7th Annual Climate Adaptive Design – where Building Science meets Climate Science

American Institute of Architects – Asheville Section – continues its annual Where Building Science Meets Climate Science professional development series designed to build proficiencies related to climate change and architecture.

HSW Continuing education credit hours are one hour for the Thursday evening session, six hours for the Friday program.

Thursday November 4

Join us Thursday evening at 5:15-6:00pm for a public reception and networking session followed at 6pm with a discussion of sustainable buildings in the southeast. Keynote speakers Lord Aeck & Sargent present highlights from their portfolio of regional LEED and Living Building projects. Thursday evening’s public lecture is free, (donations accepted), and all community members are invited to attend. 

All those attending Friday’s program are also reserved for Thursday’s evening program. Registration for those attending only Thursday’s event will be announced at a later date, with in-person attendance dependent on availability. 

Keynote Speakers

Joe Greco, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB

As president of Lord Aeck Sargent (LAS), Joe Greco has been involved in the design of many of the firm’s significant and most sustainable projects. With over 30 years’ experience at LAS, he has helped shape the firm’s trajectory and design reputation first since becoming a Principal in 2000.

Joe has served as the design or project principal on many of LAS’s award-winning, innovative projects, across a wide range of building types over the last two decades.

Now with a broader focus toward expanding a resilient firm design culture built on LAS’s pursuit of Responsive Design, Joe promotes a creative mission based the firm’s Design Core Values – LAS seeks imaginative design solutions that holistically integrate complex and technical program requirements in poetic ways to create enduring and regenerative spaces, mindful of their place, time and truly context-driven.

Joe earned his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Georgia Tech and his Master of Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, is LEED Accredited and is a National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) certificate holder.

Joshua R. Gassman, RA, LEED AP BD+C

Joshua Gassman is the Sustainable Design Director at Lord Aeck Sargent. He has more than 20 years of experience dedicated to complex, sustainably focused projects. With a broad portfolio of higher education and institutional clients, his career has been centered on technically challenging projects with large, multifaceted consultant teams. An avid environmentalist, Joshua has extensive knowledge of the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) System as well as other sustainability verification systems such as Living Building Challenge. His experience has resulted in exceptionally high performing buildings including net-positive water and net-positive energy buildings, including the Kendeda Building at Georgia Tech.

Joshua earned his Master of Architecture from Arizona State University (1999) and his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, from Washington University in St. Louis (1997). He is a LEED-accredited professional (BD+C), a NCARB Certificate Holder and member of many professional organizations, including AIA Atlanta Committee on the Environment, I2SL, USGBC and the International Living Futures Institute. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Audubon Society and is the Co-Vice President of the Georgia Chapter of I2SL.

Friday November 5

The Friday conference continues at The Collider with registration from 8:15 am to 8:45 am. Aimed at the professional architect, designer, planner and construction expert, the conference offers six continuing education credits.  A catered lunch is included in the registration fee. The conference concludes at 5:00 pm.

Presenting the State of the Climate

Dr. Betsy Weatherhead, Ph.D., FAMS  

Dr. Weatherhead is an award-winning climate scientist who specializes in making environment information useful, understandable, and fully quantified. Using a combination of observations, advanced data analysis approaches and modeling techniques, she has made estimates of long-term changes of climate and their economic toll and is actively involved in research in support of renewable energy. She serves on NOAA’s Scientific Advisory Board and is an Advisor to the European Centre Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) Copernicus Climate Change Service as well as the think tank Resources for the Future. She shares the 2006 Nobel Peace prize for her contributions to IPCC, served as Director of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, and was an expert reviewer on the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere.  Dr. Weatherhead retired from the U. of Colorado where she taught advanced statistical techniques for analyzing environmental data. She has worked for Jupiter Analytics and with the federal government collaborating across agencies including, USGS, NASA, DOE, EPA and NOAA.

Presenting the State of Architecture

Betsy del Monte, FAIA, LEED BD+C

Ms. del Monte is an architect with 30 years of experience in high-performance architecture and environmentally responsive design. She is a consultant with the Cameron MacAllister Group, working with firms to enable sustainability and resilience. She is an adjunct professor at SMU’s School of Engineering, teaching graduate courses in sustainability and development. She also teaches workshops with the UrbanPlan exercise for ULI. 

Betsy has been named a Fellow by the AIA and as a Senior Fellow in the Design Futures Council. She currently serves on the national AIA Strategic Council and the national Sustainable Leaders Group. She will be national chair of COTE in 2021. She also sits on the board of bcWorkshop, and advisory boards for CityLab High School and UVA School of Architecture. 

She received degrees in architecture from the University of Virginia, and Rice University. Her experience includes 30 years of experience in high-performance architecture and environmental responsive design and planning. She has worked with major architecture firms in Atlanta, Houston and New York. 

Mary Ann Lazarus, FAIA, LEED Fellow

Ms. Lazarus, FAIA, LEED Fellow is a consultant at the Cameron MacAllister Group where she works with design firms to define their sustainability and resiliency goals and identify strategies to achieve them. Mary Ann also is an Adjunct Faculty at Washington University in St. Louis and is the Coordinator for the Sustainability Program at WashU’s University College.

Mary Ann is an architect with over 40 years of experience who served as Firmwide Director of Sustainable Design at HOK for a decade and is one of the founders of that firm’s sustainable design initiative. In addition, Mary Ann served as the Resident Fellow on Sustainability at the American Institute of Architects and authored the AIA’s Sustainability Leadership Opportunity Scan addressing how architects can expand their impact through sustainability. The Scan served as a foundation for the AIA’s recent Strategic Plan with climate action and equity as top priorities. She is a co-author of the seminal HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design, 2nd Edition.

Mary Ann has been active in the green building movement for over three decades as an author, national lecturer, community advocate, and volunteer at the local and national levels. She served as 2017 Chair of the AIA’s Committee on the Environment Advisory Group. She also serves on the AIA Strategic Council, the AIA Climate Change and Design Excellence Committee and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Resilient Design Institute.

Keynote speakers from Lord Aeck Sargent dive deep into the process of achieving Living Building status in the Southeastern climate at the Kendeda Building at Georgia Tech. The afternoon presentation by Newcombe & Boyd focuses on the engineering approach to achieving net zero energy and water at the Kendeda Building.

Todd Mowinski, PE

Partner – Newcomb & Boyd

With over 20 years of experience in mechanical engineering design, project management, and partner-in-charge responsibilities on more than 270 facilities, Todd has particular expertise in the areas of academia, medical facilities and laboratories. He has presented to international conferences on sustainability in HVAC design and has also published on the topic. In his free time, Todd enjoys expressing his creativity through playing the drums and restoring Jeeps.

Events are physically held at The Collider located at 1 Haywood Street in downtown Asheville, NC. The in-person venue welcomes fully vaccinated attendees. The program has an on-line option for those who prefer a virtual experience. Registrants will receive an email with a link to join prior to the event.

The conference is a collaboration between the Asheville Section of American Institute of Architects (AIA Asheville) and CASE Consultants International – Led by Steering Committee:

On July 27, 2022   /   Climate Symposium