Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Winter 2019 - 10

CASE STUDIES

LIVING ARCHITECTURE PERFORMANCE TOOL

THE FIRST CERTIFIED
PROJECTS
BY ROHAN LILUAWALA, GRP, PROGRAM MANAGER

Green roofs and walls finally have a certification system comparable
to LEED - a huge step towards cementing them as quality investments
with dependable benefits. The Living Architecture Performance
Tool (LAPT) is a rating system and best-practice guide with a goal
of certifying that green roofs and walls are planned to achieve certain
measurable and replicable performance benefits. Its development was
initially started with Green Roofs for Healthy Cities but the program
is being run by the Green Infrastructure Foundation, under an
independent board and Technical Committee.

nder the LAPT, which is much like LEED in its structure,
there are up to 110 points that can be earned towards four
levels of certification. If widely adopted, the LAPT will
increase the performance of living infrastructure and bolster
industry-wide credibility. Designers, building owners, and maintenance professionals can use the LAPT to optimize the range
of benefits possible from their projects, while policy makers can
also use the tool to maximize public benefits and create effective
policies for to incent living architecture. The LAPT is designed
to work in all climates, and is for all types of projects - from
straightforward, sedum based extensive green roofs to complex
projects that integrate multiple green roofs and walls.
The development of the tool is being led by Lois Vitt Sale,
FAIA, LEED Fellow; David Yocca, FASLA, AICP, LEED AP;
Steven W. Peck, GRP, Hon. ASLA, Founder and President,
GRHC; and Rohan Lilauwala, GRP, Program Manager, GIF.
Lois and David, the two co-chairs of the Technical Committee
have been deeply involved in the development, early adoption,
and promotion of rating systems such as LEED and SITES.
In Washington, DC at the Grey to Green Conference in

LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / WINTER 2019 / 10

October 2019, the Green
Infrastructure Foundation
announced the first LAPT certified projects. These are Adlai
E. Stevenson High School in
Lincolnshire, IL (Wight &
Company, Omni Ecosystems,
and Nedlaw Living Walls);
Carroll Rooftop Farm in Chicago, IL (Omni Ecosystems);
and the Harvard Business
School McArthur/McCollum
Building (Recover Green
Roofs and Omni Ecosystems).
The pilot phase of this
program offers innovative
and forward-thinking organizations the opportunity
to participate until May 31,
2020. Becoming involved

in the pilot phase can help
you optimize the range of
benefits possible for your
project, demonstrate your
leadership and innovation,
and set the stage for long
term performance while
receiving recognition in the
marketplace. GIF is planning
to release Version 2.0 of the
LAPT at CitiesAlive in Philadelphia, November 15-18,
2020. For further information
or to register for the program,
please visit greeninfrastructurefoundation.org/lapt or
contact Rohan Lilauwala,
Program Manager, Green
Infrastructure Foundation, at
rlilauwala@greenroofs.org.
LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

http://www.greeninfrasturefoundation.org/lapt http://www.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Winter 2019

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