Deep Green

Join us live from NeoCon 2024 as we dive into the transformative world of sustainable textiles with our special guests, Dean Lindsley, VP of Pallas Textiles, and Geraldine Blanchot, founder of Limn and Loom. This episode explores the groundbreaking textile collection "In Good Company," which embodies a new paradigm of responsible manufacturing, industry collaboration, and broader societal impact.Dean and Geraldine share the inspiring story behind "In Good Company," revealing how it represents not just a collection but a movement towards sustainability in the design industry. Discover the innovative use of Sequel, an upcycled marine plastic yarn, and the philanthropic efforts tied to the Sequel Foundation, aimed at oceanic conservation.We also delve into the technical and creative challenges faced in developing this collection, the significance of collaboration across the supply chain, and the broader market applications of these sophisticated, tactile textiles. From corporate workplaces to hospitality and healthcare, learn how specifying these materials can lead to impactful change.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What is Office Furniture's Role When it Comes to Climate Impact? In 2018, Americans threw out 12.1 million tons of furniture—and nearly 80 percent of that ended up in landfills. And the problem may not be where you think it is. Fast-furniture folks get a bad rap, right? It turns out that's not the biggest problem with furniture. Eight million or so of that 12.1 million tons of waste furniture was office furniture. There's also growing research around the role of furniture in the impact of climate change on buildings. Over the life of a building, the renovations that happen—changing out the lights, furniture, carpet, etc.—on the inside of the building account for about half of the embodied carbon emissions of the building over its life. And out of that half, another half, so nearly 25 percent of the embodied carbon emissions in any building, is furniture. The good news? Research also shows that furniture might have the highest potential for us to lower the carbon emissions of interiors. In today's episode, editor-in-chief of METROPOLIS Avi Rajagopal is going to talk to leaders in the furniture industry—KI (Jason Lazarz and Angela Allen), Allstee (Jason Hagadorn), and Steelcase (Katie Pace)—about their work responding to a changing society, a changing workplace market, but also increasing demands and a greater focus on furniture when it comes to climate impact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you in partnership with furniture retailer Room & Board. The furniture industry has seen something of a transformation over the last decade with the rise of fast furniture: cheap, disposable pieces, often produced overseas with little to no oversight. Every year in the United States, about 12 million tons of furniture goes to waste, and 80 percent of that ends up in our landfills. In addition to contributing, through that enormous amount of waste, to our environmental problems, furniture is also often cited as one of the industries most at risk for exploitative labor practices. But furniture retailer Room & Board was founded in 1980 as a business that's different: putting sustainability at the heart of its operations since day one and producing 90 percent of its products in the United States. Most recently, the Minneapolis-based retailer achieved B Corp certification, an independent verification of its practices to show that it meets the highest standards of performance, accountability, and transparency on a range of factors from employee benefits to charitable giving, supply chain practices, and materials. In this episode, Room & Board director of sustainability Emily McGarvey joins METROPOLIS editor in chief Avinash Rajagopal to discuss why the retailer decided to aim for B Corp certification, how they went about it, and the challenges they faced—but also what it means at a very fundamental level for the furniture industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special bonus episode, Avi Rajagopal sits down with materials expert Dr. Andrew Dent. As executive vice president of research at Material ConneXion, which for 25 years has been empowering designers with access to innovative materials, Dent says he has seen increasing excitement from his clients around sustainability over the past decade. But making the most responsible choices in the world of materials can be very complex. Listen as he shares how he navigates these tricky waters, the challenges with recycling, his optimism around chemical recycling, why he's more excited about new processes than the materials themselves, and more. Chapters A little bit about Material ConneXion The responsible materials landscape Recycled and renewable materials What is chemical recycling? Biobased and biodegradable materials The promise of processes Resources Material ConneXion Deep Green is produced by Rachel Senatore, Lauren Volker, and Hannah Viti, and is part of the SURROUND podcast network. Special thanks to Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of METROPOLIS, for his insights. Recorded at the podcast studio by Vornado in the Penn 1 building in Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover industry tools and resources for circular design, as Avi Rajagopal and Samantha Sager discuss actionable steps we can take toward tackling the challenges discussed throughout this season of Deep Green. How can we make an impact on an individual level? How can we educate ourselves and those around us? What organizations can we turn to for guidance? Incredible tools, research, and innovations are helping the industry move in the right direction but to meet the moment we will have to shift away from our culture of consumption and redefine the roles of architects and designers in shaping a sustainable future. Hear from Rajagopal on his hopes for the journey forward.     