Hospice design on LEED's edge
March 6, 2009By Elizabeth King Humphrey
Lower Cape Fear Hospice & LifeCareCenter has overseen the building of what it anticipates will be the first new construction Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
facility in North Carolina east of Interstate 95, according to a
press release.
Outside the environmental stewardship, David Lisle, architect of the two-year project, believes that the $3.9 million building provides a great use for the organization. Lisle provided landscape and interior consultations on the building, as well.
“Because we were the sole designer on the project we were easily able to maintain the budget and create overall consistency throughout,” Lisle wrote in a follow-up e-mail.
Lisle Architecture & Design, Inc., won a Lower Cape Fear Stewardship Development Significant Achievement Award in 2007 for its demonstration of outstanding environmental stewardship through the protection, conservation, improvement and awareness of natural resources.
“Our goal is to give them a signature building that gives them a presence without spending a great deal of money but also gives them a great working environment,” Lisle said.
One of the unique elements of the design for 24,000-square-foot building incorporated a hill, which in a flat county such as New Hanover, provided an opportunity for the design. The design set half the building in the hill.
The day lighting was significant feature, allowing the space to “open up so everyone got a view of the outside. There is not a spot where someone can’t look through,” he said.
Some of the green or sustainable elements to this project include passive solar design, which helped to limit the daylight glare but retain natural light, a geothermal system for the HVAC and the use of lots of low-VOC materials. The hill allowed for part of the building to be buried into the ground, which keeps the temperature more consistent.
Lower Cape Fear Hospice & LifeCareCenter
Architect, Interior design and Landscape architect:
Lisle Architecture & Design, Inc
Engineering firm(s):
Paramount with site/civil engineering
FluhrerReed structural engineering.
MCBH for plumbing, mechanical and electrical
System Works was lead consultant
