2024 Sustainable Design Leaders

Summit Report

July 15–17

Bainbridge Island, WA

61 Sustainable Design Leaders gathered for the fourteenth Summer Summit

July 2024 | Bainbridge Island, WA

Sustainable Design Leaders Summit Report

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Presentations & Roundtable Conversations

Key Takeaways

What We Shared

Closing Thoughts

Sustainable Metrics & Organization

About Our Firms

Our Positions & Interests

About Us

2024 Summer Summit Participants

Lookbook

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This year we returned to a fan-favorite venue, IslandWood, for a Summit that was defined by deep personal introspection. Among the many technical topics that were top-of-mind, we asked ourselves questions like:

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Am I holding my role too closely? In what ways would loosening my grip, or planning for a transition make space for broader buy-in or different voices?

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Am I leading from the heart and holding those around me accountable at the same time?

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How can I support my teams through their climate grief while resourcing myself to continue to do this work?

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Grappling with these questions alone might feel too daunting, but together we find ideas, inspiration, and mutual support.

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– The BuildingGreen team

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Why did we come together?

Inspiration

Connection

To Dream Big

To be with ‘Our People’

To Recharge Our Batteries

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On Accountability

• What does accountability for firm sustainability goals ideally look like? For projects?
• What gets in the way of achieving it?
• What works to overcome those obstacles?
• Are the changes needed structural, cultural, or social?

and what it looks like for firm sustainability goals.

• Doing what you said you would do
• Transparency: Comparing your end result with what you originally promised
• A shared commitment, not punitive
• Reflecting on how to improve (+/▵)
• Rooted in recordkeeping and storytelling, not bookkeeping

To us, accountability is:

Cultural: Help people understand their impacts. If they don’t, they won’t succeed. Don’t forget the stories when looking for the metrics. These tap into meaning and connect teams more deeply to the work.

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Structural: Develop tools and resources to support teams (including staffing, a common level of literacy, sustainability champions both on teams and in leadership, and consistent communication both internally and externally).

In Small Firms (<150)

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On Accountability

and what it looks like for firm sustainability goals.

• Doing what you said you would do
• Transparency: Comparing your end result with what you originally promised
• A shared commitment, not punitive
• Reflecting on how to improve (+/▵)
• Rooted in recordkeeping and storytelling, not bookkeeping

To us, accountability is:

Challenges

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• The ‘missing middle’ (buy-in at leadership level, excitement at entry level, confusion at middle management level about what we need to do to meet the commitments we’ve made
• External pressure helps (commitments and participation in groups like LFRT; third party reviews through programs like EcoVadis)
• Greatest success comes when introducing or incorporating sustainability into some other structure for initiatives they already had in place (internal design awards, QA/QC, etc.)

In Large Firms (300+)

Cultural: Is motivation coming from the head or the heart?

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Structural: Allocate resources to support sustainability / climate action plan. Think of incentives and rewards (not punitive measures). Measure: how many people are attending programs, getting CEUs, participating in working groups, getting accreditations, etc.

In Medium Firms (150–300)

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On Accountability

and what it looks like for project sustainability goals.

• Doing what you said you would do
• Transparency: Comparing your end result with what you originally promised
• A shared commitment, not punitive
• Reflecting on how to improve (+/▵)
• Rooted in recordkeeping and storytelling, not bookkeeping

To us, accountability is:

Cultural: Encourage agency and Empower team members to know that they have it. Ideas are hypotheses—test them! Younger staff = future leaders.

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Structural: Measure with both quantitative and qualitative metrics. Integrate reporting mechanisms into existing tools (intranet, Smartsheet, Airtable, Revit, or timesheet software). Regular check-ins and +/▵.

Consider how project feedback mechanisms can flow into future projects (POE as a pre-design tool). Certifications are a tool for accountability.

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SUCCESS = Everyone on the team knows, understands, believes in, and can articulate the goals around sustainability for the project.

Key Takeaways

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SDL Member-led Topics

EUI + Metrics

Advocacy

Embodied Carbon

Materials Data

Decarbonizing Existing Building

Leading with Equity

Climate Grief

Design for Deconstruction + Reused Materials

Adaptation & Resilience

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EUI & Metrics

How are we handling operating emissions in a space that’s getting dominated by embodied carbon? (EUI is a good metric, but doesn’t capture the whole picture.)

