A Builder’s Take on Green Building
Green building is the attempt to holistically structure the building process so that the relationships between the site itself, the design, and the team of builders combine to produce an end result that performs its given function in a sustainable fashion, that is beautiful or at least aesthetically appropriate, and is either enduring or recyclable.
Health, impact of building process to site, impact of the extraction and fabrication of materials to be used in the process, longevity of structure, both short and long term energy footprints of structure, processes of production, and aesthetics are a few of the principle concerns in the green building process.
Green building calls on the builder to think and act creatively and to be able to respond to the wide array of eventualities that present themselves in the construction process. It also calls on clients to be willing to at least consider the hard questions, such as how much square footage is required, what the energy consumption will be, and how budget is prioritized.
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