Gateway Distribution & Renewable Energy Center for the Natural
Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority
Joseph Ferraro,
Ferraro Choi and Associates Ltd
The State of Hawaii's Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority
(NELHA) has retained Ferraro Choi and Associates for the design
of the NELHA Gateway Distributed & Renewable Energy Center.
The 6.5-acre campus facility will showcase research, development,
and demonstration of hydrogen fuel cell technologies. The design
directive was to demonstrate and capitalize on NELHA's unique Deep
Seawater resources, facilities, and mission utilizing 21st century
technologies, strong aesthetic, environmental stewardship, cultural
sense of place, and sustainable design principals including zero
net energy by incorporating solar and advanced cooling technologies.
The project design solution incorporates an electricity free ventilation
and air-conditioning system by means of a thermal convection "engine"
that makes a "stack effect" with a thermal chimney and
free renewable energy from the sun. Coils of cold water from NELHA's
deep seawater line conditions the ambient hot moist air pulled by
the building's heat chimney producing cool dry air for the building's
interior and condensed fresh water for domestic use and irrigation.
A space frame carries a photovoltaic array owned by the local utility
to produce renewable power for the local power grid.
The building's first phase of administration/education center and
first laboratory building is a registered LEED™ project and
will seek a LEED™ Platinum certification.
Objectives:
The poster provides images of the building's architectural aesthetic,
how it relates and addresses cultural site concerns, and a diagrammatic
section of the induced ventilation thermal chimney design. The facility
is a viable demonstration of distributed energy technologies that
will reduce Hawaii's dependency on imported fossil fuel.
Findings:
Laboratory facilities on campus settings can be designed to not
only utilize insitu natural and renewable energy sources but can
contribute to the surrounding community power supply as distributive
energy stations.
Labs21 Connection:
Our poster reflects the following aspects of the Labs21 approach:
- Laboratories can be designed under the LEED™ Platinum guidelines.
- Utilization of state-of-the-art computer programs enables the
design team to refine passive design strategies and confirm building
performance prior to construction.
- Collaboration of Architect, Engineer, and Owner from pre-design
through construction produces unique design results.
- Partnerships between Owner and public utilities can proliferate
clean and renewable distributive energy systems.
Biography:
Joe Ferraro, AIA
is a principal of Ferraro Choi and Associates, a mid-sized architectural
firm located in downtown Honolulu. Joe received his BFA in interior
design from Pratt Institute in 1971 and worked in New York City
for eleven years. In 1982 he moved to Hawaii and attended the University
of Hawaii School of Architecture. He co-founded Ferraro Choi and
Associates with Gerald Choi in 1988, an architectural firm specializing
in Sustainable "Green" Architecture and Interior Architecture.
He currently holds architectural registrations in Hawaii and New
York and is an accredited LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) U.S. Green Building Council professional.
Joe has been a board member of the Honolulu Chapter of the American
Institute of Architects and is currently serving on the board of
the AIA's Hawaii State Council. From 1997 to 1998 he was the president
of the Honolulu Sunrise Rotary and was subsequently president of
the Sunrise Rotary Foundation. He currently serves as an architectural
advisor to the board of Malama O Manoa, a neighborhood community
organization.
Joe is author and co-author of several research papers on sustainable
design, planning, and design for research facilities in the Antarctic.
He was a panelist and speaker at the EPA's Laboratories for the
21st Century in Washington, DC, in January and the EPA's Coconut
Island, Hawaii, Labs21 Workshop in November of 2001.
Since 1984, Joe has worked on the design of projects for the National
Science Foundation in Antarctica. He was project architect for the
45,000 square foot Crary Science and Technology Laboratory at McMurdo
Station. In 1992 his firm was selected to head the design for the
replacement of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, a $200,000,000
project at the bottom of the earth.
Ferraro Choi is currently working on research projects for the
National Marine Fisheries Service's Honolulu Laboratory, a LEED™
Gold rated building, the USDA's Forestry Service Laboratory in Hilo,
the Hawaii Natural Energy Laboratory Gateway Center in Kona, and
the University of Hawaii's Marine Biology Institute Laboratory on
Coconut Island.
*Bill Brooks, AIA - principal at Ferraro Choi was the lead designer.
*John Fyfe of Lincolne Scott, Inc. was the lead mechanical and electrical
designer.
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