The Living Building Challenge is the world’s most rigorous proven performance standard for buildings. People from around the world use the International Living Future Institute’s regenerative design framework to create spaces that, like a flower, give more than they take.
The Living Building Challenge began in 2006. Today there are 115 certified Living Building Challenge buildings and 604 registered projects pursuing the Living Building Challenge around the world.
For a living building, seven key performance areas called “Petals” must be accomplished: Water, Energy, Materials, Health & Happiness, Equity, Beauty and Place. Each Petal consists of a number of Imperatives, totalling 20 Imperatives for the entire Living Building Challenge.
The hardest Petals to achieve are Water, Energy and Materials. For example, one of the most challenging Imperatives for the Materials Petal is called The Red List and involves researching every material on the building to ensure it is free of 700+ banned Red List chemicals. It is possible to gain Petal certification by accomplishing one of the hardest Petals and at least two others.