How a Dense Metropolis Can Support a Living Building

Despite a hot real estate market, loads of innovative architects, and a dense urban environment, New York City isn’t a hotbed of Living Building Challenge (LBC) projects. A scant number have even registered, and none have made it to the performance period. One group trying to change that is the Living Building Collaborative of New York City and New Jersey.

The group, with members from mixed firms and disciplines, is hoping to take down obstacles for LBC projects—obstacles of technology, economics, municipal regulation, and the rules of LBC itself. Its opening salvo is a forthcoming paper focused on LBC’s water category—or “petal” in LBC-speak.