SIM VAN DER RYN

“Long before sustainability became the buzzword du jour, there was Sim
Van der Ryn, the intrepid pioneer of the eco-frontier.”

MAYANK BATRA
AKSHAY MALHOTRA
 ABOUT SIM
• Sim Van der Ryn—architect, author,
and educator—has been integrating
ecological principles into the built
environment for more than 40 years.
• He spent 35 years as professor of
architecture at UC Berkeley and was
California’s State Architect for
Governor Jerry Brown in the late
1970s, designing and building the
State’s first energy efficient and
climate-responsive building.
• Sim’s signature style, his collaborative
approach and meta-disciplinary
accomplishments continue to show us
the way to an evolving era that values
both the integrity of ecological
systems and quality of life for all.
• Sim Van der Ryn is a world leader in the field of sustainable architecture.
In his work, Sim shows us that buildings are not objects but organisms,
and cities are not machines but complex ecosystems.
• Sim came to see the shifting patterns in nature and how these patterns
profoundly affect how people live and work in the structures we build and
he explores how architecture has created physical and mental barriers
that separate people from the natural world, and how to recover the soul
of architecture and reconnect with our natural surroundings.
• Appointed California State Architect by then-Governor Jerry Brown, Van
der Ryn introduced the nation's first energy-efficient government building
projects.
• His vision heralded a Golden Age of ecologically sensitive design and
resulted in the adoption of strict energy standards and disability access
standards for all state buildings and parks.
• Van der Ryn has helped inspire architects to see the myriad ways they can
apply physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental
design.
• Sim Van der Ryn is the president of Van der Ryn Architects, a northern
California firm known worldwide for its work in sustainable architecture.
• He taught architecture and design at the University of California, Berkeley
for more than thirty years, inspiring a new generation to create buildings
and communities that are sensitive to place, climate, and the flow of
human interactions.
• He is the author of six groundbreaking books about planning and design,
including Sustainable Communities and Ecological Design.
• He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area.
 AWARDS
The author of several influential books, he has won numerous
honors—
• a Guggenheim in 1971,
• Rockefeller Fellowships in Bellagio, Italy in 1997 and 2012, and
• the Athena Lifetime Achievement Award from the Congress
for New Urbanism in 2006—for his leadership and innovation
in architecture and planning.
 EDUCATION
• Trained as an architect with a degree from University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor; licenses from California and New Mexico; and certification from the
National Council of Architectural Registration, the theme of Sim’s career in
design, teaching and research has been applying principles of physical and
social ecology to architecture and environmental design.
• His regenerative design solutions create environments that are resilient to
human needs, place, ecology and climate.
• An early innovator as California State Architect (under Gov. Jerry Brown)
who introduced energy efficient design and renewable energy to California
and his thirty five years as an innovator and hands- on Professor of
Ecological Design at UC Berkeley, his influence on shaping the Green
Architecture and Sustainable Design movement are widely recognized
today.
 SIM'S PHILOSOPHY
• Design often fails because it involves many fields of specialized knowledge that are
not adequately communicated and integrated into the design process in a
seamless and timely way. The heart of Collaboration is face to face open
communication between clients and design teams that integrate knowledge across
disciplines. The process begins not with numbers and metrics but through creating
shared agreement of aspiration and intention, opportunities and constraints. Eco
Design is a meta-disciplinary approach in which diverse interests and expertise
fuse into shared vision which generates collaborative solutions.
ECO-LOGIC DESIGN
Eco-Logic Design grows out of the merger of
two worlds shown in the two circles: The Eco-
Sphere includes all the living systems of nature
that support human life on Earth. The Techno-
Sphere includes all the ways humans design
systems that support current civilization. The
extent or overlap and congruence of these two
spheres predicts the relative success or failure
of Ecological Design.

RESILIENCY
The survival of modern societies depends on
making a design shift from the rigid instability
to flowing resilience at every scale of human
settlement. From village to megacities, we must
design to provide our basic needs for balanced
healthy natural/human ecosystems that provide
clean water and air, energy, food, and the safe
recycling of all wastes.
SEVEN SIMPLE PRINCIPLES
OF LIVING BUILDINGS
• Harvest all their own water and energy
needs
• Adapt to specific local site and climate
• Zero waste and pollution
• Promote health and well being of all
• Integrate systems to maximize efficiency
and comfort.
• Improve the health and diversity of local
ecosystems.
• Be beautiful and inspire us to higher levels
of awareness and action.

QUALITIES & QUANTITIES

This simple diagram presents a client or
designer with the intrinsic qualities and
material quantities that are integrated into a
specific design solution. At the center is a
measure of a final product in human,
environmental and economic performance.
