The Green Building, Louisville, Kentucky

The Green Building

By Norma Moralez

The Green Building is located in Louisville, Kentucky also known as New Louisville in the East Market of Louisville. It first opened its doors in 2008 after a little bit over a year and a half of remodeling. Owners Augusto and Gill Holland first began remodeling when they decided to become the first commercial building in Louisville to go for LEED platinum certification. The 14,000 square feet building, originally a dry good store, was built 110 years ago and now serves as a café, gallery, record label, bookstore and much more. Augusto and Gill took advantage as of much reusable material as they could from the original building into the new building. They as well incorporated many renewable energy resources.

When the Hollands’ talked about wanting to be the first “green” building in Kentucky, they meant it. The Green Building is “green” from its flooring made out of ceiling substrates to its cylindrical ice storage system to its recycled jean insulation. They reused as much as they could from the old building. New furniture was made out of the old framing of the building. Also, the flooring is made out of substrates from the old ceiling and previous used flooring. Original blocks that were taken out of the building were reused and placed throughout. When they used cinder blocks, they opted for “Mineshaft blocks” which are made out of coal slag, Portland cement and are solid.

The building has this incredible cylindrical ice storage system that freezes during the peak hours of the day and it produces cold air. This system generates the cool air only at a fraction of the normal cost of energy. It also has 12 geothermic walls that provide renewable energy to heat up the building during winter. Energy recovery units are in the highest and in the lowest points of the building to redistribute the warm and cool air throughout the entire building. The Green Building has a solar powered roof. It has 81solar panels that outperform Kentucky’s energy codes by 65 percent. It also contains 3 collection tanks that collect storm water and is used for irrigation in the courtyard.

 

The architects of this LEED building, created a 40 foot lobby that provides large quantities of natural lighting to the inside. The artificial lighting integrated turns on when the level of natural light is too high or when the level is low. The way the building was designed helps reduce excessive brightness caused by its height and its angle of the building.