1:26 AM
laura horowitz
The school of nursing and health services building is uniquely complimented on the campus of Golden West College in California. It has been finished since the fall semester of two thousand and eight and I am proud to say that I attended the cutting of the ribbon ceremony when it first opened. A tour was given to the members that arrived as well as Frank M. and Gertrude R. Doyle, who are the ones who supported the funding for this building given to nursing students and health services for Golden West College.
I was given the opportunity to look over the whole project details from interior spaces and codes to the structural materials used to keep this building standing. It was designed by Perkins & Will creating a place structurally stable as well as being properly up to code for medical uses and spaces on the interior. The school of nursing and health services building was built to allow eligible students to take advantage of our popular and well known nursing program as well as identifying their own practice.
The outside of this building shows brick in the running bond pattern made of type 2 concrete. Though it is not back to back and revealed on the interior, you still get the image of a sturdy material. Being limited to my requests of touring the inside of rooms on the upper levels, i was able to sneak up the stairs and capture what they call translucent glass for some of the windows used. This glass allowed natural light to come in, but not letting the inside space get too hot from the sun shining in. This room is occupied for demonstrations on fake patients and instruments. From the inside you can see out clearly as the outside keeps you from seeing in on any tasks being done.
Stairs on both sides for students to exit and enter their studies are made from the medium carbon of A-36. This strong material creates stability for any galvinated corrosion and resistance to any natural disasters. Its non slip strips on the edge of each step is good for all weather conditions that make the climb safer since it is an outside asset to the design.
Many rooms i was able to glance at used carpet tiles. I thought this was a good advantage making it easier to replace if any damage were to occur on one piece rather than replacing the entire space's flooring. The main reception area had one restroom, which used ceramic tile as the flooring. It was a non-absorbent type that was not slippery and complimented the wall tiles in a vertical pattern.
As I was looking over the blueprints for this project, Austin was of great help in the facilities building and explained to me how I can find what detail from abbreviation codes in this huge book and told me more about the inside where I was not able to see for myself. There are a few rooms that are painted in vibrant colors for testing and placing certain patients in and allow for studies and student practice, which I think is key for this program. As close as you can make to a real hospital, this building comes close in certain limits of how nursing majors can transition to real patients they will be treating.
The main receptionist desk was made with a high resin material panels as well as in the skills lab section of the nurse building. There was a brown finish around parts of the exterior. Made with wood veneer, its weather resistant philosophy looks the part and works well with keeping the place a significant creation to attend to.
Designing a space for medical uses is very code oriented since there are certain requirements that need tending to, which make this a neat project to look into because I can find out why specific materials are used any why. Especially since real patients are checked in for minor health reasons makes it all the more real for students to obtain the condition for their profession. I would say material choices were used successfully making this building safe and realistic.
(my source was verbal)
The South Group is a developement group based in Oregon that in collaboration with eco-consious developers Williams & Dame and Gerding/Edlen have created an urban oasis in the Los Angeles California nieghborhood of South Park. This green neighborhood is the first of its kind in Los Angeles and has sold its units at a record breaking pace. Its community consists of an eventual 4 highrise buildings including residential and retail spaces. Thus far they have received a Gold LEED certification on the Elleven and Luma buildings and a Silver certification on the EVO building. The fourth building that is yet to be finished is titled "South Figueroa". 
This is an image of the Livingroom in one of Evo's luxury condominiums. As you can see from the picture, they make use of many sustainable products and philosophies. The product displayed in this shot is first and most obviously the Bamboo flooring. The philosophy displayed is the use of site orientation to maximize climatic conditions, daylighting and openable windows for optimal air quality. 
This companies drive to go 'Green' is not just shown in their finished design, they are green from the ground up. In these buildings they have ensured that even what is behind the walls and floors is up to the LEED standards...and above. High rise buildings consume 40% of all material and energy flows. The South Group hopes to combat this through their use of high-efficiency water source heat pumps, high-efficiency domestic hot water systems, high performance glazing to reduce solar heat gain, increased insulation throughout the building process, high-efficiency lighting systems and so much more. Evo was designed to reduce energy use by up to 15% above the national standards. The idea of 'ground up' is present due to the fact that 75% of the buildings construction waste materials were recycled.
The kitchens and baths are both adorned with rich wood or wheatboard cabinetry in either stained Walnut or Natural Jaquitiba, White Oak, or Teak. They have tried to maximize the use of local materials. The baths also make use of low-flow/ultra low-flow fixtures as well as dual flush toilets. The other design features include limestone countertops, slate and marble floors, Kohler sinks and fixtures and a vessel sink in the powder rooms.
Upon browsing the Evo Residence Handbook I was interested to find that they offer a remodelers guide. In this guide it gives websites and reference material on how to go 'Green'.
The developement group has also included a resource for Green Cleaning products. They are in partnership with Coastwide Laboratories making provisions for environmentally friendly cleaning supplies and products to be available to all of its residence and tenants at Evo with a free 6 month supply. 
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