110 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD OCTOBER 2010 Live r Build Sustain A new green building program aims to push the design and construction industry well beyond current best practices. By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA , Continuing *wig Education Use the following learning objectives to focus your study while reading this month's ARCHITECTURAL RECORD/AIA Continuing Education article. To earn one AIA teeming unit, including one hour of health, safety. and welfare/sustainable design flISW/SED credit. turn to Flagella and follow the Instructions. Learning Objectives I Explain the goals of the Living Building Challenge. 2 Describe Its organizational framework and requirements. a Discuss the hurdles to achieving Living Building designation. 4 Compare the Challenge and the LEED rating system. THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE Is not for the faint of heart. Part polemic, part rating system, it looks squarely at the environmental crisis - from rising global temperatures to shrinking natural habitats-and asks: What are wegoing to d0 about 14 not in a few decades ore few years. but today? The program challenges like-minded people to avoid any further degradation when they build. In fact, it asks partici- pants to try to heal their sites as they create structures that exist in harmony with their surrounding ecosystems, inhabit- ants, and cultures. And If myopic building codes or manufac- turing processes are limiting sustainable options, it requires the project team to advocate change. While applauding the progress that has been made by the green-building movement in the past 20 years, the au- thors of the Challenge say it has not been enough. In an April 2010 description of the program, they argue that "Incremen- tal change Is no longer a viable option?' Given the enormity of the task that still lies ahead, they maintain that we need "to completely reshape humanity's relationship with nature and realign our ecological footprint to be within the pla