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DESIGN THE FUTURE November/December 2023

Uplifting Choices Alternatives for a healthier built environment

Space for Contemplation

Is design building bridges or deepening our differences?

MERGE FORWARD

PVC-FREE RESILIENT TILE, RED LIST FREE, NO COMPROMISES

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The PVC Pivot 88

Practicing Outside the Norm 100

The environmental and health risks of polyvinyl chloride are well known, and the alternatives are getting better. What can the building industry do about PVC?

Designers Verda Alexander and Maya Bird-Murphy have begun an initiative called Alternative Practice to explore new models for the architecture and design professions. Here is their first conversation with three architects.

The Missing Roots of American Environmentalism 114 A historical survey of eco-conscious Modernism at MoMA underrepresents both the origins of sustainable architecture and the contemporary dilemmas of architectural discourse.

Cooking with Clay 106 Natural Materials Lab’s Lola Ben-Alon encourages compassion for digitization.

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHELSIE CRAIG, STYLING BY CATHERINE CAMPBELL PEARSON; COURTESY BRYONY ROBERTS; COURTESY GLEN SMALL; ANGELA HAU

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DEPARTMENTS CONTRIBUTORS 14 IN THIS ISSUE 16 EVENT Arch30 NY + SF 18 QUIZ What Is Your Positive Impact Personality? 20

p. 72

SUMMIT A Vision for Interior Design 24 THINK TANK 30 SPECTRUM 38 TRANSPARENCY Light on Demand 50 FOCUS Dezza Distilled 52 ENTERPRISE Catching Up on Embodied Carbon 54

PRODUCTS Lite Work 60 EDUCATION Mass Timber Among the Pines 62 WORKPLACE Green on Blue 68 REUSE Powering the Arts 72 NEW TALENT Local Resonance 78 INSIGHT AI for Design 84

CORRECTION Incorrect images were shown in “Outdoor Enablers” (p. 80, September/October 2023) for Expormim’s Cask (left) and Poliform’s Magnolia Sofa (right) collections. The correct products are shown here.

NOTEWORTHY Grace La 128 On the cover: Teknoflor Nature’s Tile and Plank in Marine Cove (top) and Ultrafabrics Brisa in Cambridge Blue styled by Catherine Campbell Pearson. Photograph by Chelsie Craig.

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METROPOLIS® (ISSN 6030-9000), November/December 2023, Vol. 43, No. 6 is published six times a year, bimonthly by SANDOW DESIGN GROUP, LLC, 3651 FAU Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33431. Periodical postage paid in Boca Raton, FL, and at additional mailing ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS; NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to METROPOLIS, PO Box 808, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0808. Subscription department: (800) 344-3046 or email: metropolismag@omeda.com. Subscriptions: 1 year: $32.95 USA, $52.95 Canada, $69.95 in all other countries. Copyright © 2023 by SANDOW DESIGN GROUP, LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. METROPOLIS is not responsible for the return of any unsolicited manuscripts or photographs.

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The Coastal Dynamics Design Lab Helps Communities Plan for Resilience Six landscape architects at North Carolina State are creating nature-based interventions that help vulnerable communities recover from flooding and storm damage.

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When We Design for Autism, We Design for Everyone Magda Mostafa, autism design consultant and architecture professor at the American University in Cairo, discusses neuro-inclusive design.

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To speed the recovery of buildings lost to the war, the government is getting some humanitarian aid in the form of new construction technology.

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CONTRIBUTORS

ANGELA HAU

AL MCKEE

Chelsie Craig is a photographer and director, specializing in still life and video. Through her love of design and sculpture, she is constantly looking to carve out more space in her images, leading to simple yet sophisticated compositions that speak to material, utility, and elegance. Craig’s photographs of PVC-free products for “The PVC Pivot” (p. 88) are shown on this issue’s cover and throughout the feature.

Angela Hau took up photography after originally starting her career as a fashion and textile print designer. Soon she developed a keen interest in architecture for its composition, balance, and sculptural quality. Currently residing in New York City, Hau approaches her work with intuition, diligence, and honesty as she travels around the world to fuel her passion for capturing architecture and interiors. Hau photographed Natural Materials Lab’s Lola Ben-Alon for this issue’s feature “Cooking with Clay” (p. 106).

Al McKee is a writer in San Francisco. For 16 years he was head writer at Studio O+A, where he produced five books including Twelve True Tales of Workplace Design (2017, FRAME Publishers, Amsterdam) and Food for Thought Truck (2019, Artifice Press, London). He has written about film for Film Quarterly, Film Comment, Scenario, The Threepenny Review, and The New York Times. He has just completed a novel and is looking for a publisher. McKee wrote METROPOLIS’s Positive Impact Personality Quiz (p. 20), featured in this issue.

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CATHERINE CAMPBELL PEARSON Catherine Campbell Pearson is an artist and a set and floral designer. She studied painting at The Cooper Union and continues to live and work in New York City. For this issue Campbell Pearson styled the PVC-free products featured in the photographs for “The PVC Pivot” (p. 88), which looks at how the building industry is addressing the use of the thermoplastic.

COURTESY THE CONTRIBUTORS

CHELSIE CRAIG

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IN THIS ISSUE

“Tidal Shift” was a site-specific installation developed by the WIP Collaborative for The Shed in New York City. It was created using Nike Grind, a recycled material, and represents the kind of approach taken by Studio Elsa Ponce (“Practicing Outside the Norm,” p. 100), which was one of the collaborators.

My biggest source of optimism is that there are conscientious people everywhere who find it difficult to look the other way once they understand some of the unintended but undesirable consequences of their actions. Our editor at large Verda Alexander recently spoke with three architects who are like that. Elsa Ponce, Rafael Robles, and Tura Cousins Wilson all lead firms that have eschewed business as usual to pursue the goals of equity and sustainability—and are in the process of transforming architecture itself (“Practicing Outside the Norm,” p. 100). Yet even the most well-intentioned and courageous professionals can find themselves at an impasse with some of the difficult choices architects and designers have to make every day on projects. Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is an example of one of those conundrums (“The PVC Pivot,” p. 88). Luxury vinyl tile and Type II vinyl wallcoverings are the 16

METROPOLIS

most popular types of resilient flooring and wallcovering because PVC is cheap, versatile, and adaptable. But every few years we learn either of harmful ingredients in these products that must be phased out or of a disaster that reminds us why the fundamental building block of PVC is risky if it isn’t handled with great care. So architects and designers have consistently demanded cleaner PVC manufacturing, end-of-life solutions, and alternatives, all which have been heard and met by manufacturers—with varying degrees of success. But what will be the tipping point with this and other fossil fuel–based or hazardous products and practices in our industry? There is still hope that one of the many alternatives we feature in this issue will catch on, and regulations might provide a necessary push. But it is certain the tipping point will never arrive if the industry doesn’t keep up the pressure to do better.

The work of researchers like Lola Ben-Alon (“Cooking with Clay,” p. 106) is equally important in helping us make the switch from extractive to regenerative materials and building techniques. Ben-Alon is one of a new generation of architects and educators who are blending traditional wisdom and cutting-edge technology to shape the architecture of tomorrow. In North America, this generation stands on the shoulders of architectural environmentalists like Phyllis Birkby, Stewart Brand, Lloyd Kahn, and Eugene Tssui, as well as the many Indigenous builders who in turn inspired those forebears (“The Missing Roots of American Environmentalism,” p. 114). Time and time again, we discover our errors and face tough choices. The continuous work of architects and designers is to do what we must, stand for what is right, and dream of a better way to build and live in harmony with one another and with nature. —Avinash Rajagopal, editor in chief NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY MICHAEL VAHRENWALD

Dreaming of a Different Way

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EVENT Arch30 NY + SF New York City’s and San Francisco’s brightest young architects working at the most influential firms gathered for METROPOLIS’s inaugural Arch30 events.

NEW YORK Amy Wood

SAN FRANCISCO Isabel Sutherland

COOKFOX

MBB Architects

Angela Blume

Safdie Architects

Annette Veliz HDR

Bianca Yin

M Moser Associates

Brandon Wang

Dattner Architects

Brayton Gregory SOM

Brooke Collaer

PBDW Architects

Carl Damas

Isabel Li Snøhetta

Jean Carlos Vega Marvel

Jessica Huang FXCollaborative

Jordy Virguetti Fogarty Finger

Kane Hassebrock DLR Group

Kyle Wilson

Woods Bagot

Merna Haddad

Perkins&Will

Fogarty Finger

Clarissa Redding Stantec

Danielle Valle-Steele DLR Group

Davis Richardson REX

Eleanor Birle

Miranda Ford

Perkins Eastman

Naomi Mareschal MBB Architects

Natalie Tompkins Stantec

Olivia Binette

TenBerke

HDR

Elyse Smith

Perkins Eastman

Felix Yiu

Pascale Baladi

Dattner Architects

Roujia Bai

PAU Studio

Marvel

Gregory Keller PAU Studio

Ian Bentley

Shane Byrne

IA Interior Architects

Shanna Chan

AECOM

The Arch30 program recognizes the next generation of leadership in architecture, with leading firms in each city identifying their top talent under the age of 35. Each group meets for a workshop led by METROPOLIS editors, followed by networking opportunities with program partners. It’s both a stressful and an exciting time to be a young architect, according to the first-ever METROPOLIS Arch30 New York and San Francisco cohorts, listed below, who were honored this past fall.

Woods Bagot

Shelby Miller Stantec

Siobhan Finlay TenBerke

Taylor Williams PBDW Architects

Wanjiao Chen REX

Yoonwon Kang Woods Bagot

Younha Kim COOKFOX

Adam Kor

STUDIOS Architecture

Aisha Sawatsky Page & Turnbull

Alexia Hix HLW

Anna Daley

Jensen Architects

Baptiste Boget Darling Design

Benny Lin DLR Group

Brooke Calhoun

David Baker Architects

Carley Leckie

David Baker Architects

Cera Yeo

SmithGroup

Charlotte D’Acierno EHDD

Chenyu Huang

Jensen Architects

Derek Ramsey Studio Blitz

Eduarda Boettcher HOK

Elle Brauchle SmithGroup

Frank Yang

Cass Calder Smith Architecture + Interiors

Gary Lee

Harcoover Singh Bhatti

Nicole Roman

EHDD

FORGE Architecture & Design

Jewel Pei

Nuti Dave

Kejia Lu

Raunak Rekhi

WRNS Studio HOK

Kevin Liew

Woods Bagot

Kiara Kahania Woods Bagot

Lauren Lew Woods Bagot

Lauren Patrick

STUDIOS Architecture

Liam (Yan) Li HLW

Lillian Cao

HMC Architects

SmithGroup Cass Calder Smith Architecture + Interiors

Stephanie Chu Stantec

Vasudha Maiya

Bull Stockwell Allen

Venessa Davidenko IwamotoScott Architecture

Vihang Kale SB Architects

Waylon Ng Gensler

Makoto Izu DLR Group

Maria Grazia Lee SB Architects

Mark Warren

The Office of Charles F. Bloszies

Melissa Jimenez HMC Architects

Miao Wang Gensler

Naqsh Haider NBBJ

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Ceramics—The Earth-Friendly Option Tile of Spain forges ahead with environmental stewardship

Ceramic tiles allow interiors to be adorned in organic-inspired materials in a sustainable way, without depleting natural resources. Pictured above Gent Arrow 3D Roble wood-look tile by Tile of Spain company, Porcelanosa.

By Tile of Spain The climate crisis has hit an unprecedented and critical juncture, posing graver threats than ever to the planet and all of its occupants. Thus, specifying eco-friendly products has taken on a heightened sense of urgency. Designers are seeking out materials that are sustainable and consider the circular economy. “I firmly believe ceramics to be one of the most sustainable materials we can put in—or outside—our buildings,” stresses Ryan Fasan, technical consultant for Tile of Spain, an international brand representing more than 100 ceramic tile manufacturers from the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Association (ASCER). “When looking at the sustainability attributes of a product there are a few key arenas that we must assess,” he continues, “raw material scarcity and extraction burden, manufacturing emissions, durability, upkeep requirements, performance in disaster, and end-of-life stratagems.” Ceramics meet or exceed criteria for a top sustainable material. Comprising 100% natural clays, silicates, and feldspar—which are abundant

resources globally—ceramics are inherently eco-friendly due to their durability and life span of 75-plus years. They’re also easy to clean, maintain and do not require chemical sealers. Due to their inert and impervious (when glazed) nature, ceramic tile also does not absorb odors and is resistant to mold, bacteria, and UV damage. At the end of its life, ceramic can be reused in concrete products, or its natural composition allows it to act as an aggregator to speed decomposition in landfills. Collectively, the Tile of Spain companies—about 75% of which operate in Castellón —are environmental innovators, fueled by EU regulations with a mandated goal of 55% reduction in emissions along with carbon neutrality by 2050. For over 30 years the Spanish tile industry has been focused on closed loop production with in-house wastewater treatment facilities allowing re-use of more than 90% of the production water. In terms of manufacturing innovations, Spain’s Institute of Ceramic Technology

Tile of Spain brands including Azulev, pictured bottom, Decocer, pictured top right and Equipe, pictured, top left, are spearheading sustainable production methods with electric powered kilns.

(ITC) in collaboration with Harvard’s GSD and other institutions, is working on more sustainable solutions. Notably, successfully firing ceramics with hydrogen-enriched natural gas fuel in production conditions last year—a major feat. The Spanish industry also led the world in publishing the first industry-wide LCA providing easy access to type III environmental product declarations. As a key product strategy, many Tile of Spain manufacturers have begun creating slimmer profile tiles. “By shaving off 40% of the product’s thickness, it’s reducing 40% of the weight, thereby making shipping 40% more efficient,” Fasan explains. Spanish manufacturers including Azulev/Rocersa, Porcelanosa, and Aparici have begun adopting this more slender profile. This smaller format permits the use of shorter kilns and lower firing temperatures, allowing these Spanish tile makers to move from natural gas to electric conversion. Equipe and Decocer, for example, have added electric powered kilns

to their production lines. With the majority of Spanish companies located in the Castellón area producing more than 90% of Spanish ceramic tile, the clustered industry and ever-present sun in the region allow large solar-energy farms to power these new kilns and much of the sector’s infrastructure. Progress is happening, with research and development continuing, as Spanish ceramics manufacturers lead the way on environmental stewardship.

