In the early ‘90s, Seattle introduced the rest of the world to two of its favorite exports—coffee, and grunge music. Home to Starbucks and bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Seattle essential gave birth to two of the last decade’s biggest global phenomena. During this time, it seemed like there wasn’t a place on earth you could go without seeing a new Starbucks opening or hearing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The ‘90s were great for Seattle, but the city isn’t thinking about its past; it’s focused on its future. In Seattle’s mind, the year is already 2030, and it’s taking steps to get there today.

Nestled in the heart of the ever-growing Pacific Northwest, Seattle has set its eyes on creating a Greener future by encouraging all builders to adopt the Architecture 2030 Challenge. The challenge is this: reduce energy and fossil fuel use in all buildings by 60 percent before 2010 and create carbon neutral buildings—using no fossil fuels, thus not emitting any greenhouse gases—by 2030.

Just in case Seattle’s builders need a little extra motivation, the city started a Priority Green Program to “accelerate the adoption of Green building practices.” By complying with the 2030 challenge, exceeding the Seattle Energy Code by 20 percent for commercial buildings and 30 percent for residential buildings, or by submitting a proposal that achieves a LEED Platinum or Built Green Five Star rating, builders can essentially move to the front of the line for building permits.

One company that has fully embraced the spirit of the 2030 challenge is Hybrid Architecture and Assembly, a small international architecture and construction firm based out of Seattle. Hybrid is the only prefabricated architecture firm in the Pacific Northwest, going so far as to trademark the term Cargotecture. After the completion of Hybrid’s newest project—two identical three-story buildings, each constructed out of six recycled cargo containers—the firm will have erected the largest cargo container project on the West Coast, at 3,600-square feet.

Located in the Georgetown neighborhood just south of downtown, the buildings replaced two residential homes—which Hybrid deconstructed and recycled—and will eventually house the showroom and offices for D.A. Stark Interior.

“These buildings have all of the bells and whistles of a 21st-century building project,” said Joel Egan, cofounder of Hybrid.

Each building features an intensive Green roof, which directs water into planter boxes. Any runoff from the planter boxes feeds a Green trellis wall, which then overflows to constructed wetlands. If there is any water left at that point, it flows into stormwater drains, but Egan doubts the water will ever get that far.

The project is on track to exceed the 2030 challenge and the Seattle Energy Code standards.

“This is the Greenest project in Seattle in 10 years,” said Egan.

Each building is also over-insulated and equipped with all Energy Star appliances, but Green wasn’t the only goal of this venture.

“The point of this project has been to prove that extremely sustainable projects can be built at the same cost as conventional building projects; and we’ve succeeded. We’re proving highly sustainable projects don’t have to cost more,” said Egan, who stated this project was completed for under $100 per square foot.

Located across town, next to the city center and kitty-corner to the Experience Music Project, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working to construct its new 900,000-square-foot office. When all is said and done, there will be two six-story office buildings and a visitors center, which is connected to an already erected parking garage.

On the roof of the parking garage sprawls a 1.5-acre Green roof that will filter rainwater for the majority of the nonpotable water uses—such as toilets, irrigation and water features—on the organization’s campus.

The buildings will also use under-floor air distribution systems for ventilation and thermal energy storage, as well as additional parking for employees, located under the campus.

“The type of thinking that goes into creating a small footprint just makes a good work environment,” said Lisa Verhovek, community relations manager for the Gates Foundation.

That type of thinking and planning creates a lot of LEED points as well.

“We targeted [LEED] Silver initially, but once we started we found ourselves at the high end of Gold, and now it’s possible we’ll achieve Platinum certification,” Verhovek said.

While these are two very good examples of the future Seattle is trying to build, there are many other mixed-use buildings being constructed that are set to achieve LEED Gold as well.

While Seattle will always be known for spreading flannel-draped rock stars and tepid vanilla lattes throughout the world, the Pacific Northwest will always think of it as a trendsetter in Green building.