Rob B OPI Concept Salon Awarded Prestigious LEED® Green Building Certification

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/