The Living Building Challenge

The building featured in EVER THE LAND was built to the standards of the LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE (LBC).

The Tūhoe people decided to adopt this architectural philosophy as a blueprint for their building project. It is a symbol of Tūhoe's integrity to their customs and responsibilities that they share as guardians of their ancestral land, Te Urewera.

About the Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge™ is the built environment's most rigorous performance standard. It calls for the creation of building projects at all scales that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature's architecture. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy.

"We’re seeing the rise of these buildings that will never have an energy bill, that will never have a water bill, that are built with non-toxic materials, that are adapted perfectly to the site that they’re on and the climate that’s there.  And really provide a model for the future of the built environment and so I think that’s a program that we’re championing that really resonates with a lot of people that understand that the way we’ve been building our homes, our offices, and our cities are leaving us in a precarious place on a planetary scale.  And that we do have the knowledge, we do have the technologies, to fundamentally alter that impact and produce buildings that are not dead; that are not net drains on our environment but in fact help restore; that are living.

That’s what we’re promoting and man, we’re seeing incredible interest. I think it’s the right idea at the right time."

Jason F. McLennan
Founder of the LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE