The Annual George Baird Lecture—Building a Planetary Solution: Regenerative Design and Construction for the Future of Human Settlement

The eco-systemic sources from (and through) which we draw virgin raw material for building and which we encroach upon with our continual expansion of human settlement are receding and weakening, increasingly unable to supply the ecosystem services (clean air and water, habitat, foodstuffs) that are critical to our and our fellow species’ survival. Despite massive physical investment and environmental impact, the global building sector has failed to meet the basic need for safe and secure shelter and convivial living conditions for broad swaths of humanity. As we approach critical planetary tipping points, how can we, as architects (and with our colleagues in the building sector) mitigate or even reverse the ecological and atmospheric impacts of our work while offering building solutions for the demands of burgeoning global populations? These are challenges that we must inevitably face as we conduct our work as architects in the 21st century.

Alan Organschi is partner and principal at GOA, an architectural practice in New Haven, Connecticut recognized internationally for its integration of building design, construction, and environmental research. He is Professor in the Practice at the Yale School of Architecture where he serves as Director of the Yale Building Lab an interdisciplinary initiative in regenerative building research and experimentation. He has written and lectured extensively on the carbon storage benefits of biogenic material substitution and circular economic strategies in urban building.