Living Building Challenge

Imagine you go out early in the morning. You drive from your house to the office and during the 30 min-60 min ride you see 3-4 buildings in the making. You see the cranes working as the structure is being lifted. This is a common scenario in most big cities. These new buildings are mostly residential or office-centered. Not only do these buildings contribute to the overpopulation in the cities, they also produce tons of garbage and heat-producing gases. Why aren't we building sustainable buildings?

The Living Building Challenge is a building certification program which measures the sustainability of a building taking into account seven categories or ‘petals’: place, water, energy, health & happiness, materials, equity, and beauty. Each of the petals has its subdivisions that can be applied to any building, big or small. It's important to note that they don't only evaluate the materials, but the beauty and the place where it is built as well. The registered buildings are given one of the three certifications: Living Building Certification, Petal Building or Net Zero Energy Building Certification. The first certification is the ultimate goal, it comprises projects that are fully sustainable and help restore the natural environment. But this seems like something impossible that no modern building could achieve! Well at least that's what I first thought but there are buildings worldwide that are fully certificated. Some examples are the Bertschi Living Building Science Wing and the Bullitt Center amongst 6 more. If there are buildings around the world that are building fully sustainable buildings, why can't we envision a Net Zero Energy Building Certification?

http://living-future.org/lbc

http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/blogs/one-of-the-worlds-greenest-urban-green-spaces-is-a-pint-sized-pocket-park-in

http://www.mnn.com/money/green-workplace/stories/bullitt-center-worlds-greenest-commercial-building