A few months ago, legendary American architect Frank Gehry ruffled many green feathers by declaring that green architecture and sustainable design are "political" and that LEED certification is often given for "bogus stuff".
A few months ago, legendary American architect Frank Gehry ruffled many green feathers by declaring that green architecture and sustainable design are "political" and that LEED certification is often given for "bogus stuff". His comments, unsurprisingly, provoked quite a reaction in the world of sustainable design — especially when he told Bloomberg Businessweek that green building had become "fetishized" like "wearing an American flag pin". This week, Need to Know, a new current affairs show and online news magazine on PBS, sat down with Frank Gehry to speak to him about the LEED controversy and ask what he "really thinks about green building, the LEED certification process and the future of sustainable architecture". Inhabitat
6 Comments
i totally agree with franky on this one, sustainable design should not be a marketing tool, it should be an accepted and integrated component of the practice. it should be rolled into the ARE's, and all public buildings should be required to be sustainable.
we only hear about LEEd and the japanese version here in tokyo from developer's interested in adding another blurb to their brochures. it is hard to take it entirely seriously.
i much prefer the european version where the laws set out the standards, and they are met. natural light and ventilation in towers in europe is fantastic baseline. whether ingenhoven or foster are actually making sustainable buildings or not is another question. i think we are still just less bad, not actually sustainable, even if we exceed best practices...
I question whether LEED does more harm than good--allowing people to build new mega-houses that achieve LEED certification, for example, makes the idea of sustainability/environmental concern a joke. LEED may get someone to put a geothermal system in a 10,000 square foot house, but it also allows them to pretend they are being "green". LEED gives people a false sense of stewardship, which may be keeping us from implementing much more stringent environmental standards as enforceable codes.
Gehry is the only one with the kahunas to call LEED out for the farce that it is. LEED's agenda is heavily political, and its parameters are, for the most part, highly arbitrary. They took advantage of panicky architects in a down market who were seeking any possible way to increase their prospects for work. Then, after charging exorbitant fees for study materials and exams, they decided to add new "specialized credentials" with new exams and fat binders.
Architects need to stand up for themselves and their profession. When a client hires you, s/he should be confident that you are making the best design decisions for the short and long term without the need for a pseudo organization's stamp of approval.
Frank G. is right.
The last office i was at an international office advertised their leed accredited staff, guess how many leed certified projects it built a grand total of 1! and it was barely accredited. As if architects have not considered the environment before, all of a sudden politicians and beauracrats in our profession want to convince us that we need the a seal of approval before we can say we did the best for the environment, How about making a decent floor plan, everyone has totally forgotten how to do that, and jumped on the leed bandwagon. even the secretary was leed certified what a joke.
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