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What factors could inform a better metric?

• Grid emissions → future grid emissions
• Modeling using future weather files
• Relating to building scale (per SF)

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Other metrics to consider:

• TDV (time dependent valuation)—what is the societal cost of energy?
• TEDI (thermal energy demand intensity)
• kBtu /person

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Bridges:

• Consider IAQ for systems that use combustion.
• Focus on electrification; plan for the future.
• Track pEUI vs. Actual EUI (delta informs process updates)
• Consider peak load as a standalone metric—reducing the first cost of the mechanical systems enables better system selection.

Individual project accuracy is not as important as the improvement on future projects and specifications

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Advocacy

Keep in mind the collective knowledge and history that others bring along.

Do you know your lobbyist? Your representatives?

We should link up with green building organizations and initiatives (USGBC +) as well as regional AIA chapters

• Who is doing this well?
• What are they great at?
• How are they organized regionally?

Consider non-code-related advocacy

• Utilities
• Tax policies
• Manufacturers
• Labor
• Market transformation

Build Back Better Letter

Shift Zero

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Past Work/Resources

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Embodied Carbon

The goal isn’t just to get the report—it’s to design lower carbon buildings; how do we keep our eyes on the prize?

• Include EC in specs:
• % reduction from baseline | % reduction from regional average | EC3 bottom half of range
• Can we demonstrate a cost reduction for going with low carbon materials?
• How to create a database of ‘firm typicals’
• Peer group sharing of best practices is meaningful

What’s going to move the needle on this?

• Our specs
• Owner buy-in
• Codes + laws
• Incentive structure
• Making simpler buildings; reusing existing buildings
• Data/knowledge
• Setting a carbon budget for projects
• Deconstruction over demolition
• Needs markets; functional salvage industry

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Adaptation & Resilience

We need better and more accessible future weather files

• How do we advocate for wider use?
• Why are WE doing this—isn’t this ASHRAE’s job? How do we nudge them forward?
• What are MEP2040 and SMEPL talking about re: resilience?
• TMY files do not always include rainfall; they’re mostly about temperature. How do we reach the orgs who are developing the tables in our code books. Is this done through AIA?

Actions for today

• Stress test our buildings with extreme weather event files
• Design for passive survivability—shade, roof drainage, wet floodproofing

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Resilience working group

AIA training

BuildingGreen article: Tools to Design for Climate Change

Past Work/Resources

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Redesigning for Deconstruction + Reused Materials

Opportunities

• Local networks (designing for salvage)
• Resale and tax breaks can help with tight budgets
• Material passports (end of life tracking for materials)
• ‘End of life manual’ for projects
• Design with standard units to eliminate waste
• Reuse gypsum in 2nd layer for acoustics (not aesthetics)
• Lots of cool things happening; we need to connect the dots

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Challenges

• Material health in salvaged materials
• Demo-ing non-glue = more $ according to contractors
• Desire for perfect / consistent materials
• Salvage assessors not unionized
• Space required to hold salvaged materials
• Scalability

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Hennepin County Material Reuse Guide

All for reuse

Past Work/Resources

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Climate Grief

Grief is related to love.

• It’s more of a spiritual journey that we’re all on right now than just a technical one. How can we shore ourselves up so we can support each other?
• Part of us showing up authentically for work is handling this kind of baggage - we should have some ongoing structure for helping members of this group figure out not only how to look at their own jobs but how to help their staff have these conversations.

What would it take for us to have these discussions with our teams? How small of a group would you need to have for this type of dialogue?

• Commitment. Values. Intent. What fuels the work we do? None of that is not touched by climate grief. Acknowledging the emotions (at the root) only strengthens all those other things.

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The Spiral of the Work that Reconnects

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Materials Data

What is happening?!

• This field moves so fast it is impossible to keep up
• Uncoordinated data requests continue to be an ‘invisible tax’ on our industry

How much is enough?

• Getting vs. understanding an EPD/HPD; fishing for people vs. teaching them to fish

What does progress look like?

