Green architecture is a great idea.
Sustainability and environmental consciousness are important to you. You make choices throughout your life, weighing convenience, costs, and personal well-being with your commitment to leave the world in a better state than when you arrived.
Because of this, you seek green alternatives whenever and wherever you can. You read labels, compare specs, and make the best choices you can based on the information that’s readily available.
And if you’re about to build a new structure, you have an incredible opportunity to incorporate principals of sustainability that will have an enormous impact on the world we live in – for many years to come. That’s why it’s probably a good idea to poke around and make sure you are engaging a firm where “green” is woven into their DNA, not just a marketing ploy to snag some extra business.
Because of that we’ve put together a list of ways to weed out the real green architecture firms from the rif-raff.
It's not like green was born yesterday...
The USGBC was founded in 1997, and LEED V2 went public in 2000. That was 16 years ago! Green Building became defined, and a system to independently verify the sustainable features of a building was put into place. 16 years is a long enough time for these 10 questions and observations to make sense in helping you identify the real McCoy.
1. What is their company car?
An SUV? An oversized luxury car? A turbo’d out gas guzzler? Or is it something that makes a green statement, like a Prius, Leaf, Volt, or Smart Car? Maybe they don’t have a “company car…” So, what is the owner driving? What are the other employees driving?
2. When you mention “net zero...”
Does your architect know you are not referring to the latest beverage from Coca Cola?
3. Where is their office located?
Is it in a suburban office complex where everyone has to drive to and from the office, and drive to get lunch, and drive to go to the bank, and drive to get the dry cleaning, or is it located near where there is a great deal of housing and all the necessary services that are convenient for the staff, where staff and clients can walk to lunch, to the bank and to the dry cleaners? Is it accessible by walking or biking? Are they located next to a public transportation hub?
4. Do they claim they do green building design, but...
“just don’t seek and independent green rating certification?” Um… why not? That’s like when children say they’re cowboys or astronauts… Saying the words doesn’t make it true – but having proof So, why wouldn’t they seek certification if they qualified?
5. Do they use "accredited" and "certified" right?
buildings are certified and people are accredited? If you hear your architect telling you they have X number of LEED certified staff, please run away as fast as you can. (On a related note, products do not receive any certification or accreditation by the USGBC. So is someone is trying to sell you a LEED certified product, run away!)
6. What do they think of "heat island effect?"
When you express a desire that your project reduce its “heat island effect” does your architect think that is a tropical condition caused by an island in the Caribbean? Reducing heat island effect is about light colored, reflective roofing and site hardscapes such as parking lots and sidewalks. It can also involve landscaping that provides shading.
7. Do they belong?
What sorts of organizations does the firm belong to, support or contribute to? Is the firm a USGBC member? A Florida Building Coalition member? For how long? 15 years? 1 year? What other green building organizations is the firm active in? How about social equity organizations? Community Service Organizations?
8. Do they care about their own carbon footprint?
Do they occupy an existing building that maybe is an adaptive reuse of a building that functioned for another purpose (see our blog about embodied energy). Is there office in a dense urban environment?
9. Are they consistently certified?
How many LEED buildings has the architect done in the past 15 years? Does it seem that they always have a LEED project in design or construction, or is there one here and one there without any consistency?
10. Do they like the ponies?
Does your architect think the Triple Bottom Line is a bet at the horse track? Or does the firm believe in People, Planet and Profit all equally?
CONCLUSION:
For many, "green" is a marketing term used to lure unsuspecting patrons who are looking to do a little extra to help their planet (and bottom line: read more). But you as a consumer are empowered to see through those who are faking it, and those who are actually making it, as long as you know which questions to ask.
Interested in learning more about green building design from an architectural firm that eats, breathes, and sleeps sustainability? Schedule a free consultation with Carlson Studio Architecture today!
