The thick concrete panels of the old warehouse were ripped away and replaced with windows, creating an open, very light-driven, contemporary structure like sitting in a terminal at O’Hare Airport. The building was also equipped with an overhang protecting the glass walls from emitting too much light in the wrong areas. The orientation of the building takes advantage of morning sunlight. “I don’t really consider it a loss. We feel that considering this is the first Gold Certified Police building in the country, and that there were no renewable technology added to the building, we did very well.”

This week 20,000 green building professionals are descending on Chicago for the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual Greenbuild conference. The show is at the new McCormick Place West building, which is expected to earn a LEED® certification. We won’t focus on detailed conference coverage - Inhabitat has proved a good resource for this in the past - but here’s a shout-out to all our out-of-town readers dropping in this week.

The Balanced Kitchen is the retail location of G-Free-V, a new wholesale and retail foods company specializing in vegan & gluten free products. This first outlet is a renovation of an existing restaurant to include a restaurant, bakery, and retail store and is seeking LEED® for Commercial Interiors certification.