Along the east side of the Big Sioux River, Cherapa Place, a new six-story office building rises out of the riverbank, reaching toward the sky with shining windows that reflect the water.
The quartzite building looks like South Dakota, as though it broke through the ground itself, rising fully formed from the edges of the Big Sioux River.
A few blocks away, the Museum of Visual Materials mixes the rugged quartzite and brick walls of the oldest building in downtown with high-tech, energy-saving technology.
These two buildings are bringing a new feel to Sioux Falls - one that focuses on natural materials, renewable
resources and "green" living.
"It's all about making life better for people," said Anne Scherschligt Haber, communications director for Howalt-McDowell Insurance Col, one of the primary investors in Cherapa Place. "It's better for the environment and better for the people who work here."
Scherschligt Haber, who has been part of the office building from its earliest plans and also serves as facility manager, said that Cherapa Place, built on the site of the old Zip Feed Mill, was designed from the start to incorporate green building, even using rubble from the mill's concrete base for the base level of the parking lot.
Outside its walls, native grasses and plants provide beautiful landscaping that require little water. The building's entrance leads visitors through a wall of glass windows where a multicolored glass mobile sculpture depicts colorful prairie flowers and grasses. One rooftop will be covered with grass, one of the first in Sioux Falls to be commercially installed.
Throughout the building, natural light flows through windows, giving a beautiful view of Sioux Falls and lessening the need for electric lights. Natural materials are key, from the Sioux quartzite walls to the natural stone floors. Cabinetry and trim is made from renewable sources such as pressed wheat.
Workers from all of the building's tenants share one large natural light-bathed area that holds a large conference room and break tables with brown, streaked tops made out of pressed sorghum. Throughout the entire building, about 60 percent of the materials came from the region, requiring shipping from within only a 500-mile radius.
Local artwork graces the walls, too. In fact, the building is named after Gary Monaco's sculpture of a buffalo called "Cherapa" that graces the building's riverfront entrance.
Already, the building is home to several businesses, including Howalt-McDowell, Cortrust Bank, Great Plains Brokerage and RAS. A restaurant will open in a space located with a view of the river.
The costs of the building were about 30 percent more than a standard office building, but much of those costs may be recouped through energy savings. Energy costs are about 25 percent less than other buildings, said Jeff Hazard, principal architect and chief executive officer of Koch Hazard, the firm that designed Cherapa Place and other green buildings. Some research also shows that workers in buildings made with these types of materials are healthier and more productive, he said.
"They spent a little bit more but they were committed to doing this," said Hazard of the building's investors, which included Howalt-McDowell. "This really shows their strong commitment to the community and to downtown."
Hazard, who says his firm talks with potential clients about adding green design elements, said he sees a great future for using the environmentally friendly building methods.
"It will be the way all buildings will be built in 10 years," Hazard said. "If you're not building green, you'll be making a big mistake."
As Scherschligt Haber walks through one of the office cubicle areas, she points out energy-saving light fixtures, low water-use plumbing and easily movable modular walls that would allow future tenants to reconfigure their space without remodeling, which can be financially and environmentally costly. In the basement level, showers encourage employees to bike to work and workers who drive hybrid vehicles get special close-access parking places.
"We're not just thinking about right now," said Scherschligt Haber. "We're wanting to plan for the next 20 years. This is the right way to do it."
Going green is one of the hottest trends right now across the country, said Carmen Toft, one of two directors at the Museum of Visual Materials. Nationwide, awareness about the environment has never been higher, she said.
Celebrities drive hybrid cars to red carpet events. A documentary on global warming featuring Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth," won awards and was shown in theaters across the country. Even television network NBC had a "Green week" in November, where more than 150 hours of environment-themed content were broadcast in programs ranging from news broadcasts to soap operas.
"You can't watch TV or pick up a a magazine without seeing something about going green," Toft said. "You just can't go anywhere now without hearing about it."
Green building is a relatively new concept for South Dakota, said Stacey McMahan, one of the state's first architects to get accredited in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building rating system that encourages environmentally friendly building.
"I'm hoping Sioux Falls and the state of South Dakota will embrace it on a wider level," McMahan said. "It makes sense for so many reasons."
McMahan said she first learned about green design in the late 1990s and became intrigued by the idea of doing work that was environmentally friendly and fulfilling. She said her firm, led by Hazard, has fully embraced the idea and led the way with several green projects, including the upcoming USD School of Medicine building in Vermillion.
"They've really been behind the idea and bring it up with clients," McMahan said. "For me, if I spend a day working on a green building, it's a great day."
DESIGN
Their first foray into green building was Courthouse Square, the office building across the street from the U.S. District Courthouse downtown. Under the governmental bidding system, buildings designed to receive an LEED rating were most likely to get selected as a project design. The federal office building, which was designed in a way to reuse or donate materials rather than to send them to a landfill, was one of just three projects in 2006 to receive a government award for green design.
