Oh Thank Heaven

For LEED certification (and 7-Eleven?)

Incorporating nature into architectural spaces is nothing new in Mexico. Plants and trees growing inside and around homes and commercial structures is quite common. Many times I have visited the homes of friends and acquaintances in Mexico, and found within these homes trees growing in interior courtyards, and sometimes growing in interior rooms. It has always been a secret aspiration of mine to live in a home with a live tree sprouting up through the living room, obscuring my view of where the television would otherwise go.

But it isn't every day - even in Mexico - that you find yourself having to navigate around a barky trunk while grabbing a quick carton of milk or box of cereal on your way home. Unless of course you live in the Contry Tesoro neighborhood in Monterrey, Nuevo León.

Going Green. Literally.

7-Eleven convenience stores are somewhat common in Mexico. Although not nearly as prevalent as Oxxo, there are still nearly 2,000 7-Eleven stores in Mexico - most of them found in larger cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.

During the heyday of 7-Eleven's expansion in Mexico, the company wanted to do something special with its 500th store, which would be built on the corner of Avenida Las Musas and Avenida Alfonso Reyes in Colonia Contry Tesoro in Monterrey: they wanted to design a store that would meet the requirements for LEED certification¹. The store's designers accomplished this by using recycled building materials from other abandoned and torn down buildings. They incorporated daylight-sensors which modulate the artificial lighting in the store, dialing the artificial lighting down when there is more daylight outside - daylight that helps to illuminate the store through the use of skylights and windows. They used enthalpy wheels² for ventilation. Condensed water reclaimed from the outside air is used to irrigate the greenery around the store. The store has a dedicated bicycle parking lot, and it gives its coffee waste away for free for customers to take home and use as fertilizer. For their efforts, the store received a LEED Silver certification - and the distinction of being the first LEED certified convenience store in Latin America.

But achieving LEED certification wasn't the only design challenge the architects faced. Standing in the plot of land upon which the store would be built was a 60-year-old walnut tree. Cutting down a walnut tree and plopping what is meant to be an environmentally friendly man-made structure in its place seemed a bit incongruent. No matter - the architects designed the store's structure around the tree, leaving holes in the floor, ceiling and walls to accommodate the tree's trunk and branches. So now I guess I need to expand my aspirations to include living in a convenience store.

What am I - some kind of 7-Eleven shill?

Far from it! I don't even like Big Gulps. But, having spent a fair amount of time in my youth walking with my friends to the local 7-Eleven to get a Slurpee, I do have a bit of nostalgia around the place. And I suppose I'm fond of our planet's environment. If you share similar 7-Eleven nostalgia or environmental sentiments - or if you just like seeing trees growing inside convenience stores - then the next time you find yourself in Monterrey and jonesing for a Slurpee, stop in at the Las Musas store and enjoy the landscape.

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This story idea was submitted by a Mexico Listo reader. If you see, know, or have made up something you'd like me to write about, please don't hesitate to drop me a line or comment below.

1. LEED - which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - is a worldwide green building rating system.

2. Look it up