Certified Case Studies

In the year leading up to the decision to move their Minneapolis studio, the staff of MSR Design conducted a firmwide study of the concepts behind the Living Building Challenge. This research, combined with MSR Design’s strategic goal to be the leading firm that achieves inspiring generative impacts across the board on all projects, made…

Google had outgrown its current office space in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, IL. Projecting future growth and increasing employee count, the company decided it needed more square feet of office space. Google leased 350,000 GSF of commercial office space in the West Loop neighborhood from local developer/building manager Sterling Bay. As part of…

jh.architecture’s new office in Burlington has been designed and built to receive Petal Certification for the Living Building Challenge. The project is the first in Ontario to receive this distinction. The design demonstrates jh.architecture’s commitment to healthy and sustainable architecture. To achieve Petal Certification, the project focused on the Health + Happiness, Materials, and Beauty Petals…

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) China program office is located in the CBD area of Beijing. Due to the nature of short leases in Beijing, NRDC worked with the design-build contractor, MMoser, to re-use almost all of the furniture NRDC already owns and some of the other fixtures such as lights and sensors. The…

For the Nature Lab at Phipps, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, PA sought to construct one of the nation’s first sustainable, modular classrooms as part of its larger efforts to highlight the important connections between people, plants, beauty, health and planet, particularly as they relate to human and environmental wellness. Approximately one in…

VITAL STATS Certification Status Petal Certified Version of LBC 3.1 Location San Antonio, TX, USA Gross Building Area 1,760 SF Start of Occupancy October 2016 Owner Occupied Yes Number of Occupants 3 PROJECT TEAM Owner & Project Director Michael Britt General Contractor Longhouse Builders Architect Lake Flato Architects Structural Engineer Spaulding Structural Engineers PLACE PETAL…

The Midwest Offices of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), located in Chicago’s historic Civic Opera House, is the first tenant improvement project in the world to achieve certification through the Living Building Challenge™. In keeping with the NRDC’s mission to be the “Earth’s Best Defense,” the design demonstrates the organization’s commitment to a cleaner,…

In 2015, after more than a decade of occupying two floors of the Hunter-Dulin building in downtown San Francisco, the need to renovate the Bay Area office of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) arose. With the aid of Gensler as the architect and GCI General Contractors, NRDC created a space that embraces their mission,…

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) did not think twice about pursuing Living Building Challenge Certification for the expansion of their Petal Certified Midwest office, located in the Civic Opera House Building in downtown Chicago, Illinois. After two years of occupancy in the office, it became clear that the efforts made under the guidance of…

Painters Hall is Pringle Creek’s Community Center, Café, Office, art gallery, and event venue. Originally built in the 1930’s, Painters Hall was renovated to LEED Platinum Net Zero Energy Building standards in 2010, demonstrating the potential of converting existing building stock into high‐performance, sustainable building sites. Painters Hall features simple low-­‐cost solutions for energy reduction,…