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Rogers and the others set out to meet the rigorous goals of the Living Building Challenge — including total self sufficiency in energy, water use and building materials that are free of toxics.

"Down here in the basement is where you'll find the majority of the building's systems — our composting toilets system, our underground water storage cistern," he explains.

Tenants And Energy Budgets

But beyond the systems, the 160 or so people working inside will have a huge role in meeting the sustainability targets. The foundation occupies half of the top floor; the rest of the building is being leased out.

The rent is at market rate for a top-tier building, though many amenities you might expect for the price don't exist. And tenants have to live within an energy budget.

Rob Pena with the University of Washington's Integrated Design Lab says energy use can be measured down to an individual socket.

"That's quite unusual," Pena says. "There probably isn't a building in the country that's metered to the level this building is metered."

Clearly this building is not for everyone.

If you think of it as simply an office building, it was relatively expensive to design and build. But if you view it as a laboratory, an educational center and a bold effort to change how things are built, the calculus changes.

'The Market Has Changed'

Still, one could ask, is it possible to replicate the self-sustaining features at a reasonable cost?

"If this building isn't replicable, then this experiment will have failed," says Rogers, the developer.

But if it is successful, he's optimistic others will follow the foundation's lead.

Rogers points out that over the past couple of decades, many builders began incorporating green elements into their buildings.

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