From Good to Great, Tom Paladino - Forum Magazine, AIA Seattle

Do our new buildings meet the climate change challenge before us? Do they deliver the outcomes we need? If not, what would make them great?

Today’s headline indicators are daunting: to meet Kyoto goals for commercial buildings, for instance, more than 70% of the entire U.S. commercial building stock (approximately 40 billion square feet) would have to achieve LEED Silver or better. We really need to be great.

In many ways, green building is at a tipping point. Either we move forward in a collective push to the next level of performance—toward greatness—or we fall into complacency. How can we build great green buildings faster?

The answer is that we need to ask more from ourselves to get more from our buildings. For too many projects, the focus is on winning the prize of the LEED plaque.

I applaud the good in LEED, its usefulness to designers, and its importance in advancing market adoption of sustainable design principles. But most rating systems are silent on two important issues:

1. What must the green building industry achieve to be great at addressing climate change?
2. How do great climate solutions also ensure great communities and great businesses?

Adding value

A green building should be about more than the environment or LEED: it should add value to the owner’s business and the experience of those who interact with it. Our client Vornado, for example, considers green building a competitive differentiator because it attracts the best tenants. In a competitive market where high performance organizations demand space that reflects their missions, the old Class A office isn’t good enough. Vornado wants its properties to be as great as its tenants.

For full article, download PDF. For additional issues of Forum Magazine, published by AIA Seattle, visit http://www.aiaseattle.org/forum.