piper: decoding healthy & regenerative design

Thirty years ago, out on the Carrizo Plain just east of San Luis Obispo in central California, 30 or so natural-building enthusiasts met at a deserted motel to explore the formation of a California natural building group. 

This initial gathering was a byproduct of the Natural Building Colloquium-Southwest, a touch of serendipity, and a few too many in-flight cocktails shared between three California builders. 

It was 1995. Turko Semmes and Greg McMillan, builders from the San Luis Obispo area, had just wrapped up an inspiring week at the colloquium held in the small town of Kingston, New Me...

After a wildfire destroyed their half-century-old family home in Sonoma County, architects David Arkin and Anni Tilt (Arkin Tilt Architects) set out on the journey of rebuilding. Rather than focusing on the tragedy, they saw it as an opportunity to not only flex their architectural and natural building muscle, but also design a place that was resilient, regenerative and as fire resistant as possible. 

This is part of the story of their multi-year journey and a look at some of the materials and strategies they used to achieve their vision. They also share some lessons learned.

Let's travel back to the late 1800s to Tombstone, Arizona––a boomtown where gunslinging, gambling, saloon brawls and shootouts like the Gunfight at the OK Corral were the norm. Where outlaws, vigilantes and "lawmen" like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday wrote the rules of frontier justice. It was where vice and violence met. It was the Wild West. At least that's what the Hollywood myth-making machine and opportunistic local entrepreneurs would have you believe. And at the heart of all of this legend and lore sits the Bird Cage Theater. Built in 1881, this unassuming building has endured a lot in i...

On a November morning in 2023, more than 60 individuals across the bio-based construction value chain descended upon the MASS Design Group office in Boston to address one question: How can we begin to rapidly scale regionally produced, renewable building materials across the Northeast?

This intrepid group, which included designers, developers, builders, farmers, foresters, educators, suppliers, manufacturers, engineers, and policy makers, formed what is now known as the Bio-Based Materials Collective (BBMC). And in less than two years since that November convening, the focus and size of the Collective have broadened dramatically. No longer focused on just the Northeastern...

Writer, photographer, filmmaker, grassroots organizer…Joel Caldwell dons many titles, but at the heart of it, he is a storyteller––and a powerful one at that. 

An avid outdoors person, Joel grew up in rural Washington, worked on a dude ranch in Montana for a bit, then moved to Colorado, where, as he puts it: was a backcountry-skiing, motorcycle-riding, mountain bike guy in full send. 

Eventually, Joel found his way into documenting environmental stories from all around the world. But years of covering environmental destruction started to weigh on him. Around that same time, following a trip t...

In talking about the embodied carbon and waste burden of the built environment, much of the focus has traditionally been on the structure and enclosure––or the core and shell––of the building. But in more recent years, some of the attention has shifted to the interior. And early studies show that interiors can actually surpass the embodied carbon impact and waste burden of the initial building over its average 60-year life. This is because of the rate of interior renovation, which in commercial environments is now occurring every five to 10 years, roughly. And because materials used in interiors tend to...

For a material as seemingly straightforward and simple as wood, it has a very complex, layered and often opaque supply chain. While certifications like FSC, SFI and PEFC may tell you the wood came from responsibly managed forests, it's a very small part of the story. Like organic labels on produce, these certifications can offer some peace of mind, but they don't tell you the lineage, where specifically the wood came from, the forest management practices, or how it was handled along its journey. As the use of wood and mass timber continues to grow, sustainability leaders across the...

Like many of today's architects and designers, Lona Rerick wasn't taught material health in school. She had some exposure to sustainable design in college at the University of Oregon, which seeded her interest, but it wasn't until a lecture she attended as a young practicing architect that she was exposed to the idea of materials as nutrients. The talk was presented by none other than William McDonough, one of the pioneers behind Cradle to Cradle Design, and it set Lona on an exciting new path. 

Now, nearly any exploration into material health will eventually lead back to L...

For the composer, conductor, songwriter Steve Hackman, life has been a journey through parallel realities––or maybe, parallel dualities. At a young age, he developed an appreciation for music. And, it was all music. Whether Beethoven or the Beatles, Mahler or Pink Floyd, they all got equal playing time. To Steve, music was an art form that had the power to reach the soul, actuate change and bridge gaps, and he's built a life and career around bringing seemingly disparate genres together in an effort to bring seemingly disparate audiences together. 

There is much to derive from Steve...

According to the US Forest Service, 36 million trees are removed from urban areas every year. These trees offer a tremendous opportunity to reduce some of the demand on forests. But, this quality wood that could be used in furniture or the built environment, is more commonly chipped, incinerated or landfilled. Luckily, there are people working to change that.