• We should unify around the AIA Pledge via LEED v5—it’s a vetted framework, coordinated among key organizations. We’re excited!

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Decarbonizing Existing Buildings

There are 3 different types of existing buildings we see:

• Historic + Valued
• NPS doesn’t value high-performing envelopes
• Options are limited; advocacy opportunity
• Historic + Not Valued
• Deep energy retrofits, overcladding is possible
• Not Historic
• Accessibility, life safety upgrades have high carbon cost

Iterate on design to determine if reuse is justified

General Strategies:

• Lighting upgrades are always possible
• Change the designer ‘tabula rasa’ mindset to make reuse attractive
• Integrate reuse into architectural education

Peer Networks Working Group deck

Past Work/Resources

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Leading with Equity

• When you talk to clients, leverage the cracks in the conversation to advocate for community engagement; use the cracks in that to leverage the client to consider equity more actively in their project design too.
• It’s ok to be uncomfortable in conversations with your client. Sometimes we have to address the uncomfortable things.
• Make your teams aware that, as a leader, you’re there to ask difficult questions (positively disrupting).
• Sometimes you have to say no to a project. In those cases, you should explain why.
• Go rogue. You don’t always need the authority or scope to do things - you can take it upon yourself to engage the community
• We need to be learning from completed projects. Equity commissioning should be a new service.

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Leading with Equity

• Privilege, resources, power - can we demonstrate we are willing to give those up?
• Learn the history and layers of our land - how can our site analysis include pre-settlement site information?
• Who has power? How do we facilitate our work so we have discipline equity in addition to other dimensions of diversity?
• Always ask: who isn’t at the table that should be?
• What is the future of our role in the company? Are we thinking about our transition out of our roles in the future? If someone from a different background took over, how would that help with equity in your practice?

What We Shared

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5-Minute Presentations

Michelle Amt

VMDO

Embodied Carbon Reporting

• In its 7th year of reporting to the Architecture 2030 Commitment, VMDO continued its stance of “radical transparency”
• “How we decarbonize matters”

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Slides →

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Kate Bubriski

Arrowstreet

Setting a New Milestone for Embodied Carbon

• Case study of a nine-story office/lab building that achieved a 23% overall reduction in embodied carbon and a 47% reduction the gwp of concrete

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Slides →

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5-Minute Presentations

Brian Feagans

Ratcliff

Focus on Life

• We are focusing too much on the numbers; not enough on the heart

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Slides →

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Simona Fischer

MSR Design

Project Manager’s Guide to Material Reuse in Commercial Buildings

• New guide available from Hennepin County: Seven Steps to Designing with Reused Materials

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View Guide →

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5-Minute Presentations

Mike Fowler

MITHUN

Unprecedented

• Urban heat events are becoming all too common
• “Project Potential” workshops help frame projects in terms of the potential and possibilities

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Slides →

Speaker Notes →

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Kristen Fritsch

Elkus Manfredi

A Zero Waste Pilot Project

• Through a collaboration of organizations and many, many volunteers, Simmons University was able to divert 12 tons of materials from a project slated for demolition

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Slides →

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5-Minute Presentations

Heather Holdridge

Lake|Flato Architects

B Corp Certification

• Experience becoming JUST-labeled and B Corp Certified
• Required resources, time, and industry pressure

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Slides →

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Mark Ginsberg

Curtis + Ginsberg

Converting Office to Residential

• The challenge of converting office space to residential explained
• Careful insulation detailing can make it work

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Slides →

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5-Minute Presentations

Lauren Gunther

DiMella Shaffer

When Passive House is Code Minimum: The Intersection of Policy and Architecture

• Massachusetts energy codes have springboarded adoption of Passive House

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Slides →

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Mona Lemoine

DIALOG

B Corp Built Environment Network

• B Corp is creating a new network for orgs in the “built environment”

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Slides →

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5-Minute Presentations

Corey Squire

Bora Architects & Interiors

Practice Transformation

• Sustainability is progress across a firm, not just one or two exemplary projects
• Prioritize simple and effective design strategies

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Slides →

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Maria Papiez

EwingCole

AIA Materials Pledge Reporting Metrics

• Materials Pledge reporting is launching this fall
• Firm level reporting is required; project level reporting is voluntary

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Slides →

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5-Minute Presentations

Maria Papiez

EwingCole

Degrowth

• Introducing component concepts of degrowth: energy descent, sufficiency, and senescence

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Slides →

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Heather DeGrella

Opsis Architecture

Biomimicry

• Applying biomimicry to planning an office retreat resulted in an experiential learning opportunity
• The next time you need a solution, ask nature

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Slides - Network only

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5-Minute Presentations

Kevin Eronimous

SAR+

Changing Laws in Colorado

• Completing a great high-performance building is wonderful but consider that raising the bar for all buildings in your city or state can have far greater impact
• Local advocacy requires compromise, persistence through tedium, and relationship building

Maria Papiez

EwingCole

AIA Materials Pledge Reporting Metrics

• Materials Pledge reporting is launching this fall
• Firm level reporting is required; project level reporting is voluntary

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Slides →

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Ashley Mulhall

Orcutt Winslow

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

• Sustainability is led by a few, but adoption is the responsibility of everyone
• A culture of sustainability doesn’t just influence the work, but also manifests in firm leadership, operations, and governance

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Slides - network only

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5-Minute Presentations

Vikram Sami

Olson Kundig

Shading and Natural Ventilation Shoebox Spreadsheet

• Shoebox modeling can provide designers useful information early in a project and show relationships between design decisions

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Misha Semënov-Leiva

Centerbrook Architects & Planners

If a Tree Falls in the Forest…

• Educational signage can be beautiful and prompt more environmentally responsible occupant behavior

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Slides - network only

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5-Minute Presentations

Melanie Silver

Payette Associates

Kaleidoscope & Interior Embodied Carbon

• Kaleidoscope helps compare the embodied carbon of different interior systems
• See slides for lower-carbon choices for ceilings, flooring, and partitions

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Slides - network only

Z Smith

Eskew+Dumez+Ripple

South

• The U.S. South climate requires either heating or cooling the majority of the year but most heating is already electric and grid is rapidly decarbonizing
• For universities, shifting to heat recovery chillers can meet heating needs, while running on an increasingly clean grid

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Slides - network only

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5-Minute Presentations

Helena Zambrano

Mahlum Architects

Quantifying Equitable Communities

• Equity in design has four scales: occupants, surrounding community, distant communities, and global impact
• We should be as specific about these impacts as we can

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Slides - network only

Closing Thoughts

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Closing Reflections

Personal transformation can and does have global effects. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one—it will happen at the speed of empathy and the speed of trust.

I always feel like climate action is a fragile thing and if I assign it to someone else they won’t care for it as much as I do. Forcing myself to visualize positive outcomes means I can now bring other people into the fold, trust them more, and create true partnerships. I imagine that other person I am working with is capable of being like one of you in this room.

I am working on being okay in that balancing act between the complexity (of any of our topics) and the simplicity that everyone is asking us for.

The data says we’re screwed with a giant, capital “F.” But I still have faith in the human spirit.

I love the idea that climate grief comes out of love. It’s because of our love for the planet that we feel grief. Most people feel stuck in that grief because of a sense of powerlessness and feeling like there’s nothing they can do. All of us are super lucky because we have jobs where we CAN make change. We are powerful.

I’ve never been at a conference where the members’ collective knowledge is the driving force beyond the conference. It is powerful that what we are doing is enough to drive what this summit is.

Is holding onto our particular roles and skills preventing other people from stepping up and getting involved?

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What We’re Taking With Us

Gratitude. Energy. Self-reflection. Grounding. All the good things I'll do technically in my work come from fundamentally getting into a better headspace that will empower that activity.

A change in perspective. Imagining and daring to work for the good result rather than just mitigating the bad one.

Inspiration to be more vocal within my own organization.

Direction for what I want to accomplish professionally in the next year and inspiration for how I'm going to do it!

The group of people who care about how to design better buildings is simultaneously the smartest, kindest, and most caring group of people I know. It’s not news, per se, but such a great feeling. Additionally, the question of how agency can impact work and accountability is something I’ll be thinking about deeply for some time.

