Dream all you want, you’re never going to live in Barbie’s eco-friendly mansion.

The winning design of the American Institute of Architects’ Barbie Dream House competition (really) is a four-story, eco-friendly Malibu mansion with pink sliding doors. Too bad Barbie and Jen (as in Aniston) are the only gals who can afford to live there.

The green manse features 1,500 square feet of entertaining space, an open chef’s kitchen, separate library and client-meeting room, an “inspiration room” floor, rooftop greenhouse, and a landscaped garden for her assortment of exotic pets. True, the last time we checked the giraffe on her lawn was listed as an endangered species, but not only is Barbie an architect you see, she’s evidently a world-renowned zoologist as well.

Philosophically speaking, 21^st century Barbie is like Lara Croft and Richard Branson rolled into one.

Barbie’s eco-manor also features solar panels, bamboo flooring, low-flow fixtures, and locally sourced materials. Recent Harvard grads Ting Li and Maja Paklar created the design, which is in line with the principles set forth by U.S. Green Building Council, while remaining “true to all the needs of a classic California girl,” the pair adds.

The AIA created the competition as a way of promoting Barbie’s latest career move on the glass escalator that is the “I Can Be…” series, which aims to inspire girls to be anything they want to be.

I can get behind that. Who knows? Had I owned the “I Can Be a Lifeguard” doll at age four, I might have passed my treading-water-with-a-brick test at age seventeen instead of sneaking behind the pool house for some ganja.

I Can Be…Pamela Anderson

If only I’d gotten that Leeza Gibbons face-and-body transplant. I could have been an entertainment news host.

I Can Be…On Entertainment Tonight

Applying myself in the biological sciences instead of the biology of my hormones could have led to an exciting career in veterinary medicine. How sexy is that frock?

I Can Be…a naughty nurse (but only if you want me to be)

Oh well, I’ll just have to settle for a job in a call center.

I Can Be…a telemarketer

Like George Constanza, I too have fostered fantasies of becoming an employable architect. Thanks to Barbie that dream is now a reality. I just need some chunky glasses, a construction hat, and a pretty hot-pink place to store my blueprints.

Landing a job might prove difficult, however, particularly if I showed up to a job interview looking like this:

Darn you, Beetlejuice! Back to the drafting table, kids. I wonder if Barbie’s princess charm school offers a PhD program.

Fortunately for California’s coast line, Barbie’s green dream house is not set to actually break ground, or plastic, ever. It was imagined for promotional purposes only. The concept though, is sweet and the house – if you’re a zoologist/movie star/media mogul – is viably sustainable.

Though, philosophically speaking again, Barbie’s got a few more eco pit-stops to go, like trading in her Vacation Glam Jet for a stay-cation.

Images: FastCo; Barbie; The Daily Mail

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Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) explained.

Let’s talk quantity. Last week we covered the basic qualities of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), so diving into the quantifiable details and juicy substance behind the LEED Rating Systems that has sculpted the sustainable building industry is only natural.

LEED dictates an assembly of seven focus topics – sustainable site development, water savings, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental air quality, innovation in design, and regional priority. The LEED curriculum is distributed throughout the entire building lifecycle, from conception through design, construction, occupation, and maintenance. Each of the LEED Rating Systems (revisit our first article to delve into the different rating systems) is tailored to a specific building type and industry. Here’s a simple breakdown from the USGBC website of what each topic covers and an explanation of what, specifically, LEED measures.

Sustainable Site Development: Choosing a building’s site and managing that site during construction are important considerations for a project’s sustainability. The Sustainable Sites category discourages development on previously undeveloped land; minimizes a building’s impact on ecosystems and waterways; encourages regionally appropriate landscaping; rewards smart transportation choices; controls stormwater runoff; and reduces erosion, light pollution, heat island effect and construction-related pollution.

Water Savings: Buildings are major users of our potable water supply. The goal of the Water Efficiency credit category is to encourage smarter use of water, inside and out. Water reduction is typically achieved through more efficient appliances, fixtures and fittings inside and water-wise landscaping outside.

Energy and Atmosphere: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings use 39% of the energy and 74% of the electricity produced each year in the United States. The Energy & Atmosphere category encourages a wide variety of energy strategies: commissioning; energy use monitoring; efficient design and construction; efficient appliances, systems and lighting; the use of renewable and clean sources of energy, generated on-site or off-site; and other innovative strategies.

Materials and Resources: During both the construction and operations phases, buildings generate a lot of waste and use a lot of materials and resources. This credit category encourages the selection of sustainably grown, harvested, produced and transported products and materials. It promotes the reduction of waste as well as reuse and recycling, and it takes into account the reduction of waste at a product’s source.

Indoor Environmental Air Quality: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans spend about 90% of their day indoors, where the air quality can be significantly worse than outside. The Indoor Environmental Quality credit category promotes strategies that can improve indoor air as well as providing access to natural daylight and views and improving acoustics.

Innovation in Design: The Innovation in Design credit category provides bonus points for projects that use new and innovative technologies and strategies to improve a building’s performance well beyond what is required by other LEED credits or in green building considerations that are not specifically addressed elsewhere in LEED. This credit category also rewards projects for including a LEED Accredited Professional on the team to ensure a holistic, integrated approach to the design and construction phase.

