Despite Steven Holl's row in Denver there is a glimmer of hope in the background in the form of the official home of the Swiss ambassador to the United States in DC--but its not so much the building as much as the realization that the Swiss Minergie Standards are vastly superior to the LEEDs Program which is pretty much a joke... ID l previous
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leeds has its limits for sure, but a joke? it's what we've got, and it's something that developers and clients will rally behind. that's got to balance some of the levity, yeah?
re: this embassy. beautiful holl, as usual. curious how stringent the swiss standards are given the amount of unoccupied vertical volume, the amount of forecourt paving, the gratuitous construction of a (very impressive) reflecting pool.
seems both leeds and the swiss minergie standards missed any considerations of moderation.
your right steven. its not a joke, its a series of cruel ironies. the first one being that LEEDS stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and its not even in the top ten around the world! That is all we have and it isn't even a faction of what is needed!
But you know what don't take my word for it--read or go listen to Hal Levin. He makes a better call for defining sustainable buildings, in which the very idea of sustainablity is based on a far more rigorous definition then what LEEDS proposes...
Ok- the article states that Minegie is stricter then LEED, but then doesn't state how! There is nothing on how the building performs- it seems that most of the materials are imported from europe (which doesn't qualify for LEED credit for local fabrication), so is the swiss system really stricter???
On the Minergie english website, there is NOTHING!!!! ok, if it is so good, then share it with the world and translate every page.
Bendheim Wall Systems is proud to have supplied the distinctive channel glass for the Swiss Embassy project, fulfilling Steven Holl's vision of Alpine snow. When I first heard about the Minergie standard over a year ago I contacted the editors at eco-structure and ED&C magazines to promote this project, and to my surprise neither of them had heard of the Minergie standard. I hope BOTH magazines will eventually cover this. I contacted Justin Ruessli's office and Minergie by email, called the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce (or Export Board) in NYC, everyone I could think of to promote this standard, and obviously our project, to an American audience. No response. With reinisurance giant Swiss Re using the standard as a benchmark for investing in buildings this is an important business story, as well as one relating to energy efficiency and architecture - did you see it in Business Week, for example? I emailed Minergie again this week, no response. The lack of interest is overwhelming to say the least and I don't get it. Marc Fink 800-221-7379, Bendheim Wall Systems
If your looking for better standards then don't just stop here! I'm pretty sure if you look for England's energy standards they also exceed LEEDS.
wow look what seconds on the internet can produce...
http://www.est.org.uk/
Perhaps an interview with Steven Holl is in order to better understand what that building does and to hear more about the Denver debacle. But definitely a discussion with Hal Levin is in order. I heard him speak awhile ago and he is the best critic of LEEDS, and of what type of processes are needed to reform the LEEDS standard into a better system.
John, you wouldn't embarrass yourself so much if you didn't misspell LEED in every single one of your screeds against LEED. There is no "s" in LEED.
Of course England's energy standards exceed LEED. LEED is not a standard, it's a voluntary award program of which energy useage is only a partial focus.
LEED cannot be held responsible for the US' lack of high national energy standards and code, this is a country whose political leadership doesn't even acnowledge Climate Change is occuring.
Prizes are all we have in this country. Celebrate the gold medals we have, and change the government that stands in the way of any meaningful change.
At least know the basics:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19
well, that is hilarious isn't it? and the "best" criticism is always led with a small point of pointing to a typo.
now to your larger point of it not being standards. I can understand your point here; however, the irony here is that LEEDS can and should be held responsible because it is a reward system. It is setting bars for the consumer and the general public to see as a set of appearances of good policy and corporate behavior. Also, by setting targets for sustainability and recognition for gold and platinum which are minimum achievements everywhere else it becomes the de facto standard. I won't even get into the issue of accrediting professionals through LEEDS, which also adds to the position I'm sketching out.
in this capacity, the awards you are so supportive of further the agenda of the people/government that you are critical of through setting a bar that accomplishes very little. This same mode of appearances can be seen in the use and promotion of ethanol fuel in this country. This question of appearances is exactly the problem with LEEDS.
furthermore, I refuse to call it LEED until it actually does...
til then
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