Learning

The Bullitt Center is being built to lower barriers for future projects and to encourage replication of energy-efficient, performance-based buildings in the Northwest.

In pursuit of this goal, the Bullitt Center team is collecting and sharing the lessons from this project to help building owners, architects, developers, banks, engineers and others in the green building movement find ways to enhance long-term building performance.

The building is sited near schools and universities to help ensure we can engage and share information with our community’s academic institutions.

From project inception, the University of Washington's College of the Built Environment and Integrated Design Lab have been involved as partners, providing the latest research and ensuring the project advances learning related to green building and energy efficiency.

In addition, Seattle University recently held a Community Design Workshop focused on McGilvra Place Park. Workshop participants identified challenges to a quality pedestrian experience, including the 19" high concrete barrier surrounding the park, frequent jaywalking due to lack of sidewalks and upheavals in the sidewalks caused by tree roots.

When the building opens, the lower two floors will be designed to reach students, homeowners, policy makers, public agency staff and other green building practitioners, with opportunities for hands-on exploration of the latest technologies, research, building mechanical systems, in addition to classes.

From initial design through public approval process and construction, the project team will be compiling lessons learned and sharing them with the community.

To lower barriers for future projects, the Bullitt Center is helping support a regional marketplace for green products that will be used in building construction. For example, finding substitutes for “red list” materials will create demand for new products in our region.

By creating demand in our region for the greenest building products, Bullitt Center is promoting the use of locally produced materials to reduce the impacts of transportation and to ensure production methods are safe, human and free of toxics. Future efforts will have access to these regional sources, helping reduce costs and other barriers to use.