Reaffirmation that I am doing what I should be with my career and life and a reminder that I have an extended support structure beyond my day-to-day one.

There is still a lot to do, but we are on track. We just need to keep moving forward.

Self-reflection on my role in the context of colleagues. And some new friends.

About Our Firms

Sustainable Metrics and Organization

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We are 57

Sustainable Design Leaders

from 53 firms representing about

14,000 employees in

233 offices

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What services does your firm offer on a regular basis?

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Markets We Specialize In

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Challenges to Green Practice Ranked by Importance

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Average Firm Size

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Sustainability Team Size

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Has your firm signed on to the AIA 2030 Commitment?

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Social Equity Certification for Firms

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Which of the following performance modeling and/or visualization tools are used by designers (non-engineers) in your firm?

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About Us

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Positions in the Firm

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Time in the Role and in Current Firm

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How Formal is Your SD Leader Roll?

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Current vs. Desired Responsibilities

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Lookbook

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Debora Favaretto

CannonDesign

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Kevin Eronimous

SAR+ Architects

Simona Fischer

MSR Design

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Suzanne Drake

Revel Architecture + Design

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Kristi Ennis

Boulder Associates Architects

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Brian Feagans

Ratcliff

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Bryna Dunn

Moseley Architects

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Heather DeGrella

Opsis

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Michelle Amt

VMDO Architects

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Katie Ackerly

David Baker Architects

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Laurel Chądzyński

Documentation Lead

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Kate Bubriski

Arrowstreet

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Indu Chakravarthy

RMW Architecture + Interiors

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Jenn Chen

LMN Architects

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Chris Flint Chatto

ZGF Architects

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Heather Holdridge

Lake Flato

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Elaine Hoffman

GoodyClancy

Darrah Jakab

MHTN

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Chris Heine

SmithGroup

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Megumi Hironaka

HED Design

Dan Jaconetti

HED Design

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Chris Hellstern

Miller Hull

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Jason Hainline

Dake Wells Architecture

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Marisol Foreman

Rowland+Broughton

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Mike Fowler

Mithun

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Gwen Fuertes

LMS Architects

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Kristen Fritsch

Elkus Manfredi

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Mark Ginsberg

Curtis + Ginsberg Architects LLP

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Lauren Gunther

DiMella Shaffer

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Kristian Kicinski

Bassetti Architects

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Maria Papiez

EwingCole

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Peter Nobile

Bergmeyer Associates

Terry Phelan

Board & Vellum

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Ashley Mulhall

Orcutt Winslow

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Alison Nash

Sasaki Associates

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Candace Pearson

BuildingGreen

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Ashley Muse

On-Site Logistics Coordinator

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Ellen Mitchell

LPA

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Ariane Laxo

HGA

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James Kitchin

MASS Design Group

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Mona Lemoine

DIALOG

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Lisa Lazar

DLR Group

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Nadav Malin

BuildingGreen

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Nancy Malone

Siegel & Strain Architects

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Rebecca Riss

OPN Architects

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2024 Summer

Sustainable Design Leaders Summit Report

Allison Wilson

Ayers Saint Gross

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Tamar Warburg

Sasaki Associates

Amber Wirth

HKS

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Z Smith

Eskew Dumez Ripple

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Corey Squire

Bora Architects

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David Winans

GGLO

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Pauline Souza

WRNS

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Melanie Silver

Payette

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Vikram Sami

Olson Kundig

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Jack Rusk

EHDD

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Jeremy Shiman

WRNS

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Misha Semënov-Leiva

Centerbrook Architects + Planners

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Saurabh Shrestha

DIALOG

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Jared Silliker

NBBJ

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Sarah Wood

Jacobs

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Megan Zack

Wight + Company

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Helena Zambrano

Mahlum

Sustainable Design Leaders Summit Report

Report Produced by BuildingGreen, Inc.

Editors:

Laurel Chadzynski

Nadav Malin

Candace Pearson

Amanda Farman

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Photo and image credits:

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Design:

Bryna Dunn

Brian Feagans

Laurel Chadzynski

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Taylor Friehl

Sustainable Design Leaders Summit Report