Poteet Architects was formed 14 years ago in San Antonio, Texas. Its purpose is to redevelop south downtown San Antonio. Unlike new builders, Poteet tries to utilize existing structures. Interiors are the firms primary niche. There is a shipping container across the street that the firm designed that has received worldwide recognition.
Pearl San Antonio utilizes many sustainable features at their certified LEED Gold facility. They include:
- Texas' largest solar installation
- Drought resistant Xeriscaping
- Rainwater Harvesting
- Reflective roofing
- Walkable, bicycle friendly
- Non-smoking facility
- Mixed use food/retail/offices
Lake Flato Architects are housed in a building that was once a 1920's car dealership. They employ 50 full time employees and provide affordable, modular housing. The firm also specializes in commercial, residential, community, pre-fab, and university projects. Nearly all of their projects utilize natural lighting. Also they attempt to have all residential projects LEED certified. Most of their recent work has been existing renovation or commercial in nature since the economic downturn. The in house sustainability specialist is a mechanical engineer by education. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to measure success. Energy modeling is used to attain an idea of how different designs will work. The majority of employees are bicyclists and cycle to work on a daily basis. Networking and sharing of information are common practices of employees.
We met with Lawrence Jetter, President of Advanced Earthen Construction Technologies. AECT, manufactures a machine that is capable of producing compressed earth blocks. Here are a few facts about compressed earth blocks:
- Cheaper to build
- Better insulation
- Stronger than adobe
- Can build up to two stories high
- 10" dirt wall equivalent to R36 value
- Evaporative cooling (1 degree in 1 hour)
- Higher appraisal value
- 300lb compression
- Less fossil fuel used than on traditional construction
We had a routing issue and were directed to the wrong location. We were supposed to visit the Green Spaces Alliance of Texas but instead ended up at a locked gate in the middle of a road. Once we made it back to the proper location we caught the tail end of the presentation. According to their website they are a local land trust and:
- Preserve large parcels of land
- Foster community gardens
- Educate the public
We ended our day at The Vistana. We parked in the parking garage and went to meet up with our contact person. We waited on the other group to arrive so that we could begin our tour. Once they arrived we went to the office to alert the tour person that they had arrived and the office doors were locked. Apparently there was some confusion on their part regarding our intentions. We ended up leaving without a tour. To ad insult, the parking garage machine would not read our ticket and we ended up having to pay $10 to get out of the garage.
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