Page 203 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

SITE SELECTION AND SITE EVALUATION 179

20 Are there multiple uses that can be developed on the site that would help encour-
age transit use and the provision of community services (example: housing, retail,
and office mixed-use)?
21 Are there existing natural site features such as trees, rivers, ponds, and wetlands
that should be protected, maintained, or restored (such as waterways, canyons, or
animal migration paths)?
22 Are there renewable energy sources (consistent strong winds/good solar orientation/
flowing water/geothermal) on or adjacent to the building site?
23 Are these resources available for use in the building project?
24 How can the site be best matched with renewable energy sources in the region?
25 Are there established neighborhood ecological patterns that could be enhanced,
such as water flows and drainage patterns, local streams, green spaces, and/or
transportation networks? Is there potential for contributing to the health of these
systems? Can previously impacted streams or watercourses be restored as part of
this project?
26 Can the building be sited closer to more of its users (following good planning dic-
tates, “provide access by proximity first, then by transportation”)?
27 Are there off-site areas that could be used as part of the project? (Example: a
neighboring park or wetlands could be possibly used for occasional stormwater
run-off.)
28 How might onsite or off-site features hinder the ability to make the project sus-
tainable, particularly in terms of renewable energy (such as trees or planned future
buildings nearby that could shade photovoltaic panels)?
29 Could a site be found that would make the utilization of renewable resources more
visible? (In the case of the Hard Bargain Farm, profiled in Chap. 14, the project
was broken up into two buildings, one in shade and one in sun.)
30 Can an adjacent building be used to support solar collectors to supply this proj-
ect? (This is eminently possible with third-party solar investment partnerships that
utilize federal and local incentives.)
31 Can an adjacent building be used for heliostats that might shine light onto dark
parts of our site? (This might be a viable alternative for high-density urban sites.)
32 Are there adjacent buildings with dissimilar programs and time-of-day/week use
patterns that would provide shared parking (examples: a church, a movie theater,
a nearby shopping mall, and the like), so that we could reduce the amount of on-
site parking?
33 Are there views that the building may take advantage of, or will the building
obstruct the views of others?
34 What amenities near the building could be included in the building program (food
services, fitness center with showers), without having to build them?
35 Is the building adjacent to sources of waste heat, graywater, reclaimed wastewater
(purple lines), or other resources that could be positively utilized?
36 Are there opportunities to “harvest” rainwater from the site runoff for use in the
building or for landscaping use?