Preservation Green Lab

In yet another lead by example push, Seattle will become the headquarters for the Preservation Green Lab. Among other things, their main goal will be to encourage other cities to consider historic preservation and the existing building stock in order to become more sustainable. The thought being that the greenest building is the one already built, as the construction of a new green building requires a fair amount of resources.

I pulled these three goals from the website:
Good Policy, Green Results: The greenest building is often the one that is already built, which is precisely why the Preservation Green Lab will work in various cities and states to develop and implement policies that support green retrofits and adaptive reuse, as well as reinvestment in existing communities.

Greening by Example: To demonstrate that older and historic buildings can, in fact, be retrofitted to achieve high levels of energy efficiency, the Preservation Green Lab will launch a number of green retrofit projects in pilot cities across the country.

The Go-To for Going Green: The Preservation Green Lab will lead the conversation on best practices and model policies for greening our country's prized older and historic buildings, functioning as the go-to resource for those navigating the intersection of historic preservation and sustainability.

The Green Lab will be under the National Trust for Historic Preservation and their Sustainability Program. The headquarters for this new lab will be right down the street from our Capitol Hill office, located on 12th Avenue in the historic Piston and Ring building, already home to some great business, and of course a fine example of sustainability by using the existing building stock.

Olive8 Seattle - Glass Details

The new Olive8 Condominiums are nearly complete, bringing an interesting building to the Seattle skyline. Though there are some serious faults with this development, such as it's weird proximity to a neighboring building and a height complex, the architecture certainly brings in some a fresh design elements to the area. Good or bad, time will tell, though I give it a thumbs up for being different, and spending some money on that conquest.

This view will one day be blocked by a massive building planned for the parking lot in the foreground. The Ava is yet to be started, you can read about it here on the Seattle Condo Blog. There's also another tall condo building planned just to the South across from the Paramount Theater. For some interesting reader comments about the Olive8 development on another blog, hugeasscity, check out their post here.