The 1480-acre Presidio of San Francisco, a historic military base for 200 years, is now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. With its sweeping views of San Francisco Bay and the Pacific, the Presidio is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful urban parks in the U.S.. The park has been administered since 1994 by the National Park Service (NPS) and has more than 800 buildings, many of which are architecturally and historically significant.

The Presidio's buildings have the potential to serve the public, but most need rehabilitation before they can be reused. In 1994, Building 102, a historic structure that now houses the Presidio's NPS offices, was the subject of a design charrette aimed at creating guidelines for the sustainable redesign of Presidio buildings. Organized by the Bay Area chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers®, and hosted by Pacific Gas & Electric and the NPS, the charrette drew on the expertise of the Center's Applications Team, as well as engineers, researchers, architects, government officials, and students from throughout the Bay Area.

Following the charrette, Applications Team head Dale Sartor, the California Institute for Energy Efficiency's Karl Brown, and Applications Team members including Steve Greenberg, Tai Voong, Doug Lockhart, and Dennis Kincy have provided the NPS with design assistance to bring energy-efficient building technology to Presidio facilities in synergy with the historical character of its buildings. Historical preservation itself fosters sustainability because the existing structures are reused and low-energy cooling techniques are reestablished within them.

Two documents are now available describing the charrette and the guidelines developed subsequently for the energy-efficient retrofit of the Presidio's historical buildings. "Guidelines for Sustainable Building Design: Recommendations from the Presidio of San Francisco Energy Efficiency Design Charrette," LBNL-38868, and "Tenant Guidelines for Energy-Efficient Renovation of Buildings at the Presidio of San Francisco" are available from the NPS. The documents' authors intend these references to serve as models for the development of sustainable design and energy-efficient retrofits of all types of facilities.

--Allan Chen

Dale Sartor
The Applications Team
(510) 486-5988; (510) 486-5394 fax

LBNL Report 38868 is available on the Web.

"Tenant Guidelines" by Jeffery Warner, Dale Sartor and Rick Diamond is available on the Web.

This work is supported by the Federal Energy Management Program of the Department of Energy, the National Park Service and the Bay Area chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers.