KEO International Consultants has received word from the USGBC that its design for Sabah Al Ahmed International Finance Center (ICF) has been precertified at the Gold level under the LEED-CS green building rating system.  The 1.2 million sf, 40-story tower is the first building in Kuwait to be registered or precertified by the USGBC.  As you can partially tell from the renderings, the design includes four stacked courtyard atriums ranging from 8-13 floors each.  Three of the atriums serve the office portion of the building, while the fourth atrium serves the 200 key, 4-star business class hotel.  The tower generates part of its energy from a PV system, as well as from roof-mounted wind turbines.  You may be able to see the lattice-work of wind turbines at the crown of the building; I think they’re the vertical axis, helical-type, but it’s hard to tell with this one image.  We’ll make sure to keep you posted …

The use of wind turbines at the building’s apex is similar to what’s planned for Discovery Tower in Houston.  It’ll be interesting to see these designs meet reality — the media world will definitely have fun running video and stories of building integrated wind turbines.

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Have a restful weekend and make sure to check your email on Monday morning, May 19th, because the USGBC is set to open LEED v3 / LEED 2009 to public comment.

The first step in the process is simply sorting through the new naming convention.  The overall initiative (LEED Version 3) is designed to improve LEED project execution, documentation, and certification.  There are three key pieces:

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The South Group recently announced that Luma, their newly completed residential project, received LEED Gold certification.  The 19-story high-rise joins its sister building, Elleven, and becomes only the second condo in the state to receive the Gold level designation.  Located in the South Park neighborhood of LA and with a total of 236 residences, LUMA saves 30% more energy over Title 24 2001 standards and consumes roughly 751,000 gallons less water annually than a comparable tower.  The posh, green tower was built with low-VOC everything, and as you would expect, recycled and locally-sourced materials. 

If you’re in the market for something like this, you might need to jump on it — Luma is almost entirely sold out. 

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Proximity Hotel seems to have found a way to deliver a comfortable, luxury-type experience and still be one of the greenest hotels in the country.  It was built to use roughly 36% less energy and 30% less water than a comparable hotel.  Proximity Hotel also heats over half the building’s water with roughly 4,000 sf of solar thermal panels on the roof.  In the video embedded below, Dennis Quaintance, Chief Design Officer of Proximity Hotel, mentions that the savings from the solar thermal investment is about $20k per year. He also talks about the hotel’s innovative elevator, which is the first Regenerative Drive Otis Gen2 elevator in North America — it captures energy while going down and uses it while going up.

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Update 7/24/08 – The Method Cabin is now complete!

We have a new company here, Method Homes, that just announced the construction of their first prefab model, The Method Cabin.  Method Homes is targeting LEED-H Gold certification for the five-module abode, which will be about 1811 sf with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  I’ve been navigating through the blog a little bit, studying the details of this first design, and I definitely like what I see so far.  Designed by Seattle architectural firm, Balance Associates, The Method Cabin will have that trendy cantilevered roof and efficient, functional floor plans.  It will also have some nice green touches with Kliptech Ecotop countertops, Bamboo Hardwoods cabinets and flooring, and the Warmboard radiant sub floor. 

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