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15. LEED ND pilot project november 18, 2009

The logo of LEED-ND.

The LEED program has been well known for past few years. Although the LEED certification system has been active for a many years, there wasn’t a LEED certification for urban planning until recently. LEED has been working on launching a new certification program for urban design, called LEED ND. There have been several LEED ND pilot projects initiated around the world. One of them is a Mueller project in Austin, TX. Dan Cohen worked on the Mueller project while serving as a Director of Planning at Catellus.

The Mueller project is mixed-use development site, located in heart of Austin, where Robert Mueller Municipal Airport once was. In 1997, a transit-oriented community was proposed with a traditional town square, mixed-use district, variety of residential uses, and commercial area. Projects of that scale usually take more than a decade for implementation, and the Mueller project was not an exception.

As a pilot project of LEED ND, Mueller development includes principals that promote sustainability and energy savings. For example, material from the old airport runways was used to construct roads in other parts of Austin. Twenty percent of the total site is preserved for parks and open space with a trail system. Each residence is located within 600 feet of the open space. Historical structures were preserved, and some of them are used as icons for the project. Diversity and affordability were taken into consideration as well. Even public art has an energy efficiency function in the Mueller project.


The location of the U.S. projects included in the LEED-ND pilot program compiled by Criterion Planner.	Portion of the context plan, Austin City Connection.

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