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This activity is eligible for co-financing with European Union funds

COURTESY COURTNEY MATTISON

At All Scales

On view at Pittsburgh’s Contemporary Craft through January 2024, Climate Awakening: Crafting a Sustainable Future is an exhibition that uses craft to engage with the issue of climate change. Pictured: Courtney Mattison’s Fossil Fuels–Gas Can is just one of the works on view that challenge humans’ reliance on oil, highlighting the resulting detrimental effects on our natural environment. METROPOLIS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

SPECTRUM An essential survey of architecture and design today

EXHIBIT Climate Craft There’s an inextricable link between craft and environmental awareness. For multidisciplinary sculptor Adrien Segal, this approach to making serves as a negotiation between a deep familiarity with materials like wood, glass, ceramics, and even ice, and a willingness to continually learn from their inherent, sometimes unexpected properties. “This back-and-forth allows me to respond to and guide different elements into intentional expressions of form that develop and emerge as the process unfolds,” she says. The artist’s resulting works often reflect natural patterns and the impact of human interventions, a negotiation if there ever was one. It would seem only appropriate that Segal, along with fellow craft-led artists Susie Ganch, Courtney Mattison, and Meghan Price, should utilize ecology and climate as such potent subject matter. All four talents are currently exhibiting as part of 38

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Contemporary Craft’s Climate Awakening: Crafting a Sustainable Future group show. On view through January 13, 2024, at the Pittsburgh museum, the exhibition surveys the creators who each address and shed new light on this complex suite of issues in their own way. While Mattison utilizes her expertise in ceramics to build large visceral works commemorating marine life, Price renders consumer products like athletic shoes in geologically patterned relief sculptures. Ganch’s Pile Series: Remember Me, Katrina holistically embodies and depicts the detritus of the superstorm hurricane. For Segal in particular, it’s a question of harnessing both scientific research and emotion to reveal changes in topography that occur over time. Her 2017 Molalla River Meander sculpture stems from a data visualization of how the Oregon waterway drastically altered course over a 15-year period. “I’m [trying] to make these ephemeral and temporal patterns accessible to the body in physical space, so they can be experienced by people who can walk around and intuitively take in what they represent,” she says. “These [realities] are often quantified, measured, and tracked scientifically in the form of data, which leaves out the emotional connection we have with the natural world.” She sees her art as one way of bridging this gap. —Adrian Madlener NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Artist and ocean advocate Courtney Mattison handcrafts intricate, large-scale ceramic works that visualize climate change and the fragility of marine life. A glazed stoneware and porcelain sculpture titled Surface Tension 7 (2020) is on view at Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh.

SPECTRUM

TREELINE is a new lighting collection designed by Brooklyn-based fabrication studio Tri-Lox, lighting producer Stickbulb, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The project diverts urban trees from landfills to create a truly circular product.

It’s estimated that over 12,000 trees are cut down annually throughout New York City’s five boroughs. Though efforts are made to replace them with new saplings, little is done to harness their second-life potential. Most end up in landfills or are mulched. A recent report released by peer-reviewed journal ScienceDirect determined that 251 million metric tons of CO2 could be reduced if this waste material were repurposed while still actively absorbing these emissions. Collaborating with Brooklyn-based wood supplier and design fabrication studio Tri-Lox and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Long Island City–based lighting producer Stickbulb is spearheading a pilot program that will divert trees from landfills to help create a regenerative circular wood economy for New York City. Stickbulb’s new TREELINE lighting collection transforms raw urban wood waste material into elegant rectilinear pendant fixtures engineered for a vast array of interior applications. Working closely with the organization Forest for All NYC, the company has checked 40

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the box on one of this coalition’s main objectives: to find a way to manufacture products locally using this otherwise wasted resource. Part of this initiative is to adopt a circular production model and establish a found-material repository. The newly formed Stickbulb WOOD BANK stockpiles a range of salvaged woods, including trunks that have been destroyed by fence post nails. Finding ways to responsibly and feasibly upcycle these various elements at scale is an ongoing endeavor and one that often requires a case-by-case approach. “Every opportunity for sourcing raw material is different,” says Christopher Beardsley, Stickbulb cofounder. “For example, we recently got word that a very large pin oak was being removed behind a brownstone in downtown Manhattan. So we worked with the client and a contractor to roll two 8-foot-by-30-foot logs through the brownstone on wheels to the front of the street, where they could be loaded onto a log truck and brought to our milling site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.” —Adrian Madlener NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

FROM LEFT: COURTESY NOAH KALINA; COURTESY BRIAN KELLEY

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SPECTRUM

Counterculture visionary Lloyd Kahn (left) published prolifically about organic architecture around the time when other publications like The Whole Earth Catalog (below) were also making their mark. His 1973 book Shelter featured studies of structures such as the Val Agnoli tower (bottom), an all-wood building by Val Agnoli in Stinson Beach, California.

BOOK Gimme Shelter Shelter Cookbook by Leopold Banchini (editor), Lukas Feireiss (editor) Spector Books, 2024, 112 pp., $35

METROPOLIS

IMAGES COURTESY © DYLAN PERRENOUD

At 85 years old, American publisher, builder, and storyteller Lloyd Kahn continues to provide tools and inspiration for those interested in self-building homes, as he has for decades. As evident in our exhibition review for this issue (pg. 114), Kahn’s iconic counterculture publications on organic architecture from the 1960s and ’70s still feel relevant considering today’s ecological crisis—his 1973 book Shelter, in particular, provides timeless information, selling over 300,000 copies to this day. Shelter Cookbook, a new volume edited by architects Leopold Banchini and Lukas Feireiss, takes a fresh look at Kahn’s legacy, finding both poetic beauty and historical value in the DIY guides that were often looked down upon by Modernist architects of the time. The editors were fascinated by Kahn’s work, leading them to create an installation at the 2021 Venice Biennale titled There are Walls that Want to Prowl, in which they juxtaposed models and images of buildings from Kahn’s guides with their own work that was inspired by him. Leading up to the exhibition, Banchini and Feireiss traveled across the globe to meet Kahn and his wife, Lesley, in their self-built half-acre home in Bolinas, California. The book compiles gorgeous photographs by Dylan Perrenoud alongside an insightful and at times hilarious interview with Kahn, an essay that catalogs “Mycological Curiosities,” and an in-depth “Further Reading” section that provides recommendations on self-build books and other important texts on topics such as shelter, survival, community, design, environment, education, spirituality, and psychedelics. Kahn’s advice for younger generations just now diving into his work? “You don’t have to do everything. Self-sufficiency is a direction. You never attain it,” he explains, “I realized that when I tried growing wheat.” —Jaxson Stone NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

SPECTRUM

Philadelphia-based design brand YOWIE, founded by Shannon Maldonado, recently opened up Yowie Hotel, a 13-room boutique hotel on Philly’s South Street. Each suite is filled with custom art.

Philadelphia’s famous South Street has a new tenant: the Yowie Hotel. Opened in mid-July, the hotel, an extension of YOWIE, a neighborhood design brand launched by Shannon Maldonado in 2016, features equally colorful, eclectic interiors, a café, and a storefront rooted in the local art scene. Located on the city’s vibrant multiethnic corridor—and one of its most popular tourist destinations—the boutique hotel welcomes travelers and residents alike with its unique, playful design and invisible service model, where guests are welcomed with personalized tech rather than on-site staff. Maldonado “caught the bug of designing boutique hotels” through her work on Rhode Island’s Dye House and The Deacon, formerly Philadelphia’s First African Baptist Church but now a hotel and event space. What began as a casual conversation with developer Everett Abitbol, who first met Maldonado in 2017, blossomed into a plan for brand expansion. The pair, alongside contractor Bill Vessal and Abitbol’s wife, Valerie, purchased two turn-of-the-century townhomes. “So often in Philly there’s construction,” Maldonado says. “One day you leave for work and when you come back there’s a new building. It was important for me to 44

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stay in the neighborhood and build on what we have been doing the last seven years.” Keeping the 1900s charm of the buildings, which once housed a real estate office before being transformed into the hotel, took more work than meets the eye. “From the outside, it looks the same,” Maldonado says. Construction included a full gut renovation, peeling away 1970s siding and joining the once-separate buildings. When it came to designing the 13 suites, Maldonado wanted guests to feel inspired and transported. Owing to the

buildings’ age, there’s a certain romantic flair. Bay windows in four of the suites have become reading nooks with custom tables. In suite 304 there’s a custom tiled piece from local artist Alyssa Piro, and a beaded lottery ticket by Noorann Matties is showcased in suite 206, while a nature scene from Patricia Renee Thomas offers restful imagery in suite 305. “The biggest compliment we can get is when a guest says they want their home to look like this,” Maldonado says. —Lauren Jones NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY YOWIE

INTERIOR A Neighborhood Living Room

SPECTRUM

PRODUCTS Floral Forms Functional, sustainable, and joyful—studio ENESS delivers on its promise with the aptly named A Solar-Powered Bench That Spins Ever So Slowly. Made of recyclable material, the rotomolded low-density polyethylene (LDPE) takes on a modern

floral form to create petal-shaped seating and is retrofitted with solar panels in the center of the bloom. When installed as a plot, the benches are reminiscent of flowers oscillating in direct response to the volume of sunshine feeding them. Those

sitting may dangle their legs or replant their feet as the motion encourages users to consider fresh vistas with the movement of the sun. —Joseph P. Sgambati III Studio ENESS eness.com

Sensei makes architectural graphics accessible by accommodating a wide range of visual impairments with its low-tech wayfinding solution. The current collection comprises five tactile surface patterns—each with a unique color and distinct design articulated through pronounced textures—demarcating washrooms, corridors, elevators, emergency exits, and cafeterias. These 300-by-13-millimeter adhesive tiles can be arranged linearly according to program needs and installed like a rail through existing spaces to create haptic flow lines. This seemingly simple non-mobility style aid preserves user autonomy and allows for relative independence when navigating spaces as early as the age of two. —JPS III SENSEI senseiforall.com 46

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FROM TOP: COURTESY BEN_WEINSTEIN; COURTESY SENSEI

Access Granted

Wherever your

Design

takes you.

Roppe helps you realize your vision.

roppe.com Roppe flooring, stair treads, wall base and accessories offer durability and peak performance, plus they are environmentally friendly. Our resilient products are especially well suited to biophilic design, with such features as underfoot comfort, sound-absorbing acoustics and sustainable formulations. And our updated palette offers a plethora of natural colors and textures, many of which were nature-inspired, and provide design versatility. See how Roppe is Ready to support you, every step of the way.

SPECTRUM

Located in Copenhagen, Denmark, and designed by local architects Lendager, The Swan is a kindergarten constructed out of upcycled materials reused from a former school on the same site.

Saving over 6,200 tons of material and 178 tons of CO2, a new kindergarten in Gladsaxe, a municipality on the northwestern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, transformed the demolition waste of a former school on the same site. The Swan, designed by local firm Lendager, was named after the Nordic Swan Ecolabel, a third-party environmental certification. The school is Gladsaxe’s third institution to be labeled as such and is the first kindergarten in the world constructed according to circular principles to gain the certification. For buildings, certification criteria include strong possibilities to reuse and recycle parts of the building, low energy consumption, and strict requirements regarding the use of chemicals. Moreover, at least 70 percent of the wood used must be sourced from sustainably managed forests. Left empty for ten years, the former institute—consisting of a brick building from the 1930s and a concrete building from the 1960s—donated 12,000 roof tiles, 61,500 bricks, and 2,600 pieces of sheet metal cladding to the plan for a differentiated building designed to the scale of children. “We have rewritten the ‘form follows function’ tradition to a ‘form follows availability’ process,” says Anders Bang Kiertzner, Lendager’s director of circular advising. Asking the existing building what it can become is the crucial question, Kiertzner says. In this 48

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case, the result was a 16,000-square-foot new building that won the 2022 Danish Design Award in the Save Resources category. While it occupies an integrated area on the inside on a U-shaped floor plan, 11 building blocks are lined up on the outside, some with asymmetrical gabled roof structures and each with different facade cladding. The buildings’ alternating roof and wall coverings are made of the prior school’s bricks, roof tiles, and corrugated sheet steel. Inside, the floor of the orangery—the central, unheated glass house through which the children enter the building—is also covered with repurposed bricks. In addition, 6,000 tons of demolition concrete were crushed and used as a leveling layer under the kindergarten and as aggregate for the foundation and floor slabs. Dismantling the school and managing the materials was essential to the architects’ process—the office was responsible for the material mapping, while the commissioned demolition contractor was liable for the cleaning and preparation of the materials. Kiertzner notes, “Not only did we have to co-design the dismantling, sorting, remanufacturing, and reprocessing process, we also had to orchestrate how and in which sequence this is going to be done by different actors on the actual construction site.” Whenever Lendager’s design director Niklas Nolsøe faces the question of whether circular building is scalable, he responds with a counterquestion: “Can we afford it not to be?” —Petra Loho NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY RASMUS HJORTSHÕJ

ARCHITECTURE Form Follows Availability

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TRANSPARENCY Light on Demand A switch to 3D printing opens up circular and healthy material options in Cooper Lighting Solutions’ new collection. By Avinash Rajagopal

01 CARBON AVOIDED

In comparison with a downlight manufactured using the conventional aluminum die casting method, a 3D-printed luminaire involves 76 percent lower carbon emissions in both materials and manufacturing.

02 CIRCULARITY

As of 2023, all Shaper PrentaLux products are produced with at least 55 percent bio-circular materials. These are recycled or bio-based materials that come from waste streams certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification—and include used cooking oil and tall oil from the wood processing industry.

03 WASTE DIVERSION The products are produced in a manufacturing facility where over 99 percent of all generated waste is diverted from landfills, either through reclamation or through incineration for energy.

04 RECYCLED PACKAGING

The downlights are shipped in paper and cardboard packaging with a minimum of 80 percent recycled paper content.

