As an office that includes LEED accredited professionals (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), DEMBLING + DEMBLING ARCHITECTS, P.C. (DDA) can expand our services to include Sustainable Building Design and LEED Construction Management.  We believe that the effect of how building projects are designed, constructed and operated in today’s environmentally conscientious world, with its limited resources, is becoming more and more important.  A sustainable building, or green building is an outcome of a design which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better project siting, design, construction, operation and maintenance.  We have therefore embraced the emerging field of “green building” technologies and the ideology that sustainable design is based upon the need to reduce human impacts on the environment.

Project Sustainability:

Site Selection & Development

·         Proper site selection and siting of building to take advantage of site specific solar exposure

·         Appropriate development of site to reduce the environmental impact of the building on the selected site including minimizing building footprint and site disturbance limitations therefore conserving existing natural areas, maximizing open space, and habitat and wetland sensitivity

Pollution Control

·         Reduce auto use by providing a hub and information for ‘park & ride’ program therefore promoting carpooling, shuttle services, or the use of public transportation

·         Provide location for listed charging re-fueling station(s) and preferred parking for low emission vehicles

·         Protect existing aquifers through erosion / sedimentation and stormwater quantity / quality control and management practices

·         Reduce ‘heat islands’ and microclimate / habitat impacts through the reduction of hardscapes and the implementation of shading methods, vegetated roofs, pervious or highly reflective paving and roofing materials

·         Reduce ‘sky glow’ light trespassing from building and site through interior / exterior lighting limitations and the use of efficiently designed fixtures and controls

·         Reduce ozone depletion and global warming potential by not using refrigerants or using natural refrigerants in HVAC and fire suppression systems

·         Reduce waste to landfills with the storage and collection of recyclables and the management of construction waste

·         Reduce indoor air quality problems due to the construction process by implementing an Indoor Air Quality Management Plan during construction and before occupancy.

·         Maintain minimum air quality performance standards for mechanical / natural ventilation, prohibit smoking within the building, and utilize low-emitting materials and products

Water Efficiency

·         Limit or eliminate potable water use for landscape irrigation through the use of native / climate tolerant plants, minimizing turf areas, or maximize on-site resources using captured rainwater, recycled wastewater, recycled graywater, or treated water for irrigation purposes

·         Reduce wastewater generation, potable water demand, and burden on municipal water supplies and wastewater systems by using high efficiency, water conserving (low-flow or waterless) fixtures with occupancy sensors, reusing non-potable or on-site treated water for sewage conveyance

Energy Efficiency

·         Implement plan for Building Energy Systems minimum energy performance and consumption through commissioning and the recording of measurements and verification

·         Optimize energy performance and reduce the environmental impacts associated with building energy usage through building design:

ü       reduce building footprint

ü       reduce energy demand

ü       efficient building envelope, HVAC, lighting and design

ü       provide sensors in minimally occupied spaces

ü       harvest energy with building orientation, window location, and natural ventilation

ü       recover exhaust air, graywater heat, and congenerated energy

ü       provide daylighting strategies

·         Increase self supplied, on-site renewable energy with the use of solar, photo-voltaic, wind, geothermal, biomass, bio-gas, or low-impact hydro electric technologies

Building Materials & Resources

·         Reduce waste, construction costs, the processing of virgin resources and materials, and increase the use of recycled content in the building by re-using salvaged, refurbished, reused materials and materials of recycled content

·         Support indigenous resources and reduce environmental impacts from material transportation by utilizing building materials and products that are extracted, processed, and manufactured regionally

·         Reduce the use of ‘long cycle’ and finite raw materials through the use of ‘short cycle’ materials and products

·         Encourage and support forest management through the use of certified wood materials and products