LEEDing the way...

Besides being absolutely committed to providing the best service we possibly can to our customers, the City of Richland and the Richland Public Library are also committed to making sure we leave as small a carbon footprint as we can. To that end, while we are not an official LEED project, we are striving to use the LEED principles in everything we build. One of the decisions we made was to salvage as much of the old brick as possible, for use in the places that need to be filled in, or in the places we need to connect the old building with the new building. Recently, the brick was used on the exterior of the building, on the Goethals side, to integrate the old part of the building with the new shear wall. The shear wall is the part of the building that gives both stability and flexibility for seismic regulations.

In order to integrate the two walls, every other brick was cut in half, creating a sort of stair step effect. The salvaged bricks were then set, at half places, to create a smooth look and a sturdy structure. Salvaging the bricks was a very time consuming process, involving removing the bricks intact and cleaning off the dirt and old mortar. The task was quite time consuming, but in the end, we hope that our efforts will pay off in a building that seamlessly integrates the old and the new, while providing for a better future for all.

Theresa