Haze with LEED Certification

[dcaughran]

I'm working in a new venue within a building that has a LEED Platinum green building certification. Because of this our TD is reluctant to use haze. Does anyone have experience using atmospheric effects in green buildings?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[derekleffew]

I'm not sure what one has to with the other. CityCenter Las Vegas is LEED-Certified (6 LEED Gold certifications), and its Viva ELVIS show uses a lot of haze (MDG machines, I believe).

From Viva Elvis! Part 2 - Total Production :

Solotech supplied the smoke machines which Risk was enthusiastic about: “We’ve got six MDG hazers and the 5000 Max smoke machines that Marc and I use all the time. They’re great, the best smoke machines in the world because of the quality and the volume of the smoke. The Max gets smoke in really quickly so you’re not having to feed it in during something that’s inappropriate, and in a theatre this size it dissipates fairly easily.”

 

[jwl868]

Perhaps there is concern about getting losing Indoor Environmental Quality credits. Platinum is the highest rating, and if the building is on the border line, with the loss of a point or two, the rating would drop down to Gold. (The Gold range is 60 to 79 points, so a building in the middle of the range could still retain Gold evene if something slipped.)

But you need to read material at the LEED website, and then contact someone with practical knowledge.

USGBC: LEED


Joe

 

[dcaughran]

I think there was concern for air quality points but I don't see anything in the code that would apply to haze. Another concern that came up was that the fire system uses optical smoke detectors that are inside the duct work. That alone might preclude us from using haze.

 

[techieman33]

I wouldn't think haze would effect air quality that much. Can you not turn the fire alarms off for shows? You have to jump through some hoops to get proper approval but it's worth it in my opinion.

 

[Dalamar]

If the Theatre is trying to get LEED EBOM certification, then fog might need to be considered as part of the IEQ credits. HOWEVER, there is no provision to that effect into actual LEED qualification programs.

If the Theatre is going for LEED Certification under New Construction or Commercial Interiors, then occasional use of fog would not be part of the credit requirements. One exception to that might be if it was a theatre being built to house a specific long term production of a show, then maybe the fog would have to be factored in under the Indoor Pollutant Control credits, but even that would be questionable.

Having said that, the LEED team could possibly get an ID point for IEQ if fog could be shown to be Innovative.

I hope this clears out the question.

 

[MNicolai]

Having said that, the LEED team could possibly get an ID point for IEQ if your fog could be shown to be Innovative.

Like how haze effects were naturally created by cigarette smoke and hazers weren't needed. Using a hazer is therefore innovative in the sense that you're not banking on your audience lighting up during the middle of your event to create your effect nor are you telling your guys in the scene shop to kick all of the sawdust up into the HVAC system right before the show.

 

[Dalamar]

And from the same source...

"LEED is primarily concerned with making sure that anything introduced into the building is either not harmful to its occupants or is dealt with in a way to mitigate it's harm. So, the LEED reviewer could make the argument that the project team needs to a) prove that fog is not harmful, or b) show that the fog will be properly exhausted to avoid undue exposure to the occupants.

The big question is "if" the fog should be considered at all given its likely intermittent use"

 

[firewater88]

My theater is LEED certified Silver, one of the first of its kind in the nation. I run haze quite often, thick as dense fog at times. I am able to shut off the detectors in the ducts and stage area if needed. The air make up system will pull in fresh air from outside if the quality of the air is not at a certain level inside. There were discussions of this in the planning of the building and no one seemed to have a definitive answer. I also think that no one was really that concerned about it affecting the LEED certification.