While glass buildings continue to rise throughout our cities, the question of their sustainability remains. The market is demanding high glazing percentage for the daylight, views, and marketing potential it provides, which can present a considerable hurdle in promoting energy efficiency in modern buildings. During this session, two speakers with varying views will frame the current debate surrounding the all glass building and its place in energy efficient, sustainable design. Specific examples with different methodologies will be presented.

The presentation illustrates the financial prudence of net zero buildings today. From the outset of design through construction and operation, Maclay Architects and Energy Balance utilize comparative energy modeling and cost estimating to determine financial benefits of net zero buildings compared to code compliant or intermediate building solutions.

The RW Kern Center is designed to embody Hampshire College’s mission of fostering positive change in the world—and to meet the Living Building Challenge. This new ‘gateway’ building creates an opportunity for a powerful transformation of Hampshire’s 1960's vehicle-dominated, Brutalist campus core into a pedestrian friendly naturalistic landscape. The Kern Center will “operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature's architecture”, and contribute to Hampshire Community values of active inquiry, creativity, social justice, entrepreneurship, and the sustainable future.

For many teams, it is an almost impossible challenge to simultaneously deliver high performance and cost efficient buildings while maintaining high customer satisfaction and profitability. Integrated design/build delivery providing single responsibility, from schematic design to construction through commissioning and monitoring has proved to be a viable model for successful delivery of cost efficient high performance buildings. This session will examine aspects of planning, marketing, estimating, system development, project management, human resources, accounting, and legal concerns.