Survey Finds Architects Designing Green to Address Demand for Lower Building Operating Costs

Autodesk and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the results of the 2007 Autodesk / AIA Green Index, an annual survey that measures how AIA member architects in the United States are practicing sustainable design, as well as their opinions about the green building movement.

The index shows that green building has taken a firm hold on the industry and has captured the attention of both architects and their clients.

The 2007 Autodesk / AIA Green Index survey reports 70% of architects say client demand is the leading driver of green building and that the primary reason these owners and developers are demanding greener buildings is for reduced operating costs.

Architects are responding by significantly increasing their use of sustainable elements such as high-efficiency HVAC systems, recycled building materials and using software to model energy usage.

According to the Autodesk/AIA Green Index, less than half of architects were incorporating sustainable design practices into their projects five years ago.

However, this number is quickly rising with 90 percent of architects expecting to incorporate some sustainable elements by 2012.

This rapidly growing adoption of sustainable design is in direct response to a strong client demand for green building, with 70 percent of this year's respondents citing client demand as the main driver pushing architects to go green.