At the close of its Living Future 2020 virtual conference, the International Living Future Institute recognized 24 projects, 11 “Heroes” and one manufacturer for their work on regenerative design and construction

Twenty-three of those recognized projects were buildings that attained certification under ILFI’s rigorous standards. The one exception to that was the Ecology School in Saco, Maine, which was cited for becoming the first Living Community Challenge project to attain Master Plan status.

Here are the three projects that were certified over the past year under Living Building Challenge full certification(with notable facts about a few of them in parentheses):

• AV 128 Silver Oak Winery in Healdsburg,Calif (the largest LBC-certified project yet, as well as the first bonafide production facility)
• Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (research building), University of Wollongong, in Wollongong, New South Wales (the first certified Living Building in Australia
• Urban Frontier House in Billings, Montana (the first certified Living Building in Montana)

Eight projects were certified under Living Building Challenge Petal certification

• Indian Creek Nature Center Amazing Space, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• Mahlum Architects Portland Office, Portland, Ore. (first in ILFI-certified project in Portland)
• Perlita Passive House LA, Los Angeles (third building also certified as a Passive House)
• University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Keller Center, Chicago
• Camp Glenorchy Eco Retreat, Paula, New Zealand
• CO/LAB, Falls Church, Va.
• Miller Hull San Diego Studio, San Diego (first project certified under LBC 4.0)
• Epsten Group, Atlanta (first project to follow LBC 4.0 standards, although it’s officially certified as 3.1)

Eleven projects were certified over the last 12 months for Zero Energy:

• Casa SN single-family residence, Arco, Trentino-South Tyrol, Italy
• Zero Energy Lombardo Welcome Center, Millersville, Pa.
• Entegrity Headquarters, Little Rock, Ark.
• City of Cincinnati District 3 Police Station, Cincinnati
• Kohler Environmental Center at Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Conn.
• HARC Headquarters, Houston
• Highland Drive house and office, Holladay, Utah
• Lincoln Lane single-family house, Holladay, Utah
• Overbrook School for the Blind greenhouse and classroom, Philadelphia
• Purdue University Ross Reserve log cabin, West LaFayette, Ind.
• Tanglewood single-family residence, sfo Auckland NZ

Finally, 6 Parnas Square, an 370,000-square-foot office building developed by Google in London, became the first project to earn the slightly less rigorous Zero Carbon certification.

Just one product was added over the last year to the list of certified Living Products, bringing the number to 24. But Mafi Natural Hardwood Floors, Schneegattern, Austria, actually is an entire line of wood flooring..

And the eleven winners of 2020 Living Future Hero award are: 

• Alessandro Bisagni of Bee Incorporations, Hong Kong
• Melissa Kops of Pirie Associates, New Haven, Conn. 
• Rex Hohlbein and Jennifer LaFreniere of the Block Architects and the Block Project, Seattle
• Ellen Southard of Site Story, Seattle
• Drew Lavine of Re:Vision Architecture, Philadelphia
• George Bandy, formerly at the Mohawk Group, now at Hilton Hotels, McLean, Va.
• Drew Shula of Verdical Group of Los Angeles
• Andreas Gyr, Google Real Estate and Workplace Services, Mountain View, Calif.
• Jacqueline Patterson of NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Program, Baltimore
• Jane Abernethy of Humanscale, Greenville Village, Colo.