From energy and water efficiency, to good indoor environmental quality, to responsible materials selection — it's easy to make a list of the goals for a green building. But what makes a green building? The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council is the most widely accepted definition of a green building. But even that isn’t the last word. Consider this thought about green design: “’We don't want green building to feel like a dose of bad medicine.’” That’s from a column by the architectural writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Whitney Gould. She’s writing about the new Tri-North Builders corporate headquarters, a LEED gold building that is not only green but, according to Gould, extremely well designed. The quote comes from Tom List, project manager for Plunkett Raysich Architects, designers of the building. So many green buildings are showpieces of design that it took me aback to read Gould asking what we’ve gained if a green building is “so graceless the next generation wants to tear it down.” Buildings have the power to influence the environment – whether natural or social – in many ways. The past is full of examples of buildings that got so wrapped up trying to achieve a specific goal that they turned out to be disasters as buildings. From what I’ve seen, green buildings have generally escaped that fate. But it's worth remembering that a building no one wants to use or look at can't really be considered "sustainably designed."