Sometimes breakthroughs happen because, well, you really didn’t know what you were getting yourself into. I suppose that’s one way of understanding the grueling process that my architects and I endured to have the Old Oak Dojo become one of the first 11* buildings in the world to be Living Building Challenge certified. (Eleven? I had hoped the Dojo would be in the Top 10, but it appears that LBC certified the final three all at once. Then again, maybe it’s even more magical to say, “Ours goes to 11.” Note: reference reserved for people over 40.)

The LBC is a building certification program, advocacy tool and philosophy that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today. It is comprised of seven performance categories called Petals (Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty) which are subdivided into twenty Imperatives.