BUILDING IN BLOOM - The Making of the Center for Sustainable Landscapes at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
Phipps Living Building is one of the most important projects of its kind in the world, demonstrating to the design community and thousands of annual visitors, a profound new paradigm for responsible design and construction. People intent on experiencing the beauty and natural wonder of the public garden leave the Center for Sustainable Landscapes with a deeper understanding of the connections between their lives and the natural systems that sustain all of us. --Jason F. McLennan, CEO, International Living Future InstituteThe CSL is the sum total of determined and farsighted leadership, a smart, creative, and dedicated design team, and an organization unwilling to settle for anything less than great design and execution. The result is a new design benchmark for other institutions, designers and builders. It is a brilliant union of ecological design, civic education and applied hope. --David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Adviser to the President, Oberlin CollegeFrom the green roof learning gardens, to the cascading hillside of native plant communities, to the daylit and naturally ventilated offices overlooking the diverse natural and urban landscapes of Pittsburg, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes captures our imagination and our most advanced natural conditioning systems to pursue the Living Building Challenge. Advancing an already magnificent conservatory experience, Phipps Executive Director Richard V. Piacentini has taken the power of landscape to an all-new level, merging sunshine, flowers, earth and water into a sustainable whole that will teach generations to come. --Vivian Loftness, FAIA LEED AP, University Professor of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon UniversityThe CSL is the sum total of determined and farsighted leadership, a smart, creative, and dedicated design team, and an organization unwilling to settle for anything less than great design and execution. The result is a new design benchmark for other institutions, designers and builders. It is a brilliant union of ecological design, civic education and applied hope. --David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Senior Adviser to the President, Oberlin CollegeFrom the green roof learning gardens, to the cascading hillside of native plant communities, to the daylit and naturally ventilated offices overlooking the diverse natural and urban landscapes of Pittsburg, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes captures our imagination and our most advanced natural conditioning systems  to pursue the Living Building Challenge. Advancing an already magnificent conservatory experience, Phipps Executive Director Richard V. Piacentini has taken the power of landscape to an all-new level, merging sunshine, flowers, earth and water into a sustainable whole that will teach generations to come. --Vivian Loftness, FAIA LEED AP, University Professor of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University