No AC? No problem, architects predict
by Eric Pyrne
Seattle Times
April 20, 2008
The architectural firm Weber Thompson moved into its new headquarters in South Lake Union earlier this month, and everyone seems to like it fine so far. But the building's true test will come in July or August.
The four-story Terry Thomas Building has no air conditioning.
It's been at least 50 years since a substantial office building was constructed in Seattle without that amenity.
Weber Thompson is counting on the building's design to keep it cool. There's a big central courtyard to funnel hot air skyward. And "operable" windows -- the old-fashioned kind that open and close -- with automated louvers, fixed sunshades and special glass that should help keep the heat out.
The firm even chose computer screens that emit less heat.
"This is the way we did buildings 100 years ago," says principal Scott Thompson. "What we've added is a 21st-century overlay of technology."
Even with all those innovations, computer modeling suggests temperatures inside the building will climb above 80 degrees about 18 to 21 hours each year.
When that happens, Thompson says, the firm may allow its employees to adopt another innovative solution: Go home early.
He figures that between its "passive-cooling" system and other green features, the 40,000-square-foot Terry Thomas Building will consume 30 percent less energy than a conventional building the same size.
When the new headquarters still was in the talking stage, the firm's mostly young employees made it clear that a sustainable workplace was a high priority, he says:
"They really held our feet to the fire."
It made the $10.2 million building a little more expensive to build, he says, but Weber Thompson hopes to earn that back in reduced energy bills and increased worker productivity.
And Thompson says the firm already has received a call from a SoDo property owner interested in doing something similar.