Paul Hickman, founder of the urban wood consultancy company Urban Ashes, is one such person. Through Urban Ashes, he's working with municipalities throughout the country to create the systems that maximize the life and value of fallen urban trees. 

What do a battery-operated induction range, hemp insulation, a straw-based structural insulated panel (SIP), a whole-life carbon visualization tool, and product transparency software have in common?

Well, for starters, they were all at this year's Greenbuild conference. But more importantly, they're all key pieces of the puzzle when it comes to reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment––and making it healthier and more resilient.

From the products and solutions on the expo floor to the session topics at Greenbuild this year, it was clear that there is a resounding urgency to adopt whole life...

In 2009, the American Institute of Architects launched the AIA 2030 Commitment, a strategy and framework that takes direct aim at reaching net-zero emissions in the built environment. 

Naturally, design and building materials are bedrock to achieving that goal. And so, in 2018, the AIA introduced the Architecture & Design (A&D) Materials Pledge and formally adopted it in 2020. Since then, more than 300 firms have committed to improving their material selection process across the pledge's five impact areas: human health, social health and equity, ecosystem health, climate health and circular economy. 

And holding true to the old adage, "You ca...

Responsible material selection and procurement is keystone to lowering the environmental impact of the built environment and improving occupant health over the entire life cycle of the building. 

In recognizing this, most green building certifying bodies are continuously evaluating how to rate and measure materials, and how to reward projects for prioritizing the use of those that are multi-attribute––in other words, materials that address carbon, ecosystem and human health, equity and circularity. 

In fact, under LEED v5, the USGBC just rolled out its Building Product Selection and Procurement credit, which provides a framework for materi...

The badlands of North Dakota, much like a library, are rich with story. The layers of mineral deposits visible in the buttes and hoodoos that make up the region are like raconteurs of the ancient inland seas, floodplains and volcanic ash that once covered the area 28 to 75 million years ago. But while the badlands are now cherished for their beauty and history, they were given that name long ago for a reason. They're rigid, arid and harsh––a beautiful place to visit, a difficult place to traverse.

But in the 1880s, when Theodore Roosevelt arrived in the regi...

Can buildings be circular systems? Unlocking overlooked opportunity

If we were to think of buildings as living beings, how might that change the way we approach their design? Rather than thinking of them as static objects, they might become dynamic, responsive and adaptive systems––designed to continuously evolve and regenerate. They might have metabolisms in which their resources are reused in a closed-loop system rather than introducing a constant stream of new materials. 

They might be designed for adaptability to adjust to the needs of their occupants over time. And, their full lifecycle might be consi...

Are we too quick to turn to technology and novelty to solve today's most pressing challenges? Perhaps history and nature hold the answers to modern-day dilemmas––particularly those related to environmental degradation. 

That is the stance architect, past AIA president and now author, Carl Elefante takes. Though he's been preaching that message for more than a decade now, he didn't begin his architectural career with that mentality. In fact, it was about midway through his career that an important shift occurred for him. He began to see historic buildings in a new light––suddenly they had something to teach...

We need forests. They're the lungs of the earth. They're also home to more plants and animals than any other terrestrial biome. They protect watersheds and mitigate flooding. Provide us humans with recreation, inspiration and well-being. And, of course, they contain vast amounts of carbon and the ability to draw down much of the carbon currently in the atmosphere. 

And it's because of this carbon-sequestering quality that wood products––particularly those in the building industry––have come to be deemed as "carbon neutral" or "carbon negative". And while wood may be the lower-carbon option compared to concrete or steel...

Andrew Ellsworth seems to have an incessant appetite for risk. But dig a little deeper and you see that that appetite is fueled by a profound desire to drive the positive changes that will support environmental health. And he's using the built environment as the entry point to create that change.

In addition to launching Doors Unhinged, the first US company to reclaim and resell commercial door systems, Andrew also co-founded the All For Reuse initiative to strengthen the demand for reclaimed materials. He also recently collaborated with Hennepin County in Minnesota to develop Building Circularity MN...

It's difficult to capture all that the multi-hyphenate Felix Heisel has achieved and created in the world of circular architecture in the past 15 years. Since graduating from architecture school in Germany, circular construction has been a central focus of his career. 

He's authored numerous books and papers on the topic, created and now directs the Circular Construction Lab at Cornell University, and has led countless circular construction exhibitions and research projects around the world, including one of his most current, called AR3-Lumber, an AI-driven application that will visually grade reclaimed lumber.

