Leed Certified Mixed-Use Residential Buildings in Istanbul: a Study on Category-Based Performances

Abstract

The building industry has a significant negative effect on climate change and increases other environmental problems at the global scale. LEED, which is one of the most globally used environmental assessment tool, provides the certification of projects according to the evaluation criteria of green buildings under certain categories. On the other hand, an emerging form of architecture, the mixed-use residential high-rise building (MRB), appears in larger numbers especially in the metropolitans of developing countries, such as Istanbul. This building typology displays a positive approach in the context of sustainability. Since they are high-budget projects addressing to high-income groups, it is inherently expected that they have a green approach as a social responsibility. The objective of this study is to analyze LEED certified MRBs in Istanbul by focusing on their prioritization of evaluation categories. LEED’s database revealed a total of twenty-one certified projects under the New Constructions (v.3) scheme. Based on the gained points by these projects, mean rank values of the evaluation categories were calculated, which indicated the priorities given by this sample group. Furthermore, the conducted Kruskal-Wallis test showed there was highly significant difference among the rankings of the categories for these projects. Based on these rank order tests, obtained category priority order of MRBs was compared to the one implied by LEED’s assigned category weights. It was found that Energy and Atmosphere category gained much lower attention than required. Taking the results of the study into account, certain conclusions were drawn for this building type in Istanbul. © 2021, Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Faculty of Architecture. All rights reserved.