Watry Design, Inc. believes sustainability equates to securing a better quality of life for everyone today, as well as for generations to come. Achieving this goal not only means using natural resources prudently to create aspects of life such as the built environment, but also means creating social and economic sufficiencies. Our firm strives toward these goals in the projects we design, the business we run and the lives we lead.

Built Environment
Our team’s dedication to creating dynamic parking solutions for our clients naturally led us to incorporating sustainable design best practices into each solution. From preliminary design through maintenance, our professionals apply Sustainable Best Practices including the careful consideration of each design decision’s impact. Our team begins by taking advantage of all sustainable design opportunities on a site, such as vegetated swales for storm water management, water efficient landscaping and the building's orientation in relation to the sun. We maximize the use of natural light and ventilation in each structure we design and use mechanical ventilation only when absolutely necessary. In addition, we help our clients meet corporate and public environmental commitments by designing energy efficient lighting layouts and incorporating renewable energy sources, such as solar panels into the projects we design, such as the structure we recently designed for the City of Mountain View. Watry Design is currently working to incorporate solar in projects for the City of Temecula, Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System and the County of Napa. Our team specifies the use of recycled, local and non-toxic materials. We suggest features, such as bike lockers, links to public transit and electric car charging stations, which promote alternative forms of transportation. Watry Design also develops efficient vehicular circulation, which reduce traffic congestion and in turn produces fewer emissions.

Per the USGBC, stand-alone parking structures are not eligible for LEED certification. However, when a project is regularly occupied and consists of an enclosed area plus a parking structure, certification becomes a possibility. Watry Design works with our clients to meet LEED or LEED equivalent goals, as we did for UC Berkeley’s Underhill Parking Structure. Our firm is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, has LEED accredited staff and utilizes LEED accredited consultants.

Work Environment
Watry Design’s commitment to sustainability and application of best practices is apparent throughout our offices. Believing that change begins with education, our firm has an extensive educational program. This year alone, our team has attended internal classes on Sustainable Best Practices in Parking Design, Integrating Solar Energy into Parking Solutions, Sustainability in the Work Place, Energy Efficient Lighting, Sustainability at Home and LEED® 101. In addition, we provide extensive resources on our Intranet that reinforce each of these areas.

Our firm encourages the use of public and alternative transportation. When Watry Design recently relocated our Northern California office, we ensured that the new location had good access to public transportation and preferred parking for carpools. We are developing a green points program to encourage carpooling, public transit use and biking to and from work. Employees will receive points for each day that they commute to work in a form other than a single occupancy vehicle. Each time an employee accumulates a minimum level of points he or she will be able to choose from a variety of incentives that range from gas cards and train passes to gift certificates to local businesses. In addition, our firm encourages WebEx meetings and telecommuting. Over 20% of our employees utilize the latter.

Watry Design has an extensive program to reduce waste, which ranges from reducing paper consumption by 25% to composting. Our firm strongly encourages our staff to work and share information electronically. When hard copies are needed, we stress the importance of printing double-sided. We use only recycled paper for our marketing materials and in our offices. Our firm purchases recycled shipping materials and recycles anything we can not reuse. To minimize the use of disposable products, we purchase reusable items such as coffee filters, silverware and dishes and use only compostable disposable products, many of which are made from sugar cane pulp. To continue the lifecycle of the compostable items, we provide compost bins along with recycling receptacles at convenient locations through out the office.

Social Environment
Watry Design has a long history of giving back to the community. Our founder helped to form the Engineering Alliance for the Arts, which brings the local architects and engineers together with local schools. Today, our employees continue to volunteer by dedicating time to visiting high schools to encourage students to pursue careers in architecture and engineering. In addition, our firm hosts Spark students each year. This program enhances the education of middle school students who are at a turning point in their lives by providing apprenticeship opportunities in local businesses.

Our firm believes that we have a social responsibility beyond our industry and in the spirit of leading by example, we sponsored a project this year through Rebuilding Together. The nonprofit helps low-income homeowners by offering repair services for their houses and neighborhoods free-of-charge by matching them with a sponsoring organization. On Saturday, April 19, Rebuilding Together Peninsula (RTP) and Watry Design, Inc., rebuilt a home for a disabled widow in Menlo Park. The team Watry Design assembled painted, replaced the driveway, gave the kitchen a make over, replaced plumbing, fixed the balcony and added gutters and downspouts to the roof.

These are just a sample of Watry Design’s Sustainable Best Practices. If you would like more information or have ideas to share, please contact us at info@watrydesign.com.