[Greenbuilding] Helmut Ziehe - Founder of International Institute of Building Biology and Ecology passes away

[Stephen Collette]

Hello Gennaro and all,

I would respectfully disagree with you about the content being dated in the Building Biology course work and counter that the rest of the building industry has yet to actually catch up. Building Biology doesn't work on spreadsheets or checking boxes of requirements, they focus on principles that create healthy spaces for occupants, and healthy conditions for the environment around the building. In the building industry we have the beginnings of some fantastic programs that are taking baby steps towards the ultimate goal, where nature is the gold standard. Pharos for example and the Healthy Building Network are doing fantastic stuff, and soon more with funding, but they are both unfortunately limited in scope. The Living Building Challenge, another great process, still has points and has a list of bad stuff. 

Building Biology poses the question, why not build with materials that are simply healthy? Why not design a healthier building? Why not create healthier communities? This is more of a paradigm shift I think, and a place many are not quite at. Building Biology shows the possibility of building health positive buildings. We still struggle with less poisons, less energy, less toxicity, less environmental damage, etc. We still have to pass through the neutral phase before getting to positive. 

Building Biology also looks at other areas just now becoming more "newsworthy" and important such as the health concerns with high frequency exposures from cell phones, wifi, smart meters, etc. Building Biology doesn't approach these with tinfoil hats, but science, and measurements and data. Ditto for the work in the IAQ and IEQ arena. 

Typically Building Biologists focus on helping to make existing buildings healthier and more environmentally friendly, through the understanding of the potential exposures, the levels of concern, the science of how the buildings work and fail, and the measuring of levels to determine whether there are concerns or not. It's completely based in science and every year the seminars are updated based on current issues and research.

I teach the  Natural Healthy Construction seminar with Paula Baker-Laporte FAIA, owner of EcoNest, a straw clay design and build firm. We work hard to bring the latest in information and approaches to best building science, both for stick frame and natural buildings and help move people towards an approach that encompasses the bigger picture. We are teaching the next seminar in Clearwater Florida Feb. 18-22, and I would encourage those interested in checking it out here (gratuitous plug here):

http://hbelc.org/seminars/natural.html

I think that the ideas and ideals of Building Biology are in fact more relevant now than in the past as more people are information savvy and see that there are a variety of exposures, visible and invisible, chemical and electromagnetic, along with the need for more building science knowledge amongst everyone in the building industry, and people want this information. There are of course other means to gain this knowledge and this listserve is a fabulous resource for example. I appreciate being on this listserve and learning what I can. For others, Building Biology makes a whole lot of sense. I hope this has piqued your interest enough to look deeper into it again.

Respectfully,

Stephen

Stephen Collette BBEC, LEED AP, BSSO
Your Healthy House - Indoor Environmental Testing & Building Consulting
http://www.yourhealthyhouse.ca
stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
705.652.5159








On 2013-01-30, at 3:00 PM, greenbuilding-request at lists.bioenergylists.org wrote:

> 
> Hello Stephen,
> I was very interested in Building Biology. I looked into it and
> considered taking a course. But after looking at the content I decided
> that although wonderful material it was not worth the cost and time
> since most of it was a little dated and that their techniques are
> pretty common practice for most builders nowadays. Am I wrong?
> Gennaro Brooks-Church
> Director, Eco Brooklyn Inc.
> Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
> www.EcoBrooklyn.com
> 22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231
> 

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