The Roof That Breathes!

 My favorite site visit so far came on January 5^th, 2013 when we arrived at the BRIT and were introduced to our tour guide, Greg Braak. There was so much to see, so many notes to write so I could mention every detail in this blog. The inside of the building is breath-taking and the buildings themselves were built and placed strategically in its specific location in order to stand as a sustainable building.  The BRIT stands for the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, and it’s a non-profit plant research and learning center focused on conserving and knowledge sharing. It was founded in 1987 along with its Herbarium on the east side of Fort Worth. However, in May 2011, after 11 months of construction, BRIT opened to the public its new 70,000 sq ft. building including the Herbarium. The buildings are called the “Think Block” which contains the main entrance foyer and other areas for education, research, exhibit and administrative offices. The “Archive Block” houses the Herbarium and the library. The BRIT received U.S. Green Building Council LEED - Platinum Certification which is the “highest level of green”. It was truly remarkable to see how this institution and its staff protect nature’s treasures.

As we entered the building, you couldn’t help but notice the large windows at the other end of the building and the amazing bamboo ceiling. Thanks to this massive wall of windows, as I like to call it, natural sunlight pours in and provides lighting through more than 75% of the building, thus cutting energy use throughout most of the day. The bamboo ceiling is a rapidly renewable resource which can be harvested within six-year cycles and it displays itself beautifully in the foyer. 

Eco-Friendly and Energy Efficient

 On the right hand side of the foyer, a tall and enormous wall of a wood-like material is also shown. It is a sinker cypress wall which comes from cypress logs that sank to the bottom of a river in Louisiana over 100 years ago. After they were pulled out and dried, they became the Eco-friendly lumber of choice to display in the foyer as well.  Low-flow faucets, dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals reduce water use 60% over EPA standards. In addition, the cement floors in the foyer and along the Think Block actually came from a Public Health building that used to exist right next door. The building had to be torn down but it was torn down piece by piece in order to recycle as much as they could. In the end, 97.6% of the building was recycled and this was something BRIT and their architect wanted to do because it was the right thing to do. Someone scored some good LEED points! 

Another cool and exciting sustainable fact is that the Think Block actually breathes! What did they mean by ‘breathe’? Well, the roof is a planted living roof which houses all sorts of plants that reduce cooling/heating needs as well as rainwater runoff. This improves durability and provides a habitat for native plants, butterflies and birds. The Archive Block does not have a planted living roof and instead it is covered with rooftop solar panels in the shape of a tube. The tubes cross in array and collect the sun’s rays on all 360 degrees of the tube. These solar panels cover 6,000 sq. ft. of the roof and provide about 16% of the electricity in the building.

Below are some more fun facts about the BRIT:

Future Vines

• The living roof is sloped 9.5 degrees so it’s viewable from the parking lot.
•  Vines will cover the walls of the Archive Block playing a big part in the building’s thermal insulation.
• There are 6,000 bio-trays that hold 30,000 plants of 48 species on the living roof.
• There are 166 wells each 256 feet deep drilled around the BRIT campus empowering BRIT’s geothermal system.
• The BRIT PV system is composed of 285 solar panels, each panel containing 40 solar cylinders.
  

Conserved Specimens

As we made our way into the Archive Block where the Herbarium is located, Mr. Braak preceded to inform us about the content of the walls,ceiling panels and floors. The drywall and ceiling panels are made from recycled sheet-rock and the rubber-based floors are made from recycled tennis shoes and tires. Before entering the Herbarium, we entered the plant preservation studio where all specimens of plants go through before entering the Herbarium. In this room, volunteers dry out the plants by placing them between newspapers and cardboard. They then go into a -20 degree freezer to kill any minuscule living bugs and eventually filed and contained in the Herbarium geographic region. These plants give scientists a lot of information and helps understand climate changes since the same type of plant can take on different shape, size and color in one part of the world as opposed to in Texas. Research is also done for nutritional and medical purposes. One particular student is doing research on ways to do DNA analysis for crime scenes through her experimentation with a plant's DNA.

As you can see, the BRIT is truly an amazing building to see. This is definitely my favorite site so far but wouldn't you be amazed at a LEED-Platinum certified building? The BRIT definitely shares knowledge about the plant world and with that knowledge comes a sense of care and stewardship for our environment.