02-05-2014
Reflections from Greenbuild
Last week, our office hosted a "PechaKucha" style debrief, inviting any staff who attended last year's Greenbuild to share their experience and impressions of the landmark event. Below are just a few of the responses discussed at this forum, comprising this week's blog post, "Reflections from Greenbuild".
Christina Galati, Designer
The sessions I found most impactful were the two from the master speaker series I attended, given by Edward Mazria and Sheryl WuDunn. In our line of work, we understand that sustainability and green building are important, but sometimes lose track of the big picture. These sessions were inspirational calls to action, advocating a more definitive stance on sustainability and development from both an environmental as well as a social perspective.
Mazria, founder of Architecture 2030, actually unveiled his newest endeavor, the 2030 Palette (an open-source tool that succinctly puts the principles and actions behind low-carbon, resilient urbanization and architecture at the fingertips of designers, planners, builders, and policymakers worldwide) during his speech, emphasizing his hopes that providing this resource would ". . . be nothing short of a global transformation of the built environment."
Edward Mazria
Sheryl WuDunn, author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, discussed her views of the central moral challenge of our time – the oppression of women and girls around the globe. She told numerous stories about women in countries all over the world who face unimaginable hardships because of their gender. In some cases she demonstrated that there is hope when given the opportunity, but overall it is a problem that does not need a solution invented, but simply one backed by people and political will.
While perhaps not immediately apparent, these two discussions are related. Both speakers stressed the importance of investing in the developing world, both environmentally and in terms of social justice. Most importantly, these efforts cannot be grassroots, but must be enforced by chief policy-makers. These messages provided an interesting and important opening to Hillary Clinton's Greenbuild Keynote.
Sheryl WuDunn
Erica Godun, Director of Interiors, Senior Associate
Greenbuild provided a space for designers and manufacturers to spend the day together discussing how they can work together to increase material transparency and facilitate the most beneficial and appropriate decisions for projects. Designers habitually ask for a lot of information that the manufacturers must subsequently invest a lot of time and money to provide. Some manufacturers are concerned about privacy and don't understand what the designer will ultimately be doing with the information provided. Multiple formats for disclosing information have been developed, only complicating this core problem.
The 2013 summit included presentations from various interested parties as well as time for unstructured conversations between the designers and manufacturers. It was an early step on a long road to having the products we specify provide a positive impact on human health.
Women in Green Power Breakfast
Ilana Judah, Director of Sustainability, Senior Associate
After my 8th Greenbuild and a fair degree of "green fatigue", I attempted to approach the conference strategically – looking for the nuggets and gems amongst all the "Fools Gold."
My take away: there are exciting innovations taking place and beautiful sustainable projects coming to fruition – Net Zero buildings, Circadian based LED lighting, and innovative passive design strategies rooted in the vernacular. However, there are still some bad and even ugly issues in the world of green building. The industry is not paying enough attention to the basics, particularly on the construction site, during commissioning and post-occupancy. Reduced air infiltration is perhaps not as exciting or marketable as a LEED Platinum or Living Building, but it's just as critical – how can you win the Pulitzer if you can't spell?
The most interesting session I attended was called "Green Building Post-Mortem: What Went Wrong," where an architect and two commissioning agents recounted on site construction mistakes and how they could have been avoided.
Finally, the ugliest Greenbuild takeaway of all: building materials are still contributing to illness due to the chemicals in many products – our industry has a lot of work to do on this and we should make it our highest priority.
Christina Galati, Designer
The sessions I found most impactful were the two from the master speaker series I attended, given by Edward Mazria and Sheryl WuDunn. In our line of work, we understand that sustainability and green building are important, but sometimes lose track of the big picture. These sessions were inspirational calls to action, advocating a more definitive stance on sustainability and development from both an environmental as well as a social perspective.
Mazria, founder of Architecture 2030, actually unveiled his newest endeavor, the 2030 Palette (an open-source tool that succinctly puts the principles and actions behind low-carbon, resilient urbanization and architecture at the fingertips of designers, planners, builders, and policymakers worldwide) during his speech, emphasizing his hopes that providing this resource would ". . . be nothing short of a global transformation of the built environment."
Edward MazriaSheryl WuDunn, author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, discussed her views of the central moral challenge of our time – the oppression of women and girls around the globe. She told numerous stories about women in countries all over the world who face unimaginable hardships because of their gender. In some cases she demonstrated that there is hope when given the opportunity, but overall it is a problem that does not need a solution invented, but simply one backed by people and political will.
While perhaps not immediately apparent, these two discussions are related. Both speakers stressed the importance of investing in the developing world, both environmentally and in terms of social justice. Most importantly, these efforts cannot be grassroots, but must be enforced by chief policy-makers. These messages provided an interesting and important opening to Hillary Clinton's Greenbuild Keynote.
Sheryl WuDunnErica Godun, Director of Interiors, Senior Associate
Greenbuild provided a space for designers and manufacturers to spend the day together discussing how they can work together to increase material transparency and facilitate the most beneficial and appropriate decisions for projects. Designers habitually ask for a lot of information that the manufacturers must subsequently invest a lot of time and money to provide. Some manufacturers are concerned about privacy and don't understand what the designer will ultimately be doing with the information provided. Multiple formats for disclosing information have been developed, only complicating this core problem.
The 2013 summit included presentations from various interested parties as well as time for unstructured conversations between the designers and manufacturers. It was an early step on a long road to having the products we specify provide a positive impact on human health.
Women in Green Power BreakfastIlana Judah, Director of Sustainability, Senior Associate
After my 8th Greenbuild and a fair degree of "green fatigue", I attempted to approach the conference strategically – looking for the nuggets and gems amongst all the "Fools Gold."
My take away: there are exciting innovations taking place and beautiful sustainable projects coming to fruition – Net Zero buildings, Circadian based LED lighting, and innovative passive design strategies rooted in the vernacular. However, there are still some bad and even ugly issues in the world of green building. The industry is not paying enough attention to the basics, particularly on the construction site, during commissioning and post-occupancy. Reduced air infiltration is perhaps not as exciting or marketable as a LEED Platinum or Living Building, but it's just as critical – how can you win the Pulitzer if you can't spell?
The most interesting session I attended was called "Green Building Post-Mortem: What Went Wrong," where an architect and two commissioning agents recounted on site construction mistakes and how they could have been avoided.
Finally, the ugliest Greenbuild takeaway of all: building materials are still contributing to illness due to the chemicals in many products – our industry has a lot of work to do on this and we should make it our highest priority.