Trust, But Verify ... Building Enclosure Commissioning in Sustainable Design (Focus ON GREEN BUILDING‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Sustainable design does not necessarily result in a sustainable building. As an architect practicing in the area of building enclosure failure investigation and repair design, personal experience has taught me that there is often a sizeable gap between design intent and actual performance. This is particularly true when viewed in the context of the overheated rhetoric currently surrounding "green" building and sustainable design. The benefits of solar, wind, double skins, various insulating technologies, and an endless array of materials and methods all require serious performance verification before owners of real estate can feel comfortable that their investment is truly "green" and, more critically, that their investment is economically viable in the long term.