Bullitt Center

The Bullitt Center is located in Seattle, Washington and is the greenest commercial building in the world. It was built to meet the goals of the Living Building Challenge. The living Building Challenge is challenge, created by the International Living Building Institute, which requires a building to be self-sufficient for energy use and water use for a minimum period of 12 months, employ green materials, and create quality indoor environments. There are also seven performance areas that include site, water, energy, health, materials, equity and beauty with 20 specific imperative qualifications within the seven performance areas.

From the beginning the designers of the Bullitt Center wanted to design a building that was connected to the neighborhood and surrounding environment. The site that the Bullitt Center was built on was chosen to bring more commercial activity to the surrounding residential area. One of the goals of the designers was to find a neighborhood that wanted to create interesting urban spaces and to redevelop an underutilized building site. A park that is located to the south of the building, McGilvra Park, was also revitalized as part of the project with the joint efforts from the City of Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation and the Seattle Parks Foundation. Another reason the site was chosen was because of its accessibility to alternative transit options. Located within a half mile of the Bullitt Center are a number of public bus routes as well as a proposed light rail station within walking distance. Plants were placed along the sidewalks to help protect pedestrians from vehicle traffic as well as add to a more pleasing environment. There is no parking lot located within the buildings site but it does hav...

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...h as the Bullitt Center being able to accomplish a limited impact on the environment is astonishing. It just shows how important the design process is from beginning to end and how responsible designers are what is needed to lead the way towards a sustainable future. The fact that you can design a building that actually promotes healthy living and gives back to the community and the environment is inspiring. While the cost of building responsibly can be higher initially the reward is definitely worth it. As a designer new to the building industry seeing responsible design motivates me to make a difference not only on professional level but on personal level. The unfortunate truth is that one well designed building is not going to change society’s ignorance; you need many well designed buildings to make a difference, but the Bullitt Center proves that it can be done.