Author Archive
Sustainable Justice Ratings Guide
March 7th, 2013
Beverly Prior presented “Correctional Facilities Connecting with the Community” at the 2013 ACA Winter Conference in Houston. During her presentation, she reviewed the Sustainable Justice Ratings Guide. The SJ Ratings Guide broadens assessment beyond the facility scale to sustainability at the societal, community, and human scales.
Beverly, along with HMC’s Julia Hughes and the AIA Sustainable Justice Committee, continue the development of the Sustainable Justice Ratings Guide a custom methodology or scoring system to specifically evaluate justice facilities within the context of sustainable principles that uniquely expands the definition of leadership for sustainable environments, communities, and society at-large.
The Sustainable Justice Ratings Guide has a 2030 planning horizon for the long term impacts of sustainable justice. The Ratings Guide does not compete with USGBC LEED criteria, rather it augments sustainable building design and construction criteria and focuses on the whole system from societal impacts to the engagement of the individual. The Ratings Guide is based on four scales: The Societal Scale; The Community Scale; The Facility Scale; and The Human Scale.
— It is intended to encourage a broader role of sustainability for our justice facilities in our society as well as their impact on communities and individuals.
— Goals are defined based on Sustainable Justice Principles that reach far beyond materials, methods, and the physical and earth energy resource conservation of physical plant construction and performance standards.
— Desired outcomes are defined by metrics and reference standards and resources that provide reinforce the unique link public facilities have with, and contribution to a successfully sustainable community and society.
Posted in Justice,Speaking Engagements
AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice Fall Conference
October 4th, 2012
By Julia Hughes, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Principal
We’re gearing up for the AIA AAJ Fall Conference October 10-12, with a wide range of activities and opportunities for involvement planned. Browse the upcoming events and if you’re in Toronto for the conference, definitely stop by the AIA AAJ booth for a visit.
Re-purposing Existing Buildings for Essential Services Operations
Within the Law Enforcement track of the conference, which includes detention/corrections and courts, HMC’s Beverly Prior will be discussing the planning and design challenges of facing economic shortages as counties are choosing to re-purpose commercial buildings for essential services operations. This session will explore project development strategies, and the associated benefits and challenges for programming, operations, and security.
Continue Reading…
Posted in Justice,Speaking Engagements
Advocating for a New Sustainability
September 18th, 2012
By Julia Hughes, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Principal
Beverly Prior and I first collaborated for sustainable justice in 2006 on a presentation about green juvenile facilities, out of which evolved the AIA Academy of Architects for Justice (AAJ) Sustainable Justice Committee and national activism to establish and promote sustainable justice principles. Today, I serve as Chair of the Sustainable Justice Committee and Beverly is a member of the committee and its former-Chair.
The Sustainable Justice Committee of AIA AAJ strives to put into the lexicon of every planner, designer, owner, and operator, a broader recognition of the role of sustainability in our society and the fundamental concepts of a systems approach to sustainable justice—reaching beyond the materials, methods, and physical and earth energy resource conversation of physical plant construction and performance standards.
Toward this endeavor, the committee has developed the “Green Guide to Justice,” which defines a vision for a comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable justice system and reaches out to industry partners for engagement. The Guide is designed to serve as a voluntary educational tool for early adopters of sustainable design, construction, and operations practices, and to encourage continuous improvement in the justice sector, continued leadership, and increased rigor associated with creating high performance justice environments.
Download the Green Guide to Justice >>
The committee then incorporated the sustainable principles into a custom methodology or scoring system to specifically evaluate justice facilities within the context of a broader definition of leadership for sustainable environments, communities, individuals, and society at-large. We developed a rating system focused on four scales: The Societal Scale, The Community Scale, The Facility Scale, and The Human Scale. With this focus, the conversation about sustainability is entirely changed! Desired outcomes are defined by metrics and reference standards and resources that reinforce the unique link public facilities have with, and contribution to, a successfully sustainable community and society.
One sustainable justice goal for 2013 is to develop a scoring/weighting structure for the ratings criteria and engage various industry partners in its implementation in case studies. The committee’s intent is to create a tool for anyone to use that helps guide a sustainable response to a planning, design, or operation problem, which also becomes an organic component of the process.
Posted in Justice
Sustainable Justice 2030: Green Guide to Justice
May 10th, 2012
By Julia Hughes, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
As part of my role with the Academy of Architecture for Justice, I contributed to the white paper, “Sustainable Justice 2030: Green Guide to Justice.” This white paper is a proposition for the role of the justice system in contributing to the continuing viability of our society. Intended to complement other public initiatives with the year 2030 as the planning horizon, we aim to articulate a vision for how green justice buildings can serve a green and sustainable justice system as a foundational element of a sustainable society. As architects, our planning and design efforts are framed by the vision of our clients; this paper is intended to illustrate a vision for the year 2030 that is holistic and elevated in aspiration to create a more just and sustainable society.
Download the Sustainable Justice 2030: Green Guide to Justice white paper and take the quiz for 1 HSW/SD.
I’m also speaking at the AIA National Convention and Design Exposition next week; click for information on my presentation, Sustainable Justice: Making the Connection with LEED.
Posted in Justice
