Green Building Services

When I stage an interactive charrette with a project team, organization and key stakeholders, one of my first objectives is to bring to light the vision and strategies for the effort. From there, we articulate a set of associated principles that guide the project from the outset. These principles are powerful guideposts that steer every team member’s activities in a specific direction and become beacons to drive the project’s success.

We get great results, and this same concept can be applied to any endeavor – a project, campus, portfolio of facilities or an organizational culture. More than 12 years ago, GBS began to galvanize a set of principles to define our path. Our principles propel us forward – they remind us of why we do what we do and define how we do it.

Here are three of our Green Building Principles®

Make Less Mean More – Our projects and efforts reduce the amount of inputs and leverage each decision to gain more from every input. One clear example is using the structural components of a building as finish material, as it reduces environmental impacts, demands fewer materials and generates cost savings.

Teach by Example – We believe green building projects should visibly demonstrate their sustainable features and engage occupants through appealing strategies. Our educational projects in particular become living examples of this principle in action to inspire the next generation of practitioners and occupants toward sustainable work and lifestyles.

Passive Buildings, Active People – Occupant behavior has been an often overlooked part of the sustainable design equation. We can have lasting positive impacts by focusing less on technology and more on engaging people to make daily decisions that help buildings perform well. We’ll be at Greenbuild 2012 next week and this is the principle we’ll be sporting on our giveaway T-Shirt.

So now, it’s your turn. We want to hear from you. What principles motivate you and impact your work? Or, in the absence of defined principles, what guides your decision making?

We’ve got a variety of ways you can contribute to the conversation. Feel free to write in the comments section below. Better yet, click on our Tweet #greenbuildingprinciples dedicated to sharing principles and let us know yours. Or come by Booth #633S at Greenbuild in San Francisco beginning November 14th and log your principles into our Book of Green. You’ve got to share one of your principles to get a T-shirt at Greenbuild (while supplies last) so Tweet now or visit us in person. We’d love to meet you and talk about what makes this work worth doing!