At this year's B...

In the structural engineering of buildings, concrete and steel are among the most widely used materials. Concrete is actually the most abundant manufactured material on earth. But for all of the tremendous qualities these commonly used structural materials provide, they come with high environmental costs in the form of embodied carbon. And many structural engineers are starting to take note...and do something about it. 

One such engineer is Luke Lombardi, a senior sustainability consultant at the engineering consultancy firm, Buro Happold. And at this year's Build Reuse conference, Luke spoke about the major impact structural engineers c...

Michael Orbank began his career as an environmental field technician, sampling soil and water to better understand the implications of petroleum contamination. But through conversations with subcontractors while on various job sites, Michael began to see an alternative pathway that could position him to make a bigger impact in the world of sustainability. So, he went back to school, earned a master's in civil engineering and initially entered the field as a project manager at a construction firm.

That role didn't fully satisfy his deep-seated interest in sustainability, so he began seeking out like-minded groups in the...

The seemingly benign act of curiosity actually has a very bold undercurrent. It has the power to conquer fear, challenge the status quo, propel innovation, and cultivate solutions. Curiosity is what drove Albert Einstein to revolutionize modern physics, and Walt Disney to produce the first feature-length animated film, which forever changed the industry. 

And curiosity is what has led interior designer Jenn Chen, a former partner at LMN Architects, deep into the world of circularity and understanding the carbon impact of cyclical interior renovations. 

Through her exploration of new design possibilities that could serve people an...

Over the course of his 35-year career as a structural engineer and as the past-president of the Seattle-based MKA Structural Engineers, Don Davies has guided the construction of numerous high-rise buildings around the world. But nearly 15 years ago, his focus started to shift after realizing how important structural engineers were to lowering the carbon impact of the built environment, yet they often weren't included in the conversation. 

So, Don got curious. And that curiosity, in relative short order, led him to a tribe of like-minded, intrepid individuals who would go on to co-create several organizations and carbon-calculating t...

In the world of deconstruction and circularity, nearly all roads lead back to a handful of industry vanguards. One of whom is Dave Bennink, more commonly known as Deconstruction Dave. Dave has been working to shepherd deconstruction and reuse into the mainstream for the better part of three decades. He brought a reuse innovation center to Bellingham, Washington and is now developing one in New York City. He founded the Building Deconstruction Institute, has led countless deconstruction efforts in cities across the country, and is routinely recruited by economic development organizations to help embed circular principles into local economies. 

It's estimated that more than 12 million tons of wood are landfilled every year in the US. And this figure doesn't even take into account the 46 million metric tons of urban lumber that is either landfilled, chipped or burned. In both scenarios, this is wood that still has tremendous economic and environmental value. And often, it's wood that is rich with history and story.

Luckily, there are some intrepid entrepreneurs working to extend the life of this valuable wood by rescuing and processing it, and getting it into the hands of the design-build community. One such entrepreneur is...

In the race to reduce the carbon impact of the built environment, and address planetary health and human health, circularity has become a key strategy. But, until more recently, circularity was almost like that one missing Lego piece needed to complete the build. And, as it turns out, that piece was actually sitting right in front of you the whole time…you just didn't recognize it. 

Still, even with the prospect of this piece getting you closer to completion, it's not always as simple as clicking it into place. And that was a primary topic of discussion at...

Take a moment to look around your current environment. Have you ever noticed just how many materials went into the makeup of your immediate surroundings?

Materials are everywhere and in everything we come into contact with. As such, they have a massive impact on us and the planet. And there's a level of complexity in understanding that impact that drew architect Simona Fischer to study them. 

Today, Simona is the director of sustainable practice at MSR Design based in Minneapolis. And with the knowledge she's gained over the past 10+ years, she helps educate other designers o...

Is it possible to feel like you are genuinely rooted in nature while living in the middle of suburbia? That was the hypothesis architects Matthew and Maria Salenger of coLAB studio set out to test––and they used their 1950s Cedar Street suburban tract home as the test ground.

In fact, they embarked on a study of sorts. A study that would span several years and evolve into something much larger than either likely imagined. As they began to rethink the way one could live in suburbia, they unearthed learnings in passive and biophilic design, planet-positive design, modu...

Dr. Esther Sternberg may not have predicted she would author several books on the built environment's impact on human health. After all, until 2012, she was working as a senior scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studying the brain-immune connection. But a chance encounter in 2000 with the then-research director for the US General Services Administration (GSA) would forever change the trajectory of her research work––and it started with one question, "Can we measure the impact of a workplace on employees' health, happiness and productivity?"