Chapters  Review of the principles of circularity  How can we pursue circularity as individuals?  How can we pursue circularity as a community?  Industry resources and tools  Rethinking the designer's role    Resources  Salvage Superstar: Renovation Angel  Rheaply Brings Ingenuity to Recycling Building Materials  Arup's Circular Buildings Toolkit  Two Platforms Help Designers Specify Low-Carbon Interiors  Build Reuse   Deep Green is produced by Samantha Sager, Wize Grazette, Lauren Volker, Rachel Senatore, and Hannah Viti, and is part of the SURROUND podcast network. Special thanks to Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of METROPOLIS, for his insights. Recorded at the podcast studio by Vornado in the Penn 1 building in Manhattan.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn how we can deepen the connection between the built environment and the natural world, as Avi Rajagopal and Samantha Sager discuss the third principle of circular design: regenerating nature. Navigating the complexities of where materials are derived from, how they are made, and what happens to them at the end of their useful life is crucial as architects and interior designers work to support a more circular economy. What defines a biobased product? How do we responsibly source these materials? Is a biobased plastic always biodegradable? Hear from Rajagopal on the ideas and experiments coming out of the industry designed to return more materials go back into their natural cycles and loops on this planet.    Chapters  The third principle of circularity: regenerating nature  What does biobased actually mean?  Biobased vs. Biodegradable  Success story: a completely biodegradable chair  Responsibly sourcing biobased materials  Infrastructure and composting    Resources  PROWL Urges Designers to Consider the Afterlife of Products  Model No. Furniture  Natural Habitat: A Tranquil Retreat in Cold Spring    Deep Green is produced by Samantha Sager, Wize Grazette, Lauren Volker, Rachel Senatore, and Hannah Viti, and is part of the SURROUND podcast network. Special thanks to Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of METROPOLIS, for his insights. Recorded at the podcast studio by Vornado in the Penn 1 building in Manhattan.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore the intricacies of material recycling, as Avi Rajagopal and Samantha Sager pick up where they left off last week, focusing on the second principle of a circular economy: circulating products and materials at their highest value. Are all materials suitable for recycling? How can we make sure that recycled or reused materials perform to the standards of commercial settings? How can we better design products and buildings for their end of life? Hear from Rajagopal on some innovative ways our industry is circulating products and materials, recycling more responsibly — and giving nature a much-needed break.    Chapters  Circulating products and materials at their highest value  Recycling obstacles (incentive, policy, and more)  Success story: Nylon  The hierarchy of recycling strategies  Designing for disassembly     Resources  METROPOLIS Climate Toolkit   The Ellen MacArthur Foundation  METROPOLIS July/August 2023: This New Upholstery Line Features Yarn Made From Marine Plastic    Deep Green is produced by Samantha Sager, Wize Grazette, Lauren Volker, Rachel Senatore, and Hannah Viti, and is part of the SURROUND podcast network. Special thanks to Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of METROPOLIS, for his insights. Recorded at the podcast studio by Vornado in the Penn 1 building in Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What obstacles does our industry present to the dream of a circular economy? Join METROPOLIS's Editor in Chief, Avi Rajagopal, and producer Samantha Sager as they begin to explore these challenges, beginning with how we can eliminate more waste and pollution from our processes. A&D culture is shifting away from building new (for the first time in 2022, retrofits and renovations accounted for more money in architectural buildings than new construction!) but are we adapting buildings as sustainably as possible? Are we preparing them for future adaptations or just passing the buck? Are we considering the interiors? What about the communities that live around these projects? It's easy to say, “Oh, let's reuse a building,” but in practice it tends to be a pretty tough and complicated process. Hear from Rajagopal on the steps our industry is taking to reuse more responsibly—and live a little bit closer to harmony with nature. Chapters What are the principles of circularity? Principle 1: eliminating waste and pollution Unpacking adaptive reuse Future-proofing our buildings Resources METROPOLIS Climate Toolkit The Ellen MacArthur Foundation METROPOLIS July/August: “3 Adaptive Reuse Projects Prioritize Flexibility for the Future” LMN's Tenant Improvements Embodied Carbon Study Deep Green is produced by Samantha Sager, Wize Grazette, Lauren Volker, and Rachel Senatore, and is part of the SURROUND Podcast Network. Special thanks to Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of METROPOLIS, for his insights. Recorded at the podcast studio by Vornado in the Penn 1 building in Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unpack the environmental impact of the building industry and the hurdles we face in reducing our carbon footprint with METROPOLIS's' Editor in Chief, Avi Rajagopal, and producer Samantha Sager. They discuss how the sector is responsible for 40% of global carbon emissions and 30% of worldwide waste, and is the second largest consumer of plastics, putting the industry at the heart of the problem of the climate crisis. A must-listen for those passionate about sustainable interior design and architecture, this episode underscores the urgent need for change: a move away from our trend-driven culture. Join us this season as we explore the challenges our industry presents to the dream of a circular economy. May you be inspired to advocacy and action.  