The visitor center at the Bernheim Arboretum in Clairmont, Kentucky, which was completed in 2005, continues to garner attention.  In 2007, it was awarded LEED Platinum certification.  Most recently, the visitor center has received the EPA's prestigious Lifecycle Building Challenge Award.  This is the third year that the EPA has held the challenge where entrants are judged on their building's ability to minimize waste, reduce energy consumption, and be disassembled for material reuse.  The visitor center took an award in the Building–Professional Built category and an Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Greenhouse Gas Reduction. 

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We've seen all kinds of LEED Platinum homes — manufactured, prefab, traditional, and modern — but this is the first LEED Platinum log home that we've seen.  It's likely the first LEED Platinum log home in the country.  The home was designed by Eric Hughes of Image Design LLC, and built by Hybrid Homes LLC out of Muskegon, Michigan.  Located on 6060 Longbridge Road in Pentwater, Michigan, the green log home features a number of green elements:

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This is NASA's new Jet Propulsion Laboratory Flight Projects Center in Pasadena, California.  Like several other projects we've mentioned (i.e., ENC, Susi Q Seniors, and Koll Airport), the Flight Projects Center was designed by LPA Inc, and it's a gorgeous building (see video below).  Next Monday, October 26, at 10 a.m., there will be a ceremony and ribbon cutting to celebrate what is the greenest built facility in the NASA family. 

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By looking at these pictures, you probably can’t tell that an old, two-story, under-performing industrial building was converted into a beautiful modern suite of office spaces.  The Koll Company hired LPA Inc. to transform the old facility and transform they did!  (You can see a before photo below.)  The LEED Silver building, now referred to as the Koll Airport Professional Center for its location near John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, is a fine example of adaptive reuse with new green elements:

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This is the Yannell Residence in Chicago, Illinois, a home that was designed and built as an exercise in net zero energy living — it produces at least as much energy as it uses over the course of a year.  It received LEED Platinum certification in July 2009, and has been on a roll getting media attention all over the place.  Some say it’s one of the greenest houses ever built, but one thing is for sure: it has a ton of interesting green elements.

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