Mission Statement

Changing the way the world builds. People. Ideas. Integrity.

Building Science Corporation originally developed its business and established its reputation investigating problems related to the durability and performance of buildings. Growing from our forensic capabilities, Building Science Corporation also designs and reviews new projects. We use our unique understanding of architecture and building performance problems and to design resource efficient, healthy, durable buildings.

The interrelationships between mechanical systems and building enclosures and their impact on indoor air quality and durability are significant. The design and construction of the building enclosure (the walls, roof, and foundation) significantly affect the design of the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. At the same time, the operation of the HVAC system affects rain penetration, condensation within building cavities, and the durability of the building enclosure. Similarly, the interior design and building enclosure design and construction affect the indoor air quality within a building. Green building is all about science-physics, chemistry, and biology. It's really about ecology because ecology is about physics, chemistry, and biology.

Green building is all about systems and integration. That's because ecology is all about systems and the integration of physics, chemistry, and biology.

Building is about shelter and creating boundaries between people and the environment. Green building is about creating optimized boundaries between people and the environment. Optimized means performing like Nature's most basic element, the cell. Cells have membranes and even walls that relentlessly observe the laws of physics and chemistry, selectively permitting and excluding passage of all manner of things into and out of the cell, all in an effort to create a secure and comfortable environment. Green buildings accomplish the same optimized selective boundaries for light, heat, moisture, and would-be invaders. For the cell and the green building, optimized selective boundaries require the expenditure of energy, but as little as possible. So optimizing is about energy, too.

Green building is even more about energy because of really striking indirect effects. There is no shortage of energy, just limited access. The particular circumstances of our planet mean that more energy strikes the earth each day than the whole world knows what to do with. It's the stored forms we currently use-coal, oil, natural gas, and even hydroelectric-that carry heavy-duty environmental consequences. Optimal energy use in buildings is a combination of how much we use for producing and then operating our buildings. The best way to accomplish the former is to use as little of a material as possible-efficient design-for as long as possible-durability. The best way to accomplish the latter is to think like a cell-set up optimized boundaries.

So, BSC holds that green building is largely about how well and how long buildings perform. And buildings lacking an integrated systems approach will most often do neither. We need to design, construct, operate, and maintain buildings in the same way that nature builds cells-with efficiency, elegance, and unerring deference to the natural laws of physics, chemistry, and biology. A green architect or builder must be a student of science first; great buildings will follow.