From Post-Industrial Wasteland to Urban Oasis: One Building at a Time
John Jacobson, NE Sun Fall, 2009
From Post-Industrial Wasteland to
Urban Oasis: One Building at a Time
By John JacoBson
Let me first start by stating that
I am not an engineer or an architect but a real estate developer with a background in the
fine arts. I am interested in transforming
existing buildings into high performance
buildings that consume as little energy as
possible and produce as much renewable
energy as possible, while still seeing a reasonable return on my investment. It is an
honor to be asked to write for NESEA's
Northeast Sun. I have a great deal of respect for the people involved in the NESEA
community. There is so much to learn
about the planning and construction of
buildings and even more to learn from
the buildings after they have been built.
NESEA has been an invaluable resource
and learning tool towards this pursuit.
My father is a builder and I have had
the good fortune of working on jobsites.
My education as a fine artist at Rhode
Island School of Design gave me the tools
to question, observe and think about space
in a creative way. NESEA's BuildingEnergy
Conferences and the people that I have
met at them have provided the majority
of my education in building science. I
know just enough to make informed
decisions and who to hire when things
get over my head.
The Neighborhood
The building that I am going to talk
about is located at 28 Wolcott Street in
the Valley District of Providence, Rhode
Island along the Woonaskatucket River,
heralded as the birthplace of the industrial revolution. The neighborhood has a
large stock of historic mill and industrial
buildings. Many are vacant and in disrepair. The location is perfect for redevelopment, in my opinion, as it is close to
Clockwise, left to right: 28 Wolcott Street exterior-front view; Ketti Parente architect, Ketti Parente Design, John Jacobson
developer JTJ Investments, Keally DeWitt Aletris, Lori Quinn and Dave Stem from Dave Stem Contracting and Design;
cynene installation on the 2nd level; 28 Wolcott Street exterior-back and deck area.
Fall 2009 lNortheast Sun l21
downtown and public transportation and
the M-1 zoning allows for buildings up
to 6 stories, 75 feet with a variety of uses
including light industrial, commercial and
live/work. The majority of the buildings
in the Valley have unobstructed southern
exposure. Some major mill conversions
have already taken place, but there is a lot
more work to be done in order to fully
realize the area's potential. Symbolically,
I see no better place for sustainable
development than the birthplace of
the industrial revolution.
When considering buildings for
redevelopment, I tend to look at the ugly
ducklings and buildings that the historical society doesn't care about. An interesting byproduct of the Historic Tax Credit
in Rhode Island is that it drove up the
price of historic buildings that were eligible and drove down the price of the historic and existing buildings that weren't
eligible. Historic preservation has its place,
but under its rules I would have a hard
time doing the deep energy retrofits and
heavy transformations that I want to do.
A unique opportunity opened up where
some existing buildings were so devalued
that a developer could do very sophisticated high-performance upgrades and it
would be much cheaper than building
new. For instance, 28 Wolcott was built
for well under $200 a square foot, which
would be very hard to do with new construction. Since the national real estate
market's collapse, there is a great opportunity to retrofit existing buildings into
high performance green buildings cheaper than new construction. I hope that
our society seizes this opportunity.
The Building
28 Wolcott Street on the surface was a
cinderblock and concrete pink painted
mess, but it was an ideal building in
many ways. It consists of three levels
roughly totaling 7,800 square feet. One
of the first things that I check when
scouting properties is siting. In this case,
the building is recessed into a south-
facing hill. A good part of the building
is earth sheltered. It has great passive solar
gain and the roof has an unobstructed
southern exposure. Trees on the east and
west of the building shelter the windows
from the summer sun. The building was
built in 1930 and illustrates how good
simple designs can keep building energy
demands low. The building inspection
proved that the structure was very solid
and in need of little repair, and the phase
two environmental report showed that
despite its original life as a jewelry
manufacturing plant the site was "clean".
It was the perfect shell for what I wanted
to accomplish.
The Retrofit
This project was a complete gut rehab
and there is a lot that went into the design, but for this article I will focus on the
building envelope, the heating and cooling systems and the renewable energy
systems. The existing building envelope
was largely concrete and cinder block.
The tar and gravel roof was in relatively
There is so much to
learn about the planning
and construction of buildings and even more to
learn from the buildings
after they have been
built. NESEA has been
an invaluable resource
and learning tool
towards this pursuit.
good shape. A decision was made to go
with 3" of rigid foam insulation and a
white TPO roof. The interior walls were
framed out and 8" of Icynene was added
to the original walls and 10" to the ceiling. Cellulose was used on one section
where the fire marshal required a UL listing. The heating system consists of two
vacuum tube solar thermal Viessmann
Vitosol 300-Ts feeding a 120-gallon
SuperStor tank for the low temperature
heating system and an 80-gallon for
domestic hot water. A Vitodens 200 gas-
condensing boiler supplements the system
during the coldest months. In the winter,
the passive solar gain usually shuts down
the system from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and the
hot water stored during the day is released
at night through radiant floor heating
and Buderus radiators. Advanced Comfort Systems, Solarwrights and Viessmann
all worked together designing and installing the system and it works quite elegantly.
Cooling is provided by Mitsubishi Mr.
Slim ductless mini-splits. A 3.25 KW
Solar Pv array is tied into the first floor
office, which is 2,500 square feet.
Occupancy
So how is the building performing? This
I know for sure. My three cats love the
18" windowsills and I am happy when
I see my utility bills. All kidding aside,
having just finished the project last year
around the holidays it is still just a baby
and the verdict is still out. I need more
data. The space that is now my residence
is awaiting its Energy Star rating performed
by Jon Dember from CSG and I am
excited to see the data that he collected
during that process. Jon has been a tremendous resource and great help. The
downstairs is on track to be a Net Zero
office but I won't know for sure until it is
occupied and I have a plug load. Alteris
Renewables will be moving in on August
1st and I couldn't ask for better tenants in
terms of having knowledge of sustainability,
building science and renewable energy.
A building needs enlightened tenants
in order for it to perform properly. The
folks at Alteris installed all the renewable
systems when it was Solarwrights. The
building has much to learn from this
team of professionals. Once the building
has been fully occupied for a year, I will
have the data that will allow me to size
additional solar panels and push the entire building towards Net Zero, which
is the ultimate goal. My initial feeling
is that I am going to need an additional
6-kilowatt system to finish the job.
22 lNortheast Sun lFall 2009
The Future
As the primary operator of the building,
I am learning more about it everyday. I
know it intimately. I am its biggest critic
and fan and I am its steward and advocate.
I plan to live here for at least two years
until it is performing to its full potential.
Living in the building and observing the
seasonal changes and its effects on the
building, its mechanical systems and
the utility bills has been invaluable.
To quote Stewart Brand from How
Buildings Learn: What Happens After
They're Built, "First we shape our buildings, then they shape us, then we shape
them again- ad infinitum. Function reforms form, perpetually." The best that I
can hope for is that I have responded to
the current needs of our time responsibly
and positioned the building to last at least
another 80 years with minimal impact on
the environment. The first nine months
since completion of the project have indicated that I'm on the right track. I am
fascinated by this ongoing learning process and grateful that NESEA exists to
support and drive me to achieve the
performance goals of the building.
John Jacobson is president of JTJ
Investments and received his BFA from
RISD in 1994. 28 Wolcott has received a
congres-sional honor from Sheldon White-
house and The Senator John H. Chafee
Conservation Award for 2009 presented
by the Environmental Council RI.
johntaborjacobson@yahoo.com
Fall 2009 lNortheast Sun l23
