S U S TA I N A B I LIT Y TH RO U G H I N N OVATI O N
SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH INNOVATION Exposed concrete with soft moss inhabiting its cracks, blown up in scale to create a dramatic graphical pattern.
One proposed solution for the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) is to attain fossil fuel reduction standards through implementing innovative design strategies.12 Despite its unquantifiable characteristics, the importance of design innovation in sustainable strategies for the built environment is recognised in some of the major rating systems. BEAM, BREEAM and LEED each address the subject of innovation as extracurricular; an achievement beyond the methods of established best practice. Innovation is rewarded with bonus points. BEAM does not provide a prescribed path for innovation; rather it allows a client to submit such proposals for evaluation and consideration. Projects assessed through BREEAM can receive bonus points either by exceeding established best practice criteria or through a proposal requesting assessment for innovation. LEED assessment criteria include specific descriptions for earning ten possible bonus points that permit a project to score 110 %. Six out of these ten bonus points are allocated for Innovation and may be earned through any combination of three paths: achieving significant and measurable performance not addressed in LEED, achieving exemplary performance by exceeding LEED criteria or attempting a pilot credit. This approach to ecology in the built environment addresses the demands of a changed and rapid world through strategies that embrace the intangible characteristics of flexibility, adaptability and multifunctionality.
Orto – Living Covering; IVANKA Concrete Design
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