FIRM:
David Baker and Partners Architects and Fletcher Studio

Mark Hogan
Amanda Loper

Amit Price Patel
Ian Dunn

From Fletcher Studio:
David Fletcher
Sarah Donato

Rendering assistance from Mike Brown and Megan Morris of Medized.San Francisco, CA

Xero Project
The XERO district is focused on urban agriculture and food. Public orchards, community gardens, private planter boxes, food stalls, and locally supplied restaurants contribute to the district character and buzz–XERO district as destination.

By filling in the vast emptiness, making connections with the surrounding neighborhoods, addressing extreme weather and street conditions, and providing a clear focus, XERO creates a place that Dallas can value and use.

Courtyards alternate from the north side to the south side of the block to create a variety of micro-climates across different seasons.
Landscaped surfaces wind up from the street level to the green roof of the podium, and continue up the south side of the towers, shading the south side of the residences and the large landscaped decks.

The 12-story building is divided into 4-story sections. Residents arrive across large landscaped terraces, and enter
their unit directly or from up one flight of stairs. The terrace-level units have bedrooms downstairs, the upper units have bedrooms upstairs, which serves to separate private space from neighbor’s noiser living spaces. The long dimension of each unit is an exterior wall facing the city to north, to the south landscaped decks provide glimpses of green, ample daylight and cross ventilation.

Dallas has good solar exposure. Rain is spread throughout the year, so rainwater collection is reasonable without tanks that are prohibitively huge. Ground-coupled heat transfer could be a consideration for HVAC systems.
Humidity is a big deal, requiring evaporative technologies for heat rejection to be fairly large. Desiccant systems can make a lot of sense and save some energy. Providing green spaces within and without the building and creating a walkable landscape reduces driving and automobile reliance. Green strategies that makes sense for Dallas include providing shade with structures and plants, cross ventilation to dull the humidity, PV arrays and solar hot water panels to take adavantage of free energy,
and geothermal tubes to mediate temparature swings.