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The building under construction, showing
cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure.

Main lab space.

reuse, sharing, and refurbishment over recycling and outright building industry nowadays relates to sustainability, and HITT
waste, while the Cradle to Cradle concept considers the entire was already recognized as a national sustainable construction
lifecycle of materials and products with the goal of retaining leader among general contractors. It followed logically that the
their usefulness indefinitely. facility itself should be a showcase of green innovation.
WM+P is the architectural design wing of a mini- The Co|Lab reflects an exceptional breadth of sustainability
conglomerate that William McDonough, FAIA, Int. FRIBA, has concerns: It is certified as LEED v4 Platinum by the U.S.
created based on the ideas of the groundbreaking 2002 book, Green Building Council. It is designed to produce 118% of its
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which he co- power needs, and accordingly to be certified as a Zero Energy
authored with chemist Michael Braungart. The central concept building under the International Living Future Institute (ILFI)
is to counter global climate change via careful selection of materials standard. It is pursuing another ILFI certification, the less-
and elimination of waste. That requires intimate knowledge of known but highly rigorous Petal certification, which focuses
the materials—everything from the initial extraction or harvesting on the healthfulness of materials and products at the chemical
of the raw materials, to transportation and manufacturing, to level. This overlaps with the substantial use of products and
off-gassing to insulative performance. To make this extreme materials—some 35 total in the building—certified under
depth of evaluation more practical, in 2012, Cradle to Cradle Cradle to Cradle and/or by Declare, a parallel certification
became a certification standard for building materials under program of the ILFI. Moreover, the major structural elements
another corporate entity, McDonough Innovations. of the entire building can be disassembled (thanks to those
With this background, WM+P was well-positioned when simple metal connectors), for reassembly elsewhere or reuse of
HITT, the venerable local contractor that has morphed into a the components in other buildings. This moves away from the
national powerhouse in the past two decades, decided to create “cradle to grave” (i.e., to landfill) approach which, despite its
a research and development (R&D) facility, dubbed Co|Lab, for obvious downside, remains the dominant model for real estate
design and construction professionals. Much of the R&D for the development worldwide.
36 IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN