Are you ready to share the story about your best projects?

AIA COTE Top Ten Awards is a great way to get recognition for your best work and the call for submissions for the 2024 cycle is now open!

The awards cycle has shifted, and the deadline for the 2024 awards is October 26.

So NOW is the time to pull together... Read more

We are looking into organics collection service in our corporate office in NYC. Is anyone else in this group composting at their corporate offices? I'm hoping to build a business case, so I'd like to highlight other firms in this group who are actively managing this process.

Nadav Malin is a passionate facilitator, leading workshops and retreats to help organizations of all types find alignment, inspiration, and leadership in pursuit of their goals. He convenes peer networks of architecture firm Sustainable Design Leaders, Sustainable Construction Leaders, and others. He facilitates gatherings and consults to USGBC... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of How to Succeed with the Living Building Challenge: 12 Teams Share Tips.

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:


1. Prepare for LBC imperatives.
2. Structure an LBC process around absolute goals, with proactive leadership and follow-through... Read more

I'm in search of anyone who's done a LEED ACP Pilot Credit. It's unclear to me whether using one of these pathways replaces the way the base prereq or credit would function in the rating system being used by a project seeking certification or if it's a strategy to achieve Innovation in Design credits only. The documentation I've been able to... Read more

I give you... the content-ready site. The editors should be able to start adding Best Practice content.

Development site: 
https://live-bituser.pantheonsite.io/

Instructions (with tutorial videos):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EUIzitkW0CczFQo8V2q3gVDVO4Juk4EI9iv8...

I created accounts for all the editors... Read more

Hi Green Gurus: check out this new series from AIAU that delves into the design and planning application of the 4th National Climate Assessment Report by region with some more recent updates. Free to members...looks like some great speakers and highly relevant. 

https://aiau.aia.org/regional-tour-climate-risk-planning-and-design

... Read more

We are putting together a free guide for firms who have not yet started to figure out what their internal standards are for healthy, low carbon materials/products. 

As part of this effort, we are looking to gather from all of you who already have standards - examples and precedent.

Also we are collecting standards from clients/... Read more

If you have a moment and are working in the IAQ arena, please consider filling out this survey, and you could also win an AirGradient ONE monitor. (Check my review video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpqYOWLzv7o) 

https://forms.gle/ytLcq2dvtGrD2UZY7

I also have access to the results and will happily share the data whenever... Read more

Another Break-out by Firm Size.

Guiding Questions:

SDL Best Practices by Firm Size

What's working and what's not? How are others integrating successes?

What strategies are effective in each of these areas: ongoing education, research, knowledge sharing?

How can we structure our green team across... Read more

Hi folks,

Some of you have seen me do a 5-minute presentation on an initiative to divert urine from wastewater. That team is now developing a building-scale urine treatment technology with support from the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) award. 

In order to learn more about the sustainable... Read more

We are evaluating Dynamic Glass - and I have always been a bit timid to use. 

Any thoughts / experience on what we should be aware of?

Thanks!

Untreated rainwater leaving a developed site is effectively a chemical spill, laden with pollutants that include oil, sediment, heavy metals, nitrogen, and phosphorous. The heat carried by stormwater is also harmful to fish and other aquatic organisms.

BuildingGreen-Approved Systems

We approve systems that:

Hi All - I wanted to share out the All For Reuse initiative below by two peers in the sustainable materials management network. I know some SDL have already done much research on this from quite a few angles, and those with LBC experience probably even moreso in practice. 

Frances Yang (Arup) and Andrew Ellsworth (Doors Unhinged) have... Read more

Biophilic design features are not just aesthetically pleasing; researchers have found that patients heal faster, workers are more productive, and children learn better when more elements of nature are present.

And yet there are still very few projects developed today that inspire a connection to life and the natural world. Some people... Read more

Hello SDL Peers,

We are currently in the process of expanding our firmwide carbon reporting (and goal setting). I am looking to see if anyone has some "best practices" or examples of their own firm's journey to carbon neutrality. Any info or tips are welcome!

Thx, JP

Hi All,

I want to share this report, released today, that I and some other folks on Green Gurus have been working on.  The report dispels the myth that Zero Energy Buildings cost more (specifically in Massachusetts) and it goes further, making the case that Zero Energy Buildings are actually great investments.  Take a look, tell us what... Read more