SHAPER PRENTALUX The design variations within the new Shaper PrentaLux line of 3D-printed luminaires add up quickly—designers can specify any combination from four performance pendants, 16 hospitality pendants, 18 colors, three inner textures, and three outer textures. But the sustainability benefits remain constant across the line with recycled or bio-based content, recycled packaging, and full chemical transparency. 50

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All the products in the Shaper PrentaLux line carry the International Living Future Institute’s Declare Label, certifying that they are either Red List Approved or Red List Free. This means that either 99 percent or 100 percent, respectively, of all materials in the product have been disclosed. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY THE MANUFACTURER

05 RED LIST APPROVED

N EWTER R A

concrete sinktop in clay & vanity in driftwood

N AVI

mirror wth white oak frame & solid surface tub

C IGN O KU BISTA BR IC K

&5($7,1* %($87,)8/ %$7+52206 0$'( ,1 7+( 86$ &86720 352-(&76 :(/&20(

faucet, tub filler and shower fixtures in matte black cabinet in rustic oak porcelain shelves in matte black

/$&$9$ FRP

FOCUS Dezza Distilled Poltrona Frau reinterprets Gio Ponti’s Dezza armchair with brand-new Redevance fabric. By Joseph P. Sgambati III

Furniture maker and Italian heritage brand Poltrona Frau distills an ether of slender silhouettes, sacred geometries, and expressive hardware from Gio Ponti’s original 1965 Dezza armchair. The contemporary editions stay true to the spirit of Ponti—the late Milanese multi-hyphenate architect who pioneered aesthetically pleasing and functional domestic architecture and objects—with three configurations and two seating types available in proprietary upholstery options. The collection showcases Ponti’s penchant for a simple construction system as the beechwood armchair comprises only four pieces: two sides of varying pronouncements, a backrest of correlating postures, and a deep seat. Dezza 12 is petite with a low profile and thin armrests. Dezza 48 builds on that form with an integrated headrest in the backrest. And Dezza 24 stands taller as a more substantial armchair also available as a sofa alternative. While the seat suspension varies by chair, the cushions are accentuated with a pair of buttons and the side mounting elements are articulated with chrome-plated brass hardware. Finishes for the feet, articulated as legs from the front and rear elevations, are black or white open-pore lacquered ash. Poltrona future-proofs the styling of this timeless artifact with its Redevance woolen satin fabric upholstery, and a flat pattern derived from the company’s collaboration with Archivio Gio Ponti and local manufacturer JSA Art Textile. The graphic illustration, originally conceived by the architect himself, is composed of repeated circular elements and complementary figures that sit in contrast to the field within which they appear to vibrate. Updated with shades of blue and gray, the broken-down and repeated geometric sequences create a number of potential configurations that can be scaled across platforms. Upholstery can be further customized with external and internal refinements for greater visual impact. Molto bene.

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COURTESY POLTRONA FRAU

Gio Ponti (1891–1979) was a visionary Italian architect and designer with a career that encompassed a wide spectrum of production, from the Pirelli Tower in Milan to his work in furniture, ceramics, and interiors. Ponti’s work encapsulated mid-20th-century Italian design by fusing artistry and functionality, and his legacy lives on today through Poltrona Frau’s reinterpretation of his Dezza armchair. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

UKIYO

[u-key-yo] · Japanese (n.) living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life. “The floating world”

A new collection designed by Claudia Afshar. Two structured patterns available in five colors that transform the identity of cladding.

Interiors manufacturers are recognizing the need for greater material transparency and responding to the demand for information on their carbon emissions. By Justin R. Wolf

Embodied carbon is a hot topic these days. An ever-increasing number of players in the building industry are now assessing what’s getting built in terms of how much it contributes to decarbonization, i.e., reductions in carbon emissions. As the thinking goes, lessening the embodied emissions stemming from materials and construction lessens the long-term impacts measured over the entire life cycle of the building as well. Indicative of this thinking, certification programs like LEED and the newly amended California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) will soon roll out codified benchmarks for embodied carbon tracking and reductions.

One facet of our built environment where this hasn’t truly taken hold is interiors. So-called “hot spot” products such as furniture, flooring, and ceiling materials, among others, comprise a veritable trove of embodied carbon emissions. Only a small percentage of these products currently disclose their carbon emissions through Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), so even if building owners elect to use one of several innovative carbon trackers like the CARE Tool or EC3 (Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator) for their project, the findings are only as good as the available data. Indeed, without transparency there can be no accountability.

COURTESY THE MANUFACTURERS

ENTERPRISE Catching Up on Embodied Carbon

Daltile, the largest manufacturer and marketer of tile, natural stone, and countertop products used in North American residential and commercial spaces, has worked to reduce its carbon footprint by 17 percent since 2018. The company offers productspecific environmental product declarations (EPDs) for many of its goods, including (clockwise from left) SaddleBrook XT, Kintsugi, and Zebra Calacatta. 54

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

ENTERPRISE Catching Up on Embodied Carbon

Last September, window shade manufacturer Mecho unveiled EPDs for its entire line of shade cloth products. This represents one of only two sets of EPDs in this product category currently on the market. Interestingly, “there isn’t a product category rule for shading systems,” says Amy Bohnenkamp, a sustainability product specialist with Mecho. Product category rules are the “recipe” that determine how the carbon emissions are calculated for each type of product. “From the very beginning we worked with an assessor to figure out a methodology that made sense for our products. We ended up using a construction products category rule but modified it for a shade,” Bohnenkamp says. This kind of corporate altruism isn’t new to Mecho. Back in 2004, it became the 56

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first in its category to achieve Cradle to Cradle certification for a manual shade. Bohnenkamp confides, however, “We hadn’t done much research on what the climate impacts of our products have been. Creating EPDs is the way to do it.” Operating well within the scope of hot spot categories is U.K. company PurOptima, a global leader in the manufacturing of high-performance glass wall systems. The company only recently entered the U.S. market, partnering with distributors, but in doing so it effectively raises the bar for all regional competitors. “Sustainability projects [in the U.K.] are driven by carbon budgets,” says Ruth Parkinson, PurOptima’s head of marketing; these have spurred its investment in lower carbon emissions. For starters, the company has taken the bold

step of transitioning its entire line to include Hydro CIRCAL, a new brand of aluminum made from at least 75 percent recycled postconsumer scrap, scaling down the carbon emissions in its supply chain. “We’ve designed for reuse. No silicones, no adhesives; it’s a dry-joint system,” says Andy Stammers, PurOptima’s HSQE manager. “Rather than have [materials] go to landfill, which has been the dark side of the interiors market for many, many years, we’re wanting to pioneer a stop to that and bring the circular economy into play.” The kind of policy incentives that motivated PurOptima in the U.K. will soon apply in the United States as well. Many designers and manufacturers will have to reckon with the amended CALGreen, which goes into effect in July 2024. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY THE MANUFACTURERS

Mecho released EPDs for all its shade cloths on September 13. It took ten months to get to this point—adapting the rules to assess products in its category; gathering data on material, water, and energy use for every part and supplier; and then combining all of the information to calculate its impact per square meter of cut and finished fabric.

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What was already the country’s first mandated green building code—applying to a state that is itself the world’s fifth-largest economy—will soon require measurable reductions in embodied carbon for all commercial buildings larger than 100,000 square feet and schools larger than 50,000 square feet. (This applies to new construction and major renovations.) “In order for us to really make an impact, all buildings need to be held to a certain standard and it cannot be voluntary,” says Avideh Haghighi, sustainable design leader with ZGF and a steering committee member of the AIA California Climate Action Committee, which advised on the recently adopted amendment to CALGreen. Haghighi stresses that high-embodied-carbon materials like drywall are ripe for greater oversight, and third-party verification in the form of an EPD is a good first step. “We’ve hit a point where there are enough EPDs; now we need to optimize them. Now we can ask 58

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U.K.-based manufacturer PurOptima made a switch to Hydro CIRCAL for all of its glass and aluminum wall partitions and doors this past July. Hydro CIRCAL is a sustainable aluminum made with at least 75 percent postconsumer recycled content. This gives it an embodied carbon footprint of 2.3 kgCO2, compared with the average footprint of 16 kgCO2 for U.S.–produced aluminum.

COURTESY THE MANUFACTURERS

ENTERPRISE Catching Up on Embodied Carbon

Johnsonite Rubber Tile released a new EPD on September 14 that demonstrates that its rubber tile has a carbon footprint up to 20 percent lower than equivalent products on the market. All of Johnsonite’s tile collections are Cradle to Cradle certified, and the company offers to recycle or repurpose its products through its ReStart program.

[manufacturers] to meet actual thresholds and make reductions. CALGreen is really at the forefront of taking that leap.” CALGreen specifies three possible pathways for reducing embodied carbon: whole-building LCA, building reuse, or a prescriptive approach—and only the latter two may apply to interior products. With limited avenues and slow release of carbon emissions data in the form of EPDs, leveraging interiors to achieve low-carbon goals will require real vision, at scale. And until more high-performance standards become legally enforceable, those visionaries will have to continue to self-regulate. Wherever there’s an “initiative to lower impacts on environments, reduce embodied carbon, or have a sustainable level of legislation, that’s music to our ears,” Stammers says. When asked what California’s green building code potentially means to his business, he replies, “Bring it on!” M NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

PRODUCTS Lite Work Manufacturers lighten the load of task chair production for contract furniture seating that’s embracing a new workplace paradigm. By Joseph P. Sgambati III

Form follows function as shifts in material selection, fewer components, and novel engineering yield lightweight task chairs that are kinder to the environment while benefiting users. “Today’s workforce is more active and mobile. As workspaces are remade several times a day, harder-to-move furniture won’t do,” says Canada-based manufacturer Teknion. “Lightweight options that support individual and collaborative workstyles are preferable while optimizing packaging and lowering shipping container volumes decreases our carbon footprint.” Other innovators like Vitra offer customizations that can make models up to 100 percent recyclable without compromise, “transforming something often cold and technical into a design element,” adds Thor Ochs of Vitra North America.

01 ACX CHAIR Nuanced production methods conspire with unique aesthetic expression for Vitra’s tenth chair developed in collaboration with Antonio Citterio. Available in three backrest models, the ACX can be specified in compositions up to 100 percent recyclable. A significant refinement of mechanisms and simple assembly allow for a 60 percent reduction in material use and shipping volume. VITRA vitra.com 60

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COURTESY THE MANUFACTURERS

02 FULD NESTING CHAIR Tubular. Atypical. Tone-on-tone. Herman Miller has tapped industrial designer Stefan Diez for the brand’s first nesting chair. The unique Y-shaped architecture reduces material consumption while its textile, knitted to the chair’s exact dimensions, eliminates textile waste. And its slim profile begets stackability that saves the end user space and stress in seating storage. HERMAN MILLER hermanmiller.com

03 THE TONE CHAIR Satisfying ergonomic requirements for the 90th percentile of the population is Teknion’s newest chair that empathizes with a variety of end users—and the planet. Tone is available to be shipped knocked down, significantly reducing its carbon footprint, and incorporates eco-friendly material finishes that enhance tactility while reducing production waste. TEKNION teknion.com

04 THE ATTUNE COLLECTION Designed in collaboration with Studio Black Box’s Aaron Duke, Attune achieves BIFMA LEVEL 3 certification while making use of an advanced polymer that allows for adaptation to a variety of bodies as it resists impact and flex fatigue. Specifications include two frame finishes, five seat and back accents, and two arm options. ALLSEATING allseating.com

05 CARBONNEUTRAL CHAIRS Steelcase is accelerating the office furniture industry’s movement toward carbon neutrality. The brand has expanded its CarbonNeutral-certified chairs to include seven seating lines: Series 1, Gesture, Leap, Karman, Think, Amia, and Series 2. These collections allow end users to progress toward sustainability goals and LEED certification commitments. STEELCASE steelcase.com

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

EDUCATION Mass Timber Among the Pines Bowdoin College unveils two HGA-designed buildings, furthering the campus’s commitment to carbon neutrality.

The campus of Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine, is a composition of architectural styles. The Walker Art Building (1894), designed by Charles Follen McKim, provides a stately anchor fronting the Main Quad, while the adjacent Visual Arts Center (1975), designed by Modernist Edward Larrabee Barnes, plays off McKim’s neoclassical gesture with clean lines and volumetric forms. Across the quad, the college’s neo-Romanesque chapel (circa 1850), designed by Richard Upjohn, is both grand and modest, befitting its old New England context, and stands as the gateway to Bowdoin’s east campus, where groves of “whispering pines” dot the landscape by the hundreds. “There’s a beautiful dialogue between eras all around campus. It has that sense of familiarity, but also a quality of something new,” says Nat Madson, a design principal with HGA. True to form, tucked among the pine groves of the east campus stand a new pair of HGA-designed buildings: Barry Mills Hall and the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies (CAS). Mills Hall, clad in locally sourced red water-struck brick, houses the Digital and Computational Studies and Anthropology departments, including classrooms, faculty offices, a screening room, and a 300-person event space. The CAS building, clad in a black long-form brick, provides Bowdoin with a much-needed upgrade for the college’s storied collection of artifacts from Arctic expeditions dating back to 1860, along with research and teaching labs, classrooms, and administrative offices. 62

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COURTESY MICHAEL MORAN

By Justin R. Wolf

In Brunswick, Maine, national architecture firm HGA has designed two new standout buildings for Bowdoin College. With sleek geometries, gabled roofs, and brick-clad facades, the newly constructed Mills Hall and Center for Arctic Studies building remain distinct but are mindful of the campus’s architectural context.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

While distinct in both function and materiality, the buildings share a soul. Their elegant massing, gabled roofs, and offset geometries complement each other yet fit beautifully within the “contextual sensitivity” of the historic campus, Madson says. Their combined 46,000 square feet of space also happen to comprise the first commercial-grade mass timber projects in the Pine Tree State. Consequently, the carbon savings from working with structural timber, which Matthew Tonello of Consigli Construction calculates to be an 80 percent reduction over a comparable steel superstructure, are in keeping with Bowdoin’s ongoing mandate to keep its campus operationally carbon neutral (which it achieved in 2018, two years ahead of schedule). 64

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The two all-electric buildings are served by a shared chilled- and hot-water system to condition the spaces and provide tight temperature and humidity control for the collection areas. The chilled water and hot water are produced from a heat recovery chiller coupled with a peak electric boiler and peak air-cooled chiller. Each building also has its own central air handling system for ventilation and conditioning.