Chapters The building industry and climate change What is embodied carbon exactly? The consequences of a culture of trends The building renovations craze - and its implications  Resources METROPOLIS Climate Toolkit  “Why Interior Designers Must Fight Climate Change” LMN's Tenant Improvements Embodied Carbon Study Deep Green is produced by Samantha Sager, Wize Grazette, Lauren Volker, and Rachel Senatore, and is part of the SURROUND podcast network. Special thanks to Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of METROPOLIS, for his insights. Recorded at the podcast studio by Vornado in the Penn 1 building in Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new season of Deep Green is on its way! On this season of Deep Green, we're doing things a little bit differently: METROPOLIS Editor in Chief Avi Rajagopal is going to be sitting in the hot seat, and with him will be producer Samantha Sager. Join us as they have an honest conversation about the environmental impact of the building industry and the unique challenges the sector presents to the dream of a circular economy. May you be inspired to advocacy and action. Deep Green is produced by Samantha Sager, Wize Grazette, Lauren Volker, and Rachel Senatore, and is part of the SURROUND podcast network. Special thanks to Avi Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of METROPOLIS, for his insights. Recorded at the podcast studio by Vornado in the Penn 1 building, Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you heard of the term biophilia or perhaps biophilic design? If you're an interior designer or you have a lot of interior design videos on your TikTok feed, you likely have. The word was popularized by a 1984 book by Edward O. Wilson, and he defined biophilia as the urge to affiliate with other forms of life. In recent years, designers have taken the word and interpreted it in many ways. Your wallpaper has a pattern that looks like wood grain, that's biophilic. Your glass and steel skyscraper has plants growing on its facade, that's biophilic. In this episode, Metropolis contributor Audrey Gray talks to the renowned architect Moshe Safdie, who has spent his entire career navigating and exploring the relationship between buildings and nature. While he has been working on mega developments—like the legendary Habitat 67 project in Montreal and Marina Bay Sands Resort in Singapore—he has also been thinking about how nature is integrated into our cities. And that has led to an evolution of ideas about density and urban design. Join us to hear from Safdie about the release of his book, If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture, and how he feels about the term biophilia and how it is being co-opted. Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by Wize Grazette and Samantha Sager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On average, it costs about $2.95 per watt for a home solar system. So, a 6-kilowatt system, about the size you'd need for an American home, would set you back around $17,700. If you factor in solar incentives, like the Federal Solar Credit, that number can come down to about $12,400. The annual savings on your utility bills after installing a home solar system are about $1,346. So, over a 25- or 30-year period, those savings could be in the region of $30,000 or more. Not bad for a $12,400 investment. If of course you have $12,400 to invest. As always, you've got to spend money to save money. And that means clean, affordable energy might stay out of reach of those who need it the most. Enter energy equity advocates like Daphany Rose Sanchez. Metropolis editor Jaxson Stone sat down with Sanchez, who is executive director at Kinetic Communities Consulting, which works with energy and affordable housing industry partners to connect, educate, and simplify energy efficiency opportunities for underrepresented communities. Join us to hear how Sanchez is working toward energy equity and learn more about the community solar movement and New York's Power Up initiative. Connect with our guest Daphany Rose-Sanchez on LinkedIn! Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by Wize Grazette and Samantha Sager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An estimated 100 million people globally don't have a home. Experts say we need to be building 96,000 homes for them every day, or 3 billion people will end up without adequate housing by 2030. But 39 percent of the world's carbon emissions come from the building industry, and people living in poverty are among the most vulnerable to the catastrophes caused by climate change. We need to build more homes to house the extremely poor who will then be the most affected by all the emissions created by building those homes. Unless we find a way to build affordable housing that's also sustainable. Metropolis deputy editor Kelly Beamon sat down with Katie Ackerly, a principal with David Baker Architects, who says the overlap between sustainability and affordability is almost 100 percent. Join us to learn more about how the San Francisco–based firm is building some of the toughest kinds of housing in one of the toughest housing markets in the U.S., and listen as Ackerly shares the ins and outs of sustainable housing design and what strategies she thinks could change the way we approach affordable housing at scale. Connect with our guest Katie Ackerly on LinkedIn! Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by Wize Grazette and Samantha Sager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Renowned architect and Chicagoan Carol Ross Barney joins host Avi Rajagopal for our Summer Season premier. Ross Barney is a visionary about how people live their lives in cities—whether it's through public, hospitality, or education spaces. Chicagoans know her best for the transformative work she did on the city's Riverwalk, just steps away from where this episode was live recorded during NeoCon. Together, Rajagopal and Ross Barney discuss how the pedestrian walkway has opened so many possibilities for the city and how it is also emblematic of the kind of work that Ross Barney does. A sense of public good suffuses her work, from mammoth urban projects to her work on privately funded spaces, like the McDonald's Chicago flagship. Join us to hear from Ross Barney about these landmark projects and others, exploring the connections between equity and the built environment, the complexities of sustainable design, and design as an opportunity to engage with people. Connect with our guest Carol Ross Barney on LinkedIn! Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by Wize Grazette and Samantha Sager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bonus episode of Deep Green, host Avi Rajagopal expresses his heartfelt thanks to our dedicated listeners for their support throughout the recently concluded mini season. Rajagopal unveils an impressive roster of upcoming guests planned for our Summer Season, which will kick off with a conversation with renowned architect Carol Ross Barney in an episode recorded live at NeoCon 2023. We also share snippets of discussions with other guests joining us this season, including international architect Moshe Safdie, sustainability trailblazer Katie Ackerly, and community energy advocate Daphany Rose Sanchez. Dive into this episode to bridge the gap between past insights and future dialogues, setting the stage for more captivating conversations on sustainability. Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by SANDOW Design Group. Special thanks to the podcast production team: Wize Grazette, Hannah Viti, Samantha Sager and Rob Schulte. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this inspiring episode, host Avi Rajagopal is joined by Paola Antonelli, the senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art and the museum's first director of research and development. Together, they explore the transformative power of design in addressing critical global issues and the various projects Antonelli has been involved in, such as the 2019 Triennale di Milano exhibition “Broken Nature,” the MoMa salon series, and her collaboration with Alice Rawsthorn “Design Emergency.” Through these many platforms, Antonelli hopes to create community, foster awareness, and catalyze change. In her discussion with Rajagopal, she emphasizes design's role in society and power beyond mere decoration. They reflect on the pandemic and why it was such a watershed moment for the creative community, and look to the future with hope that we can design a better legacy. Moments to check out:  Exploring the Impact of Design During the 2020 Pandemic (starts at 3:54) Do you think of yourself as an optimist, even having accepted the reality of the end of our species?  (starts at 24:45) Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by SANDOW Design Group. Special thanks to the podcast production team: Wize Grazette, Hannah Viti, Samantha Sager and Rob Schulte. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this eye-opening episode, host Avi Rajagopal welcomes Sharon Prince, CEO and founder of Grace Farms, who discusses the pressing issue of modern-day slavery in the construction sector and her foundation's efforts to combat it through its Design for Freedom Initiative. Prince highlights the importance of ensuring fair labor conditions and the ethical sourcing of materials in all aspects of the built environment. The conversation delves into the Design for Freedom report, and the movement's ongoing work to raise awareness and drive institutional responses to create an ethically sourced and slave-free building material supply chain.  Prince and Rajagopal explore the necessity of inspecting and understanding the materials used in construction, furniture, textiles, and other elements of interior spaces, emphasizing that the next step in architectural justice must include social equity, and ethical material transparency. Listen to this critical discussion that calls for urgent action to address embodied suffering alongside embodied carbon in the green building movement in order to ensure a just and sustainable future. Connect with Sharon Prince on LinkedIn! Moments to check out:  List of twelve materials with evidence of force and child labor (starts at 5:22) Prince shares her epiphany and the need for ethical material supply chain transparency (starts at 20:30) Prince talks about the importance of conscious purchases (starts at 26:17) Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by SANDOW Design Group. Special thanks to the podcast production team: Wize Grazette, Hannah Viti, Samantha Sager and Rob Schulte. