West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library

- 2009 City of Berkeley published about its Climate Action Plan – this project immerses to
reduce the Greenhouse gas emissions.

- Architect demonstrated that a Zero Net Energy approach to the project, thus would
establish a prototype for compliance with the Climate Action Plan.

- PG&E became a partner for this project

- Design Team minimized the buildings energy footprint through integrated passive and
active strategies for high performance building envelope, daylighting, and natural ventilation

o These ideas led to the development of an innovative wind chimney that

provides cross ventilation protecting the library interior from street noise. Wind
Chimney increases the façade height, reinforcing the civic presence of the library
along University Ave.
- Library serves as a critical network for the community, ESL classes are available, and an
adult literacy program. The design solution advertises the library’s presence on the street,
drawing in neighborhoods from all populations to its reading rooms and array of programs and
resources

- Library offers flexible spaces to accommodate all ages and incorporate large collections of
material for minorities.

- Flexible meeting room that is used for local organizations, while doubling as additional
reading spaces at other times.

- Dedicated teen rooms, to make them feel at ease in such a space like the library, where
many others could be. Glass doors minimize any acoustic disruption while allowing the sightline
for supervision.

- Children also have their own area with views out to the back garden.

- Building encourages people to walk, there is no on-site parking, yet there is proximity to
public transportation, with adequate spaces for biking.
- Two landscaped oases are tucked into the tight urban site. In space carved out of the building,
the trellised entry court overlooking the sidewalk is set back sufficiently to accommodate an
accessible path, climbing vines, flow-through planters, benches, and bicycle parking.
- At the rear of the site, a garden court under a specimen Cork Oak tree is seen throughout the
building — inviting the native plant greenery to be part of the experience within the library.
- The landscape improvements make an overt connection with the underlying natural ecological
system of the site. An oak landscape with native understory plantings, typical of natural
uplands near stream courses, is re-established consistent with the pre-disturbance character
of this site.
- Gardens strategically located for visual impact and stormwater management feature a colorful
mix of species that provide a natural habitat for native butterflies, hummingbirds, pollinators,
and local wildlife. They, in concert with the building’s zero net energy design, expand the
ecological educational opportunities of the library.

- To achieve net zero energy, solar access analysis is determined by the site capacity for
renewable energy generation, establishing the building’s energy budget.
- Reducing things such as building loads, early modeling, including Dayism, Radiance,
Skycalc, and computational fluid dynamics, was used to determine optimal roof
configuration and building height to maximize natural ventilation, daylighting, and energy
production – studies like these led to the buildings most innovative feature, the wind
 chimney, designed to use the steady ocean breezes to draw natural ventilation through
the building.
- Due to the heavy traffic noise on University Ave, opening windows directly to the street
wasn’t possible, instead, the front façade is extended above the roof level to create a
continuous wind chimney. Breezes create negative pressure behind the facade where
louvers draw air through the library from windows at the opposite end of the building.
- Skylights automatically operate to support airflow. A radiant floor system and window
radiator grilles connected to solar thermal panels provide heating and cooling.
- Management system tied to the roof-top weather station coordinates the systems,
switching modes from natural ventilation to full cooling for comfort control. NO additional
HVAC.
 - Proper daylighting was a primary goal
- South-facing front façade received a large window wall over the full width of the main
library space, with a horizontal solar shading system
- Skylights face north to minimize glare
- At the north wall, a reading nook in a children’s area is generously glazed towards a
small garden.
- Interior glazed walls and clerestory windows allow internal spaces to connect with the
natural light
- As a result of all of these things, the library is 9 percent daylit, with views of the outdoors
from 95% of the occupied spaces.

- Natural ventilation provides excellent indoor air quality – no conventional air handling
system is needed, with heating and cooling provided by radiant floors and pre-tampering
radiators at the north windows.