Bowdoin is made up of smaller, human-scale buildings. HGA wanted to honor that design legacy, which harmonized nicely with the all-electric buildings’ combined energy needs. Underground, Mills Hall and CAS are conjoined by a shared electric boiler that is independent of the campus’s natural gas–fired central heating plant, which is being phased out as part of the college’s plan to be fossil fuel–free by 2042. (Each building has its own air handler.) “We are legitimately offsetting our electricity use,” says Matt Orlando, Bowdoin’s CFO. Orlando also points out that the power needs of both buildings are well within the campus’s existing renewable energy capacity, all of which is drawn from on-site rooftop PV arrays, off-site solar farms, and purchased Green-e energy

credits, and the college covers 100 percent of campus electricity use with renewable energy each year. The Center for Arctic Studies, however, with its vast collection of taxidermy and other natural artifacts, presented an “energy challenge,” according to Leighton Deer, senior mechanical project engineer with HGA. Temperature, humidity, and ventilation controls are painstakingly maintained at “Smithsonian-level standards,” while stacked volumes and triple-pane windows help keep the space airtight. Incidentally, such indoor environmental conditions “would have thrown [Mills Hall] into chaos,” Deer says. According to Susan Kaplan, CAS’s director and chair of the anthropology department, “This is a museum by design. The objects now have space to breathe.”

COURTESY MICHAEL MORAN

EDUCATION Mass Timber Among the Pines

Mills Hall houses the Digital and Computational Studies and Anthropology departments, and features classrooms, offices, a screening room, and a 300-person event space. The CAS building stores the college’s collection of artifacts from Arctic expeditions, and houses research and teaching labs, classrooms, and administrative offices.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

EDUCATION Mass Timber Among the Pines The mass timber structures of the new buildings echo the nearby pine trees and evoke the legacy of Maine’s timber trade.

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Selected Sources •D esign architect: HGA • Interiors: HGA • Construction manager: Consigli Construction Co., Inc. • Consultants: Acentech Acoustics (technology and vibration consulting) • Engineering: HGA • Civil engineer: Sebago Technics • Landscaping: Stimson • Lighting: HGA PROJECT SOURCES • Bath fittings: Moen Commercial, Chicago Faucets, American Standard, Sloan, Delta, Bradley • Bath surfaces: Corian, Daltile, Casalgrande Padana, Quintessenza Ceramiche, Sartoria, Mosa, Schluter Systems, Scranton Products • Ceilings: Tectum, Armstrong

• Flooring: EF Contract, Shaw Contract • Kitchen products: Elkay, Chicago Faucets, Delta Faucet Company • Kitchen surfaces: Formica, Corian • Lighting: ALW, Beacon, Coronet, Columbia, Eureka, Finelite, Hubbell, LSI, LiteControl, Prescolite, ETC Controls • Paint: Sherwin-Williams, Glidden, PPG • Textiles: Carnegie, Maharam, Knoll, Kvadrat • Wall finishes: FilzFelt, Forbo EXTERIORS • Cladding/facade systems: Morin Brick (Mills Hall) and Pacific Clay (Gibbons CAS) • Doors: Exterior doors—custom (Exactitude)

• Glazing: Kawneer • Glass: Cardinal, Guardian • Lighting: ALW, Beacon, Coronet, Columbia, Eureka, Finelite, Hubbell, LSI, LiteControl, Prescolite, ETC Controls • Windows: Marvin, Kawneer BUILDING SYSTEMS • Conveyance: Otis Elevator Company Gen2 elevators, Minnesota Elevator • HVAC: York air handling units, Enviro-Tec VAV boxes, Cemline electric boilers, Multi-Stack heat recovery chillers, York air-cooled chiller, DriSteem humidifiers

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY MICHAEL MORAN

The operations and maintenance needs of each building are indeed different, but their architectural bond is palpable. Within Mills, the tactile warmth of the exposed timber posts and beams frames views of campus evergreens, and within CAS, the timber is staged in gradations to accent the darker exhibition spaces, where natural light must be diffused. From the outside, the side-by-side contrast of light and dark masonry work is complemented by the handmade quality of the facades. Lauren Piepho, structural project engineer with HGA, highlights Bowdoin’s many “gateways” and how the pine groves informed their design: “This was once a working forest, and that stuck with us. We thought, ‘Let’s bring that history inside. Let’s bring that sense of the whispering pines into the buildings in a more literal sense.’ ” M

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE 2023 PLANET POSITIVE AWARDS!

METROPOLIS’s Planet Positive Awards recognize the most creative projects and products from around the world that benefit people and planet, as well as firms and professionals leading the way to a better built environment. Judged by four expert juries across project types and product categories, the winners and honorable mentions represent the highest achievements that address climate change, ecosystem health, human health, and equity.

EXPLORE THE WINNERS

SPONSORED BY:

WORKPLACE Green on Blue Mithun’s Seattle waterfront HQ renovation is in pursuit of the Living Building Challenge 4.0. By Greg Scruggs

All of Mithun’s interventions in the 120-year-old building that houses its headquarters are complementary to the existing materials in the space. The reclaimed timber and steel of the reception area echo the heavy timber of the beams and posts. All the wood introduced into the space is FSC certified.

Perched above a souvenir shop hawking Sasquatch T-shirts on a Seattle waterfront pier is the headquarters of West Coast architects Mithun. They’ve occupied this formerly derelict warehouse since 1999, but two years ago they completed their first renovation and they are on track to make it one of the first buildings certified under the new Living Building Challenge (LBC) 4.0 standards. Over the years, Seattle has become a global hub for the living building movement. City incentives provide additional buildable square footage for developers who meet high-performing building standards. But there were no density bonuses for renovating Mithun’s own offices, just a chance for the environmentminded firm, which also has offices in Los

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A multimedia makerspace is the heart of the firm’s creative process. The Pier 56 sign that presides over the buzz of model making and interdisciplinary conversation in the studio was once mounted on a facade of the building.

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WORKPLACE Green on Blue

ago and it still works today. That reduced the amount we had to dispose of.” The most noticeable changes include revamped LED light fixtures and a wireless control system for maximum daylight harvesting. Printing areas were shrunk in favor of a larger materials library and model shop, which now has a 3D printer and much-needed ventilation. Conference rooms are outfitted with the latest audiovisual technology. But in Mithun’s LBC quest, the most important changes are invisible to the naked eye. After a blower door test revealed a drafty roof, calking reduced air leakage by 16 percent. Rigorously sourced carpet backers are now carbon negative. Or take a blank white wall with wooden trim: It features Living Product Challenge

The office is organized around a central “Main Street” circulation spine, with open team spaces on the northern side of the building and individual workspaces to the south.

Angeles and San Francisco, to create “an expression of our values,” in the words of president Dave Goldberg. When Mithun relocated to Seattle’s waterfront two decades ago, it was a pioneering move. (The area is currently undergoing a multiyear makeover at the hands of Field Operations.) The firm pursued an experimental design for the lofty warehouse space that Goldberg likened to a sailboat. It relies on operable windows for cooling—the building has no air-conditioning, utilizing natural sea breezes instead—and puts sweeping saltwater and mountain views in common areas rather than corner offices. For project architect Dustann Jones, Mithun’s foresight made his job easier. “A huge part of LBC is not tearing things out,” he said. “[The design] was done well 25 years

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Sheetrock, low-VOC paint, and FSCcertified wood with a zero-VOC varnish. However, arriving at such an assemblage was daunting. With the help of consultant Integrated Eco Strategy and its proprietary Red2Green material management platform, as well as ILFI’s own Declare label database, Jones and his team reviewed 946 products and used all but 222. Some common items are still tricky: the team was unable to find kitchen faucets that were Red List compliant, which meant conducting due diligence with manufacturers to find the best option. This meticulous process didn’t necessarily cost more in materials, but it did add project time. In addition to working with a consultant, Jones recommends starting early and making sure your contractor is versed in LBC before embarking on such a project.

But Mithun stands by the results, which are healthier not just for building occupants but also for construction workers who are spared noxious fumes. “Anyone who touches this building benefits,” says Jones. With a successful case study, Mithun now has a competitive edge as it pursues clients seeking LBC certification—like developers eager for those density bonuses. When the time comes, Jones, who had previously worked on a living building tree house for the Boy Scouts, will be ready. “I could do the second building much faster than the first,” he says. For Goldberg, that steep learning curve took him back to architecture school. “It’s like taking a hard class at a university,” he says. “The teacher was tough, but you learned a lot and it made a big impact.” M

Selected Sources • Design Architect, Interiors, and Graphics: Mithun • Living Building Challenge Consultant: Integrated Eco Strategy • Furniture Consultant: Objekts • Mechanical Engineer and Plumbing: MacDonald-Miller • General Contractor: Abbott Construction • Signage Contractor: NW Signs • Accessories: Clarus, Roppe • Bath: Kohler, Bobrick, Toto, Cement Elegance, States Industries, Statements Tile • Flooring: Interface, Mohawk, Crossville • Furniture: Objekts, De Vorm, Keilhauer, Emeco, Naughtone, Coalesse, Houe • Kitchen: Kohler, Elkay, GE, Cement Elegance, States Industries, Statements Tile • Lighting: LightArt, Cedar and Moss, RBW, Lutron, DMF, Finelite • Paint: Sherwin-Williams • Upholsteries: Luum, Camira, Maharam, Designtex, Unika Vaev • Other: Charlotte cast iron piping, Southwire XHHW electrical cabling, FSC-certified wood framing from Sustainable NW Wood

White boxes arrayed along the main circulation path provide the enclosed, acoustically separated rooms needed for focused work and meetings. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

REUSE Powering the Arts Herzog & de Meuron and PBDW have transformed the 1904 Central Power Station of Brooklyn into a nonprofit arts fabrication facility. By Anthony Paletta

The Central Power Station of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company has sat watching over the Gowanus neighborhood since 1904. In the 1970s it was used for incinerating cardboard, and it fueled Brooklyn’s subways with mountains of coal and buckets of oil until 1972, before its abandonment and subsequent occupation by a number of artist-squatters in the early 2000s. Now the building has returned in an excellent new incarnation as the nonprofit Powerhouse Arts fabrication facility, which has sought to retain traces of the prior eras (sans burning cardboard).

Philanthropist Josh Rechnitz purchased the building in 2012 and fully funded a lengthy restoration, which involved years of environmental mitigation. In 2016, Basel, Switzerland–based Herzog & de Meuron was selected to redesign the facility, with PBDW Architects serving as executive architect and preservation specialist. Power plant conversions are old hat to the Swiss firm, as its Tate Modern is likely the best-known project of that type on earth, but this was an exceptionally rare contemporary conversion of an industrial facility into a building where semi-industrial tasks are still going on.

On the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station was decommissioned in the 1970s, leaving half the original structure to stand derelict for years. Herzog & de Meuron and PBDW have recently transformed the power station into a 170,000-square-foot nonprofit manufacturing facility and a vibrant space for artists and fabricators to come together.

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A flexible outdoor work and storage space can be found on the canal side of the Turbine Hall and Boiler House. On the east side, an opening in the masonry envelope acts as the main entrance for the public. As visitors step inside, they are struck by the contrast between historical details such as concrete vaults, brick chases, and glazed tilework, alongside residual graffiti from years of abandonment. A concrete shear wall creates a vertical space beyond the entrance lobby, while a metal staircase directs attention upward to the grand hall.

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The upper level of the Turbine Hall showcases refurbished steel trusses and provides a versatile space for exhibitions and events. Adjacent to this, the double-height volume in the Boiler House acts as the intersection between public and workshop functions, offering additional room for exhibitions, events, staging, and assembly.

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REUSE Powering the Arts

It is a 170,000-square-foot facility, about 72,000 of which is the renovated former Turbine Hall and the remainder of which is an addition; both are rapidly filling with a variety of fabrication spaces for everything from woodworking to jewelry, along with several large multipurpose event spaces. Its raison d’être is the steady dwindling of studio spaces in the city and in its immediate surroundings. The recent denser residential evolution of Gowanus, quipped Philip Schmerbeck, associate and studio director at Herzog & de Meuron, “doesn’t include one-story art fabrication.” Powerhouse Arts consulted artists in determining just what to offer, to remedy shortcomings. Glass foundries are in relatively ample supply, so they skipped those. Ceramics, printmaking, and metalworking spaces have already opened, with jewelry, woodworking, and textile studios to come. Memberships are available for these facilities. The Powerhouse is, in the words of its president Eric Shiner, “an art-making factory” but one that has paid far more attention to comfort, light, and safety than most leftover garrets in which artists find themselves. An industrial hygienist guided their design in creating, as Shiner explains, “one of the safest environments in the world for artists to work in; artists are usually working in death traps.” These concerns dictated much of how the firm plotted out the building programmatically. Since wood and metal particulates can explode when mixed, their extraction systems had to be separated. Ceramic firing produces all sorts of exhaust, so this had to be located on the top floor so kilns can be exhausted to the roof above. Metalworking and public art departments, likely to produce the largest works, were located on the ground floor, where 20-foottall ceilings could easily accommodate large-scale construction. While the building’s boiler house was demolished in the 1930s, the Turbine Hall remained, yielding an empty Romanesque shell for the building that bore little relation to its interior. Schmerbeck says, “It was like putting on a suit for their neighbors.” Herzog & de Meuron filled out this suit, inserting floors to match the existing steel mezzanine levels of the Turbine Hall. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

REUSE Powering the Arts

Cinder-block partitions are inserted to provide a non-structural, flexible delineations between workshops. Schmerbeck likens it to a ship in a bottle. The firm was keen to keep anything it could: 90 percent of the original bricks are still there, as are original trusses in the grand double-height space topping the Turbine Hall. Almost all the existing interior graffiti was kept; one former resident was even invited back for a new commission. Cavities in concrete have been filled in with gold paint in one location, and other minor adornments have been added since, which Powerhouse Arts is happy to see. The Boiler House was rebuilt— roughly—on its original footprint, for the very sound reason, Schmerbeck explains, that the original foundation slab was still down there. On a site next to the ongoing 76

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Superfund mitigation of the preposterously polluted Gowanus Canal, not to mention beneath the water table, “the cost to put a new foundation in would have been astronomical.” This slab proved invaluable as a base, capped with thick layers of concrete to wall off buried toxins. The new Boiler House was built of concrete—stained with red oxide to accord with the Turbine Hall—and fits in seamlessly with the historic structure. While the facility aims to carefully sequester the emissions of its various creatives, the organization is keen for them to mix otherwise. Shiner explains: “Our aim is to blow these barriers out between different types of artists. We‘re very excited about when ceramic artists start talking to textile artists. What can happen then?”

