Sustainability Archives - Page 4 of 4

Our Signature Vertical Landscaping System

Posted on July 20, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

With every project, we ask ourselves how the natural land around us influences, affects and works in tandem with the structures we build. Seeking to holistically integrate the natural and built environments led us to develop our next-generation vertical landscaping system. The lush green element, utilized in many of our Arizona properties, is a cornerstone feature of Optima communities, a key component to our sustainability initiatives and so much more.

Our signature vertical landscaping system at Optima Kierland Center.

Aesthetic Enhancement

On its surface level, our signature vertical landscaping system serves to enhance the natural beauty of our communities. The lush verdure enables a palette of vibrantly colored plants at the edge of each floor to grow both up and over the edge of the building. This creates beautiful, private terrace gardens for each unit in buildings like Optima Camelview Village, Optima Kierland Center, and Optima Sonoran Village. The intense greenery also plays bold juxtaposition to our building’s facade, where concrete and glass work work in harmony to celebrate the relationship between the built and natural environment, with glass blurring the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, home and garden.

Our signature vertical landscaping system at Optima Sonoran Village.

Functional, Sustainable Beauty

Our signature vertical landscaping system isn’t just for aesthetic value — it plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy and sustainable environment. The system, with self-containing irrigation and drainage, provides a haven for urban wildlife, promotes evaporative cooling, re-oxygenates the air, reduces dust and smog levels, reduces ambient noise, detains stormwater and thermally insulates and shields residents from the desert sun, all of which contributes to a sustainable urban environment. Residents also experience the direct impact of being surrounded by nature, with the vertical landscaping system serving as a connection to nature and added source of privacy.

Like all good design, our vertical landscaping system is a natural study in form and function. We’re proud to pioneer a system that contributes to the natural beauty of the environment, and helps preserve it, too.

The History of LEED Certification

Posted on April 1, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

As real estate development continues to evolve a more environmentally-friendly mindset, green building certification programs are becoming a worldwide normality. LEED — or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — is a common practice across the globe and within our Optima properties.

The first concept of LEED emerged in 1993, spearheaded by international environmental advocacy groups. By the early 1990s, the demand for sustainable buildings was already on the rise; the combined development in environmental legislation and the concern of tenants and shareholders pushed real estate developers, architects and industry leaders to re-think their methodologies. Non-profits, government agencies, architects, engineers, developers, builders and manufacturers came together to officially introduce the LEED program in 2000.

Since then, LEED has grown into the world’s most widely-used green building rating system, with nearly 80,000 projects participating across 162 countries. From residential buildings to commercial spaces, LEED provides a framework that project teams can use to create efficient, cost-saving green buildings.

So how does a building become LEED certified? It depends on the project. There are various LEED rating systems for different situations, including building design and construction, interior design, building operations and maintenance, neighborhood development, homes, and cities and communities. Depending on the given system, requirements can range from material choices, to greenhouse gas emissions, to energy and water consumption, to air filter systems. Through these strategies, LEED buildings have a positive impact on their residents or tenants, their communities and the environment.

Landscaped Courtyard at Optima Biltmore Towers

From our building materials to our amenity spaces, we are in constant pursuit of bettering our buildings with environmentally conscious practices, something we’ve been passionate about since our beginnings. Ultimately certifications like LEED help us improve our buildings, support environmental efforts and create a long, lasting impact.

Green Space Spotlight: Optima Kierland Center

Posted on January 6, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

As we began construction on Optima Kierland Center, we envisioned a beautiful community that embraced the desert surroundings and welcomed residents and visitors alike with beautiful Modernist design and, of course, gorgeous green space. A multiphase development project, each building within Optima Kierland Center is connected to the others through aesthetic structure and physical pathways amidst lush gardens. More than 5.5 acres of landscaped open space create a park-like setting for both our neighbors and our residents.

Within the building, our innovative vertical planting system features self-containing irrigation and drainage, including the vibrant and colorful planters at the edge of each floor. The system ultimately culminates into a beautiful rooftop garden, one of the many amenities throughout the building. Within the individual residences, hanging gardens and expansive, private terraces bring the outdoors in, perfectly designed to let our residents enjoy the surrounding greenery.