Regional Priority: USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates have identified the environmental concerns that are locally most important for every region of the country, and six LEED credits that address those local priorities were selected for each region.

Catch this piece on basic LEED qualities and visit the USGBC website for more information.

Images: USGBC

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Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) explained.

LEED is an acronym that has taken hold of the sustainable building movement and become integrated in many industries beyond. If you have any interest in green building, you have stumbled across the ubiquitous acronym a handful of times – enough to know it’s inherently good. But what, exactly, does it mean?

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the certification and rating system designed to encourage, standardize, and award sustainable building efforts. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) developed the LEED Rating System, “the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.”

“LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.”

The LEED Rating System provides a framework for identifying and implementing practical and quantifiable green building solutions. The LEED framework outlines a number of credits and assigns points to a project based on how many credits the project fulfills. Based on the number of points earned, a project can earn titles ranging from Certified (earning the minimum number of points) to Silver, Gold, and Platinum (earning the maximum number of points).

Because building systems and types are dynamic and individualized, the clever people at the USGBC have developed different protocols for different industries. A healthcare facility, a retail tenant improvement project, and a new construction home all offer different challenges demanding unique solutions. LEED has responded with different rating systems for different building categories. Here is a rundown of the current rating systems:

Next in Shelter, we will look at how LEED has an impact on architectural design, construction, the environment, and green standards. Stay tuned.

Images: USGBC

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In a twist of acronym irony, it seems that 2011 may be the year that LEED falls behind. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the ubiquitous certification and rating system to encourage, standardize and award sustainable building efforts. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) developed the LEED Rating System, “the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.”

The Cascadia Green Building Council is one of the three original chapters of the USGBC and has been heavily involved with the development and success of LEED in the Pacific Northwest. When Cascadia founded a new green rating system, the world took notice. The new organization is the International Living Building Institute (ILBI) and its mission is an alluring and inspirational string of words:

“To encourage the creation of living buildings, sites, and communities in countries around the world while inspiring, educating and motivating a global audience about the need for fundamental and transformative change.”

The ILBI extended the Living Building Challenge, the most advanced and demanding green building rating system in the world (think net-zero energy and water consumption). The Living Building Challenge poses the question, “What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place?” What if indeed. The challenge is designed as an evocative guide, platform, beacon, unified tool, performance based standard, and a visionary path to a restorative future. Does this make you salivate? Or is it just me?

“It’s official: we now have concrete evidence that buildings can benefit the ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to learn more about the three pioneering projects that prove it can be done.”

In an effort of full disclosure, I should note that the USGBC has endorsed the Living Building Challenge. The ILBI claims their standard is in no way meant to compete with LEED, rather to function as an, “additional outlet to promote the goals set by the USGBC…it establishes a vision for a project’s environmental and social responsibilities from a new vantage point.” I have to wonder, if the Living Building Challenge isn’t mean to compete with LEED, is it meant to complete LEED? This would implicate LEED as inherently incomplete.  To be blunt, if LEED was demanding enough, Cascadia wouldn’t have launched ILBI.

I am sincerely looking forward to watching ILBI collect momentum and waiting to see if ILBI and LEED walk into the sunset holding hands, or if ILBI will leave LEED behind.

Catch the rest of our 2011 shelter trends.

(Thank you to JWT Intelligence for calling my attention to ILBI).

(Image of the Omega Center for Sustainable Living from ILBI.)

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It’s that time of year again.

All around us, springing up like buttery daffodils, are the eco-fashion shows slated to saturate Earth Day venues.

Here are a handful that caught my eye:

The 3rd Annual Project Earth Day Runway Show and Student Competition

Held at the Openhouse Gallery, a vanguard multipurpose exhibition and installation space located on Mulberry Street in the heart of trendsetting NoLIta.

Supported by the US Green Building Council, and co-produced by the Creative Director of The Four Hundred, Bahar Shahpar. The show will feature an exciting student competition judged by an esteemed panel of judges from the worlds of fashion, beauty, architecture, and sustainability, and of course presenting the best in sustainable fashion on the runway.

Project Earth Day provides a platform for green-minded leaders and future leaders in the building and fashion industries to collaborate and experience the best in sustainable fashion. Join top names in the design industry and a panel of celebrity judges for this exciting eco-conscious event.

Fashion Takes Action is celebrating its launch as a members-based organization and throwing a party at the Burroughes Building.

In partnership with Earth Day Canada, this event will feature a great line up of DJs: Brendan Canning from BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, Dirty Dale, Andycapp (Bang The Party!, Motown, Slinky Music) & Dali (Slinky Music).

Also Ryerson fashion students will participate in a live eco-designer challenge creating garments made from packaging.

This is a signature FTA GREEN event, which means you can count on there being no bottled water, little waste, LED lighting and more. And, it is a fundraiser event to support Earth Day Canada and Fashion Takes Action.

Stanford University’s first-ever Sustainable Fashion Show is a groundbreaking event on campus promoting a sustainable lifestyle on all fronts in the surrounding Bay Area. Showcasing the work of around twenty unique professional designers in individual sets, and as well as the designs of several student designers from the Stanford Community. Some of the featured designers include: Moda Spia, Feral Childe, Covet, She-Bible, Pi Organic and Aoki Jeans.

Know of any others?

Link to this article so other eco-fashionistas can find information on your show and just what you’re doing to celebrate Earth Day this month!

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