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Springs Preserve showcases green lifestyle
LEED-certified building will be the model for a growing trend
By: Tony Illia - Monday, December 11, 2006
Source: Las Vegas Business Press

The Las Vegas Valley Water District is flexing its green thumb. It's currently building the Springs Preserve at Valley View Boulevard between Alta Drive and I-95.

The $250 million, 180-acre project will be a showcase of low-water, energy-efficient buildings and gardens. The springs once provided water for all of Las Vegas, which, incidentally, means "meadows" in Spanish. Archeological discoveries led to the site being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Now the District and a team of architects are restoring and revamping the site with sustainability displays intended to raise public awareness of green-building practices. There will be six football fields worth of low-water gardens, with 20,000 species of drought-tolerant plant life, plus a 30-acre "Cienega" or desert wetland.

There will also be a museum, walking trails and a 46,000-square-foot desert-living center, built using the latest green-building techniques. Designed by Lucchesi, Galati Architects, it will have earth-rammed walls, and an angled roof that collects rainwater for irrigation and flushing toilets. Recycled railroad ties serve as roof trusses and hay bales provide insulation. Other features include solar-panel parking structures, passive cooling towers and recycled-steel siding.

"These buildings are going up to educate people on water and energy conservation, and embracing a sustainable lifestyle," said Jesse Davis, a Springs Preserve spokesman. "It's going to be a living, interactive experience, promoting a better understanding of environmental practices for homeowners, commercial builders and educators."

The Preserve has a retaining wall filled with straw along I-95 which dampens noise, deflects heat, and creates a microclimate for the Preserve's fragile species of plants and animals. A 50,000-square-foot Visitors Center by Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects uses recycled-steel siding and lime-based plaster.

The Preserve is seeking a Platinum LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council -- its highest rating. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a six-year-old rating system that grades projects on water conservation, energy efficiency and environmental quality, among other things. The more points, the higher the rating, which goes from basic certification up to Silver, Gold and Platinum.

Green building has become hot topic locally since the passage of Assembly Bill 3 last year. AB 3 gives up to a 50 percent, decade-long tax break on LEED projects. While the total savings depends on the LEED level, it's still the type of dough that commands attention. Until now, developers had always built quickly and cheaply, with little thought toward environmental consequences.

LEED was slow and pricey, and meant piles of paperwork. But AB 3 puts money back into the pockets of developers. And in Las Vegas, cash is king. The bill additionally stipulates that new public projects must now meet basic LEED-certification criteria.

"The impact is going to be great. And it could change the way buildings are built in the valley," said Michael Crowe, JMA's architect in charge of sustainability. "I'm working on three Silver LEED projects now. This is a growing thing."

Reprinted with permission of the author from www.lvbusinesspress.com.

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