Konrad M. Collins // Portfolio

KONRAD M. COLLINS, LFA YALE UNIVERSITY 2018-23 B.A. Environmental Studies B.S. Cognitive Science

EXPERI ENCES - MENTS

PURPOSE Architecture provides the unique opportunity to weave the cognitive and ecological qualities that compose our lives with the economic and cultural characteristics that shape our world.

Utilizing my research based, liberal arts education in ecology and cognition, my spiritual practice as a Vipassana Buddhist, and my professional experiences in building construction and development finance, my goal is to design spaces that are hyperintentional in their conceptualization, community integration, finance, construction, occupation, and adaptation. My ultimate pursuit is to contribute toward and eventually lead project teams creating regenerative buildings, communities, ecosystems, and economies that are dynamically stable and measurably supportive of health, well-being, and symbiotic coevolution.

ECOLOGY

01 REGENERATE

02 P.S.A. HOMES 03 CIRCULATE

04 DESIGN-BUIL

ANATOMY

COGNITION

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05 FIGURES

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09 OPTIMIZING EDUCATION

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06 REACTIONS

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10 PERCEPTION.update()

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07 GLORIA

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08 DREAM SHELL

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11 MAKING THE MOST

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ECOLOGY connection of organisms to one another, and to the their environment

Note: every image used throughout this portfolio was captured by me, unless otherwise specified clearly.

ECOLOGY The UN’s Refugee Agency estimated that in 2022 an unprecedented 108 million people were forcibly displaced due to natural disasters and political conflict. As population displacement continues, and likely increases due to a destabilizing climate, sanctuary cities like New Haven, Connecticut, are going to play vital roles in sustaining the livelihoods of these populations. However, New Haven’s coastal location means that it too will experience the increased severity of natural turbulence while continually working to support already displaced populations as well as the local community that resides there.

How can sanctuary cities like New Haven prepare for both an influx of global migrants, as well as the ecological challenges that displaced them?

01 REGENERATE Work Course Project

Academic Research // Yale School of the Environment ENV 894 Green Building: Issues & Perspectives Research, design, presentation

Date Method

Sept - Dec 2022 Self-taught Rhino, Enscape, Excel, Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate

Team

Individual // With guidance from the City of New Haven’s Office of Economic Development, and Yale SOE Professor & City Architect, Melissa Kops

At the end of New Haven’s Industrial Age, corporate giants like Winchester Rifles, New Haven Clock, and M. Armstrong Carriages either dissolved or relocated.

Leaving their headquarter and factory buildings abandoned today.

Opportunity exists in these forgotten spaces.

By revitalizing the historic factory buildings of New Haven, the city might better prepare for their imminent challenges. By necessity, these regenerative developments must be profitable to incentivize developers, affordable for tenants, integrated within the community’s common interests, and they must support the symbiotic coevolution of the economic, cultural, and ecological systems within the entire bioregion.

Conceptual occupation render | Rhino, Enscape Photoshop 1

SUGGESTIONS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES Identify Story of Place

Work from Potential

Design for Evolution

Integrate Com

Symbiotic coevolution of systems can only take place successfully using strategies that are precisely fitted to a specific place given its history and context.

Recognizing the cultural, economic, and ecological value-generating capacity of the place encourages various stake-holders to engage with the project team and its mission.

Designers must consider projects as beginnings to regenerative processes, as opposed to end products, in order to create truly “sustainable” spaces in resilient systems.

By getting stakeh towards coevol developers can be that act as cat symbiotic process

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mmunity

Leverage Nodal Interventions

holders to cooperate lving mutualism, etter create projects talysts for future ses.

Getting community agents to understand the project’s ethos, and practice conscious interventions in effective places, is an enormously powerful and realistic way to generate positive change.

Exterior (right) and interior (left) renders of the full conceptual regenerative redevelopment | Rhino, Enscape, Photoshop

IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITY

45 N

1 2

37.5 N

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30 N

1. Boston, MA 2. Providence, RI 3. New York City, NY

90 W

(A) Dixwell: the city recently approved a large-scale redevelopment of the After identifying potential sites with the needed Dixwell Plaza that includes housing, grocery, and retail. zoning requirements, the following were the best candidates for a regenerative development given (B) Long Wharf: long-term plans to redevelop the waterfront have been their location, ownership status, assessed value, circulating for nearly a decade. Projects like the new, all electric Hotel Marcel are building history, and general appeal after in-person ahead of this and have recently opened in the area. viewing: (C) Wooster: extensive growth seen here over the last decade with new residential developments. Large disparities exist between the newer gentrified apartment buildings and the older streets. Many of the forgotten factories are throughout this neighborhood.

