Make No Small Plans

Renovating a building to be energy positive, water independent, to be an inspiring and healthy environment, and to meet all of the needs of an architectural office was not an easy task. Nothing worthwhile ever is. Beyond providing space for our Sacramento office to operate and collaborate within, the purpose of Arch Nexus SAC is to tackle the water and energy crises in California and to become part of “a visionary path to a restorative future.”

To guide us towards our goals, and to help us to create a place that is part of the cultural fabric of our new neighborhood, we adopted a variety of third party verification programs that align with core values. Arch Nexus SAC is a Living Certified Building version 3.0 and certified LEED Platinum version 4.0.

“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we use it with love and respect.”

    – Aldo Leopold

The Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge™ is a building certification program, advocacy tool and philosophy that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to rapidly diminish the gap between current limits and the end-game positive solutions we seek.

The Challenge is comprised of seven performance categories called Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Petals are subdivided into a total of twenty Imperatives, each of which focuses on a specific sphere of influence. This compilation of Imperatives can be applied to almost every conceivable building project, of any scale and any location—be it a new building or an existing structure.

For more information on the Living Building Challenge please go to living-future.org/lbc

LEED

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is changing the way we think about how buildings and communities are planned, constructed, maintained and operated. Leaders around the world have made LEED the most widely used third-party verification for green buildings, with around 1.85 million square feet being certified daily.

For more information about LEED please go to www.usgbc.org/leed

WELL

Launched in October 2014 after six years of research and development, the WELL Building Standard is the premier standard for buildings, interior spaces and communities seeking to implement, validate and measure features that support and advance human health and wellness.

For more information about the WELL Building Standard please go to wellcertified.com

SEED

SEED® is a principle-based network of individuals and organizations dedicated to building and supporting a culture of civic responsibility and engagement in the built environment and the public realm. By sharing best practices and ideas, these parties create a community of knowledge for professionals and the public based on a set of shared principles.

The SEED Network members promote and celebrate the idea that design matters and all people can shape their world for the better through design.

The Network is part of a global movement that believes design can support a community from the ground up. SEED facilitates action by providing tools such as the SEED Evaluator, which provides guidelines for pursuing a design process informed by inclusivity and participation that can lead to SEED Certification.

For more information about the SEED network please go to seednetwork.org