Project Summary

Design and construction of "sustainable buildings" has dramatically increased over the last decade. Sustainable building practices are intended to reduce resource consumption, energy consumption, and release of pollutants and wastes, while resulting in low life-cycle costs and better human productivity.

Most sustainable building projects focus on reengineering using energy and materials more efficiently. However, this project takes it a step further towards "selfsustaining" sustainable buildings. Ideally, self-sustaining buildings produce their own energy and both construction and recurring operational materials flow in safe, regenerative, closed-loop cycles (e.g., no discharge of sewage, all energy is produced in building, all materials can be recycled into high-quality products).