Air National Guard Goes for Gold



Kingsley Field Air National Guard

The new Security Forces Facility at Kingsley Field, Oregon designed by CSHQA's Oregon office and built by S&B James Construction Management recently received LEED Gold Certification.  I am very proud of the this project - on many levels:

A little bit because you and I helped pay for it;

More because it serves the men and women of our National Guard Services;

A little more because my team, in conjunction with S&B James designed and built an excellent facility;

Even more because we met more than a dozen sets of codes, requirements, statutes, minimums, maximums, you name it, and still came in on budget;

And finally… because it’s the first project on the Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base in Klamath Falls, Oregon to go through LEED or any energy certification process and it received GOLD!

The Security Forces Facility supports the 173^rd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard and houses command, administrative, Base Defense Operations Center, pass and ID stations, law enforcement, arms vault, training rooms, mobility storage areas, a mobility pallet build-up area, and locker rooms.

While it’s not a fancy building and the architecture tends toward the functional, this is a solid, thoughtful facility that earned LEED points in every category including sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy & atmosphere, materials & resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation & design process.

If you go to the US Green Building Council [www.USGBC.org] you will find:  “Overall, government owned or occupied buildings make up 27% of all LEED projects.  Federal buildings account for 450 certified projects with over 3,600 currently in process.”  That’s a lot of buildings and a good trend toward energy efficiency, sustainability and quality buildings. 

Go to http://www.cshqa.com/designNews.php to learn about the sustainability details that earned LEED Gold.  Learn more about our design/build partner at www.sbjames.com

(Photo credit:  Steve Johnson, Visual Images Gallery)

Surprise Tenant Enjoys Sustainable Design



Canadian geese make a home on Boise rooftop


The Mulvanney Medical Office Building on the St. Alphonsus Hospital campus has a surprise tenant.  This mother goose, oblivious to the stir she is creating inside the building, has settled in with a nest of native grasses and down feathers on the 2nd floor rooftop garden just two feet from the office of the building supervisor.  Our Dave Davies was on site for a tenant improvement project and took this photo through the window.  The reflective coating on the exterior of the windows may explain why she isn't bothered by the crowd.

Designed by CSHQA landscape architect Kyle Hemley, ASLA, the garden of native and low water plants is one of the sustainable design features that led to LEED Gold for the project.   The grasses are wearing their fall haircut and will begin to green up and grow in a month or so.  By that time the four eggs now in the nest will hopefully have become four baby goslings.