Excerpted from: I just want to say one word to you: sustainability
by John King

As architecture writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, John King has seen plenty of fads - but in the planned Public Utilities Commission building he sees a representation of "the trend that sticks, the one lasting change: Visual drama is no longer enough. Environmental sustainability counts for more than curb appeal. ... the PUC building, though aggressive, isn't unique. It's part of a much larger trend."

"San Francisco alone has enough examples to make the case. On the public front, the supervisors are about to review an ordinance from Mayor Gavin Newsom requiring that by 2012 all new commercial buildings in San Francisco larger than 25,000 square feet must qualify for a Gold rating under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Once this dictate would have caused a fuss; now, it's endorsed by groups such as the Building Owners and Managers Association."

"'It's a whole new world,' [David] Hobstetter [the building's designer] says of the changes since 2001, when he started work on what now will be the PUC building. 'Global warming and climate change are twin engines coming down the track. You're going to see an evolution in architecture to buildings like this, because it's what you have to do.'"

And although the much-touted green features of these buildings won't solve the problems of climate change, "an architect today who designs a high-profile building has to take the environment into account - consuming as few materials as possible, paying attention to a structure's carbon footprint. Not just because it's the right thing to do but also because other architects and clients are making the effort."

"If you don't, you're behind the times. And that's the last place a cutting-edge architect wants to be."

Photo credit: Kyknoord