“Sustainable design”, “green building”, “energy efficient design”; there are many names for the Green Building movement but GSC Architects has achieved the challenge of balancing function, comfort and energy since the firms' creation in 1978. It is inherent to GSC Architects’ past and current design process to design intelligent, efficient and beautiful buildings with the needs of the client as a priority. But our process does not merely begin and end at design – it extends from the beginning of a relationship with our client to post-occupancy.

The demands of green building performance and documentation have increased over the years with the emergence of local and national certification programs, such as USGBC’s LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) Certification Program. Expectations for performance and verification will continue to rise. For the majority of buildings certification is voluntary but requires a detailed and intensive documentation process for review by a third party. It is not always a necessary step in the design process but a service we provide for our clients.

Through a series of blog posts we hope to talk about GSC Architects’ process of green design and certification, demystify some of the processes by which we work and share lessons-learned from past and current projects. G3, our internal Green Group, provides internal education and expertise to the firm and will contribute to the conversation.