The Turbine Hall has seen a variety of events from galas to fashion shows and will host an assortment of art fairs. The facility will also feature regular exhibits in a variety of spaces; its current restoration-spirited show ReFuse: Art From the Everyday runs until December. The building features easy off-street access for trucking, a rarity in New York, and this parking space will be used for other functions. Its canal frontage will eventually be accessible as a “waterfront esplanade” and a former turning basin that will be restored, providing water frontage on two sides. There are no plans to ship art out by barges—yet—but in an age when nearly every industrial reuse turns a building that used to make something into one that does not, Powerhouse Arts is a modern-day manufacturing revival. M

The building contains workshop space for fabrication in wood, metal, ceramics, textiles, and print. The project showcases a unique vertical arrangement for its fabrication shops. The ground floor houses the metal and wood workshops, benefiting from spaciousness and easy access to loading areas. On the top floors, the print, textile, and ceramics disciplines find their place, thanks to their strict exhaust requirements.

Selected Sources Prioritizing industrial hygiene, the building exhausts a significant amount of air to prevent manufacturing contaminants from affecting the interior environment. The workshops share a vertical service wall, accommodating circulation elements, restrooms, and plumbing. The project’s resilience is emphasized by two large roof volumes, representing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems while avoiding equipment installation at the building’s base because of potential flooding and rising sea levels.

• Design architect: Herzog & de Meuron • Executive Architect & Preservation Specialist: PBDW Architects • Lighting: Tillotson Design Associates • Landscaping: Ken Smith Workshop • Engineers: MEP: Buro Happold; Structural: Silman INTERIORS • Interior Finishes: Armstrong, PGS Millwork, Sherwin Williams, Corian, Yalestone, The Hudson Company, Gray Fox Flooring • Furnishings: Poppin, West Elm, Fixed seating, PGS Millwork

• Lighting: Columbia, Bartco, Litelab, Feelux, Louis Poulsen, BK Lighting • Wall finishes: Filz Felt, Forbo EXTERIORS • Exterior Cladding: Belden, Glen-Gery, Tetra, Maspeth, PG New York (Gatehouse Cladding), Structure Tech NY, US Concrete, GCP Applied Technologies, GRACE • Roofing: Siplast, Parapro, • Windows: Stahlbau Pichler & Structure Tech NY BUILDING SYSTEMS • Conveyance: TEI, A&D • Plumbing: Elkay, Kohler, T&S Brass and Bronze Works, Inc., Elkay, Just Manufacturing Company, Advance Tabco, Speakman, Bradley, Haws • Energy: Delta Controls

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NEW TALENT Local Resonance By being selective with projects and scrappy with materials, Tall Architects has made a place for itself in a coastal Mississippi community.

When married architects Madison and Mark Talley moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to the coastal town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, in 2014, the ripple effects of the 2008–09 recession still felt like waves. The Talleys—who had met as undergraduates at Mississippi State University’s College of Architecture, Art and Design— were lucky to have jobs, he at a midsize firm and she at a large corporation. But even in their early dating life at school, they had talked about starting a firm together. “We were ready to do something on our own,” Madison says. “We had very little debt. We could live cheaply. Why not give it a shot?” After realizing that their money—and their talent and expertise—would go further in a small community rather than in San Francisco, as they’d originally planned, they moved back to Mississippi, where they’d both grown up. Their first project was a metal-framed workshop on property owned by Madison’s mother and stepfather; they got married, moved in, and started Tall Architects. Eight months later they bought and gutted an Airstream trailer, living as cheaply as possible and only taking on projects that they were interested in. Their families expressed concern. “We told them we were going to be picky and poor,” Mark says. “We were trying to set Tall on a particular course: architecture that excited us and our community.” Tall Architects’ bet on Ocean Springs (population 18,000) was a good one. As the only firm practicing progressive architecture in the area, they have been surprised by the warm and curious 78

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Mark and Madison Talley met at Mississippi State University and founded their firm, Tall Architects, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, in 2014. Four years later, they completed the construction of their own home, Tall House (below and facing page), which serves as a laboratory for their architectural experiments.

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By Laura Raskin

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NEW TALENT Local Resonance

reception they got, and how quickly they’ve been able to integrate into the artistic community. “Where we struggled— we were not prepared, and we should have been—is with a poor state and low budgets. But it’s forced us to be scrappy with materials, form, and construction technique,” Madison says. Off-the-shelf materials, used creatively, have also resonated with the community. They convey attainability, familiarity, and respect for the vernacular language of Ocean Springs. The Talleys have since eagerly moved out of their Airstream (“three years and six days later,” Mark says) and in 2018 designed and built their current home, Tall House, where they live with their son. The house’s two elevated 10-by-24-foot metal-clad volumes, connected by decking, can be moved from its rural site, should they opt for a more urban experience. Tall House served as a laboratory for the firm, and other local and regional projects quickly followed and garnered acclaim.

Even 18 years after Hurricane Katrina, every conversation that Tall Architects has with a potential client begins with an audit of what happened to the property during “the storm,” which made landfall 20 minutes from their office. The epic scars from Katrina still mark the landscape and dictate how the architects practice now and into the future. For example, the Rayburn House, currently under construction, is a 3,080-square-foot home for a local museum director and his family, raised 8 feet above the ground. The all-white house had to pass muster with the local historic preservation commission, and nods to a Southern Gothic sensibility with a gable roof. The clients also loved the house from Tim Burton’s movie Beetlejuice, so Mark and Madison conceived an irregular pattern of geometric windows that recall the film’s surreal Postmodernist set. White cement board panels evoke Mondrian and create a patchwork look from afar. “The majority of our projects are elevated,” Madison says.

Fowl River, a residence in Theodore, Alabama, is wrapped in corrugated black metal. The two stacked “bars” of the home are angled to give the residents the best view, and the upper bar shades a screened porch below. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

NEW TALENT Local Resonance

Above: Opened in 2019, Twisted Run is a yoga and writing retreat in Vancleave, Mississippi, that consists of two cabins

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the town’s rapid growth and vibrancy, Tall Architects chose a sleek rectangular form with a single-slope roof that flips up on two ends. A subtle protruding brick X pattern on the facade is a nod to a local school that was itself built with bricks reclaimed after the 1908 tornado. The mayor, who runs a sawmill, once drove up to a meeting with the Talleys on his tractor; an alderman owns a lumberyard. So the contractors were able to make their own structural wood members on-site when CLT wasn’t in the budget. “We’ve had some great and patient teachers and clients along the way who have been incredibly willing to experiment with us. We threw ourselves into this community, and that has really benefited us,” says Madison. M

COURTESY TALL ARCHITECTS

“That brings in an entirely different take on architecture. It’s an interesting challenge— you don’t want to just stick a building on stilts in the air.” Nor does the firm want to build cartoonish fortresses, adds Mark. “By delivering this warmer variety of Modernism (or regionalism) you can do stuff that isn’t Corinthian columns, but still make things that are inviting and long-lasting,” Mark says. In Purvis, Mississippi, a 70-mile drive northwest of Ocean Springs, the environmental challenge isn’t hurricanes—it’s tornadoes. The town’s “Katrina” moment was the 1908 Dixie Tornado Outbreak, which killed hundreds of people and leveled Purvis. For a new city hall that needed to celebrate

Facing page: Tall Architects designed the new 4,300-square-foot City Hall building for Purvis, Mississippi, to house the city government and the water department. The building, which includes a new conference room for city council meetings, opened this past June.

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INSIGHT AI for Design Discover five recommended artificial intelligence tools for architects and interior designers. By Jessica Jenkins

It seems that just about everyone is talking about artificial intelligence (AI). According to the Future Today Institute, AI is a trend affecting all industries, ranging from agriculture and consumer products to real estate and construction. So what does AI mean for the architecture and interior design industry? ThinkLab sat down with Eric Klooster, director of architecture at INFORM Studio, and Abby Shehan, senior design director at Premier, for a candid conversation about AI. They discussed how machine learning tools can expand design capabilities, which tools have the greatest impact, and what’s on the horizon for our industry. The reality? There’s an increasingly wide spectrum of tools available. Many of the tools assist with design conception and provide time and cost savings, while others speed up construction without drafting a drawing set. You read that right. Wherever you or your firm land on the love–fear AI spectrum, there are tools that are worth exploring. We’ve rounded up Klooster and Shehan’s recommendations and added a few of our own below: 01 UpCodes Copilot UpCodes Copilot is your Al-powered code assistant. It helps accelerate your code research with built-in responses tailored to your project-specific questions. “Utilizing these types of code analysis tools allows us to design faster, and ensures we are protecting the safety and wellness of occupants. It’s faster and avoids risk,” says Klooster. 02 Midjourney Midjourney is a generative AI program that produces images based on text prompts. Designers can use the platform to produce iterative design solutions that align with requirements and considerations such as material choices and site specification. 03 ChatGPT Your team is probably already exploring ChatGPT’s capabilities. In our industry, common uses include site research, design briefs, marketing, and social captions. This tool, like most AI tools, is continuing to evolve, and the free version 3.5 provides an easy introduction to AI. “It speeds up our research process and allows us to dig deep into the history of the site we are designing for,” says Shehan. 84

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04 Higharc This comprehensive tool allows customization of built-in parameters, such as ADA code requirements, to fit your project needs. The standout feature? Higharc generates a permit-ready construction drawing set within minutes, without the need for drafting, and even includes built-in cost calculators. While its primary focus is currently the residential sector, the potential implications of this tool for other vertical markets are vast. 05 Finch 3D Your prototyping assistant. Finch utilizes advanced algorithms to optimize your design—giving you ten times the iteration speed. With built-in error prevention, Finch ensures compliance with your set constraints, providing real-time feedback to guide design decisions. As a bonus, Finch seamlessly integrates into existing design and drafting tools like Revit, Rhino, and Grasshopper. WHO IN THE INDUSTRY SHOULD BE EXPERIMENTING WITH THESE TOOLS? According to Klooster, “the more the merrier.” The broader the spectrum of industry players—manufacturers, architects, designers, developers, corporate real estate professionals—who utilize these tools, the richer our understanding becomes. This collective usage allows for refining and enhancing the traditional project process. A shared aspiration for Klooster and Shehan is to harness these tools to educate municipalities, streamlining the design approval process. WHICH ORGANIZATIONS ARE AT THE FOREFRONT WITH THEIR AI-DRIVEN MODELS? JLL and CBRE are prime examples, to name just a couple. WANT TO SEE AI APPLIED IN BUILT PROJECTS? We’re paying attention to the Van Leesten Bridge Project by INFORM Studio, where architecture, AI, and fabrication meet. While we at ThinkLab are passionate about exploring AI tools, this article was proudly written by a human. Jessica Jenkins is a member of the research and content development team for ThinkLab, the research division of SANDOW DESIGN GROUP. Join in to explore what’s next at thinklab.design/join-in.

COURTESY INFORM STUDIO AND PHOTOGRAPHER STEVE KROODSMA

INFORM Studio and SITU Studio utilized AI to work through thousands of iterative options for the design of the Van Leesten Memorial Bridge project in Providence, Rhode Island.

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Design Inspiration Discovery Problem-Solving World-Changing Optimism

The editors of METROPOLIS bring you a new virtual series—Design Optimism Talks. Tune in for your monthly dose of optimism with thought-provoking guests who are revolutionizing their fields. Innovators will lead a virtual workshop with design professionals. Join us every second Tuesday of the month for an hour of discovery, inspiration, and community where questions and comments are not only welcomed but encouraged.

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In Depth

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHELSIE CRAIG; STYLING BY CATHERINE CAMPBELL PEARSON

There’s a critical mass of experimentation with both the materials and methods of architecture and interior design today. Many options are now available for designers and clients who want to phase PVC out of their projects, but how successful these will be in supplanting a mainstay of commercial projects remains to be seen. Meanwhile, emerging practices across North America are asking whether better materials need to be embedded alongside alternative practices—business models, organizational structures, and workflows—to shape a built environment that’s not exploitative or extractive. We also spotlight one of the handful of academic research groups around the country that are testing the viability of natural materials in architecture.

PVC-alternative products available today include (from top to bottom) Ultrafabrics Brisa upholstery, Mannington Commercial’s Proxy flooring, and Momentum’s Douro wallcovering.

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The PVC Pivot The environmental and health risks of polyvinyl chloride are well known, and the alternatives are getting better. What can the building industry do about PVC? By Avinash Rajagopal

BRISA Ultrafabrics

NATURE’S TILE AND PLANK Teknoflor

SILICONE SKYLINE Designtex

This textured polyurethane fabric comes in a wide range of colors (Caramel shown here) and is both durable and breathable. Its backing is made of recycled REPREVE polyester fibers and responsibly sourced nylon.

This high-performance bio-polyurethane flooring, processed from castor seed oil and natural minerals, is Red List Approved by ILFI. Designers can choose from 42 visuals (Terra Cotta shown here) and coordinate the tile or plank with Teknoflor’s Naturescapes sheet product.

It took two years of development in printing techniques to achieve the clarity of pattern in this silicone fabric that exceeds industry standards for clean chemistry and has no PFAS, antimicrobials, or fire retardants.

