The Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification defines the most advanced measure of sustainability—providing a framework for design, construction, and the symbiotic relationship between people and all aspects of the built environment. It is one of the industry’s most rigorous sustainability performance standards, as it requires net-zero energy, waste, and water for every project.
In 2015, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center became the world’s 9th LBC-certified project. The 10,000-SF Center is the first LBC-certified building in Virginia and is also LEED Platinum Certified. Built as an interactive teaching tool, the net-zero facility features solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal wells, rain cisterns, composting toilets, and natural landscaping. It contains office and conference space, a pavilion, and boat/kayak piers.
The Seven “Petals”
The LBC is comprised of seven performance areas, or “Petals” – Place, Water, Energy, Health + Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty. Here is a brief overview of each Petal to help understand the goal and intentions of the certification, and how the Brock Environmental Center achieved each petal.
This petal clearly articulates where it is acceptable to build, how to protect and restore a place once it has been developed, and how to encourage the creation of communities that are based on the pedestrian and not the automobile. One of the imperatives of the Site Petal is “Habitat Exchange,” which requires that for each hectare of development, an equal amount of land away from the project site must be set aside in perpetuity.
The goal of the Brock Environmental Center’s site was to have minimal disturbance to the land and water. Car parking for visitors and staff is available in a designated parking area or on city streets that are about ¼-mile walking distance from the building. The center sits 200 feet beyond the water’s edge—100 feet above and beyond Virginia’s 100-foot Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Resource Protection Area. The property that Brock Environmental Center sits within had been modified over the years by the placement of millions of cubic yards of dredge spoil from nearby waterways. As a part of the Living Building Challenge process, the site habitat was restored to its native use by planting native trees, shrubs, and grasses; protecting and restoring wetlands; and conducting oyster restoration activities.
A view of Brock Environmental Center from the water including parts of its landscaping.
The intent of this petal is to realign how people use water and redefine “waste” in the built environment. With the scarcity of potable water becoming a significant issue in many countries, the LBC envisions a future whereby all forthcoming buildings are configured based on the carrying capacity of the site—in other words, being a net-zero water facility and using 100% of stormwater onsite for internal water needs.
At the Brock Environmental Center, no-flush Clivus composting toilets are used to reduce water consumption. Gray water (wastewater generated from sinks and showers) is filtered through constructed wetlands before being released into the water table.
The Center was the first commercial building in the continental United States permitted to capture and treat rainwater for drinking and all other uses while meeting required federal standards. It treats and reuses rainwater for drinking, handwashing, showering, cleaning, and irrigation. Did you know that Virginia Beach, VA receives more rain on a yearly basis than Seattle, Washington? Virginia Beach just has sunnier days! Because of the amount of rainwater falling each year, the Brock Environmental Center uses only 40% of the rain captured from the roof, while the remaining water is filtered through on-site rain gardens. The building stores 2,700 gallons of rainwater-a supply lasting more than 100 days.
Cisterns treating the water at Brock Environmental Center.
The Energy Petal requires all buildings to rely solely on renewable forms of energy and operate year-round in a pollution-free manner. Therefore, the LBC requires all projects to have net-zero energy, which can be attained by methods like photovoltaic solar panels, natural daylighting, and other systems.
Brock Environmental Center uses only as much energy as it generates over the course of a year. It employs robust energy conservation techniques such as natural daylighting and dynamic natural ventilation systems. The strategies to drastically reduce energy consumption ensured the building utilizes 80% less energy than a traditional building of the same size. The building also takes advantage of the Earth’s constant 54 degrees Fahrenheit temperature by utilizing geothermal wells to supply heating and cooling to the building.
The building uses photo-voltaic solar roof panels, which generate 70% of the building’s energy, and two residential-sized wind turbines, which generate the remaining 30% of the building’s energy. Nearly 10 years later, the Brock Environmental Center’s energy bill remains less than $25 a month. The bill the Brock Environmental Center receives is simply for the fees every building owner pays to be connected to the electrical grid.
