New city buildings in San Francisco will be environmentally friendly under a recently enacted "green building" ordinance. The buildings must conserve energy and water, be healthier for occupants and visitors, and encourage recycling. This means they will probably contain energy-efficient lighting, recycled carpeting and furnishings made from recyclables, and should be constructed with windows which open, nontoxic paint, and wood harvested from sustainable forests.
Some plans are already in place for the next new buildings. At the new offices of the Department of the Environment, the director plans a bicycle storage space. The pavilion being built by the Friends of Recreation and Parks at the west end of Golden Gate Park will have a roof covered with soil and planted with sedum, a succulent plant similar to ice plant. Walls of the building will be constructed with a mixture of cement and fly ash, a residue from burning coal; using less cement helps to reduce global warming created by cement plants.
The replacement for Laguna Honda Hospital has been redesigned to comply with the ordinance. Instead of a large seven-story building, it will now be a collection of smaller "pods" surrounded by landscaping and with interior gardens, improving the relationship between the buildings and the external environment.
It is possible that in the future San Francisco's civic buildings may even incorporate built-in solar heating or a biomass heating system. Like drought-resistant exhibition gardens, the new city buildings will demonstrate how green building can take construction in the city in a new direction.
For more information:
San Francisco Department of the Environment, 415-554-6390; http://www.ci.sf.us/environment