The Living Building Challenge is a visionary strategy for creating a socially just, culturally rich and ecologically benign built environment. Rather than providing points for incremental improvements in building performance, it measures success against the end goal of true sustainability and provides a framework for restoring balance in the human ecosystem.
Living Building Challenge 2.0 provides a framework for design, construction and the symbiotic relationship between people and all aspects of the built environment. Indeed, "Living Building Challenge" is not a merely a noun that defines the character of a particular solution for development, but more relevant if classified as a series of verbs - calls for action that describe not only the 'building' of all of humanity's longest lasting artifacts, but also of the relationships and broader sense of community and connectivity they engender. It is a challenge to immerse ourselves in such a pursuit - and many refer to the ability to do so as a "paradigm shift".
The Living Building Challenge is comprised of seven performance areas, or 'Petals': Site, Water, Energy,
Health, Materials, Equity and Beauty
The Living Building Challenge is versatile. There are four Typologies, and teams must identify the one that aligns with the project to determine which Imperatives apply4:
Renovation: This typology is for any project that does not form the substantial portion of a complete building reconstruction. Sample projects include single-floor tenant improvements, residential kitchen remodels or historic rehabilitations of a portion of a building.
Landscape or Infrastructure (non-conditioned development): This typology is for any project that does not include a physical structure as part of its primary program, although open-air 'park-like' structures, restrooms, amphitheatres and the like do fall into this category. Projects may be as diverse as roads, bridges, plazas, sports facilities or trails.
Building: This typology is for any project that encompasses the construction of a roofed and walled structure created for permanent use - either new or existing.
Neighborhood: This typology is for any project that contains multiple buildings5 in a continuous campus, neighborhood, district or village. Sample projects include university, college or corporate campuses; residential streets; business or industrial districts; or small villages and towns.
Regional solutions are manifested in all Living Building Challenge projects due to a number of variables, including climate factors and building characteristics. For example becoming water independent in the desert demands "evolving" building design to be more like a cactus and less like a tree. Making a thirty-story building energy independent requires great investments in efficiency and in a building skin that undamentally harnesses energy. All architecture and design will be richer because of this response to place.
Energy
A living site is like a flower and relies solely on current solar income.
Major Environmental Issues/Prerequisite Intents
The majority of energy generated today is from unsustainable sources including
coal, gas, oil and nuclear energy. Large-scale hydro, while inherently cleaner, brings
widespread damaging ecosystem impact. The effects of these energy sources on
regional and planetary health is becoming more and more evident, with climate change
being the most worrisome of major global trends due to human activity. The intent of
this Petal is to signal a new age of design, whereby all infrastructure relies solely on
renewable forms of energy and operate year in and year out in a pollution-free manner.
Since renewable energy sources are inherently more expensive than energy efficiency
measures, efficiency as a first step is assumed.
Ideal Conditions and Current Limitations
The ideal is a safe, reliable decentralized power grid relying completely on renewable
energy powering super-efficient infrastructure. The major current limitation is cost,
although the extent to which this is the case with site infrastructure varies dramatically
based on the project.
Materials
Living Site and Infrastructure is built with safe, healthy materials.
Major Environmental Issues/Prerequisite Intents
The environmental issues surrounding materials are numerous and include health
and toxicity, embodied energy, pollution and resource depletion. This Petal intends to
remove, from a health standpoint, the worst known offending materials, and to reduce
and offset the environmental impacts associated with the construction process. At the
present time it is impossible to gauge the true environmental impact and toxicity of the
site infrastructure we build.
Ideal Conditions and Current Limitations
The ideal is a future where all materials in the built environment are safe and
replenishable and have no negative impact on human and ecosystem health. The
precautionary principle guides all materials decisions.