 ECOLOGICAL LEARNING CURVE
For years as a Professor and consultant to
schools at levels from pre-school through high
school, I imagined in my mind a picture of how
all the elements of learning at different ages
could be represented in a diagram that
integrated learning levels with place, pattern,
and process and also spatial scales of natural
and humanly created systems. The Ecological
Learning Curve is that diagram.
The learning age levels is represented vertically
from bottom to top. The type of learning is
represented by the circles of Place, Pattern,
Process. Place at the bottom recognizes that
young children learn best no through abstraction
but by direct experience of Place. As their minds
and brains grow, they begin to learn patterns,
and later, the processes that shape our world.
The scale of systems – natural and invented – is represented horizontally from the largest
on the left to the smallest on the right. The center line represents a “home base” of
scales closest to us in size, with the left bar moving to large scales, the right side to
smaller scales.
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS STRUCTURE
DIAGRAM
The Consciousness Structure Diagram
is my attempt to synthesize
information from diverse sources into
a map of the various stages of human
history on the planet and relate them
to the essential and changing nature
of Place, Pattern, and Process.
Through each stage of civilization. I
identify five stages of human
development form the first humans to
today’s civilization dominated by a
separation from nature and self
through technology, homogenization
of cultures and oligarchy, with hope
for a transformation into a new
Integral Consciousness that
restructures our race towards
extinction.
TOWARDS AN ECOLOGICAL EPOCH
A simpler diagram of Towards an Ecological Epoch asks four
basic questions:
• How do we use Nature?
• How am I Nature?
• How am I Culture?
• How do institutions & technology reflect values?
These four questions circle the four realities that influence
The move towards or lack of movement towards an
Ecologic Epoch:
• SELF: what it means to be human
• ECO-LOGIC: how the living world works
• TECHNOLOGIC: how technology shapes us and our
world
• IDEO-LOGIC: our beliefs, values, and world view
 REAL GOODS SOLAR LIVING CENTER
HOPLAND, CALIFORNIA
• As a leading distributor of products
for self-sufficiency and energy
conservation, Real Goods Trading
Company wanted a showroom that
embodied and reinforced their
business ethic.
• Sited on a 12-acre parcel in Hopland,
California, the Solar Living Center
uses a wide array of energy efficient
and climate responsive design
features combined with careful site
planning, sustainable materials and
systems and native and edible
landscaping. The new showroom has
also improved their bottom line.
• The American Institute of Architects honored this project by naming it one of the top
ten environmental projects in the United States for Earth Day 1999.
• The building and landscape plan maximize
elements of natural and designed beauty providing
a sanctuary and testament to sustainable building
practices, renewable energy systems and
restoration of native ecosystems. Education is
stressed throughout.
• The 5,500 sq. ft. showroom is built with 600 rice
straw bales covered with “gun-earth” and a variety
of other local, non-toxic, recycled and reclaimed
materials.
• For example the curved glu-lam roof beams you
see here are made from sustainably harvested
douglas fir, which was cut, milled and
manufactured within 40 miles of the site.
• The showroom’s gracefully curved and stepped
roof, along with clerestory windows and a series of
light shelves, deliver natural light deep into the
interior without glare or overheating.
• Artificial light is rarely used. When it is needed, it is supplied by the center’s on-site
grid-intertied energy production system which generates ten kilowatts of
photovoltaic power and three kilowatts of wind power a day - enough to power the
site and have extra to give to the local energy company.
 SITE PLAN
• Sited on a parcel which was once a
dumping ground for highway rubble,
the Solar Living Center now thrives
as a living example of sustainable
design.
• Lush native and edible landscaping,
a variety of place-specific and
climate responsive site features, a
“green” children’s playground and
an exhibit-filled retail showroom
which utilizes a wide array of energy
efficient design features and
sustainable systems, demonstrate
the best practices of sustainable
design and provide a wide ranging
educational experience for
customers, visitors and employees.
• This helps fulfill the company’s
mission while simultaneously
improving their bottom line.
The building is designed to work with the changing sun angles throughout the day and
seasons. In the hot summer months, overhangs, a vine covered recycled redwood
trellis and adjustable hemp awnings control excess solar gain, while light shelves
deliver natural light deep into the interior without glare and overheating. Operable
windows promote natural ventilation. In the winter months, when the sun is lower in
the sky, the curved facade and large windows allow the sun’s rays to penetrate deeply
into the building providing warmth and light throughout the day. According to the
client, the building “is so adept in its capture of the varying hourly and seasonal angles
of the sun that additional heat and light are nearly unnecessary.” In fact, this building
has no mechanical heating or cooling system, yet maintains an interior temperature in
the 70’s throughout the year.
 SOLAR OASIS
The building is curved in both plan and section embracing the “Solar Oasis” - a central
plaza with a fountain, solar calendar and circular trellis of poplar and aspen trees.
