Letters

We designed the first LEED Gold elementary school and are working on many more LEED-hopeful buildings. Our clients are embracing "high-performance" concepts, and many are quite excited about incorporating very visible and educational green building features into their projects. Others are asking for more behind-the-scenes strategies, and still others are just watching and learning. It's wonderful to see each owner's transformation as they learn from what others are doing and get excited about possibilities in their own projects.

LEED has been a wonderful tool for us to use, to help owners and designers focus on specific strategies. We hope one day to be "beyond LEED," but for now it seems to be exactly what the industry needs to become aware of what the issues are and create strategies that deal with those specific environmental concerns.

Bryna Cosgriff Dunn, AICP, Moseley Architects, Richmond, Va.

PSA is taking steps to incorporate "green design" in our practice. It's here to stay because it encompasses all aspects of planning, design, construction, and operations.

Federal, state, and local agencies are making LEED certification mandatory for their buildings. Companies are beginning to look at the "triple bottom line" and consider economic, environmental, and social aspects when making decisions on projects.

Building owners of existing facilities are realizing a 10-20% savings in energy usage by having their buildings "retro-commissioned." Building commissioning is also a prerequisite if the client is going to have the building LEED certified.

Tim S. Kraft, AIA, CIO and LEED-Accredited Professional, Phillips Swager Associates Dallas, Texas

In "Off-Strip bars and pools whet the appetites of the hip and cool" (BD&C, August 2003), the design architect for The Palms facilities was The Jerde Partners, Venice, Calif. KGA Architecture was executive architect.

The following corrections correspond to the Annual Design/Construct Top 300 survey (BD&C, July 2003). In the listing for EYP Mission Critical Facilities Inc. (p. 50), the volume is $30 million, not $10 million. The listing for Walter P. Moore Engineers + Consultants (p. 42) indicated that the firm was unranked last year. In 2002, the firm ranked No. 12. The headquarters for Lockwood Greene (p. 47) is Spartanburg, S.C., not Rochester, N.Y. The square footage for the hospital in the Environmental Systems Design Inc. listing (p. 42) is 813,000 sq. ft., not 313,000 sq. ft.