Architects Seeing Surge in Green Building Requests, Survey Finds
Seventy percent of architects say client demand is the leading driver of green building and that the primary reason these owners and developers are demanding greener buildings is for reduced operating costs, according to a recent report.
Seventy percent of architects say client demand is the leading driver of green building and that the primary reason these owners and developers are demanding greener buildings is for reduced operating costs, according to a recent report.
The annual Green Index, conducted by the
American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Autodesk, measures how AIA member architects in the U.S. are practicing sustainable design, as well as their opinions about the green building movement. The index shows that green building has taken a firm hold on the industry and has captured the attention of both architects and their clients.
According to the report, less than half of architects were incorporating sustainable design practices into their projects five years ago. However, this number is quickly rising with 90 percent of architects expecting to incorporate some sustainable elements by 2012.
This rapidly growing adoption of sustainable design is in direct response to a strong client demand for green building, with 70 percent of this year's respondents citing client demand as the main driver pushing architects to go green. When asked to cite a reason behind clients' push toward green building, 64 percent of respondents cited the reduced operating costs that can be obtained through sustainable design as the cause.
The survey also shows that architects are making significant strides to meet their client demand for green building. Working to develop their sustainable design skills, 88 percent of respondents have received training or continuing education focused on green building.
The industry has seen a 25 percent increase in the number of architects utilizing high-efficiency HVAC systems in their projects over the past five years, according to the report. Other areas of growth include the use of highly reflective roofing materials, which has jumped 18 percent since 2002, and the adoption of energy modeling and baseline analysis, which has seen a 17 percent increase in that same period.
Although 50 percent of architects reported having clients inquire about green building on the majority of their projects, only 30 percent of architects actually implemented green building elements in their projects. In addition, only 10 percent of architects are currently measuring the carbon footprint of their projects.
When asked what green building efforts they expect to adopt in the next five years, over half the respondents said they will be using tools to enable the prediction and evaluation of the environmental impact and lifecycle of the building materials used in their projects, a 36 percent increase from today.
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