Shivani Langer

ALUMNI

SHIVANI LANGER

AIA, LEED AP BD+C. WELL AP; Principal, Senior Project Architect, Regional Sustainability Leader, Stantec; M. Arch Post-Professional, Sustainable Design, 2003

WHY SUSTAINABILITY? WHY SUSTAINABLE DESIGN? WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

Communities are facing challenges all around the world due to extreme weather events caused by an increasingly changing climate, due to an overburden on available resources, increasing pollution and waste, and negative health impacts associated with spending extensive time in unhealthy indoor environments. Empirical evidence suggests that the impacts we are seeing due to global warming are not just getting worse but will soon be irreversible. As experienced in recent climate catastrophes, the impacts are widespread, across all regions and communities, and there is urgent need for everyone to question, curb, and rethink the actions that are making the situation worse.

Sustainable design provides guidelines to address these challenges. From resource efficiency and low-carbon development to designing for a resilient and equitable future and incorporating strategies for healthy environments, sustainability provides opportunities for positive change through new technologies and holistic and unified planning.

A sustainable approach — integrating the natural and built environment — is key to transforming the future of our communities.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR CAREER PATH.

I grew up in India, where we moved every two years to different parts of the country for my dad’s work. I remembered and wondered for years how each house and city could be so different from the others. I decided to be an architect to understand what makes buildings and communities unique. After my BArch degree from a renowned school in India, I worked there for three years, two of which were at a firm that was known for sustainable design. This work got me interested in studying sustainable design further, and the MArch in Sustainable Design degree at UT Austin was just the right fit for me.

After working in David Heymann’s architecture firm for four years and getting a great foundation and understanding of construction techniques from a patient and incredible teacher, I joined an education design firm, SHW Group, that later merged with Stantec, a large global consulting firm. I have been at Stantec for fifteen years. Along with being a principal and a senior project architect, I am Stantec’s Regional Sustainability Leader for the US Central region. On one hand, working at a large firm like Stantec has posed challenges when it comes to incorporating and implementing best practices and standards firm-wide, but on the other hand, I have learned a lot from the varied expertise of our global staff who work in different sectors. It is also hugely rewarding to know that, in a large firm like this, we are raising the bar on all of our projects’ standards, which directly impact the huge volume of buildings and communities this firm designs. Stantec has a research and benchmarking (R+B) program, and I have been lucky to lead the Sustainability R+B group for over eight years. The discipline that we work in faces challenges that keep changing with time, and the solutions we come up with are also based on constantly evolving technologies. It is therefore important for us, through research programs such as these, to take the time to learn and be able to make informed decisions.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER OR EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE THAT TRANSFORMED THE WAY YOU VIEW SUSTAINABILITY OR SUSTAINABLE DESIGN?

I worked as an architect for two years at a firm in India that was well-known for sustainable design. Apart from working on some school projects, the project that impacted my architectural path forward was writing bylaws for the sustainable development of a solar township in a remote location in India that experiences extreme weather conditions.

Every new generation of students seems to understand the urgency of climate change more than the generation before.

I went to visit and stay in a nearby city for a few days and got to see how innovative people can be in making themselves comfortable with simple, passive strategies. There were not many active, affordable systems available, but people had incorporated ways to utilize solar heat to keep warm.

This project provided both a challenge and an opportunity: we had to provide guidelines for the design of the new community that could cater to the growing population without overburdening available resources, and we had to ensure equitable opportunities for passive living while maintaining healthy environments. I realized while working on this project that, as architects, we have immense responsibility and obligation towards the people we design for and the environments we design in because our decisions have many long-lasting impacts. We have the power to influence how development responds to and affects the environments in which it is located, and how it impacts the health and lifestyles of the people who live in them. As a sustainable design leader, there was a lot I needed to learn then and a lot I am still learning in the profession in order to inform and steer the people who are making decisions regarding the design of buildings and communities in the right direction.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES THAT THE DISCIPLINE, THE RESEARCH, AND THE PRACTICE OF SUSTAINABILITY SHOULD FOCUS ON IN THE NEAR OR MORE DISTANT FUTURE?

Climate change impacts—due to increased temperatures and conditions caused by global warming—are catastrophic and are hitting communities all around the world hard. Climate prediction metrics that we used for our designs in previous years are no longer valid for designing future buildings and communities. It is important for us to research, analyze, and understand how to make our designs resilient in light of the future ahead of us.

We have also seen that the adverse impacts of a warming climate are not felt equitably among people; some communities disproportionately experience the brunt of these impacts more than the others. This is another challenge that we face in our discipline: How can we ensure that our actions are truly reducing the perils faced by vulnerable communities that are threatened the most by climate change?

With an increase in the amount of time spent indoors, it is becoming more and more critical for us to understand how the built environment effects the health of the occupants we design for. Beyond just resource efficiency, the dialogue has been shifting towards a balance of both efficient and healthy environments. The materials we use; the amount of air we bring in; how we design for user comfort in terms of lighting, acoustics, thermal environment are all extremely important for our occupants’ physical and mental well-being.

HOW CAN STUDENTS PREPARE FOR THIS FUTURE?

Ask questions. Do not let what is considered normal stop you from innovating toward what might be better. Every new generation of students seems to understand the urgency of climate change more than the generation before. The question “Why sustainable design?” is clear from the growing evidence of climate change impacts we see around us. Students can contribute to design’s response. It is critical for students to proactively cultivate the skillsets, certifications, and technical knowledge to analyze design solutions that ensure the environments they create are resilient, efficient, equitable, and healthy. They must spread the message of “why” loud and clear to clients and fellow practitioners while also understanding the evidence and the data behind the “why.” Honing the skills to present the “why” in terms that laypeople understand is very important and something students can learn and improve at.