Besides being a relaxing and beautiful place for gathering, play and celebration, the
oasis is positioned so that the fountain and vegetation can cool the 100ºF plus
summer breezes which blow from the South before they reach the building.
 WATER SYSTEMS
A solar powered pump moves one million gallons of recycled water throughout the
site for irrigation, evaporative cooling, sound and visual delight. The journey begins as
the water spills over the sides of this recycled redwood wine vat and travels through
the water-purifying flow form fountain. It continues along a creek, passing through
the children’s play area and the central fountain of the “Solar Oasis,” before flowing
into the constructed wetlands and pond system which cleans the water and provides
a healthy habitat for native plants and animals. Native and drought tolerant plantings
produce an abundance of edible and otherwise useful crops, attract pollinating
insects, birds, and animals, and provide a beautiful, relaxing and educational
environment for visitors.
 SOMERSET PARKSIDE
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
• Somerset Parkside emerged as part of an
ambitious plan to revitalize a city neighborhood
in downtown Sacramento. Encompassing a full
city block, it is a mixed-use, mixed-income, self-
sufficient community.
• Each of the 107 dwellings has a private yard and a
south-facing balcony, while compact units and
low construction costs yield affordable prices. Its
strategic design guarantees each building year
round solar access, allowing for the use of passive
solar heating and cooling methods. Within this
quiet pedestrian community, the reduced need
for transit reduces auto dependency.
• A centrally located canopy of trees fully integrates
the landscape, providing respite from the high
density housing. This award-winning 100-unit
housing project was completed for a construction
cost of $6.2 million.
This innovative housing project was nationally renowned for its lively mix of affordable
and market rate housing, commercial space, shared gardens and recreation areas and
wonderful outdoor spaces. The design incorporates the innovative use of low cost
construction materials, compact design, place sensitive site planning and energy
efficiency to help transform the downtown of California’s capital city into a vital
pedestrian community inhabited 24 hours a day.
The site planning was crucial to the success of Somerset Parkside. Keeping the parking
at the perimeter opened up half the site for lawns, paths and private yards. Almost all
the residential units look out onto trees or shrubs. In addition, all the units have a
private yard or balcony facing south and year round solar access. A variety of housing
types and scales are used to match the diversity in the neighborhood. On the northern
edge there are three-and-a-half story apartments to relate to the facing office
buildings, and on the southern edge the structures reflect the scale of the old
Victorian houses on that street.
• Somerset Parkside emerged as part of an ambitious plan to revitalize a city
neighborhood in downtown Sacramento.
• Encompassing a full city block, it is a mixed-use, mixed-income, self-sufficient
community.
• Each of the 107 dwellings has a private yard and a south-facing balcony, while
compact units and low construction costs yield affordable prices.
• Its strategic design guarantees each building year round solar access, allowing for
the use of passive solar heating and cooling methods.
• Within this quiet pedestrian community, the reduced need for transit reduces auto
dependency.
• This innovative housing project was nationally renowned for its lively mix of
affordable and market rate housing, commercial space, shared gardens and
recreation areas and wonderful outdoor spaces.
• The design incorporates the innovative use of low cost construction materials,
compact design, place sensitive site planning and energy efficiency to help
transform the downtown of California’s capital city into a vital pedestrian
community inhabited 24 hours a day.
The site planning was crucial to the success of Somerset Parkside. Keeping the parking
at the perimeter opened up half the site for lawns, paths and private yards. Almost all
the residential units look out onto trees or shrubs. In addition, all the units have a
private yard or balcony facing south and year round solar access. A variety of housing
types and scales are used to match the diversity in the neighborhood. On the northern
edge there are three-and-a-half story apartments to relate to the facing office
buildings, and on the southern edge the structures reflect the scale of the old
Victorian houses on that street.
 Bateson Building
• Architect Sim van der Ryn
• Location Sacramento, California
• Date 1977
• Building Type government offices
• Construction System precast concrete
• Climate warm temperate
• Context urban
• Style Environmental Modern
• Notes Energy conservation through a
mass storage, night flushing, passive
cooling strategy.
 A Responsive Architecture
The first large-scale building that
showcased what we now call sustainable
architecture was a State Office Building in
Sacramento completed in 1978, named
after Gregory Bateson and designed by a
team led by van der Ryn and Peter
Calthorpe. It introduced ideas that were
radical for its time, and it has been
vaguely known in sustainable design
circles that its various energy saving
systems were not used for long, but little
is known as to why.
 Climate and Urban Approach
To review the design approaches and system employed, one first needs to understand
the climate and urban geography of Sacramento. Summers are hot and dry with
gentle, cooling southwest night breezes and an average temperature in July of 93º F.
Winter brings 17 inches rain and cool temperatures, with a January average of 44º F.
