The Future of Sustainable Buildings

How Timber Will Define the Skylines of Our Future

On-demand

+1 Continuing Educational Unit

Evolution | Revolution

Climate change will impact how we live and design in the future. To slow the rate of climate change we need to rethink the way we build. Sustainable design has many meanings, but for my practice it starts with the recipe of building and the choice of healthy ingredients. The materials of a building and especially the structural materials represent the embodied carbon in a building’s life. Timber is an important ingredient in lowering a building’s embodied carbon footprint. Our practice designs, innovates, engineers and advocates for timber buildings that can reduce our carbon footprint and build beautiful, healthy cities for tomorrow.

Nature | Architecture

Almost half of our energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are related to the building industry. The materials of the last century—concrete and steel—account for 8% of global emissions. By looking to nature, award-winning architect Michael Green explains how we can solve two problems—world housing and climate change—in an innovative, systemic way. He advocates for sweeping changes in building regulations to embrace wood as a building material for large-scale projects—even 30 storeys tall skyscrapers (otherwise known as “plyscrapers”). “I believe that wood is the most technologically advanced material I can build with,” Green explains. “It just happens to be that Mother Nature holds the patent, and we don’t really feel comfortable with it.”

Bio

Michael Green is an award-winning architect known globally for his research, leadership, and advocacy in promoting innovation in the built environment and creating meaningful, sustainable and beautiful architecture. He lectures internationally on the subject, including his TED talk, “Why We Should Build Wooden Skyscrapers.”

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Michael founded MGA to create meaningful and sustainable change in buildings through innovation in construction sciences and design. Michael and his team are ambitiously extending the boundaries of mass timber construction, having completed some of the largest modern timber buildings in the world, including The Wood Innovation Design Centre in Prince George, BC, and T3 Minneapolis, MN. He is also the founder of DBR | (Design Build Research) and TOE | (Timber Online Education), a non-profit school and research platform dedicated to teaching the design and construction of socially, culturally and environmentally relevant student-led installations, with a focus ion systemic change in building for climate, environment, disaster, and global shelter needs.

Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and has been honoured with North America’s most prestigious awards, including two RAIC Innovation Awards and four Governor General’s Medals. In 2014, Michael received an honourary doctorate from the University of Northern British Columbia. He is the co-author of ‘The Case for Tall Wood Buildings,’ and ‘Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance.’

Numbers That Speak For Themselves

40%

Around 40% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide were related to the construction and operation of buildings in 2017.

70%

Almost 70% of the world’s forests are located less than a kilometre away from a city.

60%

60% of the raw materials extracted from the lithosphere is used for the construction of civil engineering works (20%) and buildings (40%).

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