Rush for Sustainability

By John L. Breidenbach, AIA, CSI, LEED AP, CDT, Sustainable Technologies Division, Tremco, Inc.

John L. Breidenbach, AIA, CSI, LEED AP, CDT, Sustainable Technologies Division, Tremco, Inc. Courtesy of Tremco, Inc.

The attributes of sustainable design seem to be more and more prevalent within the healthcare market. James Zajac, AIA, Principal in Healthcare for Perkins + Will, a leading architectural firm in healthcare design and innovation, said that “Perkins + Will starts projects from the premise of delivering a sustainable project.”  This move to a more green approach in healthcare projects is due to the rising cost of energy, code compliances, a responsibility to the surrounding community, and patients & medical staff who value healthy design.  For these reasons, roofs of hospitals & other medical facilities have become relatively more sustainable.  

When approached with the opportunity to provide a roofing solution for Rush University Medical Center’s Atrium Building, the first qualification from the owner was that it must be “sustainable”.  John Hinko, Manager of Engineering, Rush University Medical Center, demanded an environmentally responsible approach that maximized the performance of the roof system in an effort to decrease environmental impact as mandated by internal hospital green initiatives, and to be consistent with the Chicago Energy ordinance.

After reviewing this particular project, reflectivity, emissivity, low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) materials, adequate insulation thermal value, and a long term, multi-ply system became our guiding fundamentals.  With these principals providing direction through the design phase, we would be able to achieve lower cooling loads and ultimately lessen energy usage.  Additionally, from a global perspective, we would lessen the impact of the building as a contributor to the “Urban Heat Island Effect”.  In other words, a building with a roof surface that reflects sunlight, instead of absorbing it, can lower the ambient temperatures around the building when compared to nearby buildings with darker colored roofs.  Lastly, low VOC materials installed in cold applied adhesives allowed us to proceed without disrupting ongoing activities within the hospital.  The smoke and odor associated with hot applied adhesives would have created this negative effect.

A specified white reflective coating was sprayed onto the roof of Rush University Medical Center’s Atrium Building. Courtesy of Tremco, Inc.

But with all complex construction projects, there are many more variables to consider.  Roof levels can be quite different, even on the same building.  For instance, some of the roofs on the Atrium Building are heavily traveled by maintenance crews due to the location of the large mechanical units.  Perimeter roofs are visited on a regular basis by window washing contractors.  To avoid the future years of abuse by foot traffic, dropped tools and materials, a multi-ply roof system with a white reflective flood coat and bright white gravel surface was specified.  The lesser traveled roofs were specified to be white reflective modified bitumen membranes with a factory applied white reflective coated granule surface to save money.  Lastly, the three large skylight steep sloped sides were roofed with white metal.  All three of these specified roof systems readily met the Energy Star ® benchmark for reflectivity and emissivity or SRI (Solar Reflectance Index) as defined by ASTM E 1980, while catering to the varying design requirements of each roof level.

Bright white gravel was applied to particular roofs of the Rush University Medical Center’s Atrium Building. Courtesy of Tremco, Inc.

From the perspective of the roofing contractor, sustainability in the healthcare sector is a common practice.  Approximately 75% of the healthcare roofing work Knickerbocker Roofing and Paving Co. completes is sustainable to some measure.  This includes white, reflective roofing, vegetative roofing and low VOC, and cold applied installations.  “The environmental impact is lessened with these installations and disruption to ongoing activities is kept to a minimum with lower instance of fumes, smoke and associated hazards from hot kettles,” said Jack Kenney, Director of Operations for Knickerbocker Roofing and Paving Co.

The rooftop of Rush University Medical Center’s Atrium Building. Courtesy of Tremco, Inc.

Tremco Senior Field Representative, John McCafferty, installed another type of sustainable roofing solution at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois.  This particular roofing solution is a vegetative roof system that enabled the hospital to create a useable outdoor area that had not existed before.  The vegetative roof provided the hospital with an attractive solution that lessened cooling loads and the hospital’s contribution to the “Urban Heat Island Effect”.  Instead, there is now a pleasant, inhabitable space that when fully matured, will be a park-like setting complete with landscaped paths and indigenous plantings.  It has now become a visual amenity to the surrounding patient rooms and medical offices.  

Another exciting and beneficial aspect of this vegetative roof is that of horticultural therapy. Horticultural therapy is a form of treatment with potential benefits for people in therapeutic and wellness programs.  It is defined as a discipline that uses plants, gardening activities and the natural world as methods to conduct therapy and rehabilitation.

The rooftop of Rush University Medical Center’s Atrium Building. Courtesy of Tremco, Inc.

The tangible benefits of a sustainable approach when considering roofing are many and it appears as though sustainable solutions are here to stay; this is particularly true within the healthcare market.  Whether it is an effort to reduce the carbon footprint, create a healing environment, the opportunity to create more than just a roof is very exciting indeed.  Though the initial cost of sustainability may be higher than conventional design, working with resourceful firms & professionals that are knowledgeable and qualified to deliver sustainable roofing design assures the owner of a long term, beneficial, cost effective solution.           

John L. Breidenbach, AIA, CSI, LEED AP, CDT, Sustainable Technologies Division,
Tremco, Inc., can be reached at jbreidenbach@tremcoinc.com