Part 1
The united states green building awards using a ranking method known as LEED, an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design to rank building in relation to how well they incorporate these standards into their building design. The LEED system is a useful benchmark in the architectural field by offering guidelines to the designers and builders of building on the guidelines and the levels of compliance they should strive to achieve. LEED measures projects compliance in attaining green building requirements such as reduced impact on the environment by buildings, efficient water use and recycling, and use of sustainable materials for instance.
In bringing this achievement to perspective, Richard Cook, the architect for the Bank of America, building in New York discusses some issues on sustainable architecture. The Bank of America is the first LEED platinum certified building, implying that the Bank scored over 80 points on the LEED ranking system. I found it interesting how Richard cook explains the achievement they enjoyed at the Bank of America building by building it in accordance with ‘biophilia’ human tendency to seek connection with the rest of the nature. Richard cook explained it aptly in a separate interview by saying, ‘people feel good when they feel connected to nature.’ Richard Cook offers some insight on how they achieved this target, and on his own admission, without aiming to attain any of LEEDS points (Richard C, wp). The video influenced me as to mean that, in the attainment of sustainable buildings, the builders have to strive to make places that make people better, rather than strive to attain a set standard. The architect, Richard cook, is quoted saying, "The ultimate goal is buildings that are not just less bad, but buildings that make the world a better place” (Richard C, wp). In this light, Richard explains that the BoA insists on preference to human health and productivity in designing their buildings. With reference to the LEEDS specifications, Richard has kind words for the work undertaken by the American green building awards system, by describing LEEDS as the best standard available currently. The interview is a general representation of the achievement possible when developers concentrate on building places for human living in agreement with nature. The result is better buildings and sustainable interaction of the buildings with their natural environment.
Part 2
Examples of green buildings I am familiar with are found in Canada. For instance, Plaza2006 Brock University Building located at St. Catherines, Ontario. A five-storey building 7880 square meters built near the Niagara escarpment. Constructed by structural 60% recycled steel frames cladded with copper and stone masonry .It is spacious enough to become a home for University bookstore, retail shops, offices, classrooms and laboratory spaces. It designed to implement urban design strategies, geared to transforming the campus into a pedestrian friendly environment by reducing overcrowding in the centre. The building also incorporated huge windows to allow for natural light saving on lighting energy demands, further, the building is designed in a way that the conventional currents of warm and cool air flow naturally providing considerable savings on air conditioning energy requirements (LEED rating systems, wp). Guelph Hydro, Phase 2 located at Guelph, Canada deals with production of electricity from renewable sources, which is then used as motor vehicle fuel through charging. This is a design and a major project that is saving the continuous use and exploitation of petroleum products, which are non-renewable. Thus is energy conservative project that is environmental friendly. It is one of the most economical methods of the utilization water as a natural resource by draining it back to the rivers. Further, the plant is designed in a way that allows plenty of natural light thus minimizing on the need to light up the premises artificially, subsequently saving on energy. The structural steel used in its construction is 50% recycled, thus reducing on material exploitation during its construction.
Works Cited
Richard C., and Paul G. "Richard Cook and Paul Goldberger on Sustainable Architecture." A Student of the Real Estate Game. The New Yorker, 5 Sept. 2010. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. <http://astudentoftherealestategame.com/richard-cook-and-paul-goldberger-on-sustainable-architecture/>.
"LEED rating systems | U.S. Green Building Council." U.S. Green Building Council | U.S. Green Building Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
