Home for Living Buildings launched

Omega Center for Sustainable Living is expected to be completed soon.

Construction is planned to be completed on the first registered Living Building this summer with another three expected to be finished by the end of the year. As the building certification system shifts from paper to real-world applications, the Cascadia Green Building Council (GBC) last week announced the creation of the International Living Building Institute, a non-governmental organization which will oversee the global development of Living Buildings.

Since Cascadia GBC launched the Living Building Challenge three years ago, more than 60 proposed Living Buildings have been registered and are now in some stage of design or construction in the United States, Canada, Mexico and France. As interest in constructing buildings that are net-zero users of energy and water grows beyond the confines of the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Cascadia GBC says a regional chapter of a national organization is no longer the right place for the system to reside. The institute aims to triple the number of projects registered around the world by next year, it says.

Cascadia GBC will continue to oversee the mechanics of the Living Building Challenge until the end of 2009, when the Living Building Institute is expected to be granted non-profit status and a board of directors is seated, though Cascadia will always have a hand in the challenge, says Jason McLennan, its CEO. In the meantime, the Institute is working on a revised version of the Living Building Challenge  standard which will include requirements for different size projects, including site, buildling, community, neighborhood and campus design.