Green Community
Our Hali’imaile master plan framework is currently featured in the Green Community exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Green Community looks at how we plan, design, and construct the world between our buildings, profiling an array of communities large and small where citizens, leaders, and planning and design professionals are working together towards a more sustainable future. According to the exhibit, “A green community conserves its land, offers multiple options for transportation, provides open space for recreation and cultivation, and uses its natural and cultural resources wisely.”
Hali’imaile, a planned new community in Maui’s upcountry, is a model for sustainable development, one in which site systems are key informants of community structure, pattern and design at the earliest stages of the planning process. It represents an ambitious effort by Maui Land & Pineapple Company and A&B Properties to address pressing issues of affordability and limited community resources in the development of workforce housing. Diane Dale, ASLA, JD, Director of Community Design, and Kellie Fiorello, Marketing Coordinator, attended a reception and exhibition preview on October 20. Speakers included W. Paul Farmer, Executive Director and CEO, American Planning Association. The exhibit is open through October 25, 2009.
The European Conversation
Kevin Burke, AIA, Director of Practice, spoke at the Sustainable Architecture Forum 2008 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on November 5-6. William McDonough, FAIA, Founding Partner, also spoke, via video. The theme of the conference was Cradle to Cradle, with a focus on how to move from theory to implementation. The conference was held at the restored Van Nelle factory, an icon of Dutch modern industrial design, and included a diverse gathering of many prominent Dutch architects, engineers, academicians and government officials. Speakers included Anne-Marie Rakhorst, Search; Alex van Oost, Almere; Sven Stimac, Floriade 2012; Rene Hersbach, ING Real Estate Development; and Thomas Rau, designer of the WWF headquarters (one of Holland’s greenest projects). Kevin kicked-off both days of the conference. The first presentation explored the challenges of applying the Cradle to Cradle protocol to the built environment, and the strategic frameworks that the firm has developed along with MBDC to help establish priorities and make design decisions. The second presentation focused on William McDonough Partners’ recent design projects, including the work for NASA at the Ames Research Center. Bill gave a well-received, live video presentation from Charlottesville, VA on the afternoon of the first day, delineating the principles of Cradle to Cradle and the eco-effective design approach, and then focused on the implementation of the protocol at the River Rouge.
Bill McDonough presented at the Design Management Europe Conference in Barcelona last week, which is part of Barcelona Design Week 2008; from there he headed to Frankfurt for Nutec, a conference focusing on Cradle to Cradle. Later that week, Roger Schickedantz, AIA, Director, presented at Ecodesign Conference, another element of Design Week festivities. He presented the Ecourban project, a mixed use project under construction in Barcelona now.
Greenbuild
William McDonough Partners was 12 strong at Greenbuild in Boston. We attended a Leaders Breakfast hosted by BuildingGreen, scouted the expo, and soaked up the great green vibe. As Rick Fedrizzi had noted in his statements leading up to the event, we’d be enjoying the fellowship of more than 20,000 friends and colleagues “who share our vision for a sustainable future. And we’ll keep moving forward, together.”
Kira Gould, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, presented “Why Diversity Matters” on Wednesday the 19th along with Betsy Hands, a Montana State Legislator and affordable housing developer; Susan Szenasy of Metropolis; Valerie Fletcher of the Institute for Human Centered Design; and Brandy Brooks, of Boston’s Community Design Resource Center.
City Design “After Oil”
On November 7, Lance Hosey, AIA, Director, was a panelist at the UPenn international symposium, Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil. This ground-breaking symposium was organized to address the role of urban design in the face of one of the most profound and important challenges facing global society: the need to re-imagine and rethink how cities are designed and organized in a future without the plentiful and abundant oil upon which prosperous urban economies have been built. Lance was part of a panel discussion entitled, “Building and Landscape Design,” moderated by Charles Waldheim, Associate Dean and Director, University of Toronto Landscape Architecture Program; the other panelists were Stephen Kieran, of Kieran Timberlake Associates and artist Michael Singer. An accompanying exhibition showcases innovative ideas, projects, initiatives, and policies from around the world that seek to reduce emissions by changing the way we inhabit cities. Two of William McDonough Partners’ projects are featured in the exhibition:the Ford Rouge Revitalization and the Concept for Rooftop Farming for Liuzhou in China.
OUR PEOPLE
Mark Graham joined the Charlottesville studio in August. Mark was born in Boston and grew up on the New England coast. He has worked with several architectural firms, including Burkhalter Sumi (Zürich); HOK (Atlanta); Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut, & Kuhn (Washington, D.C.); and Cheatham Fletcher Scott (Augusta, FL). Mark was a start-up member at Mad Doc Software. As Director of Art and Architecture, he managed teams of artists to render concepts for 3D gaming environments. Mark holds a BA from Dartmouth, an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT, and an M Arch from the GSD at Harvard.
