Colorado Commercial Center to Include Green Features

AVON, Colo. — Construction is wrapping up on a $15 million, 3.28-acre green retail and office complex in the Vail Valley.

Traer Creek Plaza , set to open its doors in fall 2006, is a two-level, 52,650-square-foot facility designed by Arthur Erickson and constructed by Shaw Construction. Located adjacent to a Home Depot and Wal-Mart Super Center , the semi-circular complex will provide space for restaurants, shops and commercial offices.

By incorporating green elements into the infrastructure, roof and irrigation system, planners aimed to not only to create a profitable retail outlet for the community, but also to set a standard for environmentally responsible development, according to a Traer Creek spokesman. The complex is registered with the United States Green Building Council, and hopes to achieve LEED certification upon completion.

Among the building’s green attributes are recycled construction products, non-potable water for irrigation, and a barrel-vault roof made of sedum sod. The sod is a fibrous, living material that will capture storm water, aid in insulation of the building and reduce energy costs, and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.

“The biggest challenge from a constructability standpoint was the watershed off of the building and designing a gutter system that would capture that water,” says project manager Erik Peterson. “Because it’s a sedum and a plant-type material, [the roof] does capture some of that water and uses it not only to sustain itself, but also cleans the water on the way down.”

In keeping with the environmental theme, the structure is designed to blend in with its mountainous surroundings, reducing its visual impact on neighboring buildings. Cascading vegetation that continues to the sod roof also helps the facility blend in with its surroundings.

The building’s structural elements include an interior roof made of glue-laminated timbers, a skylight spine that traverses the length of the building, and a roof structure without interior supports.

In lieu of support columns, the design team created a tension roof system using curved beams and a king-post cable assembly, which allows the roof to move up and down and side to side a couple of inches

“The challenging aspects of this project, in terms of design, are due to the radius structure with a barrel-vault roof and no interior supporting columns,” says Peterson. “That created a gigantic design challenge in that we had to have compensation channels for the glass assembly [along] the entire radius and on the interior of the building.”

A glass, curtain-wall system enclosing both sides of the structure provides retail and office tenants with unobstructed views of Game Creek and Beaver creeks. A raised access floor at the office level allows for flexibility in intra-office networking and HVAC applications.

The development will also include 86 surface parking spaces and a two-level public parking garage for community access. A snow-melt system on the perimeter of the retail area will provide walking safety during winter.