The 58,000-sq-ft PAE Living Building in Portland, Ore., is the first privately developed speculative office building fully certified under the rigorous Living Building Challenge of the International Living Future Institute, and one of only 35 fully certified Living Buildings in the world. The certification became official last month, after a year of full building occupation.
The five-story building generates 113% of the energy it needs from solar, captures rainwater for drinking and screens out hazardous chemicals, according to its performance data. It also is one of only a few spec office buildings—and the only Living Building—engineered beyond code minimums for hospital-level seismic resilience.