Dr. Jaafar Chalabi Gets AUK Architectural Engineering Students Ready for LEED

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is revolutionizing architecture as the world shifts toward more sustainable methods and materials. As the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) strives to adopt and adapt international best practices in all fields of engineering, the faculty of its Architectural Engineering Program invited Dr. Jaafar Chalabi, Managing Director of the international architectural firm Chalabi Architekten & Partner of Vienna, Austria, to give a presentation on LEED certification on March 1.

Dr. Chalabi is originally from Baghdad, but he went to Austria in the 1970s and developed into a distinguished architect and instructor. “Sustainability” is the mantra for all his projects, so he spent the first part of his talk defining it: in brief, projects and practices that are eco-friendly and meant to last. He conceded that some “sustainable” undertakings may seem prohibitively priced in the near-term, but their limited environmental impact and durability should lead to substantial long-term benefits. He displayed a Venn diagram of the three spheres “environmental,” “social,” and “economic,” with “sustainability” represented by their area of overlap. He also pointed to the 17 “Sustainable Development Goals” the UN is promoting globally – with two of them, “quality education” and “gender equality,” being particular points of emphasis for AUK.

He detailed LEED, a particular rating system for building sustainability. There are 9 categories considered when assigning a LEED rating to a project, such as water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and innovation. Those projects meeting the stringent LEED standards fall into four tiers: “certified,” “silver,” “gold,” and “platinum.” He stated that the goal is for AUK’s building projects to score in the upper reaches of the scale. Chalabi Architekten & Partner is now working on the design of the Male Residence Facility and Sports Facility for the AUK campus.

Dr. Chalabi spoke of Middle Eastern architectural heritage and its many environmental merits, such as the narrowness of roads providing both shade and protection from dust. He clicked through dozens of pictures of his firm’s work in the United Arab Emirates, illustrating the sustainable mixing of modernity with traditional regional architecture. He finished his lecture thus: “The purpose of doing architecture is to accommodate human beings and respect their culture.” This plainly left the impression that the “accommodation” his firm will be involved in constructing for AUK will be “sustainable” by LEED criteria, culturally appropriate, and innovative for the Kurdistan Region.