I am in the process of writing up blog posts on LEED, Sustainability and ‘Global Warming’. The posts are not yet fit to publish, but there is a need to publish something as a lead in and generate interest in the meantime. Doing a bit of research I manged to stumble into a few articles and posts about Frank Gehry and his stance on LEED. I’ll be honest, of the ‘leading, big name architects’, Frank Gehry has not always been my favorite. My estimation of him has been raised a good bit because of his stance on the LEED process. His stance pretty much mirrors my own, viewing LEED as a superfluous add on to the building process. We appear to be on the same page in believing that one can do without the added cost and unproductive work that LEED requires and still be a ‘green architect’.
As an established and sought after name, he can afford the luxury of being honest. Many architects are into the dog and pony show of LEED because it has become a prerequisite of getting hired or getting a sought after commission. Following the empirical, prescriptive and checklist driven LEED methodology is also a way for those who simply do not have the talent or confidence in their own talents to compensate.
The links:
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In this post he backs off a bit. He does state global worming is a crisis. I certainly take exception to that. Global warming is an absolute farce. Later posts will address that as well. I can image that he took quite a bit of heat from the environmental lobby that forced him (even him!) to ‘nuance’ his comments somewhat. The article’s title, ‘coming around to building green’. Says much. With the Politically Correct green crowd, there is only one way to meet an objective, their way.(And deity forbid that you disagree with any aspect of their doctrine) I take the strongest exception to that. I will define my own approach in later posts.
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Far and above the most odious aspect of LEED is the pre-conceived and arbitrary point system. Get enough points and one achieves the utterly meaningless goal of achieving LEED with a Silver, Gold or Platinum certification. From my standpoint one introduces a system that gets in the way of, and is a barrier to, meeting the client’s need’s in the best possible way. I don’t think it is too far fetched to say that achieving LEED and true ‘organic design’ are mutually exclusive. Or to be maybe more generous, achieving LEED does not guarantee ‘organic design’.
More to come . . .
Andrew