433 Chapel Street: former Armstrong carriage factory. Currently in the foreclosure process. Light Industrial zoning, but the city has been trying to redevelop this property for decades and the Office of Economic Development stated potential (D) Fair Haven: adjacent town to New Haven that’s family and community willingness to rezone. oriented. With guidance from the community, Winn Developers recently renovated the area’s old, unused high school for affordable senior living that is fully Passive 198 Water Street: abandoned steel mill owned Certified. Shows that Regenerative Developments are valued. by the city. Over four acres and next to Armada Brewery. Light Industrial zoning, but New Haven’s OED stated willingness to rezone.

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New Haven, Connecticut // Where is the city developing?

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a Labeled public zoning map of New Haven | Photoshop, Procreate

COMPARING POTENTIALS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Working with the city is essential in both cases to secure a reduced purchase price, and city involvement for community integration is needed for designing a project that can meet the region’s evolving needs. New Haven’s OED expressed direct excitement about 433 Chapel Street, and after comparing the financial models for both sites, it became clear that:

the best opportunity is at 433 Chapel, the former M. Armstrong Carriage factory.

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The projected Net Operating Income (left) is low compared to similarly sized projects, but the projected Internal Rate of Return and Profit after a year 15 sale (below) are high enough compared to industry standards that a developer could approach the project excitedly, given customary loan rates.

Financial models created using information provided by the city of New Haven’s Office of Economic Development.

DESIGN FOR EVOLUTION By thinking of design as a catalyst for an evolving regenerative process, instead of an end product, designers can provide better opportunities for projects to be sustainable contributors to co-evolution in the bioregion.

Hand-drawn regenerative development concept at the abandoned M. Armstrong Carriage factory | Procreate 5

Regenerative Engineering 1

1 303 south-facing rooftop and parking lot PV panels capable of generating an average 15.1 kBtu/sf EUI

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2 3,000 gallon Rainwater capture, treatment, storage, with grey-water recycling (irrigation only per code) 3 2,000 sf urban greenhouse with various foods and growlights 4 Greenhouse integrated supply air system that uses the greenhouse to heat and filter occupant air before it goes through an ERV to occupants

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5 Centralized composting toilets

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Regenerative engineering systems measured on a 3D model built from property survey data (structural walls and additional partitions hidden) | Rhino

INTEGRATING COMMUNITY By involving local community members, designers can better participate in the process of being in that community.

Through a series of brief interviews, local New Havenites provided a variety of suggestions regarding the future development of their community. Including, but certainly not limited to, working towards more affordable housing opportunities, decreasing energy consumption & cost, increasing grid reliability, practicing green (biophilic) design, reducing combustion in building & public transit systems, and localizing food & energy production.

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Hand-drawn occupation and construction sections | Adobe Illustrator, Procreate

ECOLOGY In thirty years, it is estimated that two-thirds of the global population, 6.5 billion people, will live in urban environments (from the UN GPHS). To compound the issue, the built environment is contributing nearly half of all global carbon dioxide emissions (WGBC). As this pattern continues, mass migration away from the equator is likely, and rural towns will experience unprecedented urbanization.

We’ve seen similar exodus throughout the pandemic as cities like Boise, Idaho and Bend, Oregon have expanded immensely.

How can these urbanizing cities (especially in the northern, rural areas of the US) simultaneously increase housing opportunities, improve lives within the community, and combat the climate crisis?

02 P.S.A. HOMES Work Course Project

Academic // Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs EVST 299 Sustainable Development Goals Research & conceptual design of a solution fitting any United Nations SDG initiative

Date Method

Mar-May 2023 Open project conceptualization, presentation, Rhino, Enscape, Photoshop, Google Slides, Sheets

Team

My good friend, the late, wonderful, Garrett W. Woodard // We conceptualized, designed, and presented the project together, though his main focus was the 3D modeling, rendering, while mine was financial modeling, writing, documenting // With guidance from Professor Gordon Geballe

There is no addressing the climate crisis without comprehensively reshaping the long-term viability and sustainability of our built environments. Increasing urbanization can play a positive role in this effort by utilizing existing engineering strategies to generate on-site renewable energy, capture and treat water, compost waste, and grow food. For deployment in ranging environments, as well as enabling coevolution. These buildings must also be modular and easily reconfigured. By necessity, these developments must be profitable to leverage developers, while maintaining affordability for tenants.

