Buildings Brought to Life: The First Project to Meet the Living Building Challenge Is Only Months Away
The race set in motion by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council’s Living Building Challenge is in its final phase. Two projects by Missouri architecture firms have recently been completed and are now compiling energy, water, and material performance data to verify that they meet the challenge’s industry-leading sustainability requirements. The first to compile 12 months of such performance data and have it verified by the International Living Building Institute will be able to lay claim to being one of the world’s most sustainable buildings.

Stimulus-Funded DOE Research Invests in the Building System and Sustainability Technologies of Tomorrow
There are approximately $130 billion allocated for building and construction funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) economic stimulus package. Much of this money funds the construction of previously designed buildings—“shovel-ready” projects that are meant to stimulate the economy and create jobs immediately. Of more interest to architects (and advocated by the AIA’s Rebuild and Renew advocacy plan) are the “design ready” initiatives that will create new opportunities from conception to construction for architects.