The Challenge
ILFI, the nonprofit behind the Living Building Challenge (the world's most rigorous building performance standard), was spending over $500 per month on self-managed server infrastructure that no one on staff fully understood. Multiple servers were running, some of which hosted abandoned services alongside their two production websites. The environment had grown over time with no documentation, no professional security, and no single person responsible for keeping things running. ILFI's team members are program and design professionals, not server administrators, and they needed a partner who could untangle the mess, move everything safely, and provide reliable ongoing support.
Our Solution
FatLab executed a phased rescue, first auditing ILFI's entire server environment to identify what was actually needed and what could be shut down, then migrating both websites to FatLab's managed hosting with zero downtime, and finally decommissioning the unnecessary servers. The migration included implementing professional security protections that ILFI's self-managed servers never had, including a web application firewall, real-time malware scanning, automated backups, and SSL management. The result was over $600 per month in savings and a single point of contact for all web operations, from routine updates to custom development work.
What We Built
- Zero-downtime migration of 2 websites from self-managed servers to FatLab's managed hosting
- Full server audit identifying and shutting down unnecessary legacy infrastructure
- Over $600 per month in savings through infrastructure consolidation
- Professional security protections replacing ad-hoc self-managed setup
- Ongoing managed support for both websites including updates, security, and custom development
- A single point of contact for all web operations
Project Overview
The International Living Future Institute (ILFI) drives the global regenerative design movement. ILFI created the Living Building Challenge, the world's most rigorous building performance standard, along with certification programs for Zero Carbon, Zero Energy, Living Product Challenge, Declare (materials transparency), Just (social equity), and Biophilic Design. The organization's programs have certified over 200 buildings worldwide, with 500+ projects actively pursuing certification across 50+ million square feet.
ILFI operates two WordPress sites: living-future.org (the primary organizational site covering programs, certifications, membership, and events) and trimtab.living-future.org (Trim Tab, their online publication featuring thought leadership and project profiles). FatLab did not build these sites - both were developed by ILFI's internal team and a previous contractor. FatLab's engagement began as an infrastructure rescue and consolidation and has continued as ongoing managed support.
The Infrastructure Problem
When FatLab took over, ILFI was spending over $500 per month on Digital Ocean infrastructure that no one on staff fully understood. The environment had accumulated over time:
- Unnecessary server costs - Legacy droplets running services no longer connected to either site
- Security exposure - Self-managed servers without professional firewalls, malware scanning, or automated patching
- No documentation - Service dependencies were undocumented, making any change a risk
- No web operations partner - ILFI's team members are program and design professionals, not server administrators
Technical Implementation
Infrastructure Consolidation
FatLab executed a phased migration that moved both sites to FatLab's managed cloud hosting without downtime:
- Full audit of ILFI's Digital Ocean infrastructure - identifying active services, orphaned droplets, and decommissioning candidates
- Zero-downtime migration of both living-future.org and trimtab.living-future.org to dedicated managed hosting environments
- Security implementation - Cloudflare Enterprise CDN with WAF, Imunify360 real-time malware scanning, DDoS protection, automated SSL, and daily backups
- Decommissioning of unnecessary Digital Ocean droplets and services, eliminating $500+ in monthly costs
Full Site Editing Architecture
Both sites run modern Full Site Editing (FSE) child themes built on WordPress's Twenty Twenty-Four parent theme. This is block-native WordPress with no Classic Editor, no page builders, and no ACF flexible content. All layouts are composed through the block editor with FSE template parts.
Each theme includes 3 custom blocks built with the Block API v3 and @wordpress/scripts:
| Block | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | Dynamic server-rendered copyright year with optional date range |
| Hamburger Menu | Mobile navigation toggle using WordPress Interactivity API |
| Outline | Auto-generated table of contents scanning H2-H5 headings with anchor links |
The themes share a 15-color design system defined in theme.json with 3 base neutrals, 3 contrast darks, 6 accent colors, and 3 duotone presets. System font stacks eliminate external font dependencies.
