by Jbs102309h3 — October 26, 2009—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently honored six green concepts designed to reduce the environmental and energy impacts of buildings. EPA estimates that these concepts could assist the building industry in reducing more than 88 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris sent to U.S. landfills each year.
The EPA awards recognized student and professional designs for buildings and building projects, as well as special categories, including the creation of green jobs. The projects incorporate front-end lifecycle building, which EPA defines as designing structures to facilitate disassembly and material reuse to minimize waste, energy consumption, and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Also known as design for disassembly and design for deconstruction, lifecycle building describes the idea of creating high-performance buildings today that are stocks of resources for the future, adds EPA.
EPA, along with its partners, the American Institute of Architects, West Coast Green, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, and StopWaste.Org, invited professionals and students nationwide and internationally to submit designs and ideas that support cost-effective disassembly and anticipate future use of building materials.
The 2009 Lifecycle Building Challenge 3 winners are:
U.S. WINNERS:
- Student Building: [Un] Modular Design for Deconstruction; David Fleming, University of Cincinnati, Richfield, MN
- Professional Building: Arboretum and Research Visitors’ Center; Kira Gould, William McDonough + Partners, Charlottesville, VA
- Professional Product: Modular Temporary Construction Wall/Barricade Douglas Spear and Aaron Barnes, ENVY Modular Wall Systems LLC, Las Vegas, NV
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS AWARDS:
- Best School Design: School M.O.D.; Yosuke Kawai and Ikue Nomura, University of Pennsylvania, Dayton, OH
- Best Green Job Creation: ReAnimateLA: Center for Ecological & Urban Recovery Hayley Stewart, Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona, CA
- Best Greenhouse Gas Reduction: Arboretum and Research Visitors’ Center; Kira Gould, William McDonough + Partners, Charlottesville, VA
INTERNATIONAL WINNERS:
- Student Building: The Worm Bar; Miaoling Li, National University of Singapore, Singapore
For a list of the Honorable Mentions and more information on the competition, entries, and winners, visit the 2009 Lifecycle Building Challenge 3 Web site. For more information on green building, visit the EPA Green Building Web site.