In essence, to combat the climate crisis via the built environment, designers must create places that are profitable, sustainable, and affordable (P. S. A.).

Note: Garrett and I worked together to photoshop all of the renderings used here, though he made the digital models on his own with only occassional suggestions by me.

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Potential occupation render for our P.S.A. Homes design | Rhino, Esncape, Photoshop

PROFITABLE. SUSTAINABLE. AFFORDABLE. To holistically improve the livelihood of urbanizing communities, designers must attempt increasing residential density in a way that works with the flow of resources like energy, food, water, finances, and shelter. They must be rooted in the needs of the community while enabling symbiotic participation in the bioregion.

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Conceptual site layout (left) and occupation (right) | Photoshop, Enscape

IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITY For many years my parents owned the house at 1037 Albany Ave in my hometown, Bend, Oregon. They spent some time living in the ancient house, but always wanted to build on the property. Garrett and I explored what could be developed there. Setbacks, height restrictions, and unit limits in the city’s building code explained that we could construct 6 more units within the boundaries below.

Once we understood the site limits, we focused on finding precedence for our design ideas. Gray Organschi’s Ecological Living Module fit the site bounds and incorporated the encapsulated regenerative engineering systems we invisioned.

Concept of Organschi’s Modules on-site | Photoshop 9

COMPARING PRO FORMAS

Our design for modular housing includes renewable energy generation and storage, rainwater capture and treatment (blue), composting waste (green), plant/food growth, local materials, and three stories for comfortable living.

I interviewed a Bend developer on the City’s Board of Economic Development to get rough information regarding the cost to build these houses, the requirements for getting construction loans, and the process of paying off such loans. Then I used that information to build financial models (below) to compare the financial incentives of: A building these units and selling at year 15, B selling the property immediately, and C not building and selling at year 15. By comparing these side by side, the benefits of A , like a 33% IRR and a +$3.6M pre-tax profit reveal clear incentives in favor of building our modular P.S.A. units.

A

XB

XC

Comparing final outputs of financial models made using data from a local developer and online sources like NerdWallet and Caliber Loans.

CONCEPTUALIZING BIOPHILIA Biophilic design strategies rooted in the innate human connection to nature have been shown to generate an abundance of benefits for site inhabitants: including improved cognitive function & productivity, reduced stress, expedited healing, increased creativity, and an overall improvement in well-being. Such biophilic strategies of design have been identified as: • • • • • • • • •

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Biomorphic forms & complexity Exposure to organic systems Resource production Experiencing narrative/story Companionship with other beings Dynamic & diffuse lighting Material connections to nature Color use as an emotion generator Non-visual natural sensations

Hand drawn concept of our P.S.A. homes with specific exploration of biophilic design | graphite, compressed charcoal

ECOLOGY On any given night, it is estimated that over 75,000 people are unhoused in Los Angeles (GLAHC). Cities across the US are experiencing rises in homelessness as well, especially on the West Coast. As housing prices increase, the gap between the housed and the homeless continues to grow.

How can U.S. cities like Los Angeles use building design to intervene in the growing disparity between the homeless and the housed?

03 CIRCULATE Work Course Project

Academic // Yale College ARCH 200 Scales of Design Research & conceptual design of a building intervention

Date Method

Feb 2020 Instructed hand drawing, model making

Team

Rachel Roberts // Worked together on project ideation, then her role was all of the 3D modeling and laser cutting, while mine was all of the physical model construction, image capture, and project documentation // With guidance from Professor Bimal Mendis

The Star Apartment development in Los Angeles is a 2014 addition to a former single-story commercial building in which two more stories were added as spaces for the homeless. The clear separation of the three distinct spaces, with the public access being on the bottom floor, creates a physical divide between the community and the Star Apartment occupants. If the goal is to eventually re-integrate these vulnerable, “floating” individuals back into the community, then the segregation of spaces (and individuals) must be reimagined.

Foreground models of LA’s homeless “floating” figures, background physical intervention model | chipboard, plastic, paint 11

INTENTION

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Concept sections of the existing building | ink on paper, Procreate 12

The whole project revolved around the lives of LA’s “floating” figures, so we must start with them and the context they inhabit 1 . The site’s modular character provides opportunity to rethink this existing layout 2 . Then we can merge the floating figures with spaces tailored to their needs, not vice versa 3 . By drawing a section of the building’s existing structure 4 , we can reimagine in detail the circulation of the building 5 , all in order to weave the experiences of all occupants and work towards unifying the community.

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Reimagined intervention section | Procreate

INTERVENTION

The operable modular models (far-right) show the adaptable, stackable character of the existing public space (green), common wellness space (yellow), and the housing units (blue), assimilating the floating figures. The intervention model (center) shows the reimagined, public spaces (green), common space circulation (black), and housing (blue) that improves the integration of the occupants in the community.

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ECOLOGY In spring 2020, when students around the world were sent home because of the global pandemic, I asked a family friend, a respected general contractor, for some advice. He explained that the best architects he knew deeply understood the building process; and that friction within a project could be avoided when the architect designed spaces to be built well.

In order to prepare myself as an architect, he recommended that I get hands on building experience as a contractor.

04 DESIGN-BUILD Work Project

Professional // Mindful Designs Inc // Whitefish, MT Custom home building and design consulting

Date Method

Aug-Dec 2020, Mar-June 2021 Carpentry framing, welding, demolition, concrete pouring

Team

Individual // With instruction from company founder David Radatti and superintendent Roy Goss

For nine total months, I lived with, and worked for, custom home builder David Radatti. I assisted David with on site construction and demolition work on large scale premier homes, and provided recommendations on conceptual design of development projects owned by the company.

I spent the majority of my time directed by superintendent Roy Goss. With Roy, I helped frame exterior structures (top left), hang ceiling joists (top right), secure plywood sheathing and vapor barrier membranes (bottom left), and demolish existing concrete and wood structures safely (bottom right). Additionally (not pictured), I helped frame stud walls, pour concrete ICF footings, weld custom exterior components, build soffits around ductwork, and provide suggestions about project design decisions.

The “Twin Peaks” project I spent months helping build (above) | approved Mindful Designs website Various on-site assignments (right) | photos 14

“COOP MAHAL” Per request from David’s wife, I inventoried the scrap materials from around their house and designed them a chicken coop. They asked me for something that would be aesthetic, but could also keep out the local bears. I came up with the stilted, single slant coop using burnt cedar (shou sugi bon) for the most exposed wall, with an operable egg hatch and front door, fenced in by 8-foot iron mesh panels welded to steel columns in concrete footings.

Welding the fence after plumbing the steel columns (top right), proposal sketches (below) | photo, Procreate 15

M

Their chickens remain uneaten by bears and are thriving since David and I built the nicknamed “Coop Mahal”.

ANATOMY

structure and internal workings

ANATOMY I received an email my sophomore year from my drawing professor suggesting that the members of our class attend “figure drawing” that evening. I imagined that figure drawing meant sketching objects in 3-dimensions, which I needed to work on. I entered the art studio early, and only a couple people who I did not recognize followed. They set up stools around an empty white pedestal in the middle of the room and waited—I did the same. Ten minutes after the supposed start time, a stern-faced women wearing a bright blue kimono hurried into the room.

Without a word, she stepped atop the pedestal, swished her kimono off in a flurry, and struck a dramatic pose, fully nude. When I looked around as if to ask, “is this what we’re doing?!” I saw the other attendees furiously drawing.

05 FIGURES Work Course

Academic // Yale College ART 114 Basic Drawing

Date Method

Jan - May 2019 Instructed charcoal, graphite, ink drawing

Team

Individual // With guidance from Professor Sam Messer

Throughout my semester with Sam Messer, we practiced figure drawing often.

We explored questions such as: What is the purpose of each line within a composition?

Can a single line have “liveliness”?

Where does line end and value begin?

How does one intentionally convey emotion and meaning using line and value?

