The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta has announced a $30 million grant from the Kendeda Fund to build the most environmentally advanced education and research building ever constructed in the Southeast.

Awarded through the Living Building Challenge, the grant includes $25 million for the design and construction of the building, which will be integrated into the institute's Eco-Commons, a series of campus green spaces designed to conserve natural resources and provide the community with educational and recreational amenities. The center will serve as a living-learning laboratory for hands-on educational and research opportunities. Georgia Tech plans to begin construction in 2017 with occupancy targeted for late 2018. The remaining $5 million will support programming activities at the new facility.

According to the institute, the Living Building Challenge is a program, advocacy tool, and philosophy that defines the most advanced measure of sustainability possible in the current built environment. To be certified under the program, a building must meet all the program requirements over a twelve-month period of continued operations and full occupancy.

"We could not imagine a better partner than Georgia Tech to join us in pursuing the Living Building Challenge," said Barry Berlin, a longtime advisor to the Kendeda Fund who oversees its investments and Atlanta-area philanthropy. "This project builds on nearly two decades of work by the Kendeda Fund to advance sustainability throughout Atlanta's built environment. We look forward to helping an entire region learn what’s possible as we embrace the most rigorous building performance standards in the world."