Sustainable Renovation: Strategies for Commercial Building Systems and Envelope

The complete resource on performing sustainable renovations for both Historic and modern existing buildings

This forward-looking and insightful guide explores how the sustainable renovation of existing buildings presents great opportunities for initiating extensive changes in the performance of the built environment. Great examples of existing building upgrades are examined, illustrating how to do sustainable renovations, along with current design approaches for radically improving the functionality of existing prewar, postwar, and late modern buildings. Sustainable Renovation saves its key focus for institutional and commercial buildings, but discusses the challenges they pose within a global scope that encompasses all building practices. Some of the discussions in this book include:

• The significance of energy and resource demands by the building sector and the urgency of reducing loads in existing buildings

• Management, design, and construction approaches to achieve major modernization in occupied buildings

• International case studies that focus on methods and benefits of successful sustainable transformations of existing building performance

Repurposing buildings to preserve style and add performance remains a work in progress as designers and builders discover new methods for improving sustainable practices and standards. With incremental modernization and operations strategies available for immediate implementation, this book demonstrates the different ways of thinking necessary when considering and attempting the integration of sustainable concepts into existing buildings--and enables readers to rethink the world that's built around them.

Lisa Gelfand, FAIA, LEED-AP, one of the preeminent experts in green design and construction, is Managing Principal of Gelfand Partners Architects (gelfand-partners.com) in San Francisco. With more than three decades of experience, Gelfand has been involved in all aspects of a project, including project management, design, planning, marketing, and staff management. Her firm has designed many award-winning sustainable buildings and renovations.

Chris Duncan, AIA, LEED-AP, has two decades of experience and is a principal and senior staff manager at Gelfand Partners Architects. Duncan has managed project teams through all phases of design and construction. He has special expertise in educational and residential design, particularly the modernization of early twentieth-century buildings. He is also involved in a variety of community and professional service projects.