The Bullitt Center, previously the Cascadia Center, is a commercial office building under development in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is designed to be the greenest commercial building in the world when completed in 2012, qualifying for classification as a "living building" by the International Living Future Institute[1]
The structure is being built for the Bullitt Foundation, a non-profit group based in Seattle which focuses on envirnomental issues. The foundation will be an anchor tenant, with additional room for like minded organizations such as the building's design and construction firm. The projected cost of the 6 story, 52,000 square feet[2] building is $30 million, and has an exceptionally long design life of 250 years.[1][2] With construction begun in July 2011,[3] the building is designed to be energy and carbon neutral, with a water and sewage processing system that allows the building to be independent of municipal water and sewage systems.[4] Energy neutrality is achieved with energy conservation measures and a large solar panel array on the roof of the building.
Considered to be at the current cutting edge of green construction, the structure requires a number of technical, legal, and social innovations to achieve a high level of ecological performance. The long term (250 year) design of the building created financing problems, as banks were unfamiliar with and thus hesitant to back such a project (commercial buildings are typically financed based on an assumed 40 year lifespan).[1] The planned UV light water purification system has run into problems with local regulation, which require that water for consumption be chlorinated. The builders are negotiating with the regulatory agency for independent testing of the buildings water system as a substitute, but will be connected to the municipal water supply as a back-up.[1] The builders have negotiated with building material suppliers to ensure their products did not contain any of over 360 toxic chemicals;[4] the supplier of the building sealant, for instance, agreed to remove phalates from their product so that the building could use it.[1] The structure also includes social design elements to reduce consumer energy use: the building may provide immediate feedback on energy use and publicize the energy consumption of each user.[1]