Sustainable Facility Solutions beyond LEED

The tools provided by the USGBC LEED (TM) rating system and other green facility design benchmarks, can be useful toward performance-based goal setting; however, sometimes these objective tools can stifle imagination and obscure fundamental goals by hiding behind standards-based criteria. What should the architectural and engineering response be when a client wants to build a new world-class renewable energy scientific laboratory in a developing tropical region with a minimum environmental footprint? In order to best address the challenge, client stakeholders, as well as the design team, must understand the demands and costs involved with a zero carbon, net zero energy, zero waste, and net zero water development project. This presentation will examine the boundaries of traditional sustainable design methodologies and illustrate a case study on how an architectural team was able to align a lofty sustainable design initiative with a strategic business, community, and regional plan.