Just because I'm an Environmental student does not mean I was born wanting to make my clothes out of hemp, live in a cobb house, and eat only raw/vegetarian friendly foods. I'm a Jersey girl at heart, who happened to spend her summers camping in the Northern part of the state canoeing, swimming, hiking and singing. I really grew to love spending time on the Appalachian Trail, the challenge of long, multi-day hikes, the danger of bears and other large animals, and the wonder of how life goes on despite everything happening in our cities.
As I got older, I could feel the natural world around me start to change. Summers got hot- like 106 degrees hot. We couldn't hike the normal trails because water sources were dry, we couldn't swim in the lake because so much water evaporated the fecal count was unsafe, and something called the gypsy moth was plaguing the entire county, devouring everything green in its path. I realized then that maybe things don't continue on despite whatever we do; maybe we have to think about and consciously decide to help our planet to keep her healthy.
I decided I wanted to learn everything I could about the corks and screws of how it all works, because then we can find solutions.
And here I am, looking for design and construction solutions- because it is not realistic to ask people to stop building, expanding, growing, and developing in their lives. But it may just be possible to change the way we do it.
The Living Building Challenge is the brainchild of the International Living Building Institute and it asks us, "How can we make a building that works like a tree?". Even in my undergraduate work, where we were singing the praises of the LEED certification process- we weren't actually making anything better; we were just trying to hurt things less.
I like the way it was put in a conference i attended over the summer: If I am in Florida and I'm trying to get to Maine, I can't get there by driving towards Texas. The insanity of the things we do in design is that we think if we drive towards Texas slower, we'll get to Maine. ie We cannot heal this Earth by using the same techniques and thought processes that got us here, and things like LEED-while they slow us down- are still headed towards Texas.
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) asks us to account for how far we import our materials; heavy-density things can come from no further than 300 miles, consultants can come from about 1200 miles, etc. The impact of bringing in things like bamboo, even though it is renewable, can be high because we must ship it in from at least 6,000 miles away to install it here in New Jersey.
We must use Net Zero energy annually; the building is designed to utilize as much daylight and passive energies as possible. Then, on-site renewables will power the rest of the building site.
LBC additionally requires Net Zero water and net zero waste, habitat exchange, windows/access to daylight and views for every occupiable space among its stringent design 'petals'
Then, there is the RED LIST- a group of chemicals/ingredients that are not permitted to be present in any part of the design, materials, or construction of the building that include but are not limited to: PVC, cadmium, mercury and lead.
If we want to create a building that is like a tree, i.e. it filters water, makes soil and uses sunlight for energy- we can't have it composed of toxic, non-biodegradable, and/or foreign oil-eating materials.
We will have to stop believing that the newest and fastest technology must be the best, and remembering to look back at some of the simpler, primitive, and more effective techniques to gain our needed result.
Comments
Post a Comment