McMahan also helped lead the design of the Museum of Visual Materials, which opened in spring 2007. The project is an example of remodeling gone super-green. The 1887 building, one of the oldest in downtown Sioux Falls, originally was home to the Consolidated Tank and later to Standard Oil. It now serves as home to a quirky museum that houses a variety of different items including arts and crafts, fabrics, more than 4,500 books, a listening room with vinyl records and eight-track tapes and a kitchen.
From the start, the museum's founders were excited and enthusiastic about the idea of cutting-edge green design. McMahan said the project involved stripping the building back to its original quartzite and brick walls and open areas that had been used for warehousing in decades past.
"We left out finished instead of adding them" McMahan said. "If we could leave something there, we used it."
The building's striking entrance involves a polished concrete floor that is both beautiful and sturdy, proving a finished look that doesn't require extra building materials like tile or wood. In the main hall, the building's stone walls rise above original wooden flooring that was sealed, which gives the room warmth and character. Old wooden pallets from the 1950s were used to make a shower that can be utilized by bike commuters.
Toft says the Sioux quartzite building, which runs a system of geothermal heating and cooling and solar panel energy, draws many people who are curious about what green building is like.
"It's increased our visibility tenfold to be a green building," Toft said. "People come specifically just for that."
Toft said museum visitors get a chance to see what items alike pressed-wheat cupboards and cork and bamboo floors look like. They learn how adding motion sensors that automatically shut off lights in empty rooms to their homes or garages could save them dollars and add to the aesthetics of their homes.
She explains to them that the building's white concrete exteriors help reflect light, lowering summer temperatures. For adults and children, presentations on recycling and other eco-friendly ideas are part of the guided tours.
Since the museum opened, Toft said she has learned much about green building, and she loves both the idea of the building and the way it feels to be inside it.
"I love to work here," Toft said. "It's an 1887 oil warehouse with solar panels on the roof. It's such a wonderful juxtaposition between old and new."
Whether people are building new or preserving an older building, green design can easily be part of the plans, McMahan said. She hopes to see homeowners and residential developers embrace the ideas of eco-friendly construction as the materials and services needed are becoming more readily available.
"On each project, it's gotten a little easier as contractors are more familiar with the process and the vendors are the same," McMahan said. "These kind of buildings can be just beautiful. The more people who see it, the more types of these projects will be available."
The quartzite building looks like South Dakota, as though it broke through the ground itself, rising fully formed from the edges of the Big Sioux River.
A few blocks away, the Museum of Visual Materials mixes the rugged quartzite and brick walls of the oldest building in downtown with high-tech, energy-saving technology.
These two buildings are bringing a new feel to Sioux Falls - one that focuses on natural materials, renewable
resources and "green" living."It's all about making life better for people," said Anne Scherschligt Haber, communications director for Howalt-McDowell Insurance Col, one of the primary investors in Cherapa Place. "It's better for the environment and better for the people who work here."
Scherschligt Haber, who has been part of the office building from its earliest plans and also serves as facility manager, said that Cherapa Place, built on the site of the old Zip Feed Mill, was designed from the start to incorporate green building, even using rubble from the mill's concrete base for the base level of the parking lot.
Outside its walls, native grasses and plants provide beautiful landscaping that require little water. The building's entrance leads visitors through a wall of glass windows where a multicolored glass mobile sculpture depicts colorful prairie flowers and grasses. One rooftop will be covered with grass, one of the first in Sioux Falls to be commercially installed.
Throughout the building, natural light flows through windows, giving a beautiful view of Sioux Falls and lessening the need for electric lights. Natural materials are key, from the Sioux quartzite walls to the natural stone floors. Cabinetry and trim is made from renewable sources such as pressed wheat.
Workers from all of the building's tenants share one large natural light-bathed area that holds a large conference room and break tables with brown, streaked tops made out of pressed sorghum. Throughout the entire building, about 60 percent of the materials came from the region, requiring shipping from within only a 500-mile radius.
Local artwork graces the walls, too. In fact, the building is named after Gary Monaco's sculpture of a buffalo called "Cherapa" that graces the building's riverfront entrance.
Already, the building is home to several businesses, including Howalt-McDowell, Cortrust Bank, Great Plains Brokerage and RAS. A restaurant will open in a space located with a view of the river.
The costs of the building were about 30 percent more than a standard office building, but much of those costs may be recouped through energy savings. Energy costs are about 25 percent less than other buildings, said Jeff Hazard, principal architect and chief executive officer of Koch Hazard, the firm that designed Cherapa Place and other green buildings. Some research also shows that workers in buildings made with these types of materials are healthier and more productive, he said.
