What Is The
Living Building Challenge?

The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is the ultimate green building standard that can be applied to any building type around the world. The goal is to create Living Buildings that incorporate regenerative design solutions that actually improve the local environment rather than simply reducing harm. LBC is administered by the non-profit International Living Future Institute (ILFI), a global network dedicated to creating a healthy future for all.

LBC projects must strive to produce more energy than they use, collect their own potable water from rainfall, treat all gray and stormwater on site, use the healthiest building materials available and provide a beautiful, educational and healthy environment for occupants.

Some projects cannot achieve LBC certification by design. Still, the Living Building Challenge can be aspirational for those projects and many strive to get as close as they can. Others may just want to take advantage of the work done by ILFI. For example, the Red List of materials to avoid where possible can be used by everyone in the building industry.

“What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place?” — The Living Building Challenge (LBC).

What Are
Living Building Challenge Petals?

The Living Building Challenge uses the metaphor of a flower because ideally, the built environment should function as cleanly and efficiently as a flower. Performance area “petals” include Water, Energy, Beauty, Materials and Health and Happiness.

LBC buildings generate more energy than they use, capture and treat all water on site and are constructed using healthy materials. Regenerative design principles can yield enormous benefits throughout a building’s entire life cycle of costs, as well as increase worker happiness, community goodwill, brand value, and front-line environmental benefits.

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Who Is The
International Living Future Institute (ILFI)?

The International Living Future Institute, (ILFI) based in Seattle and Portland, is an environmental NGO committed to catalyzing the transformation toward communities that are socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. Composed of leading green building experts and thought leaders, the Institute is premised on the belief that providing a compelling vision for the future is a fundamental requirement for reconciling humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

In addition to the Living Building Challenge, ILFI runs the Living Community Challenge, Living Product Challenge, Net Zero Energy Certification, the Cascadia Green Building Council, Ecotone Publishing, Declare, JUST and other leading-edge programs. A global network of more than 400 volunteers across nearly 30 countries drive the local adoption of restorative principles in their communities.

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What Is The
LBC Materials Red List?

The Red List, maintained by ILFI, contains the worst in class materials prevalent in the building industry because they are deemed to be harmful to humans. Avoiding or minimizing the use of these chemicals is important to protecting building occupant health.

The commonly-used chemicals on the Red List are:

Polluting the environment
Bio-accumulating up the food chain until they reach toxic concentrations
Harming construction and factory workers

The list includes such items as asbestos, Chlorinated Polyethylene and Chlorosulfonated Polyethlene, Formaldehyde (added), lead (added), mercury, PCBs, PFCs, and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). The complete Red List Guide is available for download.

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What Is The Living Building Challenge?

What Are Living Building Challenge Petals?

Who Is The International Living Future Institute (ILFI)?

What Is The LBC Materials Red List?

What Is The
Living Building Challenge?

What Are
Living Building Challenge Petals?

Who Is The
International Living Future Institute (ILFI)?

What Is The
LBC Materials Red List?