The Aldo Leopold
Foundation won the third annual Designing and Building with FSC Award from the
Forest Stewardship Council for the construction of a center honoring its
founder. The award, which was presented yesterday during the U.S. Green
Building Council’s Greenbuild meeting in
Chicago, honors projects that are built with responsible forest management in
mind.
Based in Baraboo, Wis., the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is the
12,000 sq. ft. administrative and program headquarters for the Aldo Leopold
Foundation, named after a widely respected wildlife ecologist and pioneer in
responsible forest management. According to the FSC, 78 percent of the building
uses FSC-certified wood. Additionally, most of that wood was site-harvested and
locally processed to minimize the environmental impact.
Buddy
Huffaker, executive director of the foundation, said that the center was in
keeping with the principles of its founder Aldo Leopold. “The Aldo Leopold
Legacy Center is built from wood harvested from our land, and FSC certification
provided an important level of oversight and critical review during our effort
to responsibly integrate the stewardship of our land with the construction of
the Legacy Center. By developing standards and measures that can be widely
applied by knowledgeable and experienced foresters, the Forest Stewardship
Council is doing important work to bring Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic into daily
practice,” he said.
An honorable mention was given to Dovetail Partners of Minneapolis for its
Aitkin House. This single-family home in Aitkin, Minn., was built with two
goals in mind: to offer affordable local housing while incorporating green
building practices. Approximately 67 percent of all wood products in the home
are FSC certified. Additionally, the 1,300 sq. ft. home features a passive solar
design, in-floor radiant heating, energy efficient appliances and fixtures, and
a small floor plan to “minimize site disturbance and impact.”
The award is open to owners, architects, interior
designers, general contractors, builders, consultants or other professionals.
Projects can be any building type, including commercial, institutional,
mixed-use, or residential. To submit a project, applicants must use a
significant amount (at least 50% of the new wood by cost) of FSC-certified
wood. This year’s applicant projects must have been completed during or since
2004. The selection committee, developed by green consultant firm Forest
Products Solutions, included representatives from BNP Media’sEnvironmental
Design + Constructionmagazine; architectural firms Lucchesi Galati,
and Hastings Architecture Associates; the nonprofit organizations Dovetail
Partners Inc., Ecotrust, and Rocky Mountain Institute and forest products
manufacturer Royal Plywood.