It was only 12 years ago that we started the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) as a locus for the few score architects in this country at the time who were serious about resource conservation, recycling building material, energy efficiency, clean water, sunlight, and natural ventilation—what has become known as green architecture.

The standard argument at the time was that resource-efficient design could be achieved with a modest increase in first cost, which would pay back several times over within the building's lifetime—chiefly in energy savings. Fine, then all we had to do was convince reluctant clients.

That scenario, I am happy to say, has changed. As I'll point out in three projects BNIM Architects has been involved with recently, the demand for green architecture is growing, driven by large institutional and private-sector clients and developers. It is evermore widely recognized that the payback on resource-saving technologies for a major facility can be a year or less when productivity and social benefits are factored in.

Green is the future. So my advice is to start developing your expertise in this rapidly developing field now.

University of Texas at Houston Health Science Center School of Nursing
This client pursued us and we partnered with Lake Flato of San Antonio. They were looking for an architect who could give them a truly high-performance facility design. They selected us because they were convinced that we were familiar with The Natural Step program, and could deliver Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)-certified projects (which we committed to in the interview).

LEED, which is a program of the U.S. Green Building Council, involves an analysis of environmental impact and resource conservation and ranges from certified up the ladder to silver, gold, and platinum. The School of Nursing is now under construction and headed for a gold designation but I'm optimistic it will be platinum, depending upon the addition of some photovoltaic (PV) arrays. The university has a history of using PV, and we've designed it into the facility, so if they maintain current practice, the PV system will go in and the university will have their LEED platinum level.

David and Lucile Packard Foundation
This client is planning a new facility in Los Altos, California. They were very serious about their search for an architect who could deliver a facility in keeping with the mission of this philanthropic organization. They short-listed six firms. Then their entire Facilities Screening Committee traveled to New York, Boston, Kansas City, Seattle, and San Francisco, spending a full day in each of the finalist's offices for the interview. They had delivered to each team just before their arrival a design program asking for a LEED-certified building. Our interview consisted of them observing and participating in the design of their building during their visit. It was actually a lot of fun for us.

Once we were selected, we went through a process of evaluating their mission, their goals, and their programs. When it got down to it, we recommended that they consider going beyond LEED. They required us, then, to define fairly specifically what that would mean. They wanted to know how the design cost would change, the capital cost, the design and construction schedules, the cost of the FF&E, the footprint of the building, the section of the building, the impact on the users. They wanted to know how the energy consumption would change, both in the amount that would come from the grid and the amount the facility would generate itself. They wanted to know the external cost to society. And they wanted net present value at 30-, 60-, and 100-year cycles. The resulting report is drawing interest from some of the leading minds in the green-building field and will be published later this year.

The remarkable success of the LEED rating system and initiatives like the Packard Foundation's are evidence that the marketplace is shifting. The whole idea of the LEED rating system was about transforming the market. While its national impact is already clear, and it is the best tool available, it is still very new, imperfect, and evolving. The board, staff, and volunteers of the U.S. Green Building Council are working constantly to simplify and improve the existing tool and make it less difficult for owners, architects, and contractors to document the process. And new tools are in the works for existing buildings, commercial interiors, residential, schools and laboratories.

The Noisette Development
John Knott is a fourth-generation developer (his family was one of the Rouse partners) who is setting a major precedent in South Carolina. He is best known today for a project he did on one of the barrier islands near Charleston called Dewees Island.

Many claim it to be the greenest development in America today. It's a high-end residential community that includes restoring the natural environment on the island. It is a huge learning experience for the residents, visitors, region and industry. A number of architecture firms are designing the individual homes under very strict environmental regulations developed by John Knott and Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates.

Knott is bringing his multi-generational experience and lessons learned on Dewees to apply them to a 3,000-acre redevelopment in North Charleston that includes some of the Charleston naval base and a diverse collection of commercial, industrial, and residential neighborhoods. His Noisette Company is under contract to redevelop those 3,000 acres with significant tax increment financing (TIF) support. And the contract indicates that every design and development decision will improve the economic, social, and environmental vitality of that community. This is a huge advancement in urban redevelopment.

Another indication of the far-reaching outlook is that The Noisette Company is putting a quarter of all the TIF money directly back into the 13 public schools within that 3,000-acre jurisdiction. This shows a major positive shift in the way we think as designers and developers. It's a new benchmark for development in this country.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.