Corey Squire, AIA
Sustainability Director, Bora architect and Interiors
Message from Oregon Committee on the Environment
It’s that time of the year again - Sustainable Building Week is about to kick off with a full array of exciting talks, tours, and other sustainability education and networking opportunities. With the stated goal of keeping Portland green, the 6th installation of this annual event offers a week of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events that will break down siloed thinking and improve cross-disciplinary education, connectivity and future collaboration to promote sustainable design practices across the city of Portland and beyond. Check out the full schedule of events. As part of this year’s event, AIA Oregon COTE will be hosting Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, who will keynote the Green Champion Summit on Monday, October 9th. Blackwell, an innovative designer who, along with his wife, Meryati Johari Blackwell, leads Marlon Blackwell Architects in Fayetteville, Arkansas will discuss the idea of elegant design as a civil right. His lecture will focus on case studies that illustrate how a process of inclusion will lead to community resilience. My personal favorite Marlon Blackwell project is St. Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church, an AIA honors award-winning project which, at 3,600 sf and costing $400,000 shows that creating a community with great design does not need to carry a hefty price tag. We’re incredibly fortunate to have Blackwell visit Portland and look forward to a great event.
Another exciting event in the design world is the newly published update of the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence. Originally adopted by the AIA Board of Directors following a convention floor vote in 2019, the AIA Framework for Design Excellence redefines the institute’s definition of good design to focus on quadruple goals of zero carbon, social equity, resilience, and human health. Based on ten measures of design that include ecology, resources, and discovery, to name a few, The Framework documents simple, accessible, and effective design strategies that empower practitioners to achieve design excellence across their portfolios. The content is updated bi-annually to remain on the leading edge and the recent update, partially around equitable communities and embodied carbon, are particularly useful. If you have not leveraged this resource in the past, I highly encourage checking it out.
Finally, I’d like to announce my new book, People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture's Potential (Island Press, publication November 14). The book, which grew out of both my work on the AIA Framework and my sustainable design consulting practice, attempts to define a holistic approach to sustainable architecture. “Where do I start?”, is the question I hear most frequently when speaking with firms and practitioners about transforming their practice to produce sustainable and equitable outcomes, and I'm hoping this book will serve as an empowering answer. Deep technical expertise is essential, and ten major building systems are covered in detail, but this alone is not enough. In addition, a practice needs both a clear idea on the outcomes to be designing towards and the culture milieu that will allow better design processes to thrive. Beginning with an exploration of the purpose of design and the meaning of sustainability, the book offers guidance on both technical high-performance design strategies and methods for centering sustainability and equity within practice. I’m excited to celebrate the book’s publication with the Oregon architecture community and details on a book launch event will be forthcoming.