Championing the
Changemakers

When we turn on a faucet in the U.S., it’s easy to think that the clean water that comes pouring out is a limitless resource. But fresh water is a precious commodity and it takes a lot of energy and resources to filter, sanitize, pump, and transport potable water into our buildings, and then out again as wastewater.

We can reduce our... Read more

Good morning, choir.

Chances are, if you’re reading this article, you care more about and know more about sustainability than the average architect or designer. Your “sustainability literacy” is high.

Sustainable design literacy involves the ability to understand the various ways in which a project can impact—negatively or... Read more

As more projects started claiming “net-zero-energy design” without having actual performance data to back them up, a certification and a certifying agency became needed. International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and New Buildings Institute (NBI) have now teamed up to fill this gap and accelerate the net-zero-energy trend.

Earlier in... Read more

Among the biggest changes that LEED v4 brought to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System were three new credits in the Materials & Resources category. These credits cover building product disclosure and optimization, or BPDO: Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Raw Material Extraction, and Material Ingredients. Each of... Read more

On the same day that our editorial team finalized this month’s feature article on net-zero-energy schools, President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accord.

As I re-read the article, my own words seemed tone-deaf in the context of this new reality. The past few years had given me optimism that green building was... Read more

In Portland, Maine, the chair of a building committee dreamed of a schoolhouse that could offset the transportation energy required for students to commute to class.

In Arlington, Virginia, a school architect argued he could reduce energy costs without increasing his budget.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the school district,... Read more

When Structure Tone, a construction management and contracting company with offices around the world, decided to move its New York headquarters into a new space, it wanted to make an investment in support of its most valuable resource—p­­­­­­eople. The company’s new office at 330 West 34th Street is the first project in New York City to achieve... Read more

Clean Production Action recently tossed its hat into the ring of those attempting to recognize whole formulations with greener chemistries by releasing Greenscreen Certified Standard for Textile Chemicals. The certification relies on GreenScreen, the hazard assessment framework behind Health Product Declarations and other transparency programs... Read more

The Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development—based in Gothenburg, Sweden—recognizes organizations and individuals that contribute toward a sustainable future through work that conserves resources, develops greater global justice, or leads to systematic change.

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena—who has suggested that “... Read more

There is no shortage of different tools, initiatives, and certification programs available to guide building professionals in the design and construction of healthy, sustainable buildings. Rather than creating competition, however, organizations like International Living Future Institute (ILFI) are creating partnerships and collaborating with... Read more

What if instead of buying a light bulb you paid a company to provide you with light? That’s the idea behind product as a service (PaaS)—a business model that could extend to any type of building product and seeks to bring about a circular economy.

This is how it works. An owner specifies the desired performance level for a certain... Read more

Living walls, or green walls, can provide a powerful connection with nature in otherwise sterile urban interiors. But plants used as interior decorations have been consistently overhyped as tools for everything from cleaning indoor air to increasing productivity (see Bringing Nature Indoors: The Myths and Realities of Plants in Buildings).... Read more

BuildingGreen has been asking for formaldehyde-free mineral wool insulation for years (see The Search for Better Insulation). In 1996, fiberglass batt manufacturers began replacing formaldehyde—a carcinogen and respiratory irritant (see our primer on formaldehyde)—with acrylic resins. In 2008, formaldehyde-free biobased resins arrived. And... Read more

Architectural practice must react and adapt as technological and cultural change continuously disrupt established ways of working. As the tools, processes, and priorities of the building industry evolve, the profession has responded by adopting increasingly collaborative models of organization and operation.

In Leading Collaborative... Read more

When the United Nations planned the multi-year, campus-wide renovation of its New York City headquarters, it made sustainability a priority. The resulting project, completed in 2015, was designed and built to meet the equivalent of a LEED Gold rating and the iconic Secretariat Building to meet the equivalent of a LEED Platinum rating. But... Read more

A new “crosswalk” document aims to support the efficient, simultaneous application of the LEED Rating System credits and WELL Building Standard. The report—published by International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) in collaboration with U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)—shows how LEED credits and... Read more

Ethnography is defined as “the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.” It is a method social scientists use to study and understand different communities and the places in which these communities are situated.

By using ethnography to enhance engagement with project stakeholders and their rich cultural... Read more

The design disciplines have been very active in communicating both concerns and priorities to the new administration.  Architects Advocate, a recently formed, nonpartisan network of designers, published an open letter to President Trump and Congress urging meaningful action on climate change. AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) sent an open... Read more

I don’t do blower door work every day, but I do enough of it to appreciate the attention to detail that The Energy Conservatory (TEC) built into its new blower door kit. I have used both TEC and Retrotec blower door kits and found them trustworthy and rugged.

I once asked TEC principal Gary Nelson if there were any reasons we should... Read more

The AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) recently published “The Habits of High-Performance Firms,” a report outlining the key traits of “high-performance firms”—firms that have been awarded an AIA COTE Top Ten Award three or more times over the past 20 years. Researchers found that these repeat winners succeed by multiple measures of... Read more