Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge™ is a building certification program, advocacy tool and philosophy that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to rapidly diminish the gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions we seek.
The Challenge is comprised of seven performance categories called Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Petals are subdivided into a total of twenty Imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence. This compilation of 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.
The Living Building Challenge™ is the built environment's most rigorous performance standard. It calls for the creation of building projects at all scales that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature's architecture. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy.
Living Building Challenge Mission
To encourage the creation of Living Buildings, Landscapes and Communities in countries around the world while inspiring, educating and motivating a global audience about the need for fundamental and transformative change.
Certification Options:
1. Living Building Certification - A Living Building is a demonstration that the built environment can actually help restore the natural environment. A project achieves Living Building Certification by attaining all Imperatives assigned to its Typology.
2. Petal Certification - While achieving Living Building Certification is the ultimate goal, meeting the Imperatives of multiple Petals is a significant achievement in and of itself. For this reason, the Living Building Challenge offers Petal Certification. This certification option provides a platform for a project to inform other efforts throughout the world and accelerate the adoption of restorative principles.
Project teams may pursue Petal Certification by satisfying the requirements of three or more Petals, including at least one of the following: Water, Energy or Materials.
3. Net Zero Energy Building Certification - A third option, Net Zero Energy Building Certification, recognizes building projects that achieve the Energy Petal, along with a subset of Imperatives within the Place and Beauty Petals. Certification for Net Zero Energy Building projects is simple, cost-effective and critical for integrity and transparency.