FALL INSPIRATION

Designing for water focuses on climate change, water resilience, and equality. Conserving water by designing for potable water efficiency, outdoor water use reduction, rainwater/stormwater use management, processing water reuse, reuse graywater and blackwater, and net zero water building. 

Designing for well-being focuses on the health and well-being for all people, by incorporating light, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, mental and social well-being, acoustics, movement, and nourishment. 

The Framework for Design Excellence, comprised of 10 principles, challenges architects with a vision of what the profession strives to achieve, and seeks to inform progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment. 

While Eden Hall Campus sits at the headwaters of the Ohio and Mississippi River watersheds. This project takes an integrated approach to water resources, management of nutrients, and mitigation of impervious surface. A constructed wetland wastewater treatment system provides superior wastewater treatment on-site with effluent used for toilet flushing and infiltration.

The Rainier Beach Clinic provides views to seasonally dynamic plantings, plentiful daylighting for anchoring circadian rhythms, and opportunities for observing stochastic movement of birds and pollinators to serve as distraction therapy for patients during treatment. 

“The planet is in trouble and as more consumers worry about their carbon footprint, they’re walking into small businesses. That’s because those companies are often embracing sustainable practices and using their commitment as a marketing strategy,” writes Forbes retail contributor John Hall. “It’s easy to see why small businesses, not the less agile big guys, are leading the charge to net-zero.”