🪵 MATERIALS · LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE PETAL 5
“Sustainability in the 2020s is what conservation was in the 1920s.”
To meet the Materials Petal of the Living Building Challenge, every nail, beam, wall, and finish at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library has been carefully, ethically chosen.
We’re not just building green — we’re building clean, local, and lasting.
🧱 What you’ll find inside:
– Mass timber and rammed earth walls, made with soil from the site
– A green roof that insulates and restores habitat
– Raw, uncoated metals and wood that wear beautifully with time
📋 What you won’t find:
– Red List chemicals — over 6,000 worst-in-class substances
– Harmful adhesives, coatings, or toxic materials
– Anything that doesn’t meet the highest standards of health and sustainability
Over 90% of our building materials have been reviewed down to 100 parts per million — the most stringent materials vetting process in the world.
Sourcing locally in a rural setting wasn’t easy. But it’s how we honor the land — and the conservation legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, who said:
“Do what you can with what you have where you are.”
There are fewer than 35 fully certified Living Buildings in the world. None like this one — 100,000 sq. feet of exhibition space, classrooms, and gathering places, built not just on the land, but with it.
Tomorrow: Petal 6 — Equity. Because this place is for everyone.
#TRPL #MaterialsPetal #LivingBuildingChallenge #RedListFree #RammedEarth #MassTimber #ConservationLegacy #TRConservation #SustainableArchitecture