Photography by Chelsie Craig Styling by Catherine Campbell Pearson NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

O n February 3, 2023, a train run by the freight company Norfolk Southern and carrying more than 100,000 gallons of chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Because the contents of the 150 train cars were hazardous, officials made the difficult decision to vent and burn the chemicals in a controlled manner to avoid a much more catastrophic explosion that would have exposed 4,700 people to carcinogens. As it was, a fireball and column of smoke loomed over the town, and it took nearly nine months until Norfolk Southern was able to say that it had cleaned up the contamination. East Palestine residents, who complained of rashes, sore throats, nausea, and headaches shortly after the incident, are still concerned about the long-term impact on their health. The cancer-causing chemical that officials and residents were most worried about is vinyl chloride, a colorless, flammable gas that is primarily used to make polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. Sixty-one percent of all PVC produced in the world is used in building and construction. You might know it simply as “vinyl.” Over the past two decades, sustainability-focused architects, interior designers, researchers, and manufacturers have been locked in a slow-burning battle to phase out PVC in the building industry, primarily because of the vinyl chloride used to make it, but also because of the other toxic chemicals that are

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CHEVRON STROKE Skyline Design Since 2022, Skyline Design has made some of its patterns available in a PVC-free polyester film for application to architectural glass, Plexiglas, and steel. Shown here is the Forest colorway in a pattern designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

PROXY Mannington Commercial This PVC-free flooring solution is made from a combination of PET and polyurethane, is Declare Red List Free, and is 105 percent carbon offset from cradle to gate. Shown here is the Velum Smoke colorway.

DOURO Momentum This Type III non-PVC wallcovering is an olefin composite with 39 percent postindustrial recycled content. Shown here in the North Dell color, Douro has a deep vertical embossing reminiscent of corduroy.

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XOREL VEIL Carnegie The lacelike delicacy of this fabric belies its durability. Made of Xorel with some polyester in the back, Veil is Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver. Shown here is color number 31.

INNATE Shaw Contract This resilient tile is made of a Cradle to Cradle–certified bio-based polyurethane derived from canola, castor, and rapeseed oils. The Mineral color is shown here.

BRISA Ultrafabrics Ice Pink

typically added to it. “Phthalate-free” has become a common descriptor for PVC products, and manufacturers are developing a host of substitutes in the form of other plastics and bio-based chemicals. At this year’s NeoCon, Designtex, Mannington Commercial, Shaw Contract, and Wolf-Gordon were among the many brands offering PVC-free or PVC-alternative textiles, flooring, and wallcoverings. Yet PVC rules. “The market has never been more open to PVC alternatives than it is right now,” says Giselle Walsh, a sustainability and regulatory consultant to the Wallcoverings Association. “But the reality of what’s ending up on a jobsite is still mostly PVC.” The very properties that make PVC an unbeatable choice for pipes, siding, wiring, flooring, upholstery, and wallcoverings are also the reasons sustainability experts absolutely abhor it. “It’s durable, it’s easy to mold, colors well, it plays well with other materials. It’s inexpensive and it has this wonderful little boon, which is that because of the chlorine in it, it tends to be inherently more fire retardant than almost any other plastic,” says Andrew Dent, chief material scientist at Material Bank and executive vice president of research at Material ConneXion. “And with a plasticizer [added] you can make it as rigid as siding and as flexible as a textile.” But chlorine—in the form of vinyl chloride—is why making PVC and burning PVC waste are both hazardous. The most commonly added plasticizers used to be a class of chemicals called phthalates, which can leach into the air and disrupt our endocrine system, permanently affecting fertility and potentially causing birth defects. These are now heavily regulated and have largely been eliminated from U.S.-made PVC but continue to be a problem with plastic imported from overseas. PVC may also contain stabilizers with toxic heavy metals like cadmium or lead that are coming under scrutiny both in the European Union and in the United States. This array of chemical concerns is why the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) still lists PVC on its Red List of ingredients to be avoided in the built environment. It might also be the reason why only about one percent of

“The market has never been more open to PVC alternatives than it is right now. But the reality of what’s ending up on a jobsite is still mostly PVC,” says Giselle Walsh.

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vinyl products are recycled, despite PVC itself technically being a recyclable plastic. The size of the problem seems matched by the number of attempts to find viable vinyl alternatives. In the interiors industry, Carnegie was an early changemaker with its polyethylene wallcovering Xorel launching in 1981. Xorel’s woven structure and luster are very different from the slick, printable qualities of vinyl wallcovering, yet it managed to gain a foothold, becoming a favorite in the hospitality industry. “The more daring designers fell in love with it right away, while those more skeptical came around over time,” recalls Carnegie’s chief creative officer Heather Bush. About a decade ago, the bio-based version of Xorel launched, and it is now the only textile of its kind to be certified by ILFI’s Living Product Challenge, the most stringent sustainability certification for products. Other textile and wallcovering manufacturers have selected silicone, olefins, or polyurethane as their PVC alternatives. In the first camp are textile manufacturers Momentum Group— which launched its Silica line in 2010 with a blend of silicone and corn-based PLA—and Designtex, which released four new silicone textiles with an astonishing range of colors and textures for both indoor and outdoor use at NeoCon this year. In the olefin group are wallcovering products from Carnegie, which began offering a line of thermoplastic olefin wallcoverings in 2014, and Wolf-Gordon, which released an olefin composite product called Clair in 2020, offering bleach cleanability and durability on par with vinyl wallcoverings. Japan-born company Ultrafabrics began offering its polyurethane-based products in the United States in 2019, and has since made additional moves toward sustainability by including rapidly renewable TENCEL cellulosic fibers in its composition. In their quest for PVC alternatives some flooring manufacturers have turned to older solutions that had been languishing under the juggernaut of luxury vinyl tile (LVT). Rubber flooring, for example, had suffered from being aesthetically limited, but both Tarkett and Interface have upped the ante with their Johnsonite

NATURE’S TILE AND PLANK Teknoflor Marine Cove

BRISA Ultrafabrics Cambridge Blue

HIGH PLAINS Momentum Part of the Versa collection of wallcoverings, the textured High Plains is made of 80 percent olefin composite and 30 percent postindustrial recycled olefin composite. The Desert Spring color is shown here.

In their quest for PVC alternatives some flooring manufacturers have turned to older solutions that had been languishing under the juggernaut of luxury vinyl tile (LVT).

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INNATE Shaw Contract Flax

CHECK Skyline Design Pink/Yellow

HIGH PLAINS Momentum Prairie Dust

and Nora brands, respectively. And in terms of sustainability, Johnsonite Rubber Tile released its first environmental product declaration (EPD) this past September (see p. 59), while Nora products have a PEFC certification proving that their material is sourced from sustainably managed rubber plantations. Also this year, Shaw Contract introduced a new collection of bio-based resilient flooring called Dappled Light, derived from rapeseed, canola, and castor oils. Created in collaboration with NBBJ senior associate Eric Koffler, the collection is an attempt to introduce a non-PVC solution into health-care design. Last year, Shaw Contract introduced BottleFloor, a new type of resilient flooring made out of postconsumer PET bottles. For those determined to eschew PVC, there have never been more options available. Meanwhile, PVC products themselves have undergone a bit of a transformation. Interface, for example, found a way in 2020 to start including 39 percent preconsumer recycled content in its LVT product lines. And all the PVC that the company uses is free of phthalates, heavy metals, and formaldehyde, making it more easily recyclable as well. But even this hopeful juncture, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that things are going to get easier for designers who want to make the most sustainable choice. Every PVC alternative brings with it some limitations—some bio-based materials, for example, can’t compete with the range of colors possible with conventional plastics, while others just haven’t been around long enough to inspire confidence in clients, even though the materials test favorably in laboratory conditions. Another concern is that the recyclability of some PVC alternatives isn’t much better than that of PVC products. Polyurethane isn’t easily recyclable either, and “silicone has a worse end-of-life scenario than PVC because there really is no option to recycle the upholstery,” Dent explains. Silicone’s one advantage might be that it’s not reliant on fossil fuels and it has a relatively clean manufacturing process. But it is derived from sand, which is not the infinitely renewable resource you might think it is—humankind is using sand faster than nature can replenish

Every PVC alternative brings with it some limitations—some bio-based materials, for example, can’t compete with the range of colors possible with conventional plastics.

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it, already causing all kinds of holdups in construction and glass manufacturing around the world. On the other hand, architects and designers will find it harder and harder to simply look away from the hazards of PVC and continue to specify as they have gotten used to doing. In the wake of the East Palestine disaster, the federal government in the U.S. has indicated that the Environmental Protection Agency will likely undertake a review of the dangers posed by vinyl chloride; an unfavorable assessment might make it much harder to produce PVC. Meanwhile, new concerns continue to emerge— a recent investigation by Sheffield Hallam University’s Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice and Material Research L3C found that about 10 percent of the world’s PVC, including some that is used in the United States, is produced in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in plants that have been linked to human rights abuses. One safe step forward in this quagmire might be to at least displace PVC as the default for high-performance applications. The performance standards for the durability and tear resistance of wallcoverings are based on the typical performance of Type II vinyl wallcoverings, points out Erika Gaies, an executive vice president of sales enablement and marketing at Carnegie, “and that immediately makes a connection in designers’ minds that in order to perform well it needs to be a vinyl,” even though nonvinyl wall coverings might also meet or exceed those requirements. “We need to break the stereotype that vinyl and only vinyl equals performance,” she says. Instead, specifiers should be able to weigh the merits of different options based on the goals and priorities of each project—thereby incentivizing both the cleanup of PVC and the improvement of alternatives. Ultimately, though, “there may be no more immediate threat to our [architects’] survival than our Faustian bargain with fossil-fuel based polymers,” writes Franca Trubiano, associate professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, in the book Material Health Design Frontiers (Lund Humphries, 2023). In addition to vinyl chloride, at least three of the other chemicals of concern in the East Palestine train derailment are used in buildings, intended for the manufacture of paints, sealants, and adhesives. Indeed, the building and construction industry is the second-largest consumer of plastics in the world, none of which have an unblemished track record of manufacturing, most of which don’t have an easy path to circularity, and the majority of which still rely on a resource that is warming our atmosphere to dangerous levels as it is being used up. PVC is not the only material in the built environment that is in sore need of a pivot, because the one thing we know we don’t have an alternative for is the planet we live on. M

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Standing In These manufacturers offer innovative PVC swaps, oldie-but-goodie alternatives, or solutions focused on using the thermoplastic responsibly. By Lauren Volker

TARKETT PVC Alternative: Linoleum Since 1898, Tarkett’s linoleum collection has been made with natural, rapidly renewable materials—linseed oil, pine rosin, wood and cork flour, and jute—and it was the first in the industry to become Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver. The company’s LinoFloor xf2 is available in five patterns and 106 colorways, including 16 colors made from all-natural dyes. tarkett.com

COURTESY THE MANUFACTURERS

LIGHTART PVC-Free Power Cords

TIMBERTECH BY AZEK Recycled (and Recyclable) PVC Decking

PATCRAFT PVC-Free Carpet Backing

PVC is one of the most used materials for electric cables. But LightArt’s entire product line, including its recently expanded Ocean Coil Collection, features power cords that are free of the thermoplastic. Now available in a new shape, a new colorway (Marina, shown here), and more sizes, the upcycled Ocean Coil pendants are also made from 100 percent recycled polypropylene sourced from ocean-bound and nearshore waste. lightart.com

The largest vertically integrated recycler of PVC in the United States, Azek transforms hundreds of millions of pounds of landfill-bound waste into TimberTech products each year. Made from approximately 60 percent recycled material (the highest recycled content available in PVC decking today) and designed to be recyclable at end of life, TimberTech Advanced PVC decking comes in more than 20 finish options across nine collections. timbertech.com

For 20 years EcoWorx, Patcraft’s tile backing, has been PVC-free, and it’s the first of its kind to be C2C Certified. Reverse, shown here, features the healthy, high-performance backing system and comes in three styles—Renewal, Material, and Commitment—in two constructions with a neutral coordinating color palette. patcraft.com

NORA BY INTERFACE PVC Alternative: Rubber

WOLF-GORDON PVC-Free Wall Protection

MILLIKEN PVC-Free Resilient

All Nora by Interface floor coverings are made of high-quality natural and industrial rubbers, which are free of PVC and other halogenated polymers and phthalate plasticizers. Shown, the new noraplan dariva line combines the high-performance benefits of rubber flooring with an earthy color palette with soft marbling, creating a biophilic, holistic design solution. nora.com

Wolf-Gordon’s RAMPART Resolve is a clean-chemistry wall-protection alternative, offering the same abrasion and impact resistance in heavy-traffic interiors as vinyl. The heavy-duty olefin composite can be digitally printed with a range of the manufacturer’s wallcovering patterns, including two new options—Gossamer (shown) and City Lace—by textile artist Raylene Marasco. wolfgordon.com

Milliken’s resilient flooring Merge Forward offers scuff and stain resistance, but the rigid core tile is free of PVC. The line’s three patterns—High Ground, Reset, and Rejuvenate—and 12 colorways were inspired by mangrove forests, and all the products in the collection are also certified Red List Free. milliken.com

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Outside the Norm 100

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COURTESY DUO

By Verda Alexander

At their innovation studio Duo, brothers Carlos Robles-Shanahan and Rafael Robles have developed an approach called multicontextual design, which recognizes the fact that any potential design intervention operates within multiple nested contexts. So buildings cannot be designed independently of other systems like services and product delivery, business models, ownership models, or power structures.

