Can your building do this?
Posted: September 6, 2011 by John G, Category:Environment, Sustainability
What’s the equivalent of a Prius when it comes to green buildings? Well, the answer might be The Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington. It just broke ground last week, and aims to be the first commercial building designed to carry its own environmental weight.
What does that mean – “carry its own environmental weight”?
It means that this building is taking sustainable design to the next level. This building is designed to produce as much energy as it consumes. To provide its own water, its own sewage. If you want to drive to work, you’ll have to find an alternate parking lot. Parking at The Bullitt Center will be reserved for bikes only.
You might be scratching your head and thinking this is crazy. But this is what sustainable design is all about!
Denis Hayes, president and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, was quoted in a Seattle Times feature about the project, saying this is what we should have been doing 5, 10 years ago.
Conventional office buildings are getting greener, Hayes acknowledges. Many developers are designing their projects with green features to qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, then marketing that label prominently.
But change isn’t happening fast enough to respond to climate change and other looming environmental problems, he said: “If the world had three or four centuries to address these challenges, we would be right on track.”
So what does this mean for our industry? This will force programs like LEED to take it to the next level, and for architects and designers to really incorporate sustainable design techniques into projects.
Building owners are going to be asking for these features in their buildings. And it’s possible, we just need to keep at it.
Tags:Architects, Building, climate, design, leadership, LEED, office, Seattle, Sustainability
