2008 Livable Buildings Awards

Posted on November 18, 2008 by Joyce Benson
Tag(s): Events, Green Building

The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) recently announced this year’s winners of its Living Building Awards. The awards serve as a mark of distinction for commercial buildings that demonstrate exceptional performance in terms of occupant satisfaction, resource efficiency, and overall design.

The winning projects all meet high standards for indoor environmental quality, green building strategies, and also happen to be certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

The top honor goes to the SCA Americas Headquarters in Philadelphia. SCA, a global paper products company, occupies three floors encompassing 78,000 square feet of the Cira Center office tower. One of the reasons that this space won is due to its convenient mass transit location which 90% of its workforce uses. Other winning features include the abundant use of natural daylighting reducing the need for energy-consuming artificial lighting, as well as the recycling of construction debris.

Runners up include:

The Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio, a renovation and adaptation of a historic structure built in 1910.
The Center on Halsted in Chicago, Il, a mixed-use project that combines a Whole Foods grocery store with a non-profit community center.
A Department of Homeland Security building with LEED gold certification in Omaha, NE.

Visit the CBE for more information.