For my first post on our blog, I’ll start with a question of inspiration:  Does it get better than GreenBuild?

When you are a sustainable design professional, in the realm of all the conferences you could attend throughout the year, probably not.

Each year we gather in a different great city (now tens of thousands strong).  We go to meet, greet, say hello again, share our work and pontificate the potential of our impact on this industry (or should I say these industries – we touch hundreds both directly and indirectly).  Two weeks ago I was packing my bags in preparation for almost a week in Boston.  Now I’m back in DC, still stuffed from a big turkey dinner and time with good friends and family.  There has been a great deal of time to reflect…

My experiences this year were many; inspiration and ideas certainly abound throughout the 3+-day conference.  What I think most, if not all of us took away from GB this year is twofold.  One is the celebration of how great the sustainable/green world is right now.  Whether you are an architect, planner, interior design professional, policy maker, construction worker, portfolio manager or student, you realize the impact you have on the world.  The other easily recognizable realization is how far we really must go to have a truly sustainable world.

It’s not just about fulfilling a “2030 Challenge,” creating more LEED Platinum buildings, purchasing offsets for our travel or moving towards a “Green Collar Economy.”  It’s about all of these things, and more.  It’s about everything as we know it.  It’s about what is simply the right thing to do, for all of us, for eternity.  It’s about pushing the limits of green design, realizing viable solutions for our clients and delivering state-of-the-planet ecological design.

If anything was more apparent for a member of the HOK organization at GreenBuild, it is the impact our establishment can have on the fundamental components of our built environment, the protection of our natural resources and the betterment of the quality of life and wealth for everyone.  The plans, buildings and strategies we create for our clients deeply impact every aspect of life, human or otherwise; this is at the core of what leaves us responsible for raising the bar in the realm of sustainable design. 

As part of the Sustainable Design Team in DC, I was amazed at how often the HOK on my name badge brought instant attention.  “Oh you work for HOK, aren’t you guys really into this sustainable design thing…”  Yes, we really are.  We live it, breath it, plan it, draw it and help others build it.  We really are into this ‘sustainable design thing.’  So much so that if you are like me you don’t even want the term ‘sustainable design’ to exist, you want sustainability so engrained into the design process that it just is what it is: design.  Deep down inside you know this is the way it should be.

Fortunately for us, we’re not quite there yet.  This provides us with a unique opportunity.  As an early adopter and forerunner in sustainable design (we did write the book on it J) we have a fundamental deep-seated obligation to remain on the forefront.  Some of what was truly state of the art in this industry 10 or 20 years ago might be old hat now.  Just like what is considered radical, green, etc. today will be just the way it is (or was) 10-20 years in the future.   What should, and is, coming out of our designs must always remain true to the roots our founders inspired, and today’s innovators have built upon.

What do we say to the naysayers?

Simply this.  Early adopters will suffer a little bit in the beginning, but after paying their dues will reap the rewards of more effective design (through energy savings, healthier more productive occupants, lower operating costs, local or international prestige, you name it; ask Advance Strategies, the list goes on… ).

So why am I rambling on about how great we are, and where we have to go?  Because it’s important to recognize where we are in the marketplace right now, as an industry and as a firm.  We are strategically prepared to lead in a time when our industry desperately needs leaders.  We are blessed with the talent and knowledgebase of Champions of Sustainability.  People who make the ‘green thing’ their lives flock to us in the thousands, to work and to partner with.

Echoing the words of one of my icons at GreenBuild, Van Jones: An economy based on consuming, debt and environmental destruction has failed.  It is time for the exact opposite, a green economy.  One based on production, thrift and environmental preservation.  By going back to production in the US (or your respective country) we can rejuvenate the local/regional economy.  Local conditions, local materials, local money and the local environment will play key roles in this new economy. 

