Green Building Movement: The New Iconic

Earlier this month industry leaders, experts and frontline professionals dedicated to sustainable buildings in their everyday work came together for Greenbuild, the world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building. Michael Brown, Sustainability Manager and Energy Modeler at The Beck Group was one of them. 

Michael captured his thoughts before the event on how the green building movement is evolving the definition of the word “iconic” in the 21st century.

Each year thousands of professionals from various industries come together to take part in one of the most dynamic and engaging conferences in the world. Focused on education, networking, volunteering and environmental stewardship from an AEC perspective, GreenBuild is one of the best opportunities for the development of the next generation of emerging young professionals. While many are from the western hemisphere, hundreds will travel across the globe to attend the event. With over 19,000 attendees last year, I can only imagine the sheer number of sustainability leaders projected to make history once again this year.

Reuniting with old colleagues and meeting new friends, even the night before the first conference session begins, brings back one of many nostalgic memories of impactful connections and reinforcing the “why” we do what we do as industry professionals. At a networking event last night I was reminded during a karaoke episode singing to “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey that against all odds (perceived or real) we must truly be resilient in our message and diligent efforts to design high performance buildings.

As United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro said at the 2015 conference, “we are not going to stop until every community has access to economic and environmental benefit; the very ones your work provides.”

Iconic in the traditional sense means relating to a sign or representation that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it. Historically, this could be descriptive of buildings such as the iconic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright or Frank Gehry. In a way, the green building movement has helped evolve this definition in the 21st century; moving from aesthetics to a place of ideas and innovation. I anticipate that this year’s conference will help resonate this concept and so much more.

I hope that everyone will walk away more enlightened and passionate to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.

“There is work to be done…… so we do it” – Rick Fedrizzi

To hear more from Michael, follow him on LinkedIn.