Laura Lesniewski and Steve McDowell share insight in Architect Magazine AIA Feature “Bringing a Building to Life”
Laura Lesniewski, AIA, LEED BD+C and Steve McDowell, FAIA LEED AP BD+C provide insight in the AIA Feature, “Bringing a Building to Life,” of Architect Magazine’s June 2020 issue. The feature discusses the future of design as it relates to the Living Building Challenge and high-performance standards becoming the new norm.
Excerpt from “Bringing a Builidng to Life,” by Amanda Koellner, Architect Magazine, June 2020 issue:
“Recognizing that 40% of the carbon emissions in the United States can be attributed to the built environment, in 2019, AIA set forth a goal of net-zero emissions in the U.S. building sector by 2050 — with incremental goals for net-zero carbon energy use and 50% less embodied carbon by 2050. In light of these aims, high-performance standards like the Living Building Challenge won’t be aspirational in the coming decades— they will be the new norm.
“We’re just getting clearer and clearer data that what we’ve been doing hasn’t been taking us in the right direction, and that not only do we need to do better from project to project, but we need to start reversing past behavior,” says Laura Lesniewski, AIA, principal at BNIM, who has worked on two Living Building projects. “It’s going to take really aggressive action to steer the ship in the right way.”