On a stateside note, when Americans spoke on November 4, 2008 and elected Barack Obama the 44^th President of the United States, we elected CHANGE that sparked renewed inspiration for our country and other nations across the globe.  We elected to refit and retrofit America, and we at HOK are ready for the challenge.  WE can help build and rebuild everything.  We have the power to influence how decision-makers make decisions.  We have the power to fuel job creation through green jobs, energy saving, capitol cost saving, environment saving.  We have influence in our industry and in our locales to put folks at work, directly impacting the essential shift in our economy and way of life, away from reliance on foreign oil, foreign aid and negative foreign approval.  We can encourage our international clients to do the same: To focus on local initiatives to solve global problems.

When our projects incorporate clean energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal we put new industries to work, we help create new markets and green jobs.  When our projects specify green materials that emit fewer toxins into the air, we provide for healthier more productive workers.  When our projects protect and restore habitat we add to the biodiversity, the inherent knowledge and beauty of a place.  When we use less water, there is more of this precious resource to go around.  When we save every bit of power, it’s that much less ancient energy that goes into the fire spewing thousands of pollutants into the atmosphere.  When we divert construction and renovation waste from going to a landfill, a new school gets salvaged tables and chairs, doors and countertops, or a factory gets recycled raw material for a whole host of green materials. 

EVERY decision we make impacts this world in the most serious way.  Whether we work on a LEED project or not, these ideas must remain paramount to our decision making.  There’s no reason for them not to.

In the same way that the interstate highway system was created to connect both coasts (initially in the name of defense, but ultimately for everything else including commerce and recreation), if we help to build the green infrastructure required for this green economy, it will come, and they will love you for it.  Commerce will truly be changed to the Nth degree.  Again, to quote Van, “This is an American project…  We can be a world leader in solutions, not pollution…”  We have all of the pieces to do this in this country.  Firms like us play an integral role.

So teach each other what you know.  Spread the wealth of knowledge.  Have a “mini GreenBuild” every time you facilitate a design Charrette or team meeting.  Teach the teachers so that they may go forth and spread the wisdom of intelligent design.  This stuff isn’t for the birds, well some of it is .  When I studied sustainability, green solutions, natural history and ‘ecological design’ at the University of Vermont 10 years ago, I was dubbed the tree-hugging hippie.  Now folks consider those of us who contemplate Biomimicry, better materials and smarter more efficient and effective design forerunners in our field…  Who knew?  Call us early adopters willing to take a risk on something we know is just plain better.  Call us whatever you want.  We know what we’re doing.  Ask us and we’re willing to share.  If we don’t know the answer outright, we’ll help you do the research, and then we’ll both be better off for asking the right questions.

When developing planning framework for something simple like a janitor closet or infinitely complex like an entire campus portfolio project or master plan, encompass the idea of sustainability, providing for future generations, with what we have left now.  Utilize our diverse network to not just efficiently make things less bad, but to effectively solve problems and make them better.  Embrace the new economy by helping clients make good financial decisions that positively affect their bottom line, their employees well being and the state of our world.  It’s good for people and the environment.  Encourage partnerships with firms who are really walking the walk alongside us.  We are already doing such a great job at this, let’s continue to hold ourselves accountable as members of the #1 green design firm and keep it up.  Others will soon follow our lead. 

Boy am I inspired or what…  This is why we go to GreenBuild.  See you in Phoenix in 2009!

Oh yeah, on another note the educational sessions and expo floor were pretty sweet too.  I learned a lot about a lot, too much to go into detail in now.  I highly suggest watching the educational and master speaker sessions via the CD many offices have purchased or GreenBuild 365.  Pick your favorites and go forth and triumph.  You don’t need me to tell you all of this great stuff.

Didn’t take too many photos of the expo, but I’ll update this post with some of them here when I finally get through them all.

All the best to everyone, let’s keep up the good work.  The world is watching, waiting and asking us to help.  We can continue to show them what we are made of: some of the best talent in architecture, planning, interiors, landscape architecture, and strategic thought leadership.  We are all of this and more, we are sustainability.