Snow Day

Yesterday, our class weathered the storm and headed to the botanical gardens for a tour of a LEED platinum building.  I have worked on many LEED buildings and am pretty well versed in the process from the AEC prespective.  It was really nice to receive a tour from the building manager/user prespective.  Our tour guide seemed extremely proud of the building and excited to share it's story.  He brielfy mentioned thinking as a child that his father was silly for his backyard compost and caring about what got poured down the drain.  Now, he manages a building that recycles water and composts among other things.  Our tour guide seemed very invested in the sustainble success of the building  He mentioned that most of the users were proud of the building and accepted the positive sustainable attributes.  I wonder if it has impacted how the users act in the space and in their personal lives.  The tour guide also mentioned that he doesn't think 'you can force it (sustainability) down their (the users) throats.'  I wonder if he has seen any skeptics changed by their experience with the building.  I am contimplating doing research about how sustainable features in building impact user's actions.  As designers, we frequently make decisions to best fit our user's needs and shape shape to impact their experiences.  I wonder what kind of space shape and features can promote sustainable actions in users.