In our last post, you met the finalists of the 2013 Rudy Bruner Award, a biennial program that recognizes excellence in urban placemaking. This is the first of our dispatches from the field, as the Bruner Foundation team travels the country to examine the five selected projects. During our intensive, two-to-three-day visits to each site, we’re conducting interviews, taking photographs, and gathering information for our selection committee’s meeting in Oklahoma City this coming May, during which they will select the Gold Medal winner.

Congo Street, Dallas, TX

For our first trip, we headed south late last month, trading cold and snowy Boston for the relative warmth of North Texas to visit Congo Street Initiative in Dallas.

The project is among the smallest of this year’s five finalists. Located along a reconstructed block-long street in the East Dallas community of Jubilee Park, it involved the construction of a new “Holding House” and the reconstruction of five existing houses in collaboration with the street’s residents.

Congo Street Site Plan

The idea for the project emerged from a desire to stabilize home ownership for the families who live on Congo Street, many having occupied their homes for generations. The modest 640 square-foot houses, built in the 1920s, were in various states of disrepair, targeted for demolition and redevelopment.

Working with the residents, city, corporate, and nonprofit partners in the Dallas community, buildingcommunityWORKSHOP, a local nonprofit community design center that submitted the project, crafted an alternative strategy for redevelopment. It focused on rebuilding the existing homes and street infrastructure over the next five years without displacing a single inhabitant. Staff from bcWORKSHOP and architecture students from the University of Texas at Arlington began working with Congo Street residents in 2008, exploring approaches that would enable them to remain in place without undue financial burden. Read more…

Living in a big city can be hard. If you live in New York, you have probably quoted the famous song, “If I make it there, I can make it anywhere.” But Portland-based developer Gerding Edlen recognizes the need for giving a softer side to the city.

They develop buildings that, from my perspective, promise to be soft on communities, soft on the environment, and soft on residents.

Gerding Edlen has spoken with Metropolis before, but now they are considering bringing rental development to the east coast, potentially to New York City. I spoke with Mark Edlen, CEO, about their development plans and how those plans fit into cities like ours, “the city that never sleeps.”

“We’ve seen a movement to the cities. Cities are the solution to our global population growth,” said Edlen. His firm recognizes that people see city living as a way to help solve global problems. They also see how it’s becoming more popular to live a mobile and sustainable urban lifestyle.

Read more…

In 2010, David Gottfried founded his latest membership organization, the Regenerative Network; a business consortium that brings together leading green building product manufacturers and service providers and connects them to real estate portfolio owners, architects, engineers, and contractors. The mission of this invitation-only organization, he says, is to elevate the triple-bottom-line profitability of members and affiliates through fostering deep business relationships and accelerating the adoption of sustainable products and services. The Network limits membership to one organization in each green building category, in order establish a non-competitive environment and foster sharing within the group.

The Network’s launch was preceded by several other organizational initiatives. In 1993, David founded the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the LEED green building rating system, which led to his founding of the World Green Building Council in 2002 (now with GBCs forming in 85 countries). On the heels of the USGBC came two more companies: Regenerative Ventures and its green building consulting arm, both founded in 1995, where David partners with entrepreneurs and management teams, guiding them to establish and achieve sustainable building goals.

Gottfried is also an author. His newest book, Greening My Life, describes his personal green rating system for a life, and his and his family’s attempts to live well in the fullest sense of the word. After attending a Regenerative Network event (the architecture firm for which I serve as director of communications, William McDonough + Partners, is a Network Affiliate), I had a chance to talk with David about his latest activities.

Kira Gould: As a player in the market transformation we’ve witnessed in the building industry, you must have a keen sense of the opportunities ahead. What emerging trends do you think have real potential?

David Gottfried: I’m fascinated by direct current (DC) power, and there are several related trends that have potential. DC is what solar creates before you convert it to AC. You don’t need an electrician to play with DC power, because it’s low voltage. That’s powerful in terms of data, capability, cost effectiveness, and more. I love the idea of closing the loop from solar to power without having to distribute to the grid. LED lights also run on DC power – which creates incredible energy efficiency and lighting control opportunities. Read more…

Achieving the Living Building Challenge certification is like sustainability boot camp. A building can only be evaluated after it has been built, and then the process takes a year. Very few projects manage to live up to the exacting standards of the Challenge –  three buildings were finally found worthy last year. But last week, the Energy Lab at the Hawai’i Preparatory Academy became the fourth certified Living Building in the world. This in itself is cause for celebration, but the achievement is all the more significant because the building is a school. Read more…