Sustainable Design

Architecture

Sustainably designed buildings save organizations money, have less negative environmental impacts, and make better, healthier workplaces. Sustainable building design grows out of an integrated design process driven by whole-system thinking. It starts from the very beginning of the process with cooperation and decisions from the design team, architects, engineers, and client. Site selection, scheme formation, material selection, material procurement and, finally, project implementation require agreement among all stakeholders. The U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building program provides guidelines for sustainability throughout the design and building process. Builders can earn certification based on three levels of sustainability: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Buildings are graded for energy and water conservation, the reduction of building waste, and the use of renewable and nontoxic materials.

Architecture design firms specializing in LEED-certified buildings enjoy prominence in a growing market. For example, SERA architects in Portland, Oregon, a leader in LEED-certified urban revitalization and sustainable design projects, works to balance urban and natural resource flows. In a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review, Charles Lockwood noted that from 2000–07, there was a 232 percent increase in white-collar LEED buildings and 178 percent in blue-collar facilities. He also noted that the Genzyme Center, a 12-story LEED Platinum building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, uses 42 percent less energy and 34 percent less water than traditionally constructed buildings of comparable size.

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