"They spent a little bit more but they were committed to doing this," said Hazard of the building's investors, which included Howalt-McDowell. "This really shows their strong commitment to the community and to downtown."
Hazard, who says his firm talks with potential clients about adding green design elements, said he sees a great future for using the environmentally friendly building methods.
"It will be the way all buildings will be built in 10 years," Hazard said. "If you're not building green, you'll be making a big mistake."
As Scherschligt Haber walks through one of the office cubicle areas, she points out energy-saving light fixtures, low water-use plumbing and easily movable modular walls that would allow future tenants to reconfigure their space without remodeling, which can be financially and environmentally costly. In the basement level, showers encourage employees to bike to work and workers who drive hybrid vehicles get special close-access parking places.
"We're not just thinking about right now," said Scherschligt Haber. "We're wanting to plan for the next 20 years. This is the right way to do it."
Going green is one of the hottest trends right now across the country, said Carmen Toft, one of two directors at the Museum of Visual Materials. Nationwide, awareness about the environment has never been higher, she said.
Celebrities drive hybrid cars to red carpet events. A documentary on global warming featuring Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth," won awards and was shown in theaters across the country. Even television network NBC had a "Green week" in November, where more than 150 hours of environment-themed content were broadcast in programs ranging from news broadcasts to soap operas.
"You can't watch TV or pick up a a magazine without seeing something about going green," Toft said. "You just can't go anywhere now without hearing about it."
Green building is a relatively new concept for South Dakota, said Stacey McMahan, one of the state's first architects to get accredited in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building rating system that encourages environmentally friendly building.
"I'm hoping Sioux Falls and the state of South Dakota will embrace it on a wider level," McMahan said. "It makes sense for so many reasons."
McMahan said she first learned about green design in the late 1990s and became intrigued by the idea of doing work that was environmentally friendly and fulfilling. She said her firm, led by Hazard, has fully embraced the idea and led the way with several green projects, including the upcoming USD School of Medicine building in Vermillion.
"They've really been behind the idea and bring it up with clients," McMahan said. "For me, if I spend a day working on a green building, it's a great day."
DESIGN
Their first foray into green building was Courthouse Square, the office building across the street from the U.S. District Courthouse downtown. Under the governmental bidding system, buildings designed to receive an LEED rating were most likely to get selected as a project design. The federal office building, which was designed in a way to reuse or donate materials rather than to send them to a landfill, was one of just three projects in 2006 to receive a government award for green design.
McMahan also helped lead the design of the Museum of Visual Materials, which opened in spring 2007. The project is an example of remodeling gone super-green. The 1887 building, one of the oldest in downtown Sioux Falls, originally was home to the Consolidated Tank and later to Standard Oil. It now serves as home to a quirky museum that houses a variety of different items including arts and crafts, fabrics, more than 4,500 books, a listening room with vinyl records and eight-track tapes and a kitchen.
From the start, the museum's founders were excited and enthusiastic about the idea of cutting-edge green design. McMahan said the project involved stripping the building back to its original quartzite and brick walls and open areas that had been used for warehousing in decades past.
"We left out finished instead of adding them" McMahan said. "If we could leave something there, we used it."
The building's striking entrance involves a polished concrete floor that is both beautiful and sturdy, proving a finished look that doesn't require extra building materials like tile or wood. In the main hall, the building's stone walls rise above original wooden flooring that was sealed, which gives the room warmth and character. Old wooden pallets from the 1950s were used to make a shower that can be utilized by bike commuters.
Toft says the Sioux quartzite building, which runs a system of geothermal heating and cooling and solar panel energy, draws many people who are curious about what green building is like.
"It's increased our visibility tenfold to be a green building," Toft said. "People come specifically just for that."
Toft said museum visitors get a chance to see what items alike pressed-wheat cupboards and cork and bamboo floors look like. They learn how adding motion sensors that automatically shut off lights in empty rooms to their homes or garages could save them dollars and add to the aesthetics of their homes.
She explains to them that the building's white concrete exteriors help reflect light, lowering summer temperatures. For adults and children, presentations on recycling and other eco-friendly ideas are part of the guided tours.
Since the museum opened, Toft said she has learned much about green building, and she loves both the idea of the building and the way it feels to be inside it.
"I love to work here," Toft said. "It's an 1887 oil warehouse with solar panels on the roof. It's such a wonderful juxtaposition between old and new."
Whether people are building new or preserving an older building, green design can easily be part of the plans, McMahan said. She hopes to see homeowners and residential developers embrace the ideas of eco-friendly construction as the materials and services needed are becoming more readily available.
"On each project, it's gotten a little easier as contractors are more familiar with the process and the vendors are the same," McMahan said. "These kind of buildings can be just beautiful. The more people who see it, the more types of these projects will be available."
