2022 CGBG Annual Award Winners

Congratulations to the winners of our CGBG Awards 2022! Thank you to all our nominees - your hard work and efforts are applauded and greatly appreciated by everyone in the community!

 
 

LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE

 

lisa morey, colorado earth

Lisa Morey is a professional engineer and architectural designer who has been working in the construction industry since 2000.  Her mission is to scale the natural building industry by offering an affordable wall system made from locally obtained building materials.  

Lisa and her team at Colorado Earth help to create healthier structures using appropriate design, reuse of building material, as well manufacturing EcoBlox in Golden.  Using her background in engineering and design, she brings a 10,000 year-old practice to present day.  Believing in a simpler approach that has been time-tested around the world, Lisa sees magic when we bring techniques from our past into our current world. 

This year Lisa participated in CGBG’s Build Forward Expo and is currently in the design process for five Marshall Fire rebuild projects.

 

GREEN CHAMPION

 

THE LOMBARDO FAMILY, MARSHALL FIRE HOMEOWNERS

After they lost their home in the Marshall Fire, the Lombardo Family saw an opportunity to combine their passion for the environment with the long road of rebuilding by building a Passive House.  When they saw the issues with underinsurance, building codes, and more, they knew they had to share their experience and help spread the possibilities and excitement of high-performance home building to their local community.

To that end, the Lombardo Family participated in an article and mini-documentary on Rocky Mountain PBS Colorado Voices entitled “Building Back Better After the Marshall Fire” and subsequent screening/Q&A panel with the community at one of Louisville’s Rebuilding Better Workshops.  They have volunteered with The CGBG at the Build Forward Workshop & Expo where their Sunflower Sanctuary project was featured, and they were able to answer questions from other community members.  Along with additional upcoming opportunities to share their story, the Lombardos continue to be a point of contact for several neighbors and community members to help others get started rebuilding to a high standard.

 

student project of the year

 

GREEN-TECH DRIVE-THRU

MASLIN MELLICK + OLIVIA cOLLIER

CU DENVER MASTERS PROGRAM

Around 290 million tires are discarded in the U.S. each year. Many of which end up in landfills and take thousands of years to decompose due to their complex ingredients that attributes to the rubbers durability. Since the invention of the modern tire, there have been no alternative materials used in tire production. Therefore, as long as tires continue to be made they will continue to end up in landfills. Colorado is home to the world’s largest tire monofill, holding currently 80 million tires just 50 minutes north of Denver. Of these tires only a small percentage are recycled, however the process is toxic and can cause underlying health risks.

Sustainability Features:

  • Reducing the amount of tires in monofills and giving them a second life.

  • Material sourced from local landfills

  • Utilizing every components of a tire

  • Producing a readily available new building material that's modular and customizable

  • Reducing the amount of building material needed in a wall & roof assembly

  • Utilizing a rainscreen to reuse rainwater for tire washing machines

 
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GREEN BUILDING OF THE YEAR

 

THE CHUNG TAI ZEN CENTER, SOPHER SPARN ARCHITECTS

Mindfulness and sustainability are at the core of the Chung Tai Zen Center’s design and detailing. The  Zen Center is designed to be the ideal calm atmosphere for meditation practice and Buddhist instruction,  prioritizing purity of mind and a caring, fulfilling way of life.

Glue laminated timber beams and exposed  CLT roof panels were selected not only for their aesthetics but also their minimal carbon footprint, in  keeping with the Buddhist traditions of living in harmony with the planet. The use of mass timber in this  project alone avoided 457 metric tons of C02, equivalent to keeping 411 cars off the road for a year.  The three foot deep exposed glulam beams and CLT deck are meant to evoke a tranquil and protective  forest canopy under which practitioners of Chan Buddhism can meditate, attend classes, and share meals  together undistracted. The warmth and natural aesthetic of these materials all align with the principles  of minimalism and simplicity that are key to the practice of Buddhism.

Great care was taken to conceal  structural connections of the mass timber elements to make these as minimal as possible, to allow the  building occupants to be undistracted during meditations and lectures. 

The natural finish and warmth  of the Douglas fir glulam beams and CLT was enhanced by a clear-coat stain applied to both interior and  exterior mass timber elements. The roof structure of the Great Hall is designed to appear to float over  a band of clerestory windows supported by hybrid steel and glulam columns located on the exterior of  the building. In addition to the mass timber elements of the project, clear grained cedar siding helps to  ground the building to the surrounding pastoral and forested site and highlights the entry to the building.  Ongoing research and studies have shown mass timber construction has a smaller environmental footprint  than traditional building materials – it is less carbon intensive and can store more carbon that would  otherwise be emitted back into the atmosphere. These facts helped our team solidify our choice in using  CLT and glulam beams in the Zen Center. Our team calculated that it took only 1 minute for North American  forests to collectively grow the amount of wood used in this project. The Chung Tai Zen Center embodies  beauty and sustainability.