|
California constructs one of its first green state office buildings
Eco-Structure magazine
June-July 2008
A visit to the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego will take you back in time to the 1800s when the West was wild and California was a new state in the union. Old Town is considered California's birthplace because Spanish priest Junípero Serra founded the state's first mission in the area.
Today, nine city blocks make up Old Town State Park, which features original adobe buildings, California's first schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, stable and the state's earliest newspaper office. The area offers tourists a history lesson while they shop for traditional Mexican wares and enjoy authentic local cuisine.
North of Old Town's eclectic buildings and Southwestern-style courtyards, 15 acres (6 hectares) of land belonging to the state of California had been a visual distraction to local residents. The site hosted facilities for District 11 of the state's transportation operations, Caltrans, including temporary trailers, warehouses and a fuel island and storage tank to maintain its fleet of vehicles.
The 1950s facilities were no longer up to California's seismic-code requirements; in 2000, the state's Department of General Services decided to build a new office structure on the site, consolidating nearly 1,000 Caltrans District 11 employees who had been interspersed around the county.
Read the entire story at:
http://eco-structure.com/docs/archives%202008/eco_june08/eco_june08_feature.pdf
|