Hand-drawn figure with back turned | ink, graphite, charcoal on paper 16

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Collage of the entire semester’s explorations | ink, charcoal, graphite on paper over painted plywood

ANATOMY If the foundational value of art is its ability to elicit powerful reactions, then I would consider Bingham Hall, my first-year college dorm, a masterpiece. For a whole year, everytime I entered the building’s rotunda I was awestruck.

How does the design of Bingham’s rotunda elicit such powerful feelings of awe?

06 REACTIONS Work Course Project

Academic // Yale College ARCH 154 Drawing Architecture On-site observation and hand drawing

Date Method

March 2023 Charcoal, graphite, ink, watercolor, conté

Team

Individual // With guidance from Professor George Knight

Like many large open spaces (the Pantheon, Grand Central, etc.) the feeling of awe experienced in Bingham’s rotunda seems to mostly come from the expansive character of the space. The feeling gets heightened through the contrast experienced in the compression of the entrance hall and subsequent expansion of the rotunda.

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Small observation sketches exploring the feeling of awe created in Bingham Hall’s compressive then expansive procession | ink, graphite, watercolor, conté

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Section, plan, elevation, and observation drawings of Bingham Hall’s expansive rotunda and compressive entrance | graphite, charcoal

ANATOMY

07 GLORIA Work Project

Personal use 2005 Ford E250 camper van conversion

Date Method

Aug 2021 - Mar 2023 Automotive mechanics, electronics, custom upholstery, welding, carpentry.

Team

Individual // With help from friends

I bought Gloria the van inexpensively because so much was either broken or on the verge of breaking—and I believe that one can learn to fix anything on YouTube. Over the span of a year, I taught myself how to replace (and replaced) all of the following parts: •

Alternator

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Starter

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All Major Gaskets (including the engine’s intake ports)

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Spark Plugs and Ignition Coils

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Serpentine Belt

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Coolant Thermostat

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Cylinder Head Temperature Sensor

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Oil Filter

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Transmission Fluid Filter

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Tires and Wheels

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Brake Pads

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All Major Fluids (oil, coolant, transmission, brake)

For the interior, I secured wooden battens vertically to the metal shell, insulated the floors, walls, and roof, laid the subfloor, screwed the wooden siding to the battens, caulked the gaps, laid the vinyl flooring, and built the bench-seat bed system out of spare lumber from a friend (bottom-left).

I created the custom upholstery from patterned canvas secured to plywood over two layers of memory foam. Then I wired in a smart-charging auxiliary battery that would charge on surplus from the alternator, a 3000 watt AC to DC inverter, and a series of standard electric outlets throughout the interior.

For the exterior, I grinded or sanded all of the rust off, treated with rustoleum, and riveted or welded plates of steel to important areas that had rusted through like the driver’s side footwell, then I rebuilt/installed a used latter and roof-rack system. I’ve since taken Gloria on surf trips all over New England.

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Gloria, before any upgrades.

Electronics and subfloor installation.

Custom steel fabrication for the driver’s foot-well.

My friend and I replacing the alternator.

ANATOMY As a kid, I would read magic treehouse before bed and dream of dinosaurs. Those were some of the best night’s of sleep I can remember.

Could the design of a bedside reading lamp help evoke whimsical dreams and quality sleep?

08 DREAM SHELL Work Course Project

Academic // Yale College ARCH 150 Introduction to Architecture “Make a hanging lampshade using only paper and glue”

Date Method

Nov 2019 Banana leaf paper, clay mold, Elmer’s glue

Team

Individual // With guidance from Professor Alexander Purves

Concept sketches (left), paper mache from moldable clay in cellophane (right) | ink on paper, banana leaf, Elmer’s glue 21

COGNITION the conscious and unconscious processes of mind and experience.

COGNITION Recent studies in quantum mechanics discovered that electrons escape their nuclear orbits in mere attoseconds—billionths of a billionth of a second. To put that in perspective, an attosecond is to a second, what the blink of an eye is to 10 billion years. That’s only our fastest observable rate of change.

We’re no strangers to change. We notice our minds and our bodies changing constantly. With seemingly daily innovations it feels like our world is changing at exponentially increasing speeds. These rapid changes lead to unprecedented problems. Many of which we have experienced saliently in the last three years.

How can we educate future generations to face unprecedented obstacles?

