By Anne Hicks Harney
In a sense, every week is Green Week at Ayers Saint Gross. Building thoughtfully and responsibly is part of every project we undertake, and all of our studios incorporate sustainability into their work. 72% of our technical staff is LEED accredited, we’ve helped develop guidelines so partners in the industry can make smart decisions about building materials, and we’ve won awards for our projects. It’s just what we do as a part of our mission of engaging people and places to create designs that enrich the world.
But we really lean into it during our annual Green Week, which kicks off today. We’ve planned educational and collaborative events that bring sustainability to the forefront of firm-wide discussions, right where they belong. We’re bringing together a broad cross-section of the firm to discuss the role of high-performance design in our work, and to brainstorm ways our internal sustainability team can better support everyone’s projects.
Allison Wilson, AIA, LEED AP BD+C will present on LEED 2009 vs. LEED v4 in both our Washington, DC and Baltimore offices.
“Preparing ourselves to guide clients through LEED v4 is an important priority,” Wilson said. “It’s exciting to bring this Green Week event to multiple offices and share this expertise broadly.”
There’s sometimes a perception that environmentalism is a back-to-nature Luddite endeavor; I strongly disagree. In fact, creative thinking and cutting edge technology are essential to sustainable design. I’m presenting to my colleagues on the path to net-zero buildings. Achieving net-zero energy performance on an annual basis is important in our building work. Even if a project is ultimately unable to hit this metric, getting close is still a remarkable amount of energy savings.
Additionally, Kristina Abrams, AIA, LEED AP BD+C organized a 3D fabrication presentation. This will be a panel presentation which will address more sustainable manufacturing, while providing a pathway to incorporate this process into our work.
On Earth Day itself, Friday April 22, we’ll wrap up with a peer group discussion about how we currently incorporate sustainability into our practice and what more we can do to go above and beyond client expectations.
We’re always finding and sharing ideas about sustainable design. To learn more about sustainability at Ayers Saint Gross, please view the firm’s sustainability action plan. As I said, every week is Green Week around here.
