Manage This | Episode 103 | Creating a Living Building – The Kendeda Building at Georgia Tech

“Why are we throwing away perfectly good stuff?” That’s the question our guests John DuCongé and Shan Arora are asking us this episode as we join them for a tour of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s recently completed Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design.
This building was designed and built to the Living Building Challenge 3.1 certification standards, the most advanced measure of sustainability possible in the current built environment, with some of the most stringent building performance standards in the world. They faced the added challenge of building a heavily populated Living Building in the hot, humid climate of the Southeast region of the USA.
(This podcast was recorded before COVID19 quarantine restrictions.)

Listen in as John and Shan walk us through this incredible building and highlight some of the Living Building Challenge required performance areas. John is the project manager on this project and we ask him about the triple constraints of this project, and the distinctive process they undertook in qualifications reviews when selecting the right team for this project. Hear how they uniquely acquired many of their resources, and they explain some of the other materials management challenges they faced, such as integrating “Red List” compliant materials.

Shan Arora has a law degree from Emory University, and is the director of the Kendeda Building. Previously, Shan was with the Southface Institute where he worked to increase the amount of clean energy generated in Georgia, promote energy efficiency in the built environment, and expand the region’s clean energy workforce.
John DuCongé, is a Registered Architect and the senior project manager in the Design & Construction department at Georgia Tech. Some of his achievements include oversight of the design and construction of The Kendeda Building; Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, Georgia Tech's first LEED Platinum building; and the Engineered Biosystems Building (EBB) which won an AIA COTE Top 10 award.