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there’s a new reminder that climate change and growing inequities are catastrophically changing how we live. Humanity is at a tipping point, and mending our communities and finding new ways to thrive are imperative for a viable future. So, not long ago, I shifted my career to focus on the systemic and social issues that contribute to the climate crisis. And in doing so I’ve discovered many others in the architecture and design professions who have similar priorities. Alternative Practice is a new initiative I’m launching with Maya Bird-Murphy, an architectural designer and founder of Mobile Makers, in response to our shared frustrations about the state of the design field and our world. To change current realities, we have had endless conversations about colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, houselessness, disinvestment, environmental degradation, and the lack of agency and resources of individuals and communities. There seems to be a shift afoot—a reprioritization of values that drive business (and design solutions); the centering of love and gratitude, valuing the collective over the individual, embracing slowness, and challenging growth. We want to know more about the practices, agencies, labs, collectives, and research teams that are operating outside traditional modes and leading this shift. We aim to gather, archive, and share the knowledge held by the hundreds such alternative practices that exist today so designers can ultimately create liberatory futures for all. At the end of September, I moderated a panel talk at The Design Summit for Friends of Friends in Chicago, an interdisciplinary event focused on change-making in design hosted by Mobile Makers. The discussion, also titled “Alternative Practice,” brought together three designers whose practices challenge the status quo. We invite you to join the conversation. —Verda Alexander 102

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Verda Alexander: Rafael Robles is the cofounder and director of Duo, a studio/lab that works to create built-environment innovations for the benefit of society. Rafa, you have defined a term, “multicontextual design.” Can you tell us what that is? Rafael Robles: Sure, it’s a term that my brother and cofounder Carlos came up with. He’s in public policy and my background is design. We felt like a lot of our conversations were leading to a place that we

couldn’t really define. The philosopher Cornel West describes himself as a “multicontextual intellectual” because he can inhabit a lot of different spaces in different ways. We were like, “Huh, that could be interesting for a design practice.” Often in design, if you work on housing, then you have to explain how your project is going to solve the housing crisis. If you work on a sustainable building, you must explain how that’s going to solve climate change. We feel like that’s not productive, not realistic, and it

COURTESY SOCA

Every day,

In 2021, the city of Toronto voted to protect its Little Jamaica neighborhood with heritage status—a victory for the community that was aided by a 2020 design vision created by local firm SOCA in collaboration with Black Urbanism TO and Open Architecture Collaborative Canada.

I’ve always tried to avoid any labels and I consider myself an architect, but I’m also an educator and a designer and a mother. We are so multifaceted. It’s been a journey and I am comfortable with the idea of not being anywhere. VA: Tura Cousins Wilson is an architect from Toronto and cofounder of the Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA), working in a variety of scales and building types. Tura, why is research and speculative work so important to you?

often just stops a lot of projects from happening. In our practice, we rethink the norms in those projects and then give new form to alternative realities that promote other ways of practicing, inhabiting, and owning spaces. VA: Elsa Ponce is a Mexican-born architect, interdisciplinary designer, and educator based in Brooklyn. She leads Studio Elsa Ponce, a researchbased design practice that challenges hegemonic processes toward spatial justice and community

access. Elsa, you describe yourself as a professional between places? Elsa Ponce: There’s this duality that I feel is very important to my practice and the way that I think that there’s not one absolute truth. I think having that philosophy of being between places, I also share it with the communities that I work with that are mostly immigrant, and that’s also a connection that I really value. I reflect myself in them, and through my work. I like not being at the center of anything.

Tura Cousins Wilson: I have always been interested in pushing ideas that we might not be able to explore in a traditional model. We’ve been pushing ideas for alternative processes, particularly in communities that don’t know what architects do, or may not be able to afford an architect. In Toronto, our focus was on a Little Jamaica community which was hit by gentrification exacerbated by a new transit line that’s accelerated displacement. We’ve been working on developing alternative housing models, and in this case a community land trust both for the residential and the commercial uses, understanding you need both to create a vibrant community. VA: Now, Rafa, you’re working on different economic models for housing too. Many of your projects come from thinking about new realities. Instead of solving the problem in front of you, you’re thinking about the result that you NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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want, and you were able to explore these new models of ownership and tackle housing affordability with the project HomeKeep. RR: I think less about what problem am I solving, which is a very businessdriven mechanic way of looking at it. And we think more about what reality [we are] creating. We didn’t want to just keep acquiring more affordable buildings. We really wanted to tackle the question of why aren’t these units affordable in the first place? What if we imagine a world without landlords and tenants, what would that look like? And when we talk to developers, they’re like, “That’s crazy. I’m always going to be a landlord.” And we’re like, “We’re going to make sure that you’re not.” Some of the people have lived in their units 20 years and have zero equity in their buildings; we think that’s wrong. In our practice, we really push ourselves to imagine a new reality. Then we try to make it happen. VA: It’s like you’re looking for a solution and doing it within and outside the capitalist system. Amazing. Elsa, as an architect, you talk about not building buildings and the value of impermanence. What is architecture without architects? EP: Impermanencias, which means “impermanences,” is a research project that I started in Mexico City. It’s a project where I had no client, just an impetus. I got funding from Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts, and the project started by looking at how empty our cities are. I was interested in why we have so much space. Why do we keep building buildings? I was curious to investigate how people get organized and collectively do something in a space. Permanence is overrated. We are taught to design buildings that stand for a long, long time to the detriment of the environment and inflexibility of use. It’s very hard to convert a building, and building as a permanent exercise is 104

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not sustainable anymore. I formed a network of people in Mexico City: activists, designers, artists, architects, and organizers. I observed how they were using space, then I started mapping and drawing networks. Just by looking at how they were using space we were able to understand resources that they could use in a provisional or impermanent way. VA: Elsa, you’re part of another practice called WIP Collaborative. It has a double meaning: work in progress and women in practice. It’s nonhierarchical. Why does nontraditional practice appeal to you? EP: The experience of practicing as an architect was brutal: the amount of work hours, the pay, and the relevance. I felt that I was never going to meet the users of many of the spaces I was working on. It was not a very collaborative effort. I joined a community of women and we started to have very candid conversations, asking questions like, What’s the situation at work? How are you feeling? Do you feel like you’re compensated fairly? Do you feel like you are promoted to roles that are significant to you? And through those conversations we started to think about whether there was another way of practice that was nonhierarchical, where we could share the workload and also share situations of life. If one of us became a mother, can we have a communal day care? We started imagining new realities of what a feminist practice could be. VA: How have your experiences at other firms as well as your personal values and the missions of your organizations influenced the internal operations of your personal practices? TCW: To a degree, I think it’s just about allowing people flexibility, and that requires a lot of trust. It’s also about nurturing enthusiasm about the work we’re doing. Ultimately, [we care] if people are happy and can communicate as a team.

RR: We need to prioritize ourselves and be intentional about the decisions we make. We talk a lot about liberation, like, “What do I really want to do every day and what does Carlos want to do every day and how do we do more of that?” I think of self-empowerment too: If we came up with our own projects, what would they look like? We want to set a new precedent for work so that we’re happy day to day. And then if it inspires other people to do that too, then great. EP: I think the collaborative model might be more interesting to learn from. We call it Work in Progress because we are figuring it out. It’s important for us to set the expectation that things are evolving. We don’t want to have all the answers right away. Sometimes the client might not be appropriate for our values. Equity and choice are important values that we think about when we are making decisions. You can choose what to work on, the number of hours, and within what capacity. There are always two co-leads on a project in case somebody needs to step out for a work or family emergency. VA: I think that’s a great way to close— this idea of intersectionality and all the things that bring us joy, including the work that we do. It is a journey and we are constantly learning. Thank you, everyone! M

Impermanencias is a research project by New York– and Mexico City–based practice Studio Elsa Ponce to reimagine spatial creation as a direct response to community needs rather than market demands. It asks what the architect’s role might be within a process where communities self-determine their spaces.

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COURTESY STUDIO ELSA PONCE

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Cooking with Clay Natural Materials Lab’s Lola Ben-Alon encourages compassion for digitization. By Kate Mazade Photography by Angela Hau

Lola Ben-Alon is an assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she directs the Natural Materials Lab and the Building Science and Technology curriculum. Ben-Alon specializes in earth and bio-based building materials, material life cycles, and fabrication techniques. METROPOLIS visited her at the Natural Materials Lab, where she showed us samples of 3D-printed earth fiber (pictured here). NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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The Natural Materials Lab researches and teaches new ways of imagining socially equitable and ecologically sustainable futures. Working at the convergence of material science, geology, architecture, and art, the team of six have undertaken projects ranging from biophilic material toolkits to installations in rammed earth to research into thermal comfort.

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“TAKE THE HOUSE YOU’RE IN RIGHT NOW,” says Lola BenAlon, pointing to the vaulted white ceiling behind me through the webcam. “There are houses that look exactly the same with nice clean tones made from straw bale infill, earth plaster, a healthy lime wash, and terra-cotta tile over a heated floor.” She explains that my 2018 suburban house in east Tennessee was most likely insulated with fiberglass, and painted with a volatile organic compound coating that will be a red flag in 20 years as it emits plastic molecules and affects the breathability of the space. “It’s those small things we need to account for—prosperity, justice, and health,” she says. Ben-Alon is the director of the Natural Materials Lab at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she studies earth- and bio-based materials, their life cycles, and fabrication techniques. Raised in southern Israel by Jewish Moroccan parents—a civil engineer and a biochemist—Ben-Alon blended their interests and pursued a bachelor of science in structural engineering followed by a master of science in construction management at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. She cofounded the Experimental Art and Architecture Lab in 2011 and served as a curator and exhibition developer for Madatech, Israel’s National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space, before taking on a doctoral program at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was her doctoral research on the perception, performance, and adoption of earth-based materials that led her to Columbia, where in 2020 she founded the Natural Materials Lab. There, Ben-Alon leads a small, fluctuating team of researchers in expanding a lexicon of materials by combining raw substances— like clay-rich soil, rammed earth, and wheat straw—into “mix designs” and manipulating the recipes into different forms. By testing material mixes across multiple scales and through techniques like manual carving and digital modeling, the team rethinks how earth materials can be used and applies them in installations and objects to create better building products. “For each technique, we do a lot of micro-to-macro [studies]. We’re looking at mix designs, we’re testing them through microscopic analysis, and then we’re creating an artifact,” she explains. One such artifact was installed in May 2023. Titled Raw Earth Sgraffito, the installation consists of two semicircular walls of compressed earth bricks with soil excavated from the French Réseau Express Régional (RER) train line. The walls were coated in two layers of clay plaster, which were carved with a relief of material supply chains and labor movements. The Sgraffito serves as a map, reminding both researchers and viewers that materials are geological and geographical before they become architectural. These pathways provide critical insight into the labor, environmental, and social life cycles, and the embodied carbon associated with building products. In addition to the heavy, bricklike use of natural materials— as seen in the Sgraffito—Ben-Alon and her team explore lighter alternative applications for earth materials through 3D printing.

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“I think this fiber-based aspect of our mix designs is really cutting-edge and could change the field of 3D printing.”

With recent advances in digital fabrication, 3D-printed earth has come a long way but largely remains limited to cob. With this in mind, the Natural Materials Lab has developed a range of earth-fiber composites that vary in fiber content from commonplace cob (2 percent) to a lightweight straw clay (64 percent fiber). These materials maximize fiber content while increasing carbon storage.

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In another material experiment using the lite straw clay mixture, Ben-Alon used parametric modeling and digital fabrication to create a geometric structure inspired by Moroccan patterns found in Mashrabiya and fabrics such as in the traditional wedding dress.

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“Our mix designs for our 3D-printed, pressed, or crafted elements contain a range of ‘recipes’ using natural clay-soils as binders, plant fibers as reinforcement, and bio-based additives as stabilizers,” she says. She explains that while earthen architecture naturally acts as a heavy mass building form, the effect of adding fast-growing fibers into the soil is threefold: increasing insulation capacity, decreasing weight, and capturing more carbon. Researchers at the Natural Materials Lab 3D-print the mixtures into structures informed by basketry techniques. The structures can be translated into other forms, like a small pavilion the team hopes to install somewhere on campus with a small crane which allows for the construction of structures with an 11-foot radius. “It’s truly novel research,” Ben-Alon says. “I think this fiber-based aspect of our mix designs is really cutting-edge and could change the field of 3D printing.” But it isn’t as easy as one might think. “I don’t want to romanticize natural materials,” Ben-Alon notes. “I always also teach about the challenges of using earth and straw.” For example, mycelium can grow inside the 3D prints if the fibers are not completely dried. The team uses a series of low- and high-tech solutions to increase the materials’ durability—including a “lime check,” a technique that involves installing a lime layer or a small stone plinth to create a texture that controls erosion. She also mentions the inherent ritualistic maintenance necessary in natural material construction and suggests that building codes should be developed and expanded to preserve the longevity of earth-based buildings. When it comes to the forms and patterns of the 3D-printed woven objects, Ben-Alon says the team asks the material what it wants to be, often resulting in a more granular, geometric investigation than a digital and precise form with a clean, sharp texture. “Sometimes the material wants to be messy,” she says, explaining that the color and texture of the woven objects can make them look older. The team works to balance the messiness of raw materials with the newness and precision of printing. “We’re allowing the material to help us be compassionate toward digitization,” Ben-Alon says. Rather than seeing technology as a nemesis, or conversely, digital fabrication as a savior from the environmental crisis, the team works to be “compassionate toward the fact that the world is changing” and embraces technological tools. Meanwhile, the researchers recognize that the tools are not objective. The geometries come from the designer, and each student’s prints have a distinct style. While digital fabrication allows for additional quantity, it has limitations and is not “easier” than creating materials and designs manually. Ben-Alon says that using digital fabrication with raw, readily available, non-processed materials “creates a nice combination, but also nice tension.” For her, it all goes back to the communion of human wellness and the earth—people, the practices and technology they have created, and the resulting effects on the environment and populations. “I see these all as interconnected concerns or urgencies,” she says. “[We] can’t fix climate by capturing carbon and not thinking about labor. We can’t create a solution, and by the way of the solution, introduce more problems.” M

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Review

THE

MISSING

R O O T S

O F

A M E R I C A N ENVIRONMENTALISM A historical survey of eco-conscious Modernism at MoMA underrepresents both the origins of sustainable architecture and the contemporary dilemmas of architectural discourse.

By Jaxson Stone 114

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COURTESY CAMBRIDGESEVEN ASSOCIATES

Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism is on view at the Museum of Modern Art through January 20, 2024. The show features over 150 works including this marker-drawn section of the Tsuruhama Rain Forest Pavilion, Osaka, Japan (1993–95), by CambridgeSeven Associates (American, est. 1962).