The intent of the Health and Happiness Petal is to create robust, healthy spaces and encourage a highly productive indoor environment. This Petal requires that every occupied interior space in the building must have operable windows to provide fresh air and daylight.
With more than 95% of regularly occupied spaces having access to views and daylight, the Brock Environmental Center workspaces are flooded with daylight providing a naturally comfortable workspace for staff. The operable windows allow for the building occupants to receive clean, fresh air – benefiting human health and improving productivity and creativity. Each morning, the building automation system flushes the building with fresh outdoor air to refresh the indoor air throughout the building prior to occupancy. Additionally, the avoidance of volatile organic compounds and Red List materials ensures occupants have a healthy indoor environment even when the building is not in natural ventilation mode.
This Petal strives to have a successful materials economy that is non-toxic, transparent, and socially equitable. This is one of the most challenging Petals of the LBC because every project cannot contain any of the identified Red List materials, including PVC and Formaldehyde. Therefore, a detailed record of how each material is made by the manufacturer must be kept and turned in before certification can be achieved.
The Brock Environmental Center project team was the first Living Building Challenge project team to openly share its substantial, exhaustively researched materials database. CBF and project partners felt this transparency enabled the industry’s collective knowledge base to move along more efficiently, benefiting the desire for healthier and safer buildings for all. The database outlines compliance with the Red List and sourcing imperatives. To learn more, access the Brock Environmental Center’s materials database here.
Another critical piece to a circular material economy is the use of recycled and/or salvaged materials. Throughout the design and construction of the project, businesses, schools, and community members donated numerous salvaged building materials. From mop sinks and cabinets to wood doors to old gym bleachers were reused and repurposed to build the Brock Environmental Center. See the list of salvaged materials here. The use of salvaged building materials extends the life of the materials otherwise destined for the landfill and avoids the environmental impacts of manufacturing new building materials.
The Equity Petal is focused on creating communities with equitable access to all people regardless of physical abilities, age, or socioeconomic status. One imperative of this Petal is “Rights to Nature” which states that a project “may not block access to, nor diminish the quality of, fresh air, sunlight and natural waterways for any member of society or adjacent developments.”
In July 2012, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the City of Virginia Beach, and the Trust for Public Land collectively worked to acquire 118 acres of land known as Pleasure House Point, the last large undeveloped waterfront property in Virginia Beach. Pleasure House Point Natural Area, including the exterior decks of the Brock Environmental Center, is open to the public for free from dawn to dusk. Additionally, the Brock Environmental Center offers meeting space for community organizations, while providing environmental education for students and teachers from across the world.
Aerial view of Brock Environmental Center and its many acres.
The purpose of this Petal is to design buildings that elevate our spirits. This Petal is based merely on genuine efforts to create aesthetically pleasing designs, so there are currently no limitations or restrictions for this Petal.
People feel most comfortable in their natural surroundings and connected to nature. The Brock Environmental Center’s design and finishes intentionally mimic the form found in nature. The building’s roofline mimics an open oyster shell, the building’s roof is made of zinc panels organized in a pattern reflective of fish scales, and even some of the building’s light fixtures mirror birds’ nests. The color palette of the building reflects Pleasure House Point throughout all four seasons. This strategy deepens the connection between the occupant and nature. The open office layout and the panoramic views of Pleasure House Point intentionally ensure all occupants have a view and connection to the outdoors.
View from inside Brock Environmental Center looking out onto the communal decking.
A Guideline for Future Construction
Each facet of the Living Building Challenge is performance-based so every building feature had to be measured for 12 consecutive months after completion before receiving the certification. When projects achieve this level of performance, they can claim to be among the ‘greenest’ anywhere and will serve as role models for future construction.
The use of the Living Building Challenge Certification as principal guidance for the design, construction, and operation of the Brock Environmental Center, ensures that the building lives in harmony with the environment and enriches the community it lives within.
