Every living challenge has a story

The idea for the Living Building first emerged in the mid-nineties during the creation of the NIST-funded EpiCenter project in Bozeman, Montana. The goal of this project, led by Bob Berkebile and Kath Williams, was to produce the most advanced sustainable design project in the world. Jason F. McLennan guided the research and technology efforts on the project, and originally conceptualized and began developing the requirements for what is now known as the Living Building. Following EpiCenter, Berkebile and McLennan continued to develop these ideas and publish several articles on the concept.

In 2000, BNIM Architects was selected to design the new headquarters of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and, as part of this work, researched the economic and environmental implications of the Living Building concept along with levels of LEED® certification. In 2001, findings were presented in a document called the Packard Matrix. KEEN Engineering also significantly contributed to this effort. The Packard Matrix demonstrated that the level of the Living Building was the smartest long-term choice economically, although it carried a hefty first-cost premium. An updated study a year later showed this premium to be a bit smaller. It is projected that the first-cost premiums will continue to diminish and Living Buildings will soon emerge in response to the issuance of this standard.

In 2005, McLennan began to turn the conceptual idea of a ‘living’ building into a codified standard that became the Living Building Challenge version 1.0. He presented this standard to Cascadia in August 2006, and three months later the Challenge was launched.

The ideal of the Living Building continues to be mentioned within the green building movement, although a true Living Building has yet to emerge. That said, every single aspect of the Living Building Challenge has been implemented successfully in multiple projects. Indeed, it has been proven that the concept is possible today; it was only the specific standard that unites the requirements that was missing until now.