Encouraged by our experience with the VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre and the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, both designed to meet the Living Building Challenge, we are producing a four-part series for Trim Tab magazine. The four articles will outline the Living Building Challenge and what knowledge, skills, and materials are required to achieve it. VanDusen and CIRS will appear and recurring case studies throughout this series.

The second article in the series focuses on material health and transparency. Max Ritcher of our Vancouver office and Peter Syrett of our New York office examine how architects and building experts can change the manufacturing industry's response surrounding the ingredients in building materials. Transparency dictates information be available to every member of the production line of a building material.

Read Transparency: The Digital Cave Art of the 21st Century