Program Evolution

The LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE is an ever-evolving program shaped by the incredible experiences of our project teams as they continually break new ground. Over time, feedback from a diverse array of stakeholders actively using the challenge helps us understand how to refine and improve the program to have the greatest impacts.

Iterative process

Institute staff are also monitoring changes in the field and the market, and making adjustments to the program as needed to reflect current realities and opportunities. We also strive to keep raising the bar as we learn together, moving our projects closer still to the goal of a regenerative living future.

• The internal logic of the Living Building Challenge is based on pragmatic, tested experience with what has already been built in the marketplace. Each new Living Building adds further weight to the evidence that a world of Living Buildings is possible now.
• Because this Standard is continuously informed by the work that project teams are doing on the ground, Petal Handbooks clarify and consolidate the rules at a set point in time to provide a unified reference for project teams. The Dialogue (see page 76) provides an online platform for project teams to request further clarifications and new exceptions and search for articles by topic. A glossary of critical program definitions is provided on page 84.
• The Living Building Challenge does not dwell on basic best-practice issues, so it can instead focus on critical high-level goals. It is assumed that to achieve this aspirational standard, typical best practices are already being met and championed by the team’s expert consultants. The implementation of this Standard requires leading-edge technical knowledge, an integrated design approach, and design and construction teams well versed in advanced practices related to green building.
• Regional solutions are manifested in all Living Building Challenge projects due to a number of variables, including climate factors, building characteristics and community context. For example, becoming water-independent in the desert demands the evolution of a project’s design to emulate a cactus instead of a tree. The built environment will be richer, and the stress on our resources will lessen as more and more projects have this focus on an appropriate response to place.

two principles of the living building challenge

1. Living Building Challenge compliance is based on actual, rather than modeled or anticipated, performance. Therefore, projects must be operational for at least twelve consecutive months prior to audit to verify Imperative compliance.
2. All Living Building Challenge projects must be holistic—addressing aspects of all seven Petals through the Core Imperatives.

Setting the ideal as the indicator of success

The Living Building Challenge is a philosophy, certification, and advocacy tool for projects to move beyond merely being less bad and to become truly regenerative. 

structure + applicability

THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE CONSISTS OF SEVEN PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES, OR “PETALS”: PLACE, WATER, ENERGY, HEALTH + HAPPINESS, MATERIALS, EQUITY AND BEAUTY.

Each Petal is subdivided into Imperatives, for a total of twenty Imperatives in the Challenge. The Imperatives can be applied to almost every conceivable building project, of any scale and any location—be it a new building or an existing structure.

Many of the Imperatives have temporary exceptions to acknowledge current market limitations. These are listed in the Petal Handbooks, which should be consulted for the most up-to-date rulings. Temporary exceptions will be modified or removed as the market changes. With this Standard, the Institute requires advocacy for essential improvements to the building industry.

Typologies

The Living Building Challenge is versatile and applies to different project scopes, or Typologies. There are four Typologies, and teams must identify the one
that aligns with the project’s scope to determine which Imperatives apply.

NEW BUILDING: This Typology is for any project that encompasses the construction of a new building.

EXISTING BUILDING: This Typology is for any project that alters either the envelope or the major systems of a building.

INTERIOR: This Typology is for any project that
does not alter either the envelope or the major systems of a building.

LANDSCAPE OR INFRASTRUCTURE: This typology is for any project that does not include an enclosed structure as part of its primary program. Projects may be parks, roads, bridges, plazas, sports facilities, or trails.

scale jumping

THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE SPURS PROJECTS TO HAVE THEIR OWN UTILITY, GENERATE THEIR OWN ENERGY, CAPTURE THEIR OWN WATER, AND PROCESS THEIR OWN WASTE. YET, THE IDEAL SCALE FOR SOLUTIONS IS NOT ALWAYS WITHIN A PROJECT’S PROPERTY BOUNDARY.

Depending on the technology, the optimal scale can vary when considering environmental impact, first cost and operating costs. To address these realities, the Living Building Challenge has a Scale Jumping overlay to allow multiple buildings or projects to operate in a cooperative state—sharing green infrastructure as appropriate and allowing for environmental and social benefits to be achieved as elegantly and efficiently as possible. Refer to the summary table on page 22 to view all Imperatives that may employ the Scale Jumping overlay.

Please note that some projects may scale from the Living Building Challenge program to the Living Community Challenge℠ program, Standards that are designed to work together.

What does good look like?

We invite you to join us so that together we can continue to forge ahead on our path toward restoration and a Living Future.

The International Living Future Institute issues a challenge:

TO ALL DESIGN PROFESSIONALS, CONTRACTORS AND BUILDING OWNERS to transform the way we create the built environment radically and eliminate any negative impact on global health.

TO POLITICIANS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS to remove barriers to systemic change, and to realign incentives to truly protect the health, safety and welfare of people and all beings.

TO ALL OF HUMANITY to reconcile the built environment with the natural environment, into a civilization that creates greater biodiversity, resilience and opportunities for life with each adaptation and development.

CATALYZE CHANGE

THE PAST DECADE HAS SEEN RELATIVELY SMALL PROGRESS TOWARD ADDRESSING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE; WE ARE REACHING A POINT WHERE THE NEXT DECADE WILL SEE CHANGE TO OUR ECOSYSTEM HEALTH, FRESH WATER SUPPLIES AND CLIMATES AT UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS.

A world with seven billion people and counting.

A world where every single major ecological system is in decline, and the rate of that decline is increasing.

A world where global temperature increases means shifting rainfall distributions, acidified oceans and potentially catastrophic sea-level rise.

Nothing less than a sea change in building, infrastructure and community design is required. Indeed, this focus needs to be the great work of our generation. We must remake our cities, towns, neighborhoods, homes and offices, and all the spaces and infrastructure in between. This is part of the necessary process of reinventing our relationship with the natural world and each other—reestablishing ourselves as not separate from, but part of nature, “because the living environment is what really sustains us.

Getting Started

+ View Project Registration Details
+ Download the Living Building Challenge 4.0 Standard
+ Explore Case Studies
+ Join an online course