09 OPTIMIZING EDUCATION Work Course

Independent & Academic Research // Yale College PSYC 436 & Senior thesis for the Bachelors of Science

Date Method

Jan - May 2023 Meta-analysis, scientific experimentation

Team

Individual // With guidance from Professor Julia Leonard

In 2021, Yale’s STEM-PERL lab conducted a study that found student performance (GPA) and intent to persist in STEM correlated most with self-reported levels of buy-in and engagement. These findings suggest that outcomes associated with a growth mindset might have more to do with teaching strategies (like “evidence based teaching”) than student traits.

For my thesis, I conducted an experiment to examine the possible mechanisms of this finding. I analyzed extensive data from the STEM-PERL lab to determine whether or not growth mindset alone might be a predictor of student performance and persistence. It was not.

These findings, and many others reviewed while writing educational policy papers with Professor Julia Leonard, support that there is no “golden-ticket” to successful education. The most promising results are instead showing links between long-term successes and foundational traits like self-regulation, curiosity, reasoning, and feelings of belonging. The following independent metaanalyses summarizes the contemporary research in the education field with a detailed timescale of brain development. Providing suggestions for parents and educators to cultivate foundational traits that correlate with adaptability and long-term successes.

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“By understanding the stages of brain development and the general recommendations that recent scientific literature suggests, caregivers have a better chance of preparing future generations for the uncertainties ahead.

If researchers and educators continue to be thoughtful and intentional in what they research and how they teach, we can help our children and grandchildren build better futures for themselves and others.”

From the conclusion of my Cognitive Science thesis.

COGNITION There’s no doubt that AI is changing the way humans create; although, the full implications of these new developments remain unknown.

As tech grows smarter, and computing looks more and more like cognition, what does it mean for our (and AI’s) experience in the world?

10 PERCEPTION.update() Work Course

Academic // Yale College ARCH 200 Scales of Design

Jan 2020 Date Method Wearable model construction, documentation, presentation Team

Kapp Singer, Austin Zhang // we worked together on project ideation and model creation, Kapp’s focus was creating process images, Austin’s was digital modeling, laser cutting, mine was all of the photography, presentation creation // with guidance from Professor Bimal Mendis

Our instrument for manipulating perception seeks to explore the synthesis human vision with the qualities of digital image processing. When worn, the user’s view is filtered through a pixel matrix like that of a computer screen. The view of the instrument is not an exact simulation of digital imagery, but rather an inversion of it. The user looks through the negative space between the rows and columns, while viewers see the pixels themselves—giving the effect of a mind being behind a computer screen.

Observers are meant to reflect on how natural forms, once digitized, become neatly represented within computerized grids like AI datasets.

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Kapp Singer wearing our model outside Yale’s School of Architecture | long-exposure photo

DISSOLVE By separating our faces into pixels, we could weave them back together in a pattern that coalesced into a figure—mimicking how AI pulls information from large datasets. Then, by applying a red, green, blue gradient like those in pixels, we could replace the wearer’s head with a composite image of the instrument’s three creators. Placing the pixel tiles in a neat grid along the exterior of a round, laser cut helmet structure further emphasized the melding of the organic and the digital. This would give the perception of a new, personal, computer interface externally, encapsulated by an internal, computing mind.

Although we worked together conceptualizing and designing this process, specific credit to Kapp Singer for creating the above image in Photoshop.

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SYNTHESIZE

Completed wearable model | laser-cut internal structure, cloth curtains, printed tiles

The effect of the pixels up close as if microscopically examining a computer screen to explore what’s behind | photo 25

Side-angle perspective from inside the helmet grid looking out | photo

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Looking through our digital helmet; the perception from within a computer | photo

COGNITION

11 MAKING THE MOST Work Date

Independent writing for publication (pending) November 2023

Method

Excerpt and cover art from an essay I wrote on the fundamental bridge between Buddhism and thoughtful building systems design.

“The vast majority of us ‘want to make the world a better place’, though there are countless differing and changing opinions on how to accomplish this.

Where can we find common ground? Is it possible to find common answers that are deeply rooted in truth and reason, without which, no ground can be stable?

My aim is to display the real possibility of finding stable common ground by offering a clear view of the problem—along with tools built from rationality and truth to solve it. However, this undertaking first requires a slight shift in our minds. We must begin by guiding our attention away from the external world where our problems arise, to the internal states that in fact give rise to them...

To develop truly reliable answers to the foundational question, “how can we make the most of our lives”, we must first understand the nature of our minds, and thus our reality. Ask yourself, what is it like to be you in this moment?

