Loose Leaf Notes

~The following was published in The Floyd Press on October 9, 2008.

Wall Residences has a new address. The Floyd business has been providing residential foster care placement for individuals with disabilities since 1995. After thirteen years of operation, the business has grown to include a total of 40 employees, 140 family providers (14 of those are in Floyd), and 277 individuals being served. In late September the agency’s founders, Jack Wall and Kamala Bauers, moved their offices out of their Huckleberry Ridge Road home and into a new building on Franklin Pike Road. By October 1st their office staff was back to work in new offices, even as last minute construction continued.

But this is not an ordinary office building with ordinary office rooms. Its aesthetics and architectural appeal are obvious as soon as one steps through the timber-framed gabled entrance and into the brightly spacious foyer, where a Crenshaw Lighting fixture hangs. The building’s uniqueness as a model for green construction is apparent by the large Photovoltaic solar panels on the back roof, situated above a large outdoor patio that looks out onto a mountain view.

The 4,700 square foot building has been generating interest from curious neighbors, interviewers, and environmentalists since construction first began in the fall of 2007. Built with energy efficient, sustainable, and non-polluting technologies, it’s the first building in the area that is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified. It will be heated and cooled using Geothermal technology, which takes advantage of the earth’s constant temperature just below its surface.

“We’re flushing our toilets with rainwater,” Bauers, a licensed social worker and the sister of a sibling with special needs, said. In the basement, she pointed out an 8,000 gallon cistern for collecting rainwater, used for watering plants and flushing toilets. Across from the cistern is a station of battery packets, where collected sunlight from the solar panels is converted into electricity and stored. “This would make a good class trip for school children,” Bauers noted.

On the ground floor, the focal point of the agency’s conference room is a long wooden table made by Phoenix Hardwoods. Under the table top there are a series of electrical outlets for plugging in laptops. There’s a flat monitor screen on the wall. Wall Residences is the 3rd local business to be on Citizens fiber optics, Bauers said.

Adjacent to the conference room is a staff kitchen. Among the common kitchen items and appliances there is a single unit energy efficient machine that combines washing and drying clothes in the same drum space. “These are becoming common in Europe where people need to save space,” Bauers said.

Why a washer and dryer in an office building? Rather than use throw-away paper products, all towels and napkins will be washable cloth. There is also a shower on the premises. Some of the counter tops are made from granite from the New River. Brightly colored tiles in the bathroom are made from recycled glass. Containers for recycling waste materials will be located in a laundry room-size space in the basement, and there are plans for a composting system in the kitchen.

The upkeep of the building and grounds will provide jobs for some of Wall’s foster resident clients, as evidenced by the Floyd man who arrived with his service provider for his first day of work shredding paper, greeting Bauers as he passed by.

Office space accommodates 12 office employees. Throughout the building natural sunlight shines in through reflecting solar tubes, which work more efficiently than skylights. One room provides space for Wall’s son David, the general contractor who will be developing an Eco-community on the 78 acre property. Wall’s other son, Derrick, manages The Hotel Floyd in town, also owned by Wall and Bauers. The hotel incorporates green products and technologies but is not LEED certified.

“We wanted to demonstrate that building green is doable and can be beautiful,” Bauers said about the Wall Residences building. When asked about the motivation for going to such lengths to build green, Bauers said she felt it was her responsibility. She paraphrased a line from the Bible, her motto: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Wall cited Thomas Friedman’s latest book – Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How it Can Renew America – as making the case for the environmental revolution needed to keep up with the world’s growing demands for resources. “We need to do more than change the kind of light bulbs we use,” he said.

Wall, who was director of Mental Retardation Services for two Virginia Community Service Boards before heading up Wall Residences, recently attended the annual Commonwealth of Virginia Energy and Sustainability Conference in Richmond. Another Floyd resident, Billy Weizenfeld, executive director of AECP (the Association of Environment and Conservation Professionals) also attended. Wall credits Weizenfeld for putting him in touch with many of the right people, whose knowledge helped during the green building project.

At the conference, top contractors, architects, policy makers, and others came together and participated in presentations on energy efficient technologies and sustainability. Governor Kaine spoke at the event, saying “Government has to set the example.” As part of his commitment to energy efficiency in Virginia, the Governor recently mandated that every new state building be LEEDS certified.

“It cost more initially to build with energy efficient technology but it’s an investment and you get the return in the future,” Wall explained. He believes that building with sustainable and non polluting technologies has to take-off the way automobile efficiency is starting to. Pointing out that a house built today will be around for the next 100 years, Wall said “It’s a lot easier to build energy efficient than it is to retrofit an existing building.”

Now that their business offices are no longer located in their home, Bauers says she intends to reclaim her home life, but when asked if she is enjoying having her house back, she answered, “I don’t know yet.” With all the activity, excitement, and work of moving, she hasn’t been home enough to know.

Post note: This is the agency I worked for for nine years, providing foster care for an adult with disabilities and still work for part time. That’s Kamala pictured in the last shot.