Nothing makes us happier than seeing our friends and allies making headlines for their monumental achievements to sustainability. Bruner/Cott's R.W. Kern Center at Hampshire College has made the 2017 AIA COTE Top Ten Awards, a program that celebrates sustainable design and building excellence. The R.W. Kern Center is pursuing Living Building certification – and making great strides towards it.
The AIA and Committee on the Environment (COTE)'s Top Ten Awards program is now in its 21st year, always highlighting projects that are models for what a great design should hope to achieve. By aligning with COTE's criteria for social, economic, and ecological value, designs can be entered into a competitive pool with only the highest-performing candidates making the list.
The R.W. Kern Center is an archetypal example of what it means to be a sustainable design and pinnacle of excellence. The new 17,000-square-foot campus welcome center was constructed using materials that were chosen to comply with the LBC Red List. The building is designed to supply its own power and water and process waste on-site.
Bruner/Cott has a distinguished 40-year sustainability record and a clear commitment to excellent green building. The firm approaches each project in the context of its community, program, and mission, and looks for ways to maximize projects’ positive impact.
Join us for an introductory session on the newest and most rigorous standard in high-performance buildings today. If you are new to the standard or have a few unanswered questions come visit this session. We will be briefly covering projects in the Commonwealth and will have mediated discussion after the comprehensive presentation. Breakfast will be provided.
The Living Building Challenge is the built environment's most rigorous performance standard. It calls for the creation of building projects that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature's architecture. Participants will gain a basic understanding of the Living Building Challenge – a philosophy, advocacy tool, and certification program that addresses development at all scales. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements, including Net Zero Energy, Waste, and Water, over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy. Participants will learn to describe the key components of the program and discuss the rationale for restorative design principles.
Learning objectives:
1. Understand the basic philosophy of the Living Building Challenge
2. Describe the key components of the program
3. Discuss the rationale for restorative design principles
4. Identify and locate the resources provided by the International Living Future Institute for deeper engagement
The Living Building Challenge is still a new concept to many, and to those folks, it can be quite confusing. What makes this building standard unique is the time devotion needed – you can't just make a building, have it look good day one, and then let it go. You need to keep this design Net-Zero (energy, waste, water) for a year before it even has a chance at being qualified.
During this 3-hour morning session, we will cover projects in Massachusetts, including a presentation followed by a discussion, answering any remaining questions you may have.
Learning objectives:
1. Understand the basic philosophy of the Living Building Challenge
2. Describe the key components of the program
3. Discuss the rationale for restorative design principles
4. Identify and locate the resources provided by the International Living Future Institute for deeper engagement
Seattle is proving once again why it's a city to be taken seriously in the green building industry.
October 7th marked the day that Ed Murray – the mayor of Seattle – signed legislation to continue the Living Building Pilot Program until 2025. This update will allow a total of twenty buildings to participate in this program in Seattle.
This all comes back to Capitol Hill's Bullitt Center – currently the only Living Building in Seattle. The city is pushing for more construction, and green building is making a stronger presence than before, now.
City planners won't have to wonder why they haven't seen any more living buildings, as the pilot program has expanded. In addition to allowing more buildings, the legislation also proposed technical adjustments to 'better align city laws with recent changes in state laws to streamline city buildings codes.' These changes will involve things such as requiring high-efficiency heaters, being ready for solar panels, etc.
Living Buildings are awesome! This emerging topic is picking up a lot of steam now, and it's a good time for you to get involved as well. As part of ABX 2016 November 15th-17th, the USGBC MA Chapter is sponsoring a few sessions. One of these sessions, B04: Living up to the Living Building Challenge: The Owner's Perspective, will cover this topic in great detail. On a related note, we're also sponsoring B68: Designing for Net Positive Water and Energy – a topic that couples well with Living Buildings!
We invite you to join Amanda Sturgeon and ILFI's Boston Collaborative for drinks and appetizers at our pre-ABX reception. Amanda will give a brief overview of the Living Building Challenge (LBC) and be available to answer questions. Amanda's overview is especially timely with the recent rollout of the new 3.1 Standard.
In this exciting time of rapidly increasing innovation, the LBC continues to raise the bar and lead the way in regenerative design. This is your opportunity to hear directly from Amanda and network with other green professionals!
Amanda has been with the International Living Future Institute for over 5 years, initially overseeing the programs, then as Executive Director and now as CEO. She joined the Institute following a career as a licensed architect with fifteen years experience designing and managing some of the most sustainable buildings in the Pacific Northwest. Amanda was a founding board member of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and a recent board member of AIA Seattle. Amanda was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2013 and a LEED Fellow later the same year in recognition for her extensive advocacy and volunteer service to the green building movement. She was named as one of the top ten most powerful women in sustainability in 2015 as a recipient of the Women in Sustainability Leadership Award.
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The Massachusetts USGBC Chapter is hosting multiple sessions at ABX! Please see here to find out what sessions we're involved in, and to register for any that interest you.