- Small garden at the north end provides and forms a micro-climate from which the fresh air
for the natural ventilation is drawn.
- Series of transfer ducts and ceiling fans within the building facilitates the flow of air
throughout the various library systems. Building C02 sensors connected to window motors
ensure windows are open when fresh air is needed
- The building occupies 82% of the site, creating a challenge to balance all stormwater
management, landscape restoration, public use, and accessibility goals. On this fully
developed urban site stormwater runoff is filtered, cleaned and detained before
discharging to the city’s storm drainage system and the San Francisco Bay. All runoff is
collected in Flow-Through planters integrated into the base of the building
- These planters, vegetation are specially designed sandy soils to filter and clean the
water. At grade planting beds also, filters run off from the paved surfaces before leaving
the site while providing some groundwater recharge. IN addition to mechanical and
biological cleaning of the water, the planters are designed to detain both routine and
major flood flows before runoff enters the city’s storm drainage system, thus mitigating
serious downstream flooding problems All planting selected for their drought tolerance
and ability to survive in a healthy condition in the local climate with minimal
water-efficient irrigation and seasonal pulses of rainwater. Portable water uses us
reduced by 58.2% from the LEED baseline through these irrigation strategies and
through low flow pumping fixtures
- To minimize the buildings carbon footprint, the design included both operational energy
reductions and embodied energy savings. Due to natural ventilation and extensive daylighting,
the building can be used even when there is a power outage.

- Lighting loads are reduced by extensive daylighting, skylights and glazing balanced at the
north and south. Task lighting and book stack lighting reduce light power density

- Highly insulated walls reduce air conditioning loads. The ratio of opening to solid wall
balances heat losses with daylighting gains

- Energy star appliances and an efficient laptop charging station reduces plug in loads, an
energy use dashboard kiosk in the lobby and on the web educates patrons on the impacts of
their energy use decisions

- Actual energy use is reduced from the AIA 2030 baseline by 76%, exceeding AIA 2030
energy performance targets. To balance these energy loads, solar radiation provides renewable
energy through photovoltaic panels (electricity) and solar thermal panels (hot water). Over its
first-year pf operation, the library was net positive.

- With loads substantially reduced, and offset by solar energy, the building contributes little to
peak energy demands on the utility

- Building materials – carefully selected for durability, optimum indoor air quality, minimized
impacts on the environment and minimized embodied energy

- 100% of adhesives, sealants, and coating meet LEED low emitting materials criteria

- 100% of flooring systems meet LEED low emitting material criteria. Shaw Ecoworx carpet,
Forbo wall base, Dal Tile, Forbo Marmoleum sheet flooring.

- 88% of all wood products meet low emitting criteria. Glulam’s, wood doors and casework

- Rain screen details were developed to decrease the complexity of installation, minimize waste
and minimize furring channels required. Swiss Pearl Panel; FSC DreamDex (resin-impregnated FSC
pine): water, mold and pest resistant, chemically inert, with no off-gases.

- Wood-framed building, 97.1% FSC certified. Renewable resource, not a thermal bridge.

- Advanced wood framing with larger than usual stud sizes: 3x8 wood studs at 24” OC, for better
thermal efficiency and less milling waste.

- Mineral wool insulation: R-30 exterior walls, R-41 roof assembly. Mineral wool: high R-value,
moisture, mold, and fire resistant, chemically inert, does not sag.

- Materials achieved 31.2% Regional Materials Content, sourced within 500 miles of site.

- 90.53% of construction waste diverted from landfill, Waste comingled and tracked using
GreenHalo.
- From the start the design solution was driven by a need for long-term flexibility and adaptability.
A two-story solution was rejected to maximize flexibility in programming, supervision, and staffing.
The main library stacks and reading areas were designed as a single open space to allow for possible
reconfigurations in the future, in anticipation of needing less books and shelving due to the rise of new
media.

- The community room doubles as an additional reading area when not reserved for other uses. It
is accessible both from the side door and from the main library space. The side door access to the
community room and meeting rooms can be closed off from the library public areas, facilitating
off-hours uses.

- The circulation and reference desks were combined into a single service desk with sightlines to all
public areas, both to conserve space and to allow for flexibility in staffing.

- The PV panels are mounted on stanchions as opposed to having the racks mounted directly on
the roof. This design allows for future upgrades without impacting the roof itself. Each component of
the assembly can be disassembled and recycled.