What thoughts, emotions, perceptions are making up your experience right now? You might pause to consider this, closing your eyes can help. Whatever you experience in your mind, it proves that there is something it’s like to be you. No

matter where else or how deep you look, all you will ever find is this space of awareness—your consciousness. No matter how strange and illusory the universe might be, the entire character of our experience is made of this seeming to be something.

This conscious experience is our whole life from cradle to grave, and we all seem to be in the same boat regardless of our understanding or desire. This is common ground. Every one of everyone’s experiences, past, present, or future, seems to arise and pass away inside this space of awareness. And many of us, if asked, would say we know this relatively simple truth already on some level. We know that our minds are all we have. Yet still many of us will go the vast majority of our lives hardly paying attention to this most profound and foundational truth. A truth, that if attended to and cared for, has the capacity to massively improve the quality of every aspect of our lives, because it all is shaped by our minds...

By paying closer attention to the qualities of our mind, we will find that our experience is actually built in relation to others. Even though our awareness is experienced in isolation, mindfulness remains a social endeavor because it works to improve our being in the world with others. It is no esoteric truth that

we are inherently social beings who want better relationships in a better world. The wonderful paradox is that as we improve the minds and lives of others, we improve our own minds and lives, and so it repeats. 14th The Dalai Lama said, “even the wise, selfish man serves others.” In this realization regarding the common nature of our minds, we can cultivate immense compassion, generosity, kindness, and joy. Many people already feel this kindness inherently, but even the most selfish individual will find that improving the lives of others is likely a sustainable road to their own longterm happiness and well-being. Generosity, as countless Buddhists have known for over 2,500 years, is a key-stone quality for both improving our own lives as well as the lives of others...

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There are countless ways to practice generosity, but some are measurably more impactful than others. In regards to improving one’s own life through generosity, identifying the best option for yourself will require subjective experimenting. Though for many of us, the amount of positive impacts our behaviors can have is proportional to our feelings about them. The effective altruism movement aims to quantify and compare the amount of good that certain behaviors can have, and dozens of organizations like 80,000 Hours already generate valuable measured comparisons. However, it’s also understood that completed generosity is infinitely more valuable than hypothetical generosity; and therefore choosing generous behaviors that you will actually complete because of your own passions and joys is essential.

For those of us who are moved by and passionate about building design, there is great opportunity. In 2001 it was estimated that the average person in the US spends around 90% of their entire life within the built environment (NHAPS)— and I imagine this figure has risen since. In the next thirty years, it’s projected that over two-thirds of the global population, over 6.5 billion people, will live in urbanized environments (UN GPHS). Further, nearly half of all global emissions over the last few decades that contributed to the climate crisis are attributed to the construction and operation of buildings (UN EP). If one wants to do

as much good as possible in their life, reshaping the ways we design, develop, operate, adapt, and deconstruct the spaces we inhabit is an enormously powerful place to start...

Perhaps the most effective way to contribute positively to the built environment is through the widespread education, adoption, and practice of regenerative development strategies. There are many ways that regenerative projects take shape, though the most common threads include a collaborative integrated design process, biophilic design philosophies, and engineering systems that beneficially regenerate all necessary water, energy, food, waste, and air in measurably net-positive ways. Designing with mindfulness, generosity, and regenerative strategies can create spaces that not only serve their functional purposes but also contribute positively to the human experience and the health of our planet. However, the effort must not only come from designers.

The ones inevitably deciding what gets built and in what ways are the people who pay the bills and write legislation, the developers and politicians.

These are the people deciding what kinds of places we all spend our lives within.

We must demonstrate to them that mindful, regenerative design strategies can transform the built environment from one of the largest problem causers in the climate and mental health crises, to the largest solution generator. On top of being a mindful designer, write to your local politicians. Educate yourself on regenerative design strategies, and discuss them with developers. Explain that sustainability can be the most profitable option. For ourselves and others,

we must convince these important decision makers to pursue the regenerative development of spaces that are affordable for occupants, profitable for owners, and enable people to become coevolving participants in dynamic ecosystems for present and future health, wealth, resilience, and prosperity.”

Sketch of Desert Rain, the first building to reach full “Living Certification | Procreate

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.

KONRAD M. COLLINS