We have entered the Pizza Fusion of Weston Florida for the AIA & Dwell: “How Green Are You?” Competition to show how functional, efficient, and cost-effective our design could be not to mention beautiful.

Click here to view our entry.

Square One Architecture presented “Architecture, Green Building & Your Home” to the Kids Ecology Corps (http://www.kidsecologycorps.org) at the LEED certified South Broward Regional Library on May 30th 2008.

Architecture & Architectural Education:
http://www.aia.org
http://www.ncarb.org
http://www.naab.org

Green Living:
http://www.coopamerica.org
http://www.lowimpactliving.com

Sustainable Design:
http://www.usgbc.org
Link with list of more links - http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=76
http://www.keysglee.com
http://www.energystar.gov
http://www.architectureforhumanity.org
Solar path diagram generator - http://solardat.uoregon.edu/SunChartProgram.html
PV Watt & Cost Saving Calculator - http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/codes_algs/PVWATTS/version1/US/Florida/Miami.html

Green Landscape:
http://sjr.state.fl.us/programs/outreach/conservation/landscape/toc.html
http://www.floridayards.org
http://www.floridata.com
Rain Water Harvesting - http://www.conservationtechnology.com

Climate Change:
Florida - http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/florida/execsum.asp
World Statistics - http://www.worldometers.info

As Pizza Fusion’s Architect and LEED Administrator, Square One has register their Palm Beach Gardens project anticipated to open near the end of 2007.

“We’re proud to adopt LEED certification into our green business model. It’ll prove beneficial in our endless pursuit to further minimize our ecological footprint,” Michael Gordon, co-founder of Pizza Fusion, explains. “Additionally, the energy efficiency of this industry standard ‘green’ design will provide an excellent return on investment to our franchisees by reducing operational expenses associated with power consumption.”

Pizza Fusion’s LEED certified restaurants will feature a number of green products, techniques and designs, including: the elimination of the use of water heaters by installing heat exchangers which capture heat generated by the pizza oven to heat the restaurant’s domestic water. Other green features are: selection of a location within walking distance to public transit systems, a floor plan that allows daylighting and views, a wall of reused soda bottles and most finish materials will be rapidly renewable or high in post consumer recycled content.

For more information see: http://www.pizzafusion.com and http://www.usgbc.org .

Energy and water conservation were shared goals for the owners and Square One Architecture while designing this new residence in Cocoanut Grove, Florida that will begin construction this spring.

The design incorporated not only passive and active systems to reduce energy usage, but went beyond that to generate on site renewable energy, demading appropriate solar orientation. Grid tied photovoltaics have been designed on the south facing roof will provide the owners with reduced energy bills but energency back up as well. While solar water heating for the pool has been planned for the covered patio roof. The passive systems integrated into the design include an open plan and transoms for cross ventalation, increased attic ventalation and insulation. The feasiblity of using photovoltaics hinged on the fact that they were designed to allow tax credits of almost 50% of their cost.

Gray water and rainwater collection systems were developed to reduce the fresh water usage. The gray water will be collected from the showers and laundry and pumped back into toilets for an estimated 30% reduction, while rain barrels will harvest water for irrigation. The gray water system will be the first system of this type in Miami in a single family residence, according to the cheif plumbing official.

The value of energy and water have surfaced throught the joint efforts of the owners and their architect. To “do their part” was all the owners asked. In the end, we believe they will get much more.

The American Institute of Architects Leadership and Legislative Conference was held February 7th-10th this year and John Garra, AIA was chosen to represent the Fort Lauderdale Chapter. Sustainability and integrated practice were common themes throughout the conference.

The afternoon of February 9th was set a side for the conference attendees to meet with their local legislator. John met with Debbie Wasserman Schutlz’s Legal Director. The discussion revolved around sustainability. Two issues dealt with energy and the other with water quality. The incitatives were well received. For more information on the issues, visit http://aia.org/adv_fed_issuebriefs.

Square One Architecture was invited to meet former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich along with an intimate group of local business owners and policy makers at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables May 18, 2006. We had the opportunity to have a one on one conversation with Newt before he called for the U.S. to decrease its dependence on foreign energy and spoke about his vision for America’s future, “Five Key Principles for Thinking About America in the 21st Century.” You can view his transcripts at www.newt.org/backpage.asp?art=2569.

The event was sponsored by Rinnai, a world leader in sales of energy efficient appliances. Guests were also presented with the information of a comprehensive study into what the building industry can do to be more energy conscious. The study the study, conducted by ConSol an energy consulting firm, offered five
recommendations for builders to consider adopting. To view the recommendations go to http://www.foreverhotwater.com/img/news/Winter_Tips.pdf.

AIA Committee On The Environment (COTE) - Established
Tuesday, June 13, 2006

On September 14, 2005 the Ft. Lauderdale chapter of the American Institute named John Garra, AIA as the founding chairman of their COTE. For more information visit www.aia.org/cote_default.

Since then the committee has organized a tour of photo voltaic panels on the FAU north campus installed in 2003. Surviving two nasty hurricane seasons without a scratch, they generate approximately 6,000 kilowatt hours per year. The system was designed by Roger Messenger, FAU Professor of electical engineering and his students. Roger’s web address is www.ee.fau.edu/faculty/messenger.htm.

COTE was then invited by Dr. Anne Boykin to tour the LEED registered Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing http://nursing.fau.edu/newnursingsite/newbuilding.html. We were lead by the engineers of record, TLC Engineering, www.tlcengineers.com. They discussed the LEED process, construction cost and the particular categories they intend to gain points to reach the goal of silver LEED certification. The college will be one of the first LEED certified buildings in South Florida. The visitors for the tour arrived from Broward, Palm Beach and Dade County and represented a diverse group of professions. There were contractors, engineers, interior designers as well as architects. For more information on LEED, visit www.usgbc.org.

COTE will holds general meetings the third Tuesday of every month at Brew Urban Cafe (formerly Two Street Coffee Garage) 209 SW 2nd Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, 954-523-7191. For more information e-mail John Garra, AIA at .