Living Buildings generate their own energy through renewable means; capture, treat and re-use their own water; and operate by using what the site can provide. In this way, each “Living Building” strives to have a net zero impact. The original concept of the Living Building grew out of a research project that BNIM led in collaboration with Montana State University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the late 1990s and was further defined and analyzed in 2001 through a subsequent BNIM project for the David & Lucile Packard Foundation. Our continued research and design has led to what is anticipated as one of the first Living Buildings in the country, the Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, NY.