Living Building Challenge

Photo: Taomeister. License: CC BY-SA 2.0

The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is widely considered the most stringent green building standard in the world. LBC, run by the International Living Future Institute, attempts to emulate a flower by encouraging regenerative design. Its requirements are categorized under seven “petals,” or categories.

Through detailed imperatives, LBC leaves little wiggle room. Everything is a prerequisite, unlike in LEED, where project teams can choose among credits.

Living Building Challenge

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  • Can the Living Building Challenge Scale Up?

    Op-Ed

    The stringent system has already changed the world, but to reach beyond demonstration projects it has to help everyday buildings succeed.

  • America’s Greenest Office Building

    Blog Post

    The Bullitt Center in Seattle is showing that a six-story, 52,000 square-foot building can meet the net-zero-energy, net-zero-water Living Building Challenge

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