The purpose of Victoria University of Wellington’s Living Pā project is to raise the view of what is possible – in design, construction, education and life. The project has found alignment between the Māori values it encompasses and the performance-based challenge of the International Living Futures Institutes® Living Building Challenge® (LBC) programme. The project is targeting Living Building certification under the LBC framework which requires the pā to be net positive in energy, carbon, water, and waste, and demonstrably give back to the local ecology and community.

The International Living Futures Institutes runs 5 escalating certification paths: ‘Carbon Neutral’, ‘Zero Energy’, ‘CORE’, ‘Petal Certification’ and the summit of holistic regenerative building, ‘Living’.

The building is clad with a timber façade and includes planter boxes which provide shading where required and help connect the building and occupants to the external environment. The building uses stack ventilation processes, and has a rooftop completely covered in PV panels to generate the energy required to meet 105% (including resilience) of the building’s needs.

The building also incorporates an intricate water system which collects water from the roof, has evapotranspiration from the planters, and a complex tank wastewater treatment plant including a membrane bioreactor system to manage black and grey water. This system includes tanks underground that collect roof water, collect and treat grey water for vacuum flushing toilets and provides water for nearby buildings. The build requires a minimum of 90% waste diversion from landfill, consisting of 100% from soil and biomass, 99% paper and waste, 95% carpet and insulation, and 90% everything else.

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