Halifax LEAP
Friday, February 03, 2006
 
300,000 Square Feet

What does a 300,000 square foot law court look like? I looked on line and discovered the brand new Seattle Justice Center is exactly that square footage. Take a look at the pictures. Where would a similar building to this, work well in central Halifax?






G R E E N B U I L D I N G

One of the interesting thing that the City of Seattle now mandates is it's civic buildings be green and sustainable. Duncan Thieme from NBBJ explains, "Much of the effort that goes into the greening of a building is devoted to a series of thoughtful but small decisions. Characteristically, this means specifying equipment that is more energy-efficient than typical or looking for recycled alternatives to new building materials. Sometimes bigger steps are taken that have a more noticeable effect. For the Justice Center, a number of larger design decisions dramatically influenced the sustainability of the building".

Some considerations for the new Seattle Justice Center were.

1. Glazed thermal buffer
2. Planted roof
3. Water harvesting



Location: 600 Fifth Ave., Seattle
Size: 300,000 square feet
 
Comments:
I have heard that the province was also considering a site at the Southeast corner of Hollis and Sackville around the Bank of Canada. Obviously that site would be vastly better-suited to this kind of development than Spring Garden Road.
 
A building like that would be meaningless to old south end Halifax .
 
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