Audubon also wants 80 percent of all the products it purchases to contain recycled content. Countertops are made of recycled plastic, ceramic floors from recycled glass, drywall from recycled newsprint, insulation from a component of sea water, and wood from non-endangered sources. Filing cabinets are positioned near windows. Many of the other building materials contain recycled material. Despite the Audubon House's revolutionary design, its principles are not hard to duplicate.
All components are available off the shelf.
Audubon was interested in measures that others could replicate, he said. The building is, in effect, an educational tool. But workers are already giving the building high marks. The layout is very open. Staffers talk face to face instead of over the phone.