ON SEPTEMBER 15, days before New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was scheduled to open its newest exhibition, Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism, 16 climate activists were arrested for staging protests at the museum’s 53rd Street entrance. Even as the press release for the exhibition claimed that it would help us “navigate the accelerating climate crisis today,” the activists were among 50 demonstrators gathered to condemn MoMA’s relationship with private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which has a history of investing in fossil fuels. (MoMA’s board chair, Marie-Josée Kravis, is married to KKR cofounder Henry Kravis.) The protesters demanded that MoMA director Glenn Lowry speak with Wet’suwet’en First Nation leaders, as their lands in Canada are threatened by the construction of the 416-mile Coastal GasLink pipeline, which is financed in part by KKR. But rather than meet with Indigenous leaders regarding their concerns or meaningfully engage with the public, the museum leadership decided rather to shut down the lobby and arrest the activists advocating for the exact things that Emerging Ecologies is supposed to be contending with.

This context casts a bleak shadow on what otherwise would be an inspiring and long-overdue survey of America’s unique architectural reactions to the environmental crisis during the 1960s and 1970s. Emerging Ecologies was curated by Carson Chan, MoMA curator and the inaugural director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment, which was established in 2020 within the Department of Architecture and Design to conduct research and organize exhibitions and programming on the built environment and environmental justice. The exhibition is the institute’s inaugural offering and features over 150 works including models, photographs, diagrams, sketches, video, and audio that represent built, speculative, often-fantastical, often-dystopian projects in the United States throughout the late 20th century. The institute has initiated other programming including a six-part panel discussion series titled “Circular Museum,” in which MoMA aims to interrogate “how museums and cultural workers have—and can—consider and implement circular and sustainable museological practices.” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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COUNTERING MODERNISM From the start, the curatorial team states that Emerging Ecologies is a “focused survey” on the countercultural movement that went against mainstream architectural Modernism. The introductory wall text reads: “To be sure, ecological knowledge of the U.S. did not start with architectural efforts in the last century. For generations before European colonization, Indigenous communities tended to the lands around them.” And that’s about as much as they say about anything that isn’t in dialogue with Modernism. But even within its scope, the show offers little clarity. Through examples such as Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Dwelling, the Eames Office’s 1966 National Fisheries Center and Aquarium, and James Wines’s provocative Highrise of Homes drawings, Emerging Ecologies claims to provide lessons for how we might approach the climate crisis today. But these lessons are painful to piece together—the confusing layout, hard-to-read labels, and important written and audio information obscured behind walls bury a lot of information and may leave visitors overwhelmed and confused. The curatorial team did attempt to include a dense timeline of the movement, but it’s also hidden by an elevator bank, which, to be fair, is a secondary entrance to the exhibition. The show’s main entrance (into the infamously named Philip Johnson Galleries on the third floor) notably features little to no information besides the exhibition title. And given how freely 116

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museums have been providing land acknowledgments over the past few years, it’s also a little odd that there isn’t one in sight, let alone anywhere on MoMA’s website. For the record, the museum sits on unceded land of the Lenape peoples. All these seemingly minor critiques point to a major problem that architectural exhibitions have faced since their inception: How can museums exhibit architecture in a way that informs and inspires without having visitors read hundreds of words on a wall-text, listen to hours of audio or lectures, watch the accompanying YouTube video, or purchase and read an 80-page publication to get to the message that should be delivered—our extractive building industry, the destruction of Indigenous land, and the erasure of traditional wisdom are killing our planet? Extensive reading is exactly what visitors will have to do if they are looking for a stronger stance from the Ambasz Institute on any of the issues at hand. In a beautifully designed and guest-edited issue of Atlanta-based publication Art Papers titled “Counter Ecologies,” the institute attempts to fill in some gaps. It’s a lovely publication to accompany the equally impressive exhibition catalog and features far more perspectives than one will find in the galleries, including interviews with material scientist Mae-ling Lokko and SCI-Arc cofounder Glen Small, as well as previously unpublished sketches and notes from unsung visionaries of the exhibition such as Eugene Tssui and architect Phyllis Birkby.

Top: installation views of Emerging Ecologies in MoMA’s second-floor Philip Johnson Galleries.

TOP: COURTESY JONATHAN DORADO; RIGHT: COURTESY EUGENE TSSUI

Left: multimedia elevation of Eugene Tssui’s 1982 “Venturus,” a wind-generated dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Peter Cook in Victoria, B.C., Canada

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Top: Phyllis Birkby and Leslie Kanes Weisman’s Women’s Environmental Fantasies scroll from a Women’s School of Architecture and Planning Session hosted on August 13, 1975 Opposite: Architect Eleanor Raymond and chemical engineer Mária Telkes’ 1948 Dover Sun House in Dover, Massachusetts. Raymond and Telkes hoped that their home would depend solely on solar power. Ultimately the home didn’t meet its goals, but it received national press for its revolutionary ambitions.

CLOCKWISE FROM LOWER LEFT: COURTESY JONATHAN DORADO; COURTESY PHYLLIS BIRKBY; COURTESY HARVARD UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN. FRANCES LOEB LIBRARY. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Bottom: installation view showing a projection of Buckminster Fuller’s World Game (1964–1982)

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THE LOST LEGACY OF ECOFEMINISM At MoMA, once visitors make it past the exhibition’s more predictable canonical inclusions (a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Fuller’s World Game project are among the first artifacts they are confronted with), they will stumble across a 13-foot scroll of drawings organized by Birkby in the Women’s Environmental Fantasies Workshops she conducted throughout the 1970s. In the workshops, Birkby asked women to sketch what their ideal living environments looked like without any constraints. Most of the women she knew were from feminist, art, and literary circles, nearly all of them identifying as lesbians. She asked: What does the environment look like? What size and shape? What is it made of ? Where is it located? What do you do there? Is anyone else there? And she believed that drawing would help women tap into their desires that were looked down upon by the patriarchy, noting that architecture and the built environment were obviously instruments of patriarchal (and colonial) power. Birkby’s later work focused on “women’s vernacular architecture” where she often researched Indigenous architecture built by women themselves, including Rain Parrish, a Navajo artist who constructed a traditional hogan—a hut made of clay and branches. This, however, isn’t information you will find in the show.

Despite her deep and provocative worldview, Birkby did succumb to one of the fads of her time. Architecturally, the most common form found in her environmental drawings is the dome. The geodesic dome was originally conceived by Fuller, and as the exhibition makes clear, it grew popular in the communal architecture of the 1960s and ’70s. Bill Voyd, a resident of the influential commune Drop City, once said: “To live in a dome—psychologically—is to be in closer harmony with natural structure…. Corners constrict the mind. Domes break into new dimensions.” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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Throughout the exhibition, visitors will get an in-depth look at various domes across the 20th century, from Fuller and CambridgeSeven’s Expo 67 U.S. Pavilion, to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Climatron, to more DIY projects from the likes of the New Alchemy Institute that evoke the legends of self-build publications such as Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog and Lloyd Kahn’s Shelter (read more on pg. 42). The dome continues to have a hold on the architectural imagination. This past September, the Madison Square Garden Company opened “the world’s largest Spherical structure,” a $2 billion project in Las Vegas aptly called Sphere. Sphere features an 18,600-seat auditorium and an exterior consisting of 580,000 square feet of LED displays in which it can project any image from the surface of Mars to giant eyeballs to American flags. Allegedly, the building will run on 70 percent solar energy, with any energy from nonrenewables being offset by carbon credits. Even if that is the case, this hardly accounts for the sheer number of materials it took to build the thing, not to mention the light and noise pollution it emits, among numerous other environmental concerns. It raises the question: Has America learned a single thing from all the “failed” and unbuilt dome experiments from its past that are on view at Emerging Ecologies? Perhaps we must return to the lessons learned by DIY builders such as Kahn. In a recent interview, the 88-year-old architect said: “I concluded that [domes] didn’t work out. I took the dome down and Domebook 2 out of print, even though it was selling well. When I called my agent, he thought I was crazy, but I just didn’t want any more domes on my karma. Admitting you’re wrong in front of a couple of hundred thousand people is not something that you really want to do. But I did. I said, look, I made a mistake and I am sorry about that. It just doesn’t make any sense to do a building from an abstract concept like an icosahedron or polyhedra. It’s not worthwhile as a basis for construction.” This failure is hardly acknowledged in the show, which is hesitant to point out the shortcomings of both the historical ideas it showcases and of contemporary architecture. Overall, Emerging Ecologies, packed full of exciting projects, leaves a lot of questions unanswered. To be sure, the curatorial team appears to be hard at work attempting to right some of MoMA’s oversights with an overabundance of materials, research, videos, lectures, and summits. How can we bring these conversations into the galleries themselves, available for processing by the general public? Why are we so timid about the ways in which we exhibit architecture and speak out against the ills it continues to perpetrate? For an institution that has shaped the discourse around Modern architecture in this country, MoMA needs to do better about using its platform (and money) to express the urgency of the climate crisis. Is this show a step in the right direction for MoMA? Perhaps. But these conversations have little impact until those in power start divesting from fossil fuels and stand for proven regenerative solutions. Until then, the “circular museum” means nothing. M 120

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CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM: COURTESY JONATHAN DORADO; COURTESY THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN ARCHIVES; COURTESY © FERNANDO LAPOSSE

FAILED DOMES AND DREAMS

London-based Mexican designer Fernando Laposse transforms humble materials into refined objects and surfaces. His 2017 Totomoxtle veneer collection is made of the husks of heirloom corn from Mexico and aims to not only be a sustainable product for interiors and furniture but to preserve biodiversity and support Indigenous communities.

Life Cycles: The Materials of Contemporary Design Top: A 1960 postcard from the Missouri Botanical Garden Archives shows a verdant Climatron, designed by St. Louis– based architects Murphy & Mackey, alongside Buckminster Fuller’s engineering firm Synergetics Inc. Below: Installation views show the entrance to the show, where one of the first things visitors are confronted with is an image of Victor and Aladar Olgyay’s 1956 Thermoheliodon, a domed environmental simulator.

SEPTEMBER 2023—JULY 2024 After taking in the utopias (and dystopias) on view in Emerging Ecologies, museum visitors can go downstairs to MoMA’s street-level gallery to see how contemporary designers are engaging with “innovative, sustainable, and responsible use of materials.” On view through July 2024 and curated by senior curator Paola Antonelli alongside curatorial assistant Maya Ellerkmann, the exhibition showcases approximately 80 contemporary design works from some 40 designers who are considering the full life cycle of building materials—from extraction to reuse. The most striking work on view is Mae-ling Lokko’s Handprints, a commission of a wall panel made of hemp, kenaf fibers, and fungal mycelium. An architectural scientist from Ghana and the Philippines, and a professor at Yale, Lokko also provided audio for Emerging Ecologies, and a Q&A with Eva Lavranou, an intern at the Ambasz Institute, for the accompanying Art Papers issue. In the piece she discusses material reuse, providing her perspective on the 1970s experimental beer-can brick “Earthship” architecture of Michael Reynolds, which is on view in the show upstairs. “For me, Reynolds brought to the surface this critical issue in our modern material economy around the fact that the end of life of the material wasn’t something that was critically thought about or designed for,” she says. “In his view, everything from the beer can to the rubber tire became a new natural resource. The fact that, today, the problem is the solution, that ‘waste is the resource.’” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

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Interface Drawing on 50 years of modular carpet tile innovation, Interface reimagines archival classic flooring designs in the Past Forward™ collection. This curated line defines purposeful, comfortable spaces with 14 patterns that marry performance and style. Made using materials and processes that deliver a low carbon footprint, Past Forward helps you reduce the carbon footprint of your space and improve the health of the planet. @interface | interface.com/pastforward

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Make a positive impact on people and planet

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Tarkett Don’t push creative boundaries—shatter them. With our broadest selection of original designs, Contour® luxury vinyl tile puts your imagination in the driver’s seat. Nearly every unique abstract is digitally printed in our facilities, so their colors, patterns and shapes can be tailored to your specific project. With Contour’s unmatched Techtonic® protection, 32-mil wear layer and fully recyclable material, we’ll ensure your inspiration leads for years to come. @tarkettcontract | commercial.tarkett.com/contour

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Join Us for Season 2. THE PEOPLE AND STORIES BEHIND THE SPACES WE INHABIT. Unravel what it takes to bring projects to fruition—from the designer’s inspiration to the setbacks, surprises, and serendipitous events along the way. Presented by

LISTEN ON

NOTEWORTHY Grace La

ON EILEEN GRAY’S E-1027 TABLE

Grace La is the chair of the Department of Architecture and a professor at Harvard GSD. She is also principal of the Boston- and Milwaukee-based practice LA DALLMAN, cofounded with James Dallman, and internationally recognized for works that expand architects’ agency in the civic recalibration of infrastructure, public space, and challenging sites. La hosts Talking Practice, a podcast on innovative practice, and is a faculty director for Harvard’s Graduate Commons Program. 128

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023

COURTESY MAGGIE JANIK

Some objects transcend iconicity to root themselves in one’s life. An early courtship gift from my husband—Eileen Gray’s Table E-1027—has held our fascination since our first exposure to her work. Despite various scuffs revealing its everyday use, and critiques that it is cold and abstract, the table is one of my most beloved possessions. It has served numerous gatherings, entertaining faculty, friends, students, scholars, and dignitaries. Lightweight and adjustable, it is rarely in the same spot at the beginning of the night as at its end. It has been a coconspirator in our journeys— from living room to bedroom, from a midcentury Modern home to an urban apartment, from the Midwest to the East Coast. It has sidled up to an array of furniture, supporting morning coffee and midnight tea with equal ease. I am struck by the notion that the table’s value (like many things in life) depends on its internal and external relations. Its circular geometry is balanced by the angular asymmetry of its support. Glass-and-chrome abstraction contrasts with the softness of the rug beneath it. The immovable weight of the couch benefits from the table as a rootless object. Table E-1027 reminds me that perspectives are dynamic, nuanced, and reciprocal, and that value is drawn most deeply from experience rather than style.

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Metropolis November/December 2023