I just serendipitously came across
which is happening
right now and you can listen to 42 incredibly visionary leaders in sustainable growing, food, water, community, regenerative design, etc
for free online for the next several days.
I am currently enjoying a conversation called
Designing Living Buildings & Systems
between Jason McLennan and David McConville.
Here is an excerpt that encapsulates what these guys are about:
"Instead of the paradigm where every act of humanity is leading to the degradation of the system that sustain all of us... how about we flip that: how does every act of operation, design, construction, living, in fact, regenerate and heal the places where we are living."
I actually wrote about the project created by Jason McLennan called The Living Building Challenge for a class in Environmental Media last semester and will repost it below, for anyone curious about eco-building and green homes - something that's always inspired me (and I hope to live in one or many of these one day.)
Green Homes: The Living Building Challenge
by Anastasia Avvakumova
There are many eco-friendly home building innovations out there, some
seemingly so incredible that it leaves you wondering if you had accidentally
stumbled on a science-fiction forum. For example, the North American website
Treehugger
[i],
dedicated to bringing sustainable-living news, solutions and product
information to the mainstream, has recently published stories in their Design
section ranging from shipping container building to insulation and even 3D
printed furniture made by growing mushroom mycelium into the spaces and shapes
desired.
[ii]
Treehugger’s managing editor Lloyd Alter is also the editor and author
of most of the website’s Design articles and himself comes from an
architectural background. More than a few of his recent contributions have been
following a growing movement of eco-building inspired by the Living Building
Challenge.
[iii]
This is in fact a certification standard for the world of green building.
As defined by their website,
The
Living Building ChallengeTM is the built
environment's most rigorous performance standard. It calls for the creation of
building projects at all scales that operate as cleanly, beautifully and
efficiently as nature's architecture. To be certified under the Challenge,
projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements, including
net zero energy, waste and water, over a minimum of 12 months of continuous
occupancy.
Ambitious it is, requiring a building to produce all of its own energy
through clean, renewable resources, treat its own waste water and, using only
non-toxic, responsibly sourced building materials, create a design that is not
only functionally efficient, but also aesthetically beautiful. Despite the
extremely exacting standards, the Living Building Challenge (LBC) has
continuously gained popularity. Following its creation by the International
Living Future Institute in 2006, over 100 registered teams have been pursuing
the challenge and four projects have been fully certified as Living Buildings,
while six more have been partially certified for achieving aspects of the
Challenge’s standards.
Despite several eco-building certification schemes already in existence,
LBC standards significantly surpass them, requiring project builders to think
ultra-sustainably in seven areas: site, water, energy, health, materials,
equity and beauty. It is really inspiring to see that so many people and firms
have risen to the challenge, creating a movement which has been drawing
visitors to the finished physical sites as well online research and discussion.
I see the LBC creating enormously positive impact in two major areas:
localized environmental improvements and far-reaching global inspiration.
Localized
improvement includes:
-
building a residence, learning center or other type
of facility on previously developed land in a way that will benefit the
immediate environment (eg. restoring native plants and general health of
previously impacted land)
-
using non-toxic building materials, which will
ensure the health of human occupants as well as the surrounding eco-system
-
allocating equal amount of land as taken up by the
building project to permanent conservation
-
functioning as a closed loop water system, which
means rainwater is collected for the building’s use, grey water and black water
are treated onsite through
processes
which mimic the natural world, “such as using a combination of microorganisms, algae, plants
and gravel and sand filtration to clean sewage water and return clean drinkable
water back to the aquifer,
[iv]”
in this way symbiotically interacting with the natural surroundings and
returning water to the local ecosystem
-
functioning
as a net zero energy unit, with surplus energy pumped into the electrical grid.
These
standards require builders to redefine industrial building practices and reach
for unprecedented ingenuity.
Far-reaching inspiration includes:
-
advocating the green building
industry development by refusing to utilize harmful materials, such as are
often present in insulation, paint, etc
-
challenging legislation
which currently does not allow for 100% private onsite water treatment
-
gradually bringing down
the cost of green buildings through the laws of supply and demand, as
eco-building gains popularity
[v]
-
opening the sites to
tours and workshops, creating dialogue and awareness through hands-on education.
It is very beneficial to have reporting sites like Treehugger informing
the general public about developments and innovations such as LBC, as the
technical industry terms and specs are translated into accessible language and
the reporters are free to critique the initiatives, being a third-party
observer.
My fascination with eco-friendly homes started
over a decade ago with Earthships[vi],
after which I also learned about straw-bale, in-situ adobe, cob, and rammed
earth structures, with their use of natural and recycled materials, ingenious
use of natural light and ventilation, self-contained water and energy systems,
green roofs and stunning aesthetic. It may be a small current in the ocean of
commercial building, yet green homes are definitely making waves and with the
Living Building Challenge raising the bar on sustainable construction, the
future of buildings certainly looks bright.
