Building Green: How we're doing it!

Our building motto for Village of Hope is "Building Green, Building Community". Village of Hope will be one of the greenest structures in Bemidji, MN when it is complete! Village of Hope was built green for two reasons. First, we recognize that building green is better for the people who inhabit a building and for our environment. We care about this! Our other motivation came from the fact that we have approximately $120,000 each year with which to operate this emergency shelter. This includes payroll for staffing the shelter 24 hours a day/seven days a week, insurance, food, utilities, maintenance-- EVERYTHING! Moving into a bigger shelter had to include a plan for reducing overhead costs. We hired Chris Raimann from Kuepers to be our architect because he is a LEED certified architect and was able to work with us to create a shelter that would meet this green building goal. Here is what we included in our green building design:

Integrated Design Process: Green building design goals were set early in the design process with all design team members. The floor plans are formulated to maximize efficiency and comfort.
Site Selection: The building site is within walking distance to essential community services and on a public transit route.
On-Site Staff Residences: Village of Hope includes three on-site staff apartments. This will reduce the overall payroll budget by nearly $30,000 each year, allowing us to afford the increase in insurance, utilities, and food that will accompany a larger facility.
On-Site Intern Housing: One efficiency apartment on-site will accomodate a volunteer intern that will assist homeless families with securing housing and achieving their self-sufficiency goals. Free housing will be an attractive tool to use in recruiting quality interns. Consequently, work that will directly benefit shelter tenants will be performed by the interns free of charge.
Passive Solar Heating: The building is designed to accept the sun's heat during the cold months of the year. Thick polished concrete floors and brick walls will collect the heat during the day and then continue to heat the building in the evenings.
Passive Cooling: An exterior solar shade will block the windows on the south side of the building from receiving the sun's heat in the summer months.
In-Floor Heating: In-floor hydronic heating is used as an efficient heating method on the main floor.
Chemical Pollution Reduction: Products (furnishings, paints, primers, sealants, adhesives, & carpet) have been chosen that do not release harmful toxins into the air.
Stormwater Management: Storm water is collected on-site through careful site preparation, rainwater gardens, a water retention pond, and minimal impervious coverage. This reduces pollution run-off that would flow into Lake Bemidji and burden on the City's storm water management system.
Sustainable Landscaping: At least 75% of the landscaping is native to the local area. Existing mature trees were saved. All landscaping is designed to thrive without irrigation.
Light Pollution Reduction: The outside lights were designed to illuminate the Village of Hope property, not our neighbors'!
Building Water Efficiency: In addition to having no irrigation system, the water use for the building will be reduced by 30% through the use of auto shut-off water fixtures on sinks, tubs, and showers and low flow toilets.
Energy Use Reduction: Design elements such as using spray foam insulation on all exterior walls, timed light switches, a dual-fuel boiler (which enables the entire facility to be charged off-peak electric rates), flourescent light fixtures, and zoned heating controls will reduce the energy costs by at least 30% compared to code. Cooking with convection heat to reduce cooking times 25-30%.
Daylight: At least 75% of the floor area will receive ambient natural daylight. This will reduce the need for light fixtures and have physiological and psychological benefits to the building's occupants.
View Space and Window Access: All of the occupied spaces in the building provide a view of the outside world. Windows can be opened to allow access to fresh air.
Durable Materials: All materials were chosen based on their durability.
Waste Reduction and Management: All construction waste was sorted on-site and recycled to the greatest extent possible. The building occupants will easily access and use a recycling system.
Potential for Growth: The building was designed so that a second level may be expanded to accomodate future growth.
Solar Thermal Hot Water: The building was designed to accept the future installation of solar thermal hot water panels on the flat portion of the roof.
Building Aesthetic: The building was designed to create a sense of being at home and to blend well with the surrounding neighborhood. In other words, it has curb appeal!

The primary design directive was to create a happy, healthy, durable, and energy efficient building that fosters the primary needs of families experiencing homelessness and the staff that operate the facility.