Applying LEED to Museums with LEED Fellow Joyce Lee

  Joyce Lee, FAIA, LEED Fellow, is President of IndigoJLD providing green health, design, benchmarking and ESG planning services for exemplary projects and communities. She became one of 300 LEED Fellows worldwide while being on the board of trustees of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, the first LEED NC certified museum in the world. Joyce has also been on adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on building healthy places and was board director of the French American Chamber of Commerce PHL. Since 2021, she has chaired the American Alliance of Museums Environment and Climate Network and serves as a Senior Advisor to Econsult Solutions. In 2022, she was appointed by Mayor Kenney in Philadelphia to serve as an inaugural commissioner for environmental justice.   She has been a Fellow at the National Leadership Academy for Public Health and one of the first LEED accredited professionals in New York City. She was the Chief Architect at the New York City OMB under Mayor Bloomberg overseeing the survey of major city-owned buildings (over 200 million sq ft) and waterfronts with the goals of enhancing long-term planning and identifying green design and development opportunities. During her tenure, the program grew over 25%. She was then the first Active Design Director, with a focus on design excellence and human health, in New York City. The Active Design Guidelines, a publication she co-authored, had won recognition from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as well as the Sustainable Building Industry Council.   Joyce is the recipient of numerous awards including the Health and Human Services Good Neighbor Award, Platinum Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies, the President's Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York State, and the Aga Khan Award from Harvard/MIT. Recognizing her career achievement, the AIA New York honored Joyce with the Public Architect Award for "her indomitable spirit, committed environmental consciousness, and extraordinary ability to bring sustainability theory and practices to the public realm." Show Highlights Joyce shares her vast expertise with benchmarking, NetZero, and LEED for museums.  Hear from the National Green Building Advisor on new projects and policies coming down through the federal government.  Understanding the similarities between cultural institutions around the country.  Apply best practices with educational sessions on the green accomplishments of the Smithsonian and the Guggenheim Museum.  Review resources on green practices from energy to water to waste, new transportation, cultural programming, dining and retail facilities, and how the supply chain partners can bring all of those together.  IndigoJLD manages public and private sustainability projects.  Best practices that work for museums versus other buildings. Questions to consider to start building partnerships and connecting with firms that specialize in sustainability.   “We both agree that we learn more from our mistakes and than our successes. Absolutely be open-minded. I wish I knew back then this field was going to evolve so fast. The climate is something that is here today and is not for tomorrow. For those who are entering the field, another piece of advice with green buildings, I would say think globally and act locally.” -Joyce Lee      Museum Magazine / July−August 2022 (PDF)   Show Resource and Information Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES   GBES is excited our membership community is growing. Consider joining our membership community as members are given access to some of the guests on the podcasts that you can ask project questions. If you are preparing for an exam, there will be more assurance that you will pass your next exam, you will be given cliff notes if you are a member, and so much more. Go to to learn more about the 4 different levels of access to this one-of-a-kind career-advancing green building community!   If you truly enjoyed the show, don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on .  We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the !   Copyright © 2023 GBES