There are significant limitations to achieving Living Site and Infrastructure status in the
materials realm. The biggest limitation is due to the market itself. While there are a
huge number of "green" products on the market, there is a shortage of good data that
really backs up manufacturer claims and provides consumers with the ability to make
conscious, informed choices. Cascadia recognizes the PHAROS Project10 protocol
developed by the Healthy Building Network as the best framework for evaluating
sustainable materials and the most progressive tool for consumer benefit. Projects
are encouraged to eliminate all known persistent bio-accumulative toxins (PBT's),
carcinogens and reproductive toxicants.11
Water
A Living Site and Infrastructure is water independent.
Major Environmental Issues/Prerequisite Intents
Scarcity of clean potable water is quickly becoming a serious issue in many countries
around the world. Parts of the US and Canada have avoided the majority of these
limitations and problems to date due to abundant fresh water, but highly unsustainable
water use patterns and the continued draw-down of major aquifers portent significant
problems ahead. The intent of this Petal is to realign how people use water in the built
environment, so that people treat it as the precious resource that it is.
Ideal Conditions and Current Limitations
Cascadia envisions a future whereby all infrastructure is designed to harvest enough
water to meet the needs of its design. Water can be used and purified and re-used again.
Currently, such practices are often illegal under health code regulations in North America,
which arose precisely because people were not properly safeguarding the quality of their
water. Reaching the ideal for water use presently is dependent on what is allowable by
code. The Living Site and Infrastructure Standard acknowledges this reality.
Beauty & Inspiration
A Living Site and Infrastructure tells a story.
Major Environmental Issues/Prerequisite Intents
As a society we are often surrounded by ugly and inhumane physical environments. To
be successful, sustainable design must inspire and elevate people's spirits. If we do not
put care into our homes, streets and offices then why should we extend care outward to
our farms, forests and fields? We accept billboards, parking lots and strip malls as being
aesthetically acceptable in the same breath that we accept clear-cuts, factory farms and
strip mines. The Living Site and Infrastructure Standard recognizes the need for beauty
as a precursor to caring enough to preserve, conserve and serve the greater good.
Ideal Conditions and Current Limitations
Mandating beauty is, by definition, an impossible undertaking. And yet, we must elevate
the level of discussion and, ultimately, the results by attempting difficult but critical tasks.
In this case the prerequisite is based solely on intention and attempt. We do not begin
to assume we can judge beauty and project our own aesthetic values on others. It is
important to require that an effort is made to enrich people's lives with each square
foot of construction on each project. This intentionality must carry forth into a program
for educating the public about the environmental qualities of their Living Site and
Infrastructure.
Culture and Community Systems
Living Communities are always part of a healthy, diverse interconnected whole.
Underlying Principles and Major Environmental Impacts
Our buildings and landscape infrastructure are among the largest human artifacts that we
create. They both define and represent our cultural values, and in turn our values influence
how our built environment is designed, used, modified and either preserved or left to decay.
The built environment is the armature on which community exists. For hundreds of years
our communities were organized around the scale and accessibility of the human being
and districts delineated by walking, horse power and locomotives: the result being villages
and cities that were inherently walkable, human-scaled and humane supported by local and
regional economies for food, transportation and industry. Since the Industrial Revolution
this trend began to change, intensified by the proliferation of the automobile and cheap
oil. Our economy globalized while our cities decentralized, creating great material wealth
for the lucky few while externalizing pollution and hardship for the masses. In scrutinizing
our landscapes, sites and infrastructure, it is clear that the quality of the built environment
and its capacity to serve as a healthy armature for culture and community is constantly
being eroded. This trend must be reversed. A truly sustainable society depends on a built
environment fabric that strengthens culture and community for all individuals regardless of
economic, racial or background or any other differences.
Ideal Conditions and Current Limitations
We imagine our neighborhoods, cities and towns to be places where each intervention
(new construction or redevelopment) helps to reinforce a vibrant, healthy community.
Environmental stewardship is only possible when a healthy community infrastructure
is present. We envision communities that have strong local economies and are self
sufficient on a regional scale. We envision communities where reliance on fossil fuels
for commerce, agriculture and locomotion is not required. We imagine communities that
inspire, bring people together and promote co-operation and healthy relationships.
