By Pablo LaRoche, Director of Sustainable Design

After thinking for a bit—maybe a bit too long—I decided to write my first blog post at HMC, simply on why I believe in green architecture.

First of all, we have to remember that life on earth would not be possible if it was not for the greenhouse effect. However, the atmosphere is getting hotter because we are pumping into it more greenhouse gases than it can absorb. Current climate models predict that global temperatures and sea level will rise in such a way that drought, flooding, and many other calamities will affect our way of life and cause the irreversible loss of many species of plants and animals. I believe that climate change is the most serious environmental threat facing the planet.

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So what does climate change have to do with HMC Architects? Well, as many of you already know, 40% of the U.S. GHG emissions are from the building sector. So if all buildings were carbon neutral, then anthropogenic emissions would be reduced by 40%. To do this a change of paradigm is needed—a change that will move us away from buildings that rely only on mechanical systems to provide cooling, heating and lighting inside narrow comfort bands, to buildings that rely more on architectural features; buildings that are responsive to nature’s daily and seasonal rhythms and to the forces of the sun and wind; buildings that breathe; buildings that have components that move and adapt and respond. Adapting to these rhythms is an opportunity to create architecture in which building forms and materials are synchronized with the environment.

In August, HMC launched a firm-wide green architecture initiative grounded in research and metrics to bring forward leadership in the delivery of high-performance architecture. We are all in this process together, which is the only long-term way to go and will position us to have a bigger impact. I am happy to be here and excited to be part of this process.