The Building Challenge of a Lifecycle

Winners of the inaugural Lifecycle Building Challenge competition were announced today (Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine during a ceremony at the West Coast Green Conference in San Francisco.

Bodine, along with the American Institute of Architects President R.K. Stewart, and Building Materials Reuse Association President Brad Guy, recognized award winners for their cutting-edge green building ideas that aim to reduce the environmental and energy impact of buildings.

The Lifecycle Building Challenge – a partnership of the EPA, the BMRA, the AIA and West Coast Green – invited professionals and students nationwide to submit designs and ideas that support creation of buildings that can be easily deconstructed, allowing their components to be reused rather than disposed of in landfills. The impetus is to conserve resources as well as energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing and transporting materials. Green Building Blocks, the competition sponsor presented a total of $7,500 to the three winners in the student category, and Green Building in Alameda County, Calif. provided the awards.

Ideas from the design contest can provide a catalyst to the building industry to reuse more of the 100 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris sent each year to landfills in the United States.

The categories include: 

• Building — an entire building from foundation to roof 
• Component — a single building assembly, system, or connector
• Service — a tool, method, or other idea

A People’s Choice Award – based on online voting – was also recognized. The winners, selected by a panel of expert judges, are listed below: 

Building category
(Note: Click on Winner name to view additional information)

Professional – Built
Winner: Pavilion in the Park 
Building that separates into four modules and can be moved by truck
Erin Silva, architectural designer, The Miller|Hull Partnership, Seattle, Wash.
(www.millerhull.com)

Professional - Unbuilt
Winner: GreenMobile Factory-built
Housing Units for SE USA Adaptable mobile home unit for disaster relief and permanent use
Michael Berk, professor, Mississippi State University School of Architecture, Mississippi State, Miss.

Student Winners

Winner: The groHome
Open source housing modules to meet changing family and community needs
Adam Fenner, Jason Bond, Thomas Gerhardt, Josh Canez and Nick Schaider, students, Texas A&M University, 2007 Solar Decathlon Team, College Station, Texas

People's Choice Award 
Winner: Sustainability by Design - Deconstruction and Adaptive Reuse
Comprehensive 99 percent reuse and recycling construction project
Mitch Boucher, Haworth, Inc., Holland, Mich.
(http://www.haworth.com )

Component Category

Professional - Built
Winner: Green-Zip-TapeTM Demountable Tape 
Drywall tape attachment system to support easy deconstruction and reuse
Frank Little, founder, Tax Advantage Design, Magnolia, Texas
(www.taxadvantagedesign.com)

Professional - Unbuilt
Winner: Deconstructable and Reusable Composite Slab  
Reusable structural floor system
Mark D. Webster, Dirk M. Kestner, James C. Parker, Matthew H. Johnson, Structural Engineers Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Waltham, Mass.
(http://www.sgh.com )

Student 
Winner: Guidelines for Building with Reusable Materials  
Creative designs from reused building materials collected regionally
Aaron Tvrdy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Ne. 

Tool and Service Category 

Professional - Built
Winner: ATHENA Assembly Evaluation Tool  
Software on the lifecycle environmental impacts of building assemblies
Wayne Trusty, ATHENA Institute, Kutztown, PA
(http://www.athenasmi.ca) 

Student
Winner: Deconstruction Engineer
Proposed new profession to support building deconstruction
Keith Cullum, Paul Sargent, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
(http://www.calpoly.edu) 

To see Honorable Mentions and get more information on the competition, please visit the Lifecycle Building Challenge Web site.