One week before the construction launch for the Living Building on their campus, Georgia Tech has organized series of events to celebrate the next phase of the project.

Six “Planting the Seeds” activities — arranged around the Living Building Challenge Petals — are tailored for the campus community. But everyone’s welcome to sign up for these activities. Here’s the one I hope to attend: DIY corn-hole boards fashioned from salvage materials. The Planting the Seeds activities kick off thsi Friday, Sept. 8, and are scattered throughout the month.

Then, there’s the launch celebration itself. It’s set for 2 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 12, at the building site — which currently is a parking lot. You can expect high-profile speakers, including Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, Kendeda Fund Executive Director Dena Kimball and a certain well-known elected official whom we’re not yet cleared to name. The speeches will be brief. That way attendees will be able check out cutting-edge technology on display at the event. It should also be a great opportunity for networking. RSVP here. 

Meanwhile, we here at the Living Building Chronicle are launching a new category of columns on deep-green design and construction (Living Building Chronicle is a publication of the Kendeda Fund, whose gift to Georgia Tech is funding the building). Each week, we’ll bring you a thought-provoking column by a leading professional who’s either involved in the building at Georgia Tech or engaged on another front in green design and construction. We start today with a column by Living Building Challenge founder Jason F. McLellan.

Also, don’t miss our gallery detailing the project at its design development phase. You’ll find images of the building as its now envisioned as well as schematics and explainers on some of the systems in the building.

Photo of building site by Ken Edelstein