"Facebook" for Buildings Brings Honesty Inside the Beltway

As architects from all over the country descend on Washington, D.C., this week for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) annual convention, the Honest Buildings real estate network is releasing data on more than 15,000 commercial and mixed-use buildings in the D.C. metro area.

The Honest Buildings online platform is intended to help connect building owners, architects, and service providers and to provide transparency and encourage competition for energy-efficient buildings. The data provided includes ownership and management information, a record of renovations and projects, and whether a building is LEED certified or Energy Star rated. Says Pat Sapinsley, AIA, advisor to Honest Buildings, “Information that has historically been disaggregated…can now be associated with that building with one click.”

Washington is the second location on the “Honest Buildings Across America” tour, following the unveiling of information on 250,000 buildings in New York City; the organization will release data on buildings in dozens of U.S. cities throughout the rest of the year.

Based in New York City and Seattle, Honest Buildings has collected data from users and public and proprietary sources on more than 350,000 buildings across the U.S. since its launch less than two months ago. The platform is open to anyone to compare buildings based on various criteria as well as to submit buildings or review them using the site’s seven-star “Honesty Rating” system. For more information, see www.honestbuildings.com.