Carl Sterner joined the Charlottesville studio as a designer in August, where he completed a six-month internship in March 2007. Since then he has been working as a graduate student research assistant at University of Cincinnati, researching international climate change policy, 18th century urban infrastructure, and green roofs. In 2006 Carl earned a BS Arch from UC and graduated with High Honors and Magna cum Laude. As a student, in addition to William McDonough Partners he interned at Champlin/Haupt Architects (Cincinnati), Hubbell & Hubbell (Santa Ysabel, CA), and Thomas Balsley Associates (New York). Outside of work, Carl enjoys gardening, riding his bike, composing music, and writing about the social and economic implications of sustainability, both within and beyond the discipline of architecture.
In September, Samantha Payne joined the Charlottesville studio as a cooperative education student (intern) from the University of Cincinnati. Samantha has a BA in Political Theory and Business from Indiana University, and spent a year at the accelerated architecture program at Ball State University before deciding to get her M Arch from the University of Cincinnati. She has had previous co-ops at Hixson Architecture, Engineering, and Interiors (Cincinnati) and BAR Architects (San Francisco). Her background in design includes archival framing and art preservation. As an undergrad, Samantha studied Chinese and spent three months in China; she hopes to return for architecture-related research.
Chantel Hall joined the Charlottesville studio as a cooperative education student from the University of Cincinnati. Chantel graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Cincinnati with a BS Arch. She held previous internships at Studios Architecture in San Francisco and Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff Geottel in Pittsburgh. As an undergrad, Chantel participated in the University of Copenhagen’s study-abroad program and is a teaching assistant for the University of Cincinnati. After her six-month internship in the Charlottesville studio, Chantel will continue her education at the University of Cincinnati and complete her M Arch by 2010.
Erika Elliot joined the Charlottesville studio in October, assisting in Bill McDonough’s office. Originally from New Jersey, Erika has lived in Virginia for the past seven years. She previously worked at Hewitt Associates and Edison Properties, but recently has been working full-time as a mother of three.
NEWS & NOTES
Mark Rylander, AIA, Director, is featured in Vision 2020: Reconsidering the World the Future Architect. Vision 2020 is an online gallery of perspectives that seeks to imagine the future of our communities, the built environment and the practice of architecture through the voices shaping the profession today. Vision 2020 is proudly sponsored by AIAS.
Carl Sterner, Designer, recently wrote a paper, “Waste and City Form: Reconsidering the Medieval Strategy” that appears in the most recent issue of The Journal of Green Building.
On December 4, David Johnson, AIA, West Coast Director, participated in a forum at the World Affairs Council of Northern California to discuss Green Tech: the Global Future of Green Architecture. The other panelists were Brian Back, Founding Editor and Publisher, Sustainable Industries; Andrea Ramage, Director, Sustainable Solutions, CH2M HILL; and David Rosenberg, CEO, Hycrete, Inc.
On November 18, Michelle Amt, AIA, Project Manager, and Howie Fendley, MBDC, spoke on Cradle to Cradle at a James River Green Building Council session at the Charlottesville Community Design Center.
On November 14, Katherine Grove, Director, spoke on a panel, “Green Rebuilding in New Orleans,” at the Net Impact Conference,The Sustainable Advantage: Creating Social and Environmental Value. The conference took place at UPenn’s Wharton School in Philadelphia, PA, on November 13-15, and focused on how businesses and organizations can address the social and environmental challenges of the 21st century. This year’s panels covered topics including supply chains, corporate ethics, and the value proposition of green building.
On November 13, Matthew Winkelstein, AIA, Director, was part of an internal competition jury at Perkins Will, which included the donation of jury honoraria to organizations of their choice; Matthew choseArchitecture for Humanity.
On November 10, Lance Hosey presented at the Healthcare Design 08 conference in Washington, D.C. The session was part of the conference’s Deep Dive: Sustainability track and is titled, “The Intersection of Eco-Effective Design and Evidence-Based Design.” Lance presented alongside Bill Rostenberg, FAIA, FACHA, Principal and Director of Research, Anshen Allen, and Maurya McClintock, Associate Principal, Facade Engineer, ARUP.
Martha Bohm, Sustainable Design Coordinator, presented the firm’s work and Cradle to Cradle frameworks for design at the USGBC National Capitol Region Chapter’s “Prelude to Greenbuild” on October 28. The goal of the program was to provide feedback to LEED 2009 regionalization credits being developed for the Capitol Region, based on presentations of Cascadia’s Living Building Challenge and Cradle to Cradle.
On September 22, Bill McDonough gave a keynote address to the National Recycling Coalition’s 27th Annual Congress & Expo in Pittsburgh, PA. The Congress & Exposition is considered to be the premier national education and networking event for recycling professionals.
Alastair Reilly, AIA, Director, and his wife, Jeanine Butler, co-produced a PBS documentary, written and directed by Jeanine. The film, “Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers” aired on most PBS stations in August. Read the New York Times review here.
Over the past four months we’ve gained five new LEED APs, bringing our total number to 25. Congratulations to designers Tina Cheng, Dolores O’Connor and Matt Wagner, and interns Emily Potts and Samantha Payne for passing their exams!