It's a question she answers in her latest book, "Well at Work...

Have you ever met one of those people who seems like they've already lived a thousand lives in just a matter of decades? Well, Dr. Gautam Gulati (or Dr. G as he prefers) is one of the humans…or rather super humans.

He's earned multiple degrees, from medical to business to design, launched several successful ventures, and speaks around the world...and that's the short list. And the golden thread through each of these endeavors? Changing people's lives.

Of course, Dr. G. also doesn't shy away from challenges. So when his dad developed a rapidly pr...

663 S. Cooper may be home to archimania, an architecture firm in Memphis, TN, but that's just one detail of this unassuming (yet inviting) building on S. Cooper St. What started as the remodel of a pair of midcentury buildings and a tenacious goal of achieving zero carbon, zero energy, blossomed into something much bigger: the making of a connected, carbon-neutral corridor.

See how this team of archimaniacs proved the model for achieving zero carbon, zero energy on a budget, and how they're working to inspire community, connection and carbon neutrality along a three-mile stretch of Cooper St...

Build shelter. Not too big. Mostly plants. 

Those seven simple words––though borrowed and modified from famed author Michael Pollan in more recent years––embody the ideology that has guided the Bay-area architecture firm Arkin Tilt for nearly three decades. Led by David Arkin and Anni Tilt, they decided early on to hang their hats on ecological design –– mindfully adapting designs to be harmonious with the surrounding ecology and working with bio-based, alternative construction systems like straw bale and rammed earth. 

And this was well before sustainable design had really caught on in the mainstream. So, what drew...

Welcome to Vali Mews, a four-home urban development in the heart of Phoenix that was designed as somewhat of an experiment. Several years ago, the duo behind this ambitious project, Austin Trautman and Lucas Johnson, set out to see if they could create the "everything bagel" of good building.

Not only did they aim to use materials and building practices that were mindful of human health, embodied carbon and embodied injustice, they simultaneously wanted to address the "missing middle" housing dilemma and create environments that evoked human joy.

Were they successful? Take a listen and...

Modernist architecture may be among the more divisive, debated and controversial architectural styles throughout history. But love it or hate it, few can contest its contributions to fundamentally shifting the way humans engage with the built environment. Modernist architects believed in designing spaces that blurred the lines between indoors and outdoors, tapped into primal instincts and desires and eased the stresses of modern life––in a sense, providing architectural therapy.

And George Smart, the founder and CEO of US Modernist, a nonprofit organization, is on a mission to promote and preserve modernist architecture and the stories behind it...

Most homes are not built with human health in mind. In fact, many are actually contributing to negative health outcomes and overall poor health in occupants young and old. But what does a "healthy" home look like? What features should be incorporated and what should be avoided?

This is what the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) set out to solve nearly four years ago. But the history of IWBI and its effort to create a standard of wellness in the built environment dates back to more than a decade ago.

...

Can high performance and beautiful design coexist? This home cracks the code.

Civitas is many things to many people. It's a study in sustainability and scalability. It's a connection point for the surrounding neighborhood. It's a test in pairing high design and high performance. And for Barry Yoakum, the architect behind the project, it's also his family home and an opportunity to pay homage to a place that's near and dear to his heart. And Barry is all too keen to welcome the community in to tell the story of the appropriately named home––Civitas, which is Lati...

Like all great movements, mindful MATERIALS grew out of a need. For many years, it existed as a database, but along that path, it began to attract stakeholders from all corners of the building industry who were passionate about proliferating healthy materials action. Architects, designers, engineers, manufacturers, and owners, to name a few, were joining in what was rapidly becoming an international movement.

Each year, mindful MATERIALS has a growing presence at the Greenbuild conference. And this year, they took us on a tour of some of their partners in the mindful MATERIALS pavilion.

Have you ever considered how many chemicals you encounter on a daily basis? And how many of the chemicals are hazardous to your health?

It's not something most of us typically think about unless prompted by the distinct odor of off gassing or a visible warning label. But the fact of the matter is, there's almost no escaping them, and you might be surprised to know just how many toxic chemicals surround us and pose health and environmental risks.

In this episode, Mike Johnson, senior director of materials at the International Living Future Institute (ILFI...

Is organic architecture the key to sustainable building? This home in Scottsdale, Arizona, designed and developed by desert modernist architect Craig Wickersham, is an exploration of the principles of organic architecture as taught by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

This project, at the base of Pinnacle Peak, demonstrates how starting with a deep respect and love for the land and surrounding ecosystem impacts design decisions and ultimately the imprint on the environment.