Rob B
OPI Concept Salon Awarded Prestigious LEED® Green Building Certification
Another feather in the Eco-Cap
of Los Angeles architect Richard Best
Studio City California, December
15, 2011 – American
architect Richard Best and his architecture firm Richard Best Architect, Inc.
announced today that one of their projects, the ROB B OPI Concept Salon, has
been awarded LEED® Silver Certification, as established by the U.S. Green
Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute
(GBCI). LEED® is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction
and operation of high performance green buildings.
“Building operations are nearly 40% of
the solution to the global climate change challenge,” said Rick Fedrizzi,
President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “While
climate change is a global problem, innovative companies like ROB B OPI Concept
Salon are addressing it through local solutions.”
In fact, Richard Best Architect, Inc. has
crafted the world’s first LEED® Silver Certified nail salon – an extraordinary
new building. Achieving LEED® Silver Certification is no easy design task. This
design was further complicated by having to provide treatment sterility while
overcoming the noxious fumes of nail polish and exposure to potentially harmful
cleaning chemicals that are typical of the nail salon industry. The architects quickly
realized that this project could only become ecologically sound and a truly
healthy human environment with a dedicated effort of both the architects and
the ownership team.
Environmental design and stewardship are
not new to Best and his practice – Mr. Best first began designing eco-friendly
buildings while still in college studying architecture in 1979, before it was
the “chic thing to do”. In June of 2009, at
UN Headquarters in New York, Best
received a “Best Practices Award” from the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy
Organization (a multi-national Treaty sanctioned renewable energy organization),
for his career-long commitment to sustainable building design.
Eco-conscious buildings were also familiar
turf to Rob B Salon and GS & MS Properties (the owners of the building).
Both companies were keenly aware of corporate social/environmental responsibility
– both having a vision of the future that recognized the need for corporations
and businesses to behave differently – to provide for better human health,
conserve natural resources, reduce risks and ultimately increase their profits
by doing so.
An architect
with sustainable design expertise and an ownership willing to walk-the-talk of
green design and operations … An
Eco-Dream Team was borne. In this case there was no need for the architect
to educate the ownership regarding the resultant costs savings, marketing
benefits and increased revenues of going green with the design of their new
facility.
As a first step,
the team considered a myriad of sustainability options – site opportunities
such as access to local mass transit and encouraging alternate modes of
transportation – bicycles and SMART Cars, installing low-water consumption
plumbing fixtures and landscaping, using high-efficiency
heating/air-conditioning systems with added fresh air ventilation, using
construction materials with recycled content and materials which are absent of
volitle organic compounds, employing dimmer systems and programmable
thermostats for easily adjustable heating/cooling and lighting.
Next, the team formed
a LEED® strategy by prioritizing selected options based on operational effectiveness,
ecological synergistic benefits cost/schedule impacts and aesthetics. The team actually invented some new strategies such as an Alternative
Company Textiles Program - discouraging the use rayons and nylons and
encouraging use of bamboo and a Green Cleaning Program to reduce employee and
client exposure to potentially harmful cleaning chemicals.
“We’ve created
an eco-friendly Zen-like oasis respecting the environment and making people
feel good,” says Best, Principal of Richard Best Architect, Inc. Best goes
continues – “you can feel the difference when you cross the threshold … the
freshness of the air, the balance of humidity and temperature, the calming of
elegant natural materials and the acoustic privacy of a home.”
The ROB B OPI Concept Salon achieved LEED®
Silver Certification for energy use, lighting, water and material use as well
as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies, including: 1) Reducing
pollution, saving energy and reducing energy costs – by using high efficiency
energy saving heating/cooling systems coupled with abundant fresh air
ventilation, high efficiency lighting – LED (light-emitting diode) lamps and
abundant daylighting and by using SMART Cars; 2) Improving human health – by implementing
a Green Cleaning Program to reduce exposure to noxious chemicals; and 3) Conserving
natural resources – by using rapidly renewable bamboo wood for cabinets &
furniture and saving water by using drought tolerant landscaping and building
with recycled construction materials
“It’s all in the Synergies,” says Best –“making
single eco-conscious choices that when combined, yield multiple benefits … The
whole being worth more than the simple sum of its parts” (Aristotle,
Wertheimer, Fuller, etal). By using less energy and water, LEED certified
building save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce greenhouse
gas emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers
and the larger community.
“And, its good business”, Best
postulates. Forward-looking corporations and business owners – like The Rob B
OPI Concept Salon and GS & MS Properties recognize the fiscal benefits of
choosing to “go green” with their buildings and operations, and they capitalize
on green business branding which appeals to many of their clients and makes for
happier, more productive workers.
“The green building movement offers an
unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most-important challenges of our
time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and
expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,” said Rick Fedrizzi,
President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “The work of
innovative building projects such as ROB B OPI Concept Salon is a fundamental
driving force in the green building movement.”
About
Richard Best Architect, Inc.
After apprenticing under world renowned
architect, Charles W. Moore, Richard Best became a California licensed
architect in 1986, then he became nationally registered by NCARB in 1989 and a LEED®
Accredited Professional in 2010 (BD+C). In 1988, with a full breadth of professional
experience behind him and believing it incumbent
upon architects to continuously strive to improve the human condition and
respect the natural environment, Mr. Best established Richard Best
Architect, Inc., in Los Angeles, California. As a seasoned professional
practice with a deep understanding of sustainability concepts and technology in
energy, waste, carbon emissions, green building and other areas, the firm is
able to identify tools, capitalize upon opportunities and mobilize resources
for sustainability planning and implementation. Richard Best Architect, Inc.
specializes in sustainable design and corporate sustainability visioning,
culture building, strategic program creation and implementation to leverage the
social, branding, and financial values of sustainability into profit-driven
initiatives, operational cost reductions and risk diminution. Richard Best
Architect, Inc. provides their clients with homogenous real-time sustainability
solutions for short-term business needs and long-term corporate sustainability
success. Read more about Mr. Best and Richard Best Architect, Inc, at http://www.richardbestarchitect.com
and http://ecobestpractices.blogspot.com.
About the Rob B OPI
Concept Salon
In
March of 2009, The Rob B OPI Concept Salon was established to provide high-end manicure/pedicure
and massage services using OPI Products, providing a comfortable atmosphere to
enhance client’s physical appearance and soothe their souls within a “green” retail
environment. The salon is filled with the most comfortable furnishings, and the
most talented, experienced professionals stand by, waiting to serve you. At ROB
B your well-being is our first priority. The salon is committed to
providing a healthy, safe salon environment and proudly uses the latest in
salon sanitation procedures to ensure that the most stringent salon regulations
are exceeded. http://www.robbsalon.com/
About U.S. Green
Building Council & LEED
The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green
Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our
nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. With a
community comprising 80 local affiliates, more than 18,000 member companies and
organizations, and more than 167,000 LEED® Professional Credential holders,
USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to contribute $554
billion to the U.S. gross domestic product from 2009-2013. The U.S. Green
Building Council's LEED® green building certification system is the foremost
program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. Over
100,000 projects are currently participating in the LEED® rating systems,
comprising over 8 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states
and 114 countries. http://www.usgbc.org/
