The green building movement is poised on the brink of a new, more mature stage of development. Net-zero energy, net-zero water, net-zero waste, even net-zero stormwater projects—once thought to be impossible to achieve—are popping up all over. The Living Building Challenge, deemed by many practitioners to be the most arduous certification standard to meet, is winning the hearts and minds of AEC supergreenies seeking a competitive edge for their firms. And the fourth iteration of LEED, while having missed its anticipated unveiling at Greenbuild this month, should be out sometime in mid-2013.
“Green building is not a curiosity anymore,” says Aditya Ranade, Senior Analyst with Lux Research, which predicts the sector will reach $280 billion globally by 2020.
The big buzz: disclosure and transparency, says Russell Perry, FAIA, LEED Fellow, Senior Vice President with design firm SmithGroupJJR. He points to the recent release of publicly disclosed building energy use in New York City as an example of “increased visibility” that will contribute to the knowledge base on building performance.
Building product manufacturers are responding to the call for disclosure and transparency by issuing environmental product declarations to differentiate their products from the competition’s. Perry says EPDs will play a greater role in Materials & Resources credits for LEED v4.
Most recently, the International Living Future Institute launched Declare, a database of green building products (http://www.declareproducts.com) that provides a kind of “nutrition label” of product ingredients—all in support of the Living Building Challenge’s “Red List” and “Appropriate Sourcing” imperatives.
Also in the works: the Health Product Declaration Open Standard, a new “product chemistry disclosure tool” that its developers—the Healthy Building Network and BuildingGreen—say will provide manufacturers with a consistent format for reporting product content and associated health information. The HPD, which went through a pilot phase with more than 30 building product makers earlier this year, will be launched at Greenbuild.
Finally, there’s the Honest Buildings Network (www.honestbuildings.com), an open-network database that seeks to connect stakeholders in the real estate industry to “drive demand for better buildings all over the world.” Founder Riggs Kobiak calls it “a cross between Yelp and LinkedIn for the built environment.”
In the following pages, the editors present numerous highly sustainable projects, along with trends and ideas from leading AEC green building firms. +
Related Stories
| Jul 8, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous gas station opens in Buffalo
Eighty-seven years after Frank Lloyd Wright designed an ornamental gas station for the city of Buffalo, the structure has been built and opened to the public—inside an auto museum.
| Jul 8, 2014
Lost in the Museum: Bjarke Ingels' maze will make you look up and around
The maze, located in the National Building Museum, is a precursor to an exhibit showcasing some of BIG's projects. To navigate the maze, people must look up.
| Jul 7, 2014
5 factors that can affect thermal stress break risk of insulated glass units
The glass type, glass coating, shading patterns, vents, and framing system can impact an IGU’s risk for a thermal break.
| Jul 7, 2014
Team unity pays off for a new hospital in Maine [2014 Building Team Awards]
Extensive use of local contractors, vendors, and laborers brings a Maine hospital project in months ahead of schedule.
| Jul 7, 2014
7 emerging design trends in brick buildings
From wild architectural shapes to unique color blends and pattern arrangements, these projects demonstrate the design possibilities of brick.
| Jul 7, 2014
A climate-controlled city is Dubai's newest colossal project
To add to Dubai's already impressive portfolio of world's tallest tower and world's largest natural flower garden, Dubai Holding has plans to build the world's largest climate-controlled city.
Sponsored | | Jul 7, 2014
Channel glass illuminates science at the University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco’s new John Lo Schiavo Center for Science and Innovation brings science to the forefront of academic life. Its glossy, three-story exterior invites students into the facility, and then flows sleekly down into the hillside where below-grade laboratories and classrooms make efficient use of space on the landlocked campus.
| Jul 7, 2014
How to keep an employee from jumping ship
The secret to keeping your best employees productive and happy isn’t throwing money at them, as studies have continuously shown that money isn’t the top factor in employee happiness. Here are four strategies from leadership coach Kristi Hedges. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 7, 2014
Nothing fixes a bad manager
Companies seem to try everything imaginable to fix their workplaces, says Gallup Chairman and CEO Jim Clifton in a recent blog post, except the only thing that matters: naming the right person manager. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 3, 2014
Gehry edits Canadian skyscraper plan to be 'more Toronto'
After being criticized for the original tower complex, architect Frank Gehry unveils a new design that is more subtle, and "more Toronto."