Friday, May 29, 2009
“Living Buildings” Take Another Leap Forward
The idea of a Living Building, a high-performance building that produces its own power and cleans and reuses all of its water, is gaining momentum around the world. In an effort to oversee the global development of Living Buildings, the International Living Building Institute (ILBI) has been established.
The Living Building Challenge began as a program of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council just three years ago. The idea has sparked the creative juices of design professionals around the globe, with more than 60 proposed Living Buildings now in some stage of design or construction in the US and Canada. A Living Building is a radical step forward in green building and comes at a time when there is growing consensus that the time for baby steps in green building is past.
The basic concept is that a building can work like a natural system; designed and constructed to function as elegantly and efficiently as a flower. A Living Building must meet sixteen performance measures within six categories (or petals) including site, energy, materials, water, indoor quality and beauty and inspiration.
Jason F. McLennan, author of the Living Building Challenge and CEO of Cascadia, says “We have been delighted to serve as the incubator for these projects. But Cascadia is a regional organization and the Living Building Challenge has now become an international phenomenon. So, the natural and logical progression is to create an international oversight body.”
For the time being, Cascadia will continue to oversee the Living Building Challenge. However the Institute is in the process of becoming a formal 501(c) (3) non-profit and will soon have its own Board of Directors.
The Living Building Challenge began as a program of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council just three years ago. The idea has sparked the creative juices of design professionals around the globe, with more than 60 proposed Living Buildings now in some stage of design or construction in the US and Canada. A Living Building is a radical step forward in green building and comes at a time when there is growing consensus that the time for baby steps in green building is past.
The basic concept is that a building can work like a natural system; designed and constructed to function as elegantly and efficiently as a flower. A Living Building must meet sixteen performance measures within six categories (or petals) including site, energy, materials, water, indoor quality and beauty and inspiration.
Jason F. McLennan, author of the Living Building Challenge and CEO of Cascadia, says “We have been delighted to serve as the incubator for these projects. But Cascadia is a regional organization and the Living Building Challenge has now become an international phenomenon. So, the natural and logical progression is to create an international oversight body.”
For the time being, Cascadia will continue to oversee the Living Building Challenge. However the Institute is in the process of becoming a formal 501(c) (3) non-profit and will soon have its own Board of Directors.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Regional Board News
Greetings!
We would like to welcome our two new members elected to the Regional Board of the Guild, Meror Krayenhoff and Matthew McCune. They bring solid business and green building knowledge to the group. They were ratified by the board at the quarterly board meeting on Saturday, May 9th, where new Officers were also elected. Fiona Douglas-Hamilton is the new President, Howard Thurston the new Vice President, Jonathan Campbell the new Secretary, and Tom Balderston the new Treasurer.
Congratulations to all!
The 2009 Green Pages are here! Be on the lookout for our beautiful new publication, this year printed on FSC certified paper. ESP has done an excellent job once again, and will soon be sending individual copies to all members and boxes to all chapters.
Thanks for All you Do!
We would like to welcome our two new members elected to the Regional Board of the Guild, Meror Krayenhoff and Matthew McCune. They bring solid business and green building knowledge to the group. They were ratified by the board at the quarterly board meeting on Saturday, May 9th, where new Officers were also elected. Fiona Douglas-Hamilton is the new President, Howard Thurston the new Vice President, Jonathan Campbell the new Secretary, and Tom Balderston the new Treasurer.
Congratulations to all!
The 2009 Green Pages are here! Be on the lookout for our beautiful new publication, this year printed on FSC certified paper. ESP has done an excellent job once again, and will soon be sending individual copies to all members and boxes to all chapters.
Thanks for All you Do!
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