As with all of our projects, we designed Optima Kierland Center to take advantage of the beauty of the surrounding environment and to integrate our design with soft, natural elements. Working in tandem with our expansive amenity spaces, our green space gives Optima Kierland Center residents endless opportunities to enjoy — and be a part of — the outdoors. With the next two towers underway and with 7180 Optima Kierland 50% sold, we eagerly await the completion of what will be a truly stunning community.

Green Space Spotlight: Optima Camelview Village

Posted on October 28, 2019September 1, 2020 by Nancy

Optima Camelview Village landscaping is an oasis inspired by the surrounding mountains and Native American desert communities. What resulted: eleven terraced, bridge-linked buildings with courtyards that created ample opportunity to utilize our signature vertical landscaping to dramatic, and environmentally impactful, effect.

Optima Camelview Village, Scottsdale, Arizona. — Optima Camelview Village, Scottsdale, Arizona

Private Terraces

Each and every residence at Optima Camelview Village features a private terrace. The terraces are made all the more beautiful by an abundance of verdure, with lush landscaping that provides a pop of color alongside ample privacy and shade. The terraces, and their landscaping, also play into the complex layered language of shading, textures and colors that create depth and complexity throughout the community.

The landscaping on the terraces was complicated due to the intricate geometry of Optima Camelview Village and necessitated designing for each individual terrace. By creating proper conditions for the plant life to thrive, with a specialized vacuum that deposits specially-tailored dirt for each mini-garden, we were able to make them work.

Rooftop Gardens

The community sits on a 13-acre site, including an impressive 23-acres of rooftop gardens spread across the eleven buildings that make up Optima Camelview Village. The intense greenery that thrives atop the buildings serves as a haven for the natural wildlife of Arizona, as well as for the residents who live in the community.

A Collaborative Effort

We worked with experts at Arizona State University for several years to get our landscaping just right. It’s crucial that the greenspace at Optima communities not only provides an aesthetic beauty, but that it contributes to the greater environment. With the help of ASU, we ensured that Optima Camelview Village’s landscaping is sustainable, with positive consequences such as re-oxygenation of the air, reduced dust and smog levels, reduced ambient noise, detainment of stormwater and thermal insulation and shielding from the desert sun.

As always, we consider the additive value of our built communities not just in the lives of those that call Optima Camelview Village home, but of the planet that we ourselves call home.

Green Space Spotlight: Optima Sonoran Village

Posted on August 26, 2019September 1, 2020 by Nancy

At Optima, one of the cornerstones of our design process is the green space in our communities. With Optima Sonoran Village situated on a ten acre site in downtown Scottsdale, there was an abundance of space to become green. Of the ten acres, six of them are open space that not only mediate the harsh desert climate but also create visually stunning landscaped areas to be enjoyed by residents and the community.

Lush Landscaping and Pedestrian Paths

Courtyard walking paths wind throughout the property, guiding public pedestrians into and through the development and its centralized courtyards. Surrounding the paths is a varied palette of plantlife. This colorful landscaping against the signature Optima pops of color provides a vibrancy and complement to the more subdued, natural hues of the surrounding desert.

Original Public Art

Placed within the courtyards are five original David Hovey sculptures, which range in size up to ten feet. As expansive and evocative pieces of public art, these sculptures activate the spaces that they occupy, and enhance the experience of those passing through.

Green Space as Mediator

The greenspace at Optima Sonoran Village also serves to mitigate the heat island effect, where dense urban areas experience warmer temperatures due to human activity. To reduce the urban heat island experienced in Scottsdale, the abundant landscaping throughout the courtyards provides shade and cooling through evapotranspiration — the release of water into the atmosphere from plant surfaces.

Outdoor Amenities

Nestled within the courtyards and their intricate spread of walking paths are exceptional outdoor amenities. A large fountain serves as a dazzling display and a centerpiece around which to lounge and relax. Farther in, an outdoor resort pool with lounge chairs, umbrellas and firepits is made private by the surrounding landscaping.

The greenery continues, drawing the eye upward to the building’s spectacular vertical landscaping and creating a whole immerse experience. The effect of walking through the property’s greenspace, backdropped by dusky desert mountains, is one of entering a lush oasis.

As an installation in downtown Scottsdale and with paths open to the public, the greenspace at Optima Sonoran Village is enhancing not only the community of the development, but of its surrounding area too.

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Blog type: Sustainability