Josh Radoff is cofounder and principal of YRG sustainability, based in Boulder, Colorado. He is a regular speaker on sustainability issues and has consulted on hundreds of sustainability projects at the intersection of the energy, climate, and green-building fields, both nationally and internationally.

Excerpt:

“… there is also a trend toward more explicitly recognizing the interlinking
nature of both our problems and our priorities and goals. If, for
example, we recognize that we are healthier and happier if we have access to
natural landscape and daylight, if we eat fresh, nutrient-rich non-processed
foods, if we exercise, if we can walk to get around, if we have access to
quiet places, if we get out of our cars, then we start to see our building and
development projects very differently. Development, after all, is literally the
“bringing about of potential or possibilities.” With this in mind, it makes us
ask the question, what is the potential of this piece of land, this urban infill
site, this building, this community? And then the follow-up question, why
are we doing this and what do we hope to achieve?

Some in the green-building industry have started to ask this question
about their projects. Their clients tell them they want an office building.
They ask why. Because they want a place to house their workforce. Why?
Because they want a place where everyone can come together and be productive
in getting their work done. Because they want to develop a community
where people are aligned with the goals of the company and are
inclined to stay there. Because they want people to be healthy and feel good
about coming to work. Because they know if their people are happy, then
they will have a good chance of being successful in their endeavors in the
long term, all of which would make them happier too.

So what they need is not an office building, but a place that can create
community and wellness, foster creativity and productivity, and bring out
the best potential of their people and their company. This changes quite a
bit in how we think about the project. It’s no longer a building. It’s a vehicle
for something else entirely.”