Living Building Challenge
Mā te whenua e kōrero. Starting with an understanding of what the whenua can do.
The Living Pā redevelopment proposes to meet the Living Future Institute’s internationally recognised Living Building Challenge. This is considered the built environment’s most rigorous performance standard. The Living Building Challenge is a certification programme intended to push the marketplace beyond current conceptions of a green building and to transform how we think about our built environment. It asks us to reset standards, to approach building methods with careful and considered methods, and to take more responsibility.
We are seeking to build more than a building—we want a building that talks to our values and tikanga, who we are, and who we are going to be.
The Living Building Challenge is organised into seven performance areas:
Place
Restoring a healthy interrelationship with nature.
Water
Operating within the water balance of a given place and climate.
Energy
Relying only on current solar income.
Health and happiness
Creating environments that optimise physical and psychological health and wellbeing.
Materials
Endorsing products that are safe for all species through time.
Equity
Supporting a just and equitable world.
Beauty
Celebrating design that uplifts the human spirit.
Why Tūhoe built a living building
In rural Tāneatua, Tūhoe Te Uru Taumatua built the first fully certified living building in the Southern Hemisphere. In this video, Kirsti Luke (CEO, Te Uru Taumatua) and Tāmati Kruger (Chair, Te Urewera Board and Te Uru Taumatua) talk about why Tūhoe built a living building, and its benefits and impact.
Pā tūwatawatatia te kura whakaaro—The Living Pā fortifies the vision of our tīpuna in a way that relates to our mokopuna. This is true sustainability.
Te Wehi Wright, Ngā Ruahine, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa, Ngāti Uenukukōpako and Ngāti Whakaue
Victoria University of Wellington alumna 2017 and Living Pā Ambassador