International Wood International Wood 2008 | Page 29

park to accommodate those seeking peace, at the same time as those
seeking activity. Much of this was accomplished via thoughtful use
of organic boundaries, such as trees and water features, connected by
decking and walkways made of ipé (Tabebuia spp.), a beautiful durable
South American hardwood.
“Our buildings are classic contemporary architecture, but the mate-
rials selected are very warm and inviting,” says Hagstette. The woods
are a very important part of that, as is the brick. They add immea-
surably to the warmth of the place.
“Ipé is a wood I wasn’t familiar with,” says Hagstette, “but both the
building architects and landscape architects had worked with it before.
It’s like a miracle wood for the end user – it’s unbelievably durable, lasts
four or five times longer than other woods, requires no pretreating or
maintenance, and ages to a beautiful gray/silver color. Before I felt
fully comfortable with that specification, though, we wanted to look
at several projects that used ipé. We found that it’s used a lot in marine
construction, which made it a very good choice because we have a tre-
mendous number of wood decks, piers and walkways.” In fact, all the
benches and picnic tables, the second floor and an exterior wall of the
Grove restaurant, and even some interior walls in the restaurant and
administrative building also used ipé
It was very important to Discovery Green that the project attain
a USGBC LEED Gold certification, the second highest possible
rating which would require that at least 50 percent of the wood spec-
ified come from sustainable sources. The Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is a
third-party certification program for the design, construction and op-
eration of high performance green buildings. Hagstette says the project
was shooting for 95 percent of the wood to be FSC certified, but this
proved to be an extra challenge.
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