Fetzer Winery Administration Building
Sustainability Summary

"The chairman of the board of Fetzer Winery, a guy named Paul Dolan, is a committed environmentalist who wanted to build a building 'off the grid', the electrical power grid. And we went about as far as we could go without fully getting off the grid. The the idea of rammed earth also appealed to Paul, and to me, as being very green, because you're essentially using materials that are right there on site. It's also a very energy efficient building, staying cool in the summer and warm in the winter."
— Tom Faherty, Valley Architects, interviewed by Brian Libby for ArchitectureWeek, 2003

"Most of the power required for a typical office building if for electric lighting, office equipment, and air conditioning. An office building is an ideal candidate for using natural light since it is normally occupied inthe daylight hours. As you know, we designed the clerestory windows in the roof and the large office windows on the south side to provide enought light in the building to work inside wihout turning on the lights. The challenge is to capture the light without glare. Cutting the harsh light and glare is the reason for the trellis on the south side and the louvers inside, below the clerestory windows. As you know, the building was physically modeled and tested by PG&E at their energy conservation center in San Francisco. The electric lights are there for cloudy days and working in the early morning or in the evenings when the sun does not provide enough natural light. Most of the lighting in the building is controlled by occupancy sensors that will turn on the lighst automatically when there are people in the space, and not enough sunlight. The sensors sense movement, so if Bill takes a nap and doesn't move, the lights in his office will go out.

"... Water is heated only when and if it is required for washing hands, for isntance. There is not the standby energy cost of a tank of constantly heated water.

"It will probably take a while for the occupants to learn about and adjust the system to meet their own requirements. The system is designed to be adjustable and flexible, so please have patience and work with the managers to make the systems work for you."
— Valley Architects, memo to client

An original design aspiration was to be powered entirely off grid, with entirely natural cooling. The mechanical engineers found this goal of the building owner to be motivating, but a bit beyond what was realistic. Since it's opened, the building has garnered considerable interest from other architects and designers working on similar scale projects. The author of a green building textbook has focused on the building as a positive example.

issues related to design for sustainability caused few if any project delays, with the possible expection of special strength testing for the pise earth walls.

Details

Savings by Design Award, 2000