Melissa Hope Matlins

After lagging behind almost every other major design industry trade organization, the American Institute of Architects has finally announced their own comprehensive sustainability initiative, “Walk the Walk.” While I like the idea of encouraging architects to “Walk the Walk” instead of talking the talk so much (as all you architects out there know we do too often), I think that the tag line “Architects Leading the Sustainable Evolution” is straight up revisionist history. Climatologists, physicists, engineers, industrial designers, and even interior designers led this charge. Us architects are just bringing up the rear, despite the fact that our buildings account for almost 50% of harmful emissions globally.

Much of the information found on their new site is aggregated from diverse sources, including the USGBC and AIA’s own Committee on the Environment (COTE), arguably far better clearing houses for green building information. I was hoping that there would be more resources here that address the number one objection to building green - the cost. While a hard number or percentage is difficult to come by, even for one specific green building project, a benchmark for building types, perhaps based on a large and comprehensive survey, is sorely needed. Colloquial knowledge suggests that the markup for a LEED building at the certified, or even silver level, could be zero. I would love to have data on hand to back this up, as would most architects when faced with this question from potential clients almost daily. AIA where are you? Leave the ambitious emissions targets to the engineers for a moment and lets get some more clients invested in the green buildings process to begin with.

Visit the AIA website for more information.