Our approach to sustainability in this project was to utilize sustainable strategies to aid in creating an affordable development. In a way sustainability is a means to our end. Among our goals was to lower the initial construction cost, prolong the life and usability of the structure, lower maintenance costs, reduce/eliminate storm water and sewer costs, and reduce energy costs required for buildings operation.

Lowering the initial costs will be accomplished by using existing structures and utilizing as much of their existing material as possible for their intended use or for adaptive reuses. We hope to prolong the life of many of the products we use, for example the use of green roofs wherever plausible, which more than double the expected life-span of a roofing membrane. We can reduce regular maintenance costs by, whenever possible, using any assets we have to fulfill recurring needs. We plan on implementing storm water best management practices (BMP), and this will go quite far in fulfilling many of our needs. In our proposed grey water system we hope to use rain water collected from the site and the roof tops to irrigate all of the landscaping and any intensive roof tops. We also will use that rain water to feed grey water systems that don't require potable water. We also propose the use of a black water system that will process all of the waste water that would normally be sent for processing by the city's waste water management system. The benefits of these BMP's are twofold: the tenants and owners can disconnect themselves from the sewer system saving them money and also providing a greener and lusher environment; and secondly the city is benefited by the reduced influent in the combined sewer system which is generally over-stressed during heavy storms. Operational costs can be greatly reduced by employing passive heating, cooling, daylighting, and ventilation techniques. Using daylighting techniques will greatly lower the demand for electric lighting. We propose that all spaces maintain at least a 2% daylighting factor. The proposed green roof systems will also add much needed insulation to the buildings which will help retain their heat in the winter and prevent heat gain in the summer. Utility costs can also be mitigated in part by alternative forms of energy production. Most of the existing buildings have a great potential for building integrated solar voltaic cells, passive water heating, or geothermal heating and cooling. There are also some additional benefits that grow directly out of the sustainable aspects of the design. These benefit not only the residents but the entire neighborhood. The improvements to the site and the addition of green roofs will better the ecology and promote biodiversity; the site improvements also purify the water that is released back into the aquifer.