A multi-faceted institution sheltered by an undulating green roof takes a holistic approach to sustainable design.

David Brower Center
Daniel Solomon Design Partners
Green to the (Structural) Core: A home for environmental and social action is true to the legacy of its namesake.

Plaza Apartments
Leddy Maytum Stacy
A Room of One¹s Own: In the heart of San Francisco's skid row, once-homeless adults find shelter in a showplace of green design.

Greenbuild Archive

View our coverage of previous USGBC conferences, including blog posts, photo galleries, interviews, and more.

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