Nir Pearlson Turning Point

-->

Alison Jelden

2/17/13

Turning Point

Higher Education Leads to Promising Career

Holding a razor sharp pencil between his fingers, touching a weightless tissue paper to outline a design, and shading in detail to create balance is all too familiar for Nir Pearlson.  Pearlson grew up in Kibbutz, Israel, a collective community that is based on agriculture, where his mother is an art teacher and taught him how to be crafty. At a young age, the passion of creating art influenced Pearlson to learn carpentry, plumbing, and construction. Learning basic construction skills was the foundation to be an architect, but attending University of Oregon was his life changing decision to be an architect of sustainable buildings. 

Pearlson graduated from the University of Oregon in ’95 with a bachelor’s degree in architecture. “Going to the University of Oregon was influential because there is a very strong focus at the architectural school on sustainability…it’s just built into the education and program…the lecture series challenge us in the way we build, how we occupy buildings, and how buildings have an environmental impact. It’s important to pay attention, to be sensitive, and to improve things,” said Pearlson. Even after college, its still Pearlson’s goal to change his design technique to create a more efficient building. 

Pearlson started his own company 10 years ago, Nir Pearlson Architect, Inc. The focus for his company is to practice sustainable features, but within the clients desire. The company does not exclusively design green buildings. Pearlson said, “I really want to work with a whole range of people, companies, and individuals. So I don’t want to limit it. I want to be open to helping everybody, but I would really love to be in a place where we are making a difference.” 

Throughout the years of design, the most energy efficient building he has designed is the Hummingbird Wholesale store. He converted an old warehouse into a mix use building. It has offices, food production, and restaurant, which are all highly sustainable. “I’m very, very proud of this one,” he explained. This building constructs the future for Nir Pearlson Architect, Inc. “The ultimate goal is to be in a place where we can define every project as a green building,” said Pearlson. He hopes to give back to the community by building energy efficient buildings, especially for the University of Oregon, since that’s where it all started.

Jenna Garmon: Green Building Analysist for City of Eugene

Alison Jelden

February 11, 2013

Q&A

Jenna Garmon works for the City of Eugene to prevent waste for The Green Building Program. Garmon is a green building analyst, which means she is responsible for implementing the city’s Green Building Initiative Program. The three primary areas she works on for the program are education outreach, incentives, and technical assistance.

Q: How many years does it take for one green building to benefit the environment?

A: There are a lot of different ways to look at the benefits of a green building. It really depends on why the building is considered green. Terms of energy use, if a building is design to be energy efficient there’s an immediate benefit to reduce energy…if a building is less drafty than the wall’s instillation is done well…if a building is using materials that aren’t off gassing chemicals that’s going to improve the quality of air people are breathing inside the building.

Q: Does the City of Eugene support any research to advance technology for green buildings?

A: One of the more cutting edge approaches to building energy efficiency is called Passive House. The idea is that it focuses on…not really needing to have a mechanical heating or cooling system…we’ve recognize that it’s an emerging technology. And we have partnered with an affordable housing in town and local utility to do a study of development where they are building one Passive House standard and Earth Advantage, which is also a green building standard. So were providing funding to monitor results in energy use of those buildings so we can then determine more actively to promote the use of Passive House.

Q: When you were a research assistant at UO, you worked on restoring Oak Savanna to reduce fire hazard. What kind of sustainable practices that you learned to incorporate when analyzing green buildings?

A: Taking time at the beginning of a project to research different strategies…are one thing I’ve carried over from that. There is a direct link between habitat conservation and green buildings [for example]...where our wood is coming from, how we are extracting the materials, and what type. So that has a direct impact on our natural resources.

Q: What are best ways to contact The Green Building Program in Eugene if someone is interested in green buildings?

A: I would recommend in taking a look at our website, [http://www.eugene-or.gov/index.aspx?NID=387], to get a sense of what our program is all about…we have a lot of information on our website.

Q: What kind of information is on the website?

A: Information on incentives at a local, state, and federal level. But giving a call or emailing me is probably the best way if someone has a particular question or something they want to talk about.