The Green Building as a Medium for Environmental Education

As of 2012, green-building construction was among the fastest-growing industries in the United States. Despite accelerations in green-building technologies over the last three decades and the proliferation of green square footage across the country, the field has largely remained within the narrow confines of industry expertise. The broader public, even those who use green buildings daily, have few opportunities to engage with and learn about them. This lack of public green-building education is problematic, as all Americans are building users, and many will own, construct, and maintain homes throughout their lives. As the public is increasingly presented with opportunities to use public green buildings, there is a need to invite building users into the environmental story of the building and its day-to-day operations. Ultimately, failing to do so could come at a cost to both the building's performance and the enrichment of the user. One response to these challenges is the use of public green buildings as a medium for environmental education, involving users in the performance of the building. While these buildings represent exciting new directions for the current green-building movement, the evidence base for green buildings that teach is still lacking. As projects become reality, there is a parallel need for social research to evaluate outcomes and guide best practices for designing green buildings that contribute to environmental education. This is a research agenda well worth pursuing. In the last two decades, the modern green-building movement has catalyzed over 2 billion square feet of commercial green projects. 1 As this number grows, each new square foot could be a missed opportunity to connect architecture to public green-building education.