What, if anything, precludes a completely unenclosed building from achieving a LEED certification? Imagine a stand-alone pavilion, band shell, or amphitheater on its own plot of land. These are completely unconditioned spaces with no building envelope. They might have electricity and/or water, but they might not. Is it possible for these buildings to achieve a LEED certification of any kind?
It seems like a such a project could comply with all the MPRs, but it might be impossible to earn enough points for certification. For example, if there is no electricity or water in the structure, that would immediately eliminate 44 potential points (as far as I can tell). If there is no "indoors" on the project, then all points from the IEQ category would also be gone, eliminating another 16 potential points. That leaves 50/110 points, and I'm sure others points would be similarly eliminated. It could end up being pretty tough for such a project to accrue enough points for a certification.
Curious to hear what anyone has to say about this. Thanks!
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11475 thumbs up
December 9, 2019 - 7:06 pm
Keith, it's hard to address hypotheticals like this. Give us more specifics. For example, a commercial amphitheater is likely to have an enclosed, conditioned box office, and bathrooms, as well as PA systems, all of which could support LEED credit eligibility.
For a simple no-frills bandstand like those in the middle of many downtown public parks, I would probably look at the SITES rating system for the park.
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1976 thumbs up
December 9, 2019 - 7:38 pm
To pursue LEED certification, a building has to meet all of the pre-requisites in the credit categories. Two of the pre-reqs - EAp Minimum Energy Performance and EPp Minimum Indoor Air Quality Performance - and are based on engineering (ASHRAE) standards that apply to enclosed, conditioned buildings.
One of the fundamental aspects of LEED is demonstrating your building is more energy efficient than a comparable building built to the meet the minimums of an energy code (ASHRAE standard 90.1). It's hard to quantify how an unenclosed, unconditioned building has improved the energy performance when there's no clear metric or standard to compare the design.
As the rating system is written, it doesn't look possible, and I haven't heard of any completely unenclosed buildings being certified. You'd need to contact USGBC to see if there is some exception, but I suspect the answer would be no.
You might take a look at the SITES certification administered by GBCI, or the Living Building Challenge, either full certification or one of the "petal" certifications for the Landscape and Infrastructure building typology. These rating systems might apply to your situation.
Hope that answers your question.