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this thought-provoking episode, the first of three conversations in our Sustainability Visionaries series, host Avi Rajagopal is joined by John Woelfling, a principal at Dattner Architects, to discuss affordable housing and sustainability but also, more broadly, finding ways to let the best ideas in architecture serve the most vulnerable populations. First, Rajagopal sets the stage delving into the current challenges faced by the building industry, such as its significant carbon emissions, plastic consumption, labor exploitation, and unequal distribution of environmental impacts. He emphasizes the critical role architects and the building industry play in addressing these issues, asking "How can we use our work to do good in the world?" His conversation with Woelfling follows, exploring the power of design to make positive change with examples of Dattner Architects' evolving approach to responsible architecture—from its design of the New York City's first public LEED-certified building, the Bronx Library Center, to its work on 8,300 units of 100% affordable housing across the city. This engaging talk underscores the importance of rethinking our approaches to sustainability and highlights the potential for architecture to contribute to a better, greener future. Connect with John Woelfling on LinkedIn! Moments to check out:  John discusses Sustainable Building Practices in New York City (Starts at 9:39) Leveraging Passive House Building Typology to Address Environmental Inequity in the Bronx (Starts at 20:10) Connecting with Clients and Building Partnerships to Push the Envelope (Starts at 26:44) Connect with our host Avi Rajagopal on LinkedIn! Discover more shows from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com. This episode of Barriers to Entry was produced and edited by SANDOW Design Group. Special thanks to the podcast production team: Wize Grazette, Hannah Viti, Samantha Sager and Rob Schulte. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When layers of wood are put together in a specific way—usually glued together—they make for a material that has the structural strength of steel. And, surprisingly, is fire-proof. We're not talking log cabins but a specific kind of wood material commonly known in architectural circles as mass timber. Portland International Airport's new main terminal is part of a race to build the biggest building out of this wonder material. But exactly how sustainable is it? Figuring out exactly where the wood comes from, how it is grown and harvested, and how the mass timber products are used and reused is vital for getting an accurate picture of a mass timber building's carbon footprint Jacob Dunn and Marty Brennan, both Associate principals at ZGF, are two of the designers behind that Portland Airport Building. And they have developed a tool called the UpStream Forestry Carbon & LCA Tool, in partnership with the University of Washington, to track the amount of carbon sequestered—or emitted—by mass timber. In this episode, Metropolis digital editor Ethan Tucker speaks with Jacob Dunn and Marty Brennan to learn more about their tool and why all wood buildings are not created equal. Resources: ZGF Architects Builds a Transparent and Inclusive Timber Assessment Tool Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

If we want to fight climate change, improving or retrofitting an existing building often makes more sense than tearing it down and building a new one. But which buildings does it make sense to retrofit? The Tower Renewal Partnership in Toronto argues that we should spend time retrofitting the buildings that make an impact in regular people's lives: apartment buildings with affordable rents. The kind of buildings built with regular, mundane materials, where there are very small financial incentives or margins to make big improvements. The kind, in short, that are the toughest to retrofit. Yet, architect Graeme Stewart and his firm ERA architects, which is behind the Tower Renewal Partnership, have done just that with the Ken Soble Tower in Hamilton, a Toronto Suburb. The 8-story high rise was built in 1967, and today it's the largest Passive House–certified residential retrofit project in the world—and it offers affordable housing for senior citizens. In this episode, Metropolis Digital Editor Ethan Tucker speaks with Stewart to find out how the firm managed to make an affordable building sustainable. Resources: In the Toronto Suburbs, Affordable Senior Housing is Overhauled to Meet the Highest Efficiency Standards  Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

Should one of the United States's most iconic bridges, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, be turned into a cicada farm to raise insects for food? Yes, if you ask David Rico Gomez, who is graduating this year with a degree in architecture from the California College of the Arts. David is one of the Metropolis Future100, the 100 students we selected as the top architecture and design students graduating in North America this year. And he has something in common with a lot of his peers: a commitment to sustainable architecture and a willingness to search for extraordinary solutions. In this episode, Metropolis editor Ethan Tucker speaks with David and four of his contemporaries from the Future100 list. Some of their ideas: building floating homes for extreme weather events; advancing rammed earth for interior uses; and creating hyper-flexible housing for traveling nurses to avoid carbon emissions associated with renovation or demolition. Resources: Presenting The 2022 Metropolis Future100 Future100: Student Designers Explore Radical Sustainability Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

In 2020, a FIFTH of all the energy generated in the United States came from renewable sources. That means wind, hydroelectric, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy are slowly but surely winning. Combined, they surpassed nuclear and coal-based energy for the first time in history. As we move toward cleaner sources, we have to get even more efficient in how we handle and use energy. And that means: batteries. The eternal problem in electricity generation is when you generate too much energy, how do you store it so you can use it when your capacity to generate energy dips? Architects and engineers today have hit on a novel solution for storing energy—water. While the idea of using water to store electricity is almost a century old, the two projects in today's episode use water as a battery—but for heat. First, Metropolis executive editor Sam Lubell speaks to the visionary architect Carlