I'm growing green!

All through college and my architectural studies I tended to field questions from my friends and family about the profession, mainly what I wanted to do in the profession - what direction I wanted to take once I had graduated. For the longest time I was uncertain how to answer this question because frankly, I didn't know. As my studies took me further into the great expanse of possibilities that architecture offers, I noticed that my attention was shifting in the “green” direction, otherwise known as sustainable design. I won't bore you with the technicalities, but in short, sustainable design is a way of designing a building and the site around the building in a way that promotes energy efficiency, recycling of materials (or the use of recyled materials), water efficient landscaping, and other techniques used to harness natural energy such as solar panels and alternative heating and cooling techniques. It's just a more environmentally friendly way to build, and in turn creates a better, and healthier, environment for people to live and work in.

I started a new job about three months ago at a firm that uses these principles in designing many of their buildings, and they encourage everyone in the firm to take that direction as well...that was one of the main reasons I wanted to work there. So, yesterday I took my first step in the green direction. After three weeks of studying, I took the LEED professional accreditation exam...and passed! LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and is a program created by the USGBC. It is based on a credit/point system, and is used to certify buildings that meet enough standards to be considered “green”. After passing their accreditation exam, I am now a LEED accredited professional and can help streamline the process of making buildings more sustainable and healthy...and boy am I exhausted. That test was one of the hardest I've ever had to take, I can only imagine what the Architectural Licensing Exams are going to be like. At least I still have two more years to go before I have to worry about that.