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If you’re planning to spend some days in Pittsburgh don’t miss a visit to the Center for Sustainable Landscapes at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, one of Earth's Greenest Buildings.
The Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL) is truly a world leader in sustainable innovation. The development is the first and only facility of its kind to attain the world’s highest green building and landscape standards:
- Living Building Challenge, the world’s most rigorous green building standard
- LEED® Platinum —the highest achievement awarded by U.S. Green Building Council
- First and only Four Stars Sustainable SITES Initiative™ (SITES™) for landscapes project (pilot)
- First and only WELL Building Platinum project (pilot)
The facility houses ground breaking sustainability research and science education programs, and serves as a key part of the public garden’s immersive visitor experience. In producing all of its own renewable energy, and treating and reusing all water captured on site, the CSL demonstrates the benefits of humanity living in harmony with nature. The aim of the design team, which was led by Pittsburgh-based architecture firm The Design Alliance Architects was to mimic nature and function as efficiently and elegantly as a flower, highlighting the interconnectedness of the many natural systems at work all around us.
The CSL was designed It has been built to be carbon neutral in its operational phase, and to meet net-energy and net-zero water goals, reducing demand on natural resources and combating climate change. Net-zero energy status on an annual basis, meaning that, over the course of a year, it is expected to produce more energy than it consumes. In its first operational year, the building achieved a 68.7% reduction of energy usage versus traditionally-designed buildings per US Environmental Protection Agency’s Target Finder.
The overall building energy usage is minimized through passive and active strategies such as a high performance building envelope, natural ventilation, light shelves and reflective ceiling material to enhance daylighting, shading systems, onsite solar panels, a vertical axis wind turbine and geothermal wells.
Learn more about the building's energy and sustainability approach
The CSL occupies a former brownfield, a space once compromised by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. This site has since been successfully restored, and is now healthy and safe for people, plants and animals. A sustainable landscape with nine different native plant communities was designed for the site to provide habitat for wildlife and t be irrigated with water harvested on site.
In order to meet the net-zero water goals, several strategies to capture and treat all water on site for later use have been incorporated into the development. The CSL treats and reuses all water captured on site and features a green roof, a lagoon, rain gardens, permeable paved surfaces, constructed wetlands, and a water distillation system.
“With the CSL, we see opportunities to push the envelope even further when it comes to sustainable design and operations — to share what we have learned about how our buildings can impact the health of the planet and people for generations to come,” says Phipps Executive Director Richard V. Piacentini. “With the achievement of the Living Building Challenge, we look forward to continuing our journey to discover new ways of living in harmony with nature.”
To learn more about this cutting-edge project visit the CSL project page
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