Forum to Provide Introduction to Living Building Challenge and Regenerative Design

West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum will host an in-person luncheon discussing next-generation building practices and regenerative design on Monday, October 18 at the John Ball Zoo Treehouse.  

The program will highlight how architecture and design can lead to a brighter, environmentally sound future, focusing on regional applications of the Living Building Challenge and other examples of regenerative design. 

Local institutions are beginning to embrace the LBC in their initiatives and projects.  John Ball Zoo, the 2020 West Michigan Sustainable Business of the Year, has earned recognitions or accreditations from Living Building Challenge and other next-generation practices for construction and design.  Blandford Nature Center, recently named the 2021 West Michigan Sustainable Business of the Year, has announced that the new visitor center at The Highlands nature preserve will seek LBC certification. 

Featured speakers include Andrew Queenan of Pure Architects, Allmon Forrester, Director of Facilities, Planning, & Sustainability for John Ball Zoo, and David Paquet, Project Manager for Wolverine Building Group. 

Launched in the midst of the pandemic, Pure Architects promotes a design approach rooted in the understanding that human and environmental health are intricately linked. Queenan, the 2020 Young Architect of the Year for AIA Grand Rapids, recently achieved the Living Future Accreditation through the International Living Future Institute and started a two-year term co-chairing the Committee on the Environment for the AIA chapter. He will provide a general introduction to the Living Building Challenge and regenerative design approaches.

John Ball Zoo has become one of the region’s most prominent learning laboratories for sustainable design. Most recently, the new meerkat exhibit was awarded SITES Gold certification under the Sustainable Sites Initiative rating system, which recognizes sustainable landscapes for their planning, design, construction and maintenance. Forrester and Paquet will highlight these and other examples of regenerative design in practice.

Program includes lunch from El Granjero and an optional tour of the zoo’s latest sustainability projects.

The event is sponsored by Wolverine Building Group. Learn more and register here