Perhaps the most important question when talking about green design is not what materials you choose or where they come from, but rather how you are using them and how they are installed.

Because, at the end of the day, being green simply means building it right.

To help designers understand this, we deliver this message day in and day out. This week, we are in Indianapolis, talking to thousands of industry professionals at the big CONSTRUCT event of the Construction Specifications Institute. We are showing them the checks and balances required to design and build an energy efficient building (in masonry, of course).

A lot of people come together to make a building. For a green building, it becomes even more important to have everyone on the same page, answering the same basic questions: Who is responsible? Why are they responsible? How are they responsible?

The seminar takes a look at the full team - the designers, the contractors, and the craftworkers - and highlights the critical junctions where they must depend on each other to make the building come out right.

It's a conversation that every project team should be having.

The IMI seminar, "Quality Assurance for Sustainable and Energy Efficient Masonry Construction," is one of several green presentations available. For more information contact Maria Viteri, AIA, LEED AP at mviteri@imiweb.org