The city, with shady, tree-lined streets and flat topography, is laid out as a grid, and a
relatively high water table makes on-site parking uneconomical below one
subterranean level. Van der Ryn envisaged a network of parking spaces surrounding
the city under the overhead freeways, with buses taking State employees to their
offices. Trips between State offices could be on foot or bicycle. Consequently, the
Bateson Building has no on-site parking.
It is no coincidence that the building van der Ryn was named in honor of Gregory
Bateson. Bateson championed what he called “the pattern that connects man and the
natural world,” and van der Ryn’s overriding design intent was a “climate responsive”
building that would illustrate the interrelatedness of individuals, societies, and
ecosystems that Bateson spoke of.
In the Bateson Building, conventional construction elements perform multiple tasks in
an interactive manner. The building has an exposed concrete lattice-frame structure,
providing thermal mass to capture, store, and release heat internally in winter
months. In summer, the structure is purged of heat by the cooler night air, allowing it
to absorb heat internally during the day. Within this exposed concrete structure,
aluminum framed window systems and exposed wood spandrel panels fill the grid. In
some areas, the structural grid is exposed both vertically and horizontally as pergolas
and outdoor terraces, breaking up the edges. To express the interrelatedness of
systems, van der Ryn has expressed the essence of the concrete and wood in an
unadorned, “brutalist” manner. It is unusual to see exposed wood used so extensively;
with street trees four stories tall, the building blends into the streetscape.
The edges are also handled differently to address their solar orientation. On the east
and west façades, motorized bright yellow canvas shades drop vertically from the
horizontal concrete beams to keep early morning and late afternoon sun off the glass.
The south façade has a horizontal concrete extension of the lattice structure with
closely spaced concrete beams to cut the southern summer sun, while the north
façade is unshaded.
Energy efficient Approach: Bateson
Building
Organizationally, Bateson Building have perimeter office space arranged around a
central atrium. In the case of the Bateson Building, this is a crucial component in van
der Ryn’s view of a “climate responsive building,” with the four-story unconditioned
space acting as “the lungs of the building.” It is in the design of the atrium that the
energy-efficient ideas are manifested and the integration of systems is played out.
• The atrium roof has a saw tooth profile with clear glazing on the north-facing
incline and operable vertical louvers facing south. On the roof, solar panels assist
in heating the domestic hot water.
• General office lighting comprises fluorescent light fixtures placed between
acoustical baffles under the concrete soffits, supplemented with individual task
lighting.
• Although the building is linked to the State’s Central Utility Plant, which provides
steam and chilled water to more than twenty State-owned buildings in downtown
Sacramento, the intent was to design a building that would use 80% less energy
than a conventionally designed building.
• This would be done by “pre-conditioning” the air by passing the air from the
atrium over two 600-ton subterranean rock beds located beneath the atrium floor,
heating it in winter and cooling it in summer.
• At night, air from the atrium would be passed over the rock beds and
supplemented and moistened with evaporative spray air washers.
• In winter, the released thermal mass of the exposed concrete structure together
with heat from the Central Utility Plant passing through the rock beds would have
the effect of pre-heating the air.
• In the atrium, vertical canvas tube ducts and fans were employed to prevent
stratification by pushing the warm air downwards.
 Interior Workspaces: Bateson
An occupant survey revealed general satisfaction with the work areas in the Bateson
Building. Thermal control, however, appeared inadequate to more than 50% of
respondents, and general workspace lighting levels were considered poor by
approximately 30% of respondents. The survey revealed that a large majority viewed
the atrium as a positive feature and that it enjoyed individual and departmental use.
In summer, it was particularly well used, but in winter a majority found it to be too
cold, with inadequate lighting levels, particularly on cloudy days.
• By implementing the Infrastructure
Report’s recommendations, the occupant
concerns regarding thermal comfort can
be addressed.
• Some ill-considered interior space
planning changes have compromised the
light penetration from the atrium into the
surrounding office spaces.
• Coupled with reduced exterior light once
the motorized blinds are lowered on the
east or west façades, natural light is
reduced and the building is more reliant
on expensive artificial lighting.
• Fabric blinds that achieve the right
balance between light penetration and
heat transfer can be sourced, and general
lighting levels can be improved quite
simply by painting the concrete soffits
which have dulled with age and reduced
the intensity of reflected general lighting
levels.
 Maintenance and Comfort
• The limited exterior material palette on both buildings does make ongoing
maintenance rather efficient.
• On the Bateson Building, the only areas where exterior deterioration has occurred
are in the sealants between concrete, wood, and aluminum and in the
waterproofing of outdoor terraces.
• Modern-day sealants and waterproofing materials are vastly superior to the
products available in the ‘70s.
• Notwithstanding these advances, the original materials have stood up well over
the thirty-five years since installation.
• The Bateson Building is well mannered in the way they merge into the Sacramento
streetscape.
• The Bateson Building uses wood panels to make a material connection between
the façades and the adjacent trees.