Greenbuild 2007: On-the-Boards Competition Winners
This month I have spent some time looking at the Living Building Challenge and the related Greenbuild 2007 competition. On January 8th I discussed winning buildings that were recognized for their actual performance (defined as being operational for one year in a brochure posted on Cascadiagbc.org), but the competition recognized an equal number of unbuilt projects. By encouraging the exploration of concepts and ideas, the Living Building Challenge helps designers stretch the limits of current building practices.
The following three on-the-boards projects received awards:
- The Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, NY, by BNIM Architects, won for demonstrating exemplary planning. The Center, a wastewater processing facility serving the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, will also function as an education center by showcasing its state-of-the-art wastewater recycling and green architecture. This project broke ground in October.
- The Alice Ferguson Foundation in Accokeek, Maryland, received Demonstrated Leadership recognition for their proposed Living Buildings at Hard Bargain Farm. Hard Bargain Farm is an environmental center that offers hands-on educational programs for students and teachers, and plans to add two new structures to its property: a day-use instructional building and an overnight lodge. For the two building sites (one being an open grassland and the other occupying a shady woodland), M2 Architecture and Re:Vision Architecture proposed a symbiotic set of buildings. “Each building will provide what the other lacks; both will be intimately connected to the environmental assets of their respective sites,” says a project fact sheet available on the farm’s website.
- Finally, the Kenton Living Building in Portland, Oregon also received a Demonstrated Leadership award. This project will involve the redevelopment of an existing duplex in a North Portland residential neighborhood. Addressing every petal of the Cascadia GBC’s challenge with a design team led by SERA Architects, Inc., Renewal Associates (the developer who acquired the Kenton property in 2004) hopes that this building will be one of the world’s first Living Buildings to be built.
While LEED moves the mainstream construction industry forward in the arena of green building, participants in the Living Building Challenge are envisioning the ‘next steps’ which the industry must take. The Challenge provides a framework for defining what is possible, so that more concrete guidelines can be established in the near future.
Image credit: Greenbuild 2007 Living Building Competition
