The Gaia Anderson Hotel will join the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel in American Canyon, California (also designed by Todd Jersey Architecture), in becoming among the first commercial hotels in the country to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Gold certification.
The Gaia Anderson's more than 100 green features include solar electric systems, daylight in every space, passive heating and cooling strategies, preservation of existing shade trees to decrease heat islands in the parking lot, high-performance insulation, a lagoon that provides habitats for native aquatic birds, an ozone laundry system, high-efficiency Mitsubishi "Citi-Multi" HVAC systems, FSC-certified wood, dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals, and zero-VOC (volatile organic compound) finishes.
The hotel is designed with 100% natural storm water drainage, which uses percolation ponds and winter marshes to collect rainwater on site, where it percolates into the ground instead of emptying into a municipal storm drain. The winter marshes increase habitat for aquatic species and the percolating rainwater recharges the groundwater table.
Hotels are cost-sensitive buildings, and designing them to meet LEED Gold standards takes a good deal of research and cost planning. Moreover, because LEED was originally developed for commercial office buildings, applying LEED criteria to hotels posed an added challenge. The Gaia Anderson and Gaia Napa Valley hotels are certain to become models for green hotels nationwide; Todd Jersey Architecture is proud to participate in this pioneering development.
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