Sustainable architect Gerard Lee’s eyes widen and shine with enthusiasm as he lists ways to save energy and build more environmentally friendly structures.
“When a developer uses an architect, it’s just to make the building look pretty,” Lee said. “No one is thinking about how the building relates to the site, how it relates to the climate, its orientation to the sun, to the wind.”
For more than 12 years, Lee, principal of Oakland-based Gerard Lee Architects, has been preoccupied with such concerns, designing sustainable architecture that incorporates recycled materials, solar panels, air conditioning with higher filter levels, non-toxic compounds, moderating comfortable indoor temperatures and wasting less during construction.
Lee says such concerns are typically overlooked. “We’re trying to make sure that the buildings are not only energy efficient, they are healthier, so the air that you breathe when you’re inside the building is free from toxic chemicals.”
Sustainable, or green, architecture encompasses the fundamentals of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council and used around the world, and promotes design and construction that reduces negative environmental impacts and improves occupant health. Last fall, Lee himself became LEED accredited, which enables his design team to navigate the LEED certification process smoothly and, in addition, earns them one LEED credit toward certifying a project.
Lee said many houses contain undetectable, and potentially harmful, chemicals.
“Everyone loves to walk into a new house: they love that new paint smell and the smell of the carpet glues,” he said. “But what most people don’t realize is that those glues and paints aren’t very good for you.”
That’s because they contain volatile organic compounds that are carcinogenic, or cancer-causing. Sustainable architects select materials that are safer, like agricultural-based paints.
Environmentally detrimental features can be found throughout a building. For example, standard fiberglass insulation — the pink, cotton-like stuffing in the walls — contains formaldehyde, another carcinogen. A non-toxic alternative would be bio-based insulation made from soy. Two-by-fours are extremely wasteful — cutting down trees to gain small pieces of wood — and plywood contains unhealthy glues that are emitted over time. Straw bales, or stalks left behind after a plant like rice or barley has matured, is a healthier choice for building walls.
Green architecture has become more popular in recent years, thanks to some high-profile proponents. “People like Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio are pushing for sustainable buildings,” Lee said. “It has brought environmentally friendly architecture up in the media, so people are more aware of it now.”
He added that clients are also more aware of sustainability. “In the past, we would have to tell them about it, ask them or try to persuade them to go green,” he said. “But nowadays, more and more clients ask us first.”
At the same time, the field is also seeing an influx of architects of color, according to Lee. “There are higher numbers of whites in the field, but minorities have been making big inroads to this profession,” said Lee, noting that 2002 American Institute of Architects national president Gordon Chong brought visibility to Asians in the field. Chong was also named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, one of the highest honors an American architect can receive and bestowed to fewer than 2 percent of American architects.
Lee was fascinated with architecture since his childhood in Malaysia, and after emigrating in 1988, he pursued the subject at Pleasant Hill’s Diablo Valley College. His family was of modest means, and he used his parents’ entire savings in just his first year of college. Lee said he lived on $60 a month for the first three years here. “I knew not to waste my family’s sacrifice,” Lee said. “I worked hard all through college. I had no car, no bike, no stereo or anything like that through my college years. When I visited the homes of my friends, it always blew my mind, the possessions they had.”
Later, he transferred to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. At the time, foreign students like Lee were rarely admitted to Cal Poly (local and state residents got first priority); in fact, advisors told him not to even bother applying. “But I’m not somebody who does only what people tell me to do,” Lee said.
Lee is “the kind of person who gets what he wants,” affirmed Winnie Chen, a former colleague at San Francisco design firm B.S.A. Architects and the firm’s only Asian American female architect in 2000. “If someone says that something is impossible, he won’t take that for an answer.”
After graduating, he drafted homes and ski resorts for B.S.A. Architects and was head designer for Diablo Valley College’s bookstore. Since starting his own company in 2005, Lee has been working on designing Diablo Valley College’s health center and physical education buildings, as well as an Internet cafe prototype in Concord. He is currently a consultant on a 40,000-square-foot office building in Menlo Park, and working with a San Francisco firm on a school and a mixed-use complex in China.
Sarah Mergy, another former colleague at B.S.A. Architects, said Lee’s designs flow together well. “The building as a whole looks seamless and effortless, aesthetically pleasing and beautiful,” she said.
Lee teaches architecture and construction at Diablo Valley College, and mentors local high school students about careers in architecture; Chen remembers Lee was proactive in pushing B.S.A. to hire interns. He currently serves as the 2007 chair of the Young Architects Forum for the American Institute of Architects–East Bay Chapter, a significant achievement considering the lack of Asian Americans in the field. Of the American Institute of Architects’ licensed members, two percent are Asian; of unlicensed members, that number is seven percent.
Milton Tong, a member of the Young Architects Forum, recalls a time when there were only 10 Asian Americans out of 100 in his 1995 U.C. Berkeley architecture class. “When my mom, who is an Asian American immigrant, is on the phone with her Asian friends and says that I’m an architect, they ask her, ‘What’s that?’” Tong said.
Tong believes not many Asians go into architecture because it is “not a big moneymaking profession,” he admitted. “My parents would have wanted me to be an engineer or a doctor.”
More Asian Americans may enter the field if green living gains popularity in the community. For thrifty homeowners — Lee said many Asians make the mistake of hiring contractors based on low prices — Lee refutes the idea that green architecture is prohibitively expensive. “If you get the right architect, he’s worth every single penny,” he said. “He’ll save you money in the long run because you’ll have an energy efficient house. And you’re going to love it.”
Architect Gerard Lee’s tips on how Asian Americans can go green in just a few simple steps.
» Instead of throwing the juice bottle in the trash, recycle it. Dedicate recycling bins for paper, plastic, glass and metals. Reuse materials like boxes for shipping.
» Do not throw electronic equipment like TVs into the garbage. Many organizations will recycle appliances for free. When buying appliances, look for those with an Energy Star rating.
» Switch out incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents.
» Insulate attics and replace old windows with energy-efficient windows.
» Buy products made from recycled materials, or use products from green businesses.
» Use paints and sealers that comply with Bay Area Air Quality Management District requirements.
» Use natural products for household cleaning; avoid harsh chemicals.
» The tendency of Asian extended families to live together is actually a green practice, Lee said. By increasing the density of the household, families save resources — they eliminate driving to visit the extended family, for example. Cooking together and sharing meals minimizes waste from preparation of multiple meals for multiple families. Energy usage is relegated to one household, instead of different houses.
» If you’re renovating your home, consider hiring a green architect or designer. Find contractors who are environmentally conscious and divert waste from landfills by reusing or recycling building materials.