Case Studies Custom Post Type
Both sites feature a shared Case Studies content type showcasing certified building projects. The post type includes 23 custom meta fields exposed to the block editor via REST API, covering:
- Living Building Challenge Petals - 7 boolean fields (Place, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity, Beauty)
- Certification details - Type dropdown, square footage range, LBC/LPC standard version (1.3 through 4.1), development transect (L1-L6)
- Biophilic Design elements - 6 boolean fields tracking nature-based design patterns
- Display metadata - Featured flag, location, building typology, cover caption, and credit
Five block editor variations registered via JavaScript display case study metadata in custom paragraph formats, and a pre-configured Query Loop variation filters featured case studies into a 3-column grid.
Divergent Integration Stacks
While architecturally identical, the two sites connect to different external systems:
living-future.org integrates with Gravity Forms and Help Scout for customer support workflows, using 5 Gravity Forms add-ons (Akismet, Google Analytics, reCAPTCHA) for form management.
trimtab.living-future.org integrates with Salesforce Pardot for marketing automation and lead capture, Relevanssi for publication-quality search across article archives, and Medium for cross-publishing articles. The Trim Tab site also includes Analytify for detailed traffic reporting and RSS Chimp for featured images in feeds to Mailchimp, Google News, and Flipboard.
Plugin Stacks
living-future.org (28 plugins):
| Category | Key Plugins | Role |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | AIOSEO Pro + 8 premium add-ons | Comprehensive SEO with E-E-A-T, image SEO, video sitemap |
| Forms & CRM | Gravity Forms + Help Scout integration | Form management with customer support workflow |
| Block Editor | Block Visibility, Essential Blocks | Visibility scheduling and expanded block library |
| Events | Modern Events Calendar Lite | Event calendar and management |
| Performance | Breeze | Server-level caching with Varnish |
trimtab.living-future.org (33 plugins):
| Category | Key Plugins | Role |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | AIOSEO Pro + 7 add-ons + News Sitemap | Publication SEO with news sitemap for content site |
| CRM | Salesforce Pardot | Campaign tracking and lead capture |
| Search | Relevanssi | Relevance-based search for deep article archives |
| Analytics | Analytify Pro | Detailed Google Analytics reporting |
| Compliance | Cookie Notice (GDPR/CCPA) | Data privacy compliance |
Security and Infrastructure
The migration to FatLab's managed hosting included implementing a full security stack that ILFI's self-managed servers never had:
- Cloudflare Enterprise CDN with Web Application Firewall
- Imunify360 real-time malware scanning with automatic cleanup
- DDoS protection across layers 3, 4, and 7
- Automated SSL certificate provisioning and renewal
- Daily automated backups with off-site storage and one-click restoration
- 2GB memory allocation per site for reliable performance during content editing and high-traffic periods
Both sites run on dedicated hosting environments with isolated resources, ensuring that one site's traffic or issues do not affect the other. FatLab provides ongoing maintenance covering core updates, plugin patching, uptime monitoring, and security response, the operational layer that was entirely missing when ILFI managed their own servers.
Results and Impact
This engagement demonstrates FatLab's capacity for infrastructure-level rescue and long-term managed support. ILFI's sites did not need a rebuild. They needed a stable foundation and a reliable operations partner. The consolidation of self-managed Digital Ocean servers into FatLab's managed hosting eliminated over $600 per month in unnecessary costs, replaced ad hoc security with enterprise-grade protection, and gave ILFI a single point of contact for all web operations. Both sites now run on the latest WordPress, with current plugins and security, maintained by a partner who understands the infrastructure end-to-end, freeing ILFI's team to focus entirely on their mission of transforming the built environment.
Results
- Monthly savings exceeding $600 through infrastructure consolidation
- Eliminated $500+ in unnecessary Digital Ocean server costs
- Enterprise-grade security replacing ad-hoc self-managed protection
- Zero downtime during the entire migration process
- Two WordPress FSE installations running on current core, themes, and plugins
- Single point of contact for all web operations, from security to custom development.