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As Vice President of ILFI's Community Team, Erin Rovalo leads the team in their mission to empower an international and diverse community of practice with the skills, values, and knowledge necessary to take bold action towards a living future. Erin has 15 years of experience in sustainable innovation consulting and adult education and is a recognized expert in biomimicry and nature inspired design methods. She is an experienced scholar and researcher holding a PhD in Design Practice and has p...| trimtab.living-future.org
An invitation to Bold, Long-View Design Thinking As we look ahead to the Living Future 2026 Conference (LF26), we stand at a moment of powerful reflection and possibility. For two decades, our community has pushed boundaries, lifted standards, and redefined what it means to design for life. Now, with our 20th anniversary on the horizon,| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of industrial chemicals characterized by their strong carbon-fluorine bonds. PFAS persist indefinitely in the environment, and build up in people and animals over time. Well-studied PFAS have been linked to health harm including decreased fertility; developmental delays in children; prostate, testicular, and kidney cancer; hormone interference; and […] The post Phasing out PFAS from Building Products – the HPDC Toolkit first appeared ...| Trim Tab
The Future of Regenerative Design This article was originally published in Viewpoints on July 7, 2025. has been republished on Trim Tab with the permission of METROPOLIS Magazine. As the design world embraces the language of regeneration, we must be clear about what the term means—and what’s at stake when it’s misused. The compulsion to| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Cover image: Timber Ridge Apartments. Image courtesy of Ink Built Architecture Join Living Future’s Affordable Housing Summit and connect with the innovative minds building a better world. For years, we’ve showcased groundbreaking project teams, and this year is no exception. Discover how they’re redefining affordable housing by radically decarbonizing, using healthier and biobased products, and […] The post Get a First Look at the 2025 Affordable Housing Summit first appeared on Trim...| Trim Tab
Coliseum Place. Image by Bruce Damonte, courtesy of David Baker Architects. New Case Studies From Living Future’s Affordable Housing Pilot Projects Editor's Note Join us for the 2025 Affordable Housing Summit on August 7th & 8th! The theme for this virtual event is Strength in Community, and we have planned an agenda to demonstrate how| Trim Tab Online Magazine
On the Importance of Being—and Moving Forward—Together The intention behind the Living Future conference is to strategize, to build the movement, and to work together to change the industry. Compared to every other year I’ve experienced since I started doing this work 25 years ago, this year is different. This year requires more of us, […] The post Why 2025 Is a Turning Point for the Regenerative Building Movement first appeared on Trim Tab.| Trim Tab
Join a global movement transforming how we build and manufacture—for people and planet. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and regenerative design rooted in climate justice offers a real solution. At the heart of this transformation is you, and the Living Future community. We’re a passionate and growing network of| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Cover photo: ©Tom Holdsworth Celebrating 2024–2025 Living Future Certified Projects At Living Future 2025 in Portland, our Buildings Team had the incredible opportunity to connect face-to-face with passionate owners, designers, and practitioners committed to creating a regenerative future. Together, we explored how to scale impact across campuses, evolve the Living Building Challenge (LBC) to meet| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Rendering courtesy of David Baker Architects Why Safe Materials Matter in Affordable Housing What makes a home truly safe? Is it a sturdy lock, a strong foundation, or a trip-free layout? While these are essential, many unseen health hazards lurk within building materials themselves—from toxic chemicals in flooring and insulation to harmful additives in paints| Trim Tab Online Magazine
One of the first public schools to join the LBC takes flight in Virginia Designed in collaboration with the Perkins&Will North Carolina studio Something historic is underway in Henrico County, Virginia. Seeking to be the one of the first public schools to secure Living Building Certification, the Center for Environmental Science and Sustainability (HCPS Living […] The post Henrico Soars first appeared on Trim Tab.| Trim Tab
Early Adopters of Living Building Challenge® 4.1 In April 2024, Living Future launched three new certification programs: Living Building Challenge® 4.1 (LBC), Zero Carbon Certification™ 1.1 (ZC), and Zero Energy Certification™ 1.1 (ZE). Since July 1, these certifications have been the exclusive options for new project registrations. We checked in with some early adopters to| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Leti Molina, Senior Mechanical Design Engineer at Vode Lighting, faced a critical challenge following the 2023 update to the Red List, which added fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) as a restricted material. This change put Vode’s Declare label at risk, requiring full ingredient disclosure to comply with the essential use exception for FEP. Despite resistance from […] The post Overcoming Hurdles: Vode Lighting’s Journey to Declare Label Transparency first appeared on Trim Tab.| Trim Tab
Kaiser Borsari Hall at Western Washington University Opens The Holcim Foundation Awards, a global recognition program for innovative and sustainable building projects, is currently accepting entries for its 2025 cycle. Entrants must register by February 11, with completed submissions due by February 18. At Living Future, we closely follow this prestigious program for its holistic| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Dear friends, When we were finalizing our 2025-2027 Strategic Plan, I was living through one of the longest heat waves that my state of California had ever experienced. Families and workers struggled to stay cool despite the record-breaking temperatures, hospitalizations increased, and over 70 million people lived under a heat alert. We had also just| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Inside Living Future’s Affordable Housing Program Living Future is excited to announce a new online course that bridges education and sustainable affordable housing: the Red List Free Affordable Housing Guidebook Companion Course. Developed through a collaboration between Living Future’s Education and Affordable Housing Teams, this course highlights the importance of using healthy building materials in […] The post Innovating for Equity first appeared on Trim Tab.| Trim Tab
Designing the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library What would a restorative place really look like? What would a regenerative building feel like? What would it mean if a building project treated biodiversity as part of its purpose and site strategy? What does it look like when we bring back our prairies? What should a building and| Trim Tab Online Magazine
2024 Midyear Stats and Takeaways Living Future is excited to share the latest stats, milestones, and key takeaways highlighting the growth of our programs over the first half of 2024. Building Certifications Living Building Challenge, Zero Carbon, and Zero Energy In the first half of 2024, we celebrated 11 new certified projects, including our 34th| Trim Tab Online Magazine
Certifications from Alabama to Spain include Cal Guerxo, 32nd certified Living Building and 1st in Europe, and Block 009, first affordable housing project “Buildings have the power to change minds and culture,” noted Lindsay Baker, CEO of the International Living Future Institute in her opening address at Living Future 2023. With that in mind, the| Trim Tab Online Magazine
