 |
|
Page 2
 |
|
|
|
 |
Michael Bourque: Kirsten, your office is a pioneer in green design,
and you've become an example of the ultimate practitioner in that area.
Could you comment on the job applicants that are coming to your firm
and what you're seeing?
Kirsten Childs: We have one right here.
Michael Bourque: Are you finding a sufficient level of education
in green design?
Kirsten Childs: That is a loaded question. I would say people apply for
jobs at our firm because of what we do. But very few of them come with
the knowledge of how to get there; though that doesn't matter. What matters
is the interest, the willingness to learn, the willingness to not just do
business as usual but to actually make a change as they are absorbed into
the firm and learn our processes.
Michael Bourque: I think you've said that we can all learn on the job, but
do you agree that there are deficiencies in educational programs today?
Kirsten Childs: Yes, there are. |
|
|
|
THE COLLABORATION IMPERATIVE
"Design is behind on the multidisciplinary front," observed Peter
Lawrence, chairman and founder of the Corporate Design Foundation, which
for the past two decades has been instrumental in bringing together design
and business studies at major universities. But he aims to help remedy this
flaw by establishing a new program, the Natural Design Consortium,
based on an expanded idea of who the collaborators should be. "We want
to bring together design, business, and science--and educators and students,"
he said.
But there are many hurdles set up against ecocentric behavior, such as a
strong sense of denial by everyone concerned, including those in the professions
and academics. Nigel Howard, a chemist and vice president of the U.S. Green
Building Council, worries that some design firms are "greenwashing"
when it comes to the multidisciplinary integrated processes that are central
to sustainable design. "They talk the talk, but the real integration
tends to be far too brief," he said.
To Howard a worthwhile collaboration begins when the team is put together,
before a design begins. At this stage it's still possible to ask the most
basic questions, such as, "Is this building needed?" Critical
issues that deserve much greater discussion than they're given today, Howard
added, include analyses of the life cycle of the building, occupancy, quality
of the building (which is typically discussed only in terms of budget and
fee), the region and location, the siting and orientation. "When the
big questions are not asked, key decisions wind up locked in too fast, locking
out opportunities for integration," he said. "The whole team must
participate throughout."
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
The students at the Rural Studio's Outreach program designed and built a
house in Mason's Bend, Alabama, for Lucy Harris, her husband, and their
four children. Using carpet tiles from Interface's recycling program,
they first tested the material for its structural, thermal,
anti-microbial, fire-retardant, and water-resistant properties. Their
work is documented at
www.auburn.edu/~tatejm1/main.htm. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Sharing information is one of the key goals behind the International Interior
Design Association's (IIDA) effort, the Green Design Education Initiative,
which includes the development of a Web site for educators, interior designers,
and facility managers looking for hard-to-find information on the subject.
"The site would share course material and other resources,"
said Michael H. Bourque, principal at the Boston-based Sasaki Associates
and chairman of the IIDA College of Fellows. Admitting that the professionals
who belong to his organization do not have the kind of in-depth information
on green design on which to base a practice, or a new pedagogy for that
matter, the trade association has hired individuals with expertise in environmentally
aware work and teaching. Their studies, Bourque promised, "will be
a valuable and reliable resource that will grow over time."
In the spirit of collaboration and in the belief that there is power in
numbers, the IIDA has joined forces with the Interior Design Education Council
(IDEC), the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), and Metropolis
magazine; and Bourque continues to work to bring other associations into
the fold. Together they're developing and publicizing the Green Design Education
Initiative, the first of its kind to be undertaken by a trade association.
As Bourque likes to say, "This is our legacy to the next generation."
THE EXPANDING CLIENT BASE
Though architects and interior designers continue to lament the lack of
clients who are interested in sustainable design and are willing to push
that agenda, the numbers of such enlightened clients are growing. Some
of the most progressive among them can be found in city, state, and
federal government offices. One of these "educated clients,"
as Jim Toothaker calls himself, is the bureau director in Pennsylvania's
Department of Environmental Protection.
In this capacity he has directed the design of several facilities, including
the Cambria Office Building, which received the USGBC's first
gold LEED rating last year.
In fact, several Pennsylvania buildings have been LEED certified, noted
Toothaker with pride, putting his state at the forefront of environmental
awareness in
construction. He has also found the architecture school at Carnegie Mellon,
in Pittsburgh, with its award-winning programs in sustainable design, a
strong ally.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Vivian Loftness
Universities' sustainability programs should be assessed and ranked, just
as business schools are ranked, to show their effectiveness in educating
the next generation of architects and designers. They might be evaluated
in the following categories:
- Required courses where at least half the course is dedicated to the environment
- The number of elective courses that employ the words environment, green, sustainable as key descriptors of the course
- The number of studios that are dedicated to sustainable design
- The number of faculty members who are LEED-certified
- The number of LEED-certified buildings built by faculty members
- The number of graduate courses and degrees related to sustainability
- The number of environmental speakers who come to campus
|
|
|
|
In addition to a host of local and state initiatives as well as funding
opportunities, there is now a wide range of federal mandates and agency
policies created to support and promote sustainable design and development,
noted architect Adrian Taluca, a principal at Steve Winter Associates in
Norwalk, Connecticut. The USGBC's LEED rating system and variations on it
figure prominently in these programs.
"If we build smart, we can lessen the stress on infrastructure,"
added Joyce Lee, chief architect at New York City's Office of Management
and Budget. Even before 9/11 the impact of construction costs on an overstressed
local economy had been watched closely. Now as budgets tighten, the city
is looking for efficiencies everywhere. "Smart growth and green
building can be a tool for governments facing public resistance and contracting
budgets," Lee believes.
Developers, too, have jumped on the sustainability bandwagon; two of them
are based in New York City. The best known is the Durst Organization, the
firm that built Fox & Fowle's design for Four Times Square, often
called the city's "first green skyscraper." Though all concerned
admit that there's a long way to go before a truly sustainable skyscraper
rises in Manhattan, many are rooting for Douglas Durst as one of the few
developers who can do it. His collaborative approach to design and construction,
and his expressed mission to build green hold out the promise.
Jonathan Rose, another New York-based developer, said he's looking
for "designers who understand human/natural interdependence as well
as place-making. We also need codes and infrastructure frameworks that support
sustainable approaches. And we need data to help quantify the benefits."
What will move the building industry closer to sustainable development?
"The insurance market," Rose predicted, adding that some owners
already have trouble getting insurance because their buildings are infested
with molds, itself an argument for more environmentally sound building and
furnishings practices.
But compliance with local codes and laws is simply not enough, noted Kirsten
Childs, an interior designer with New York's Croxton Collaborative Architects.
An early adapter of green design, Croxton is moving away from compliance
to something greater. Her firm is helping its clients see the broader
picture. "If you deal with first cost only, there will be consequences,"
Childs said. "First cost is just two percent of a building's 40-year
cost; 64 percent of costs are in operation and the other 26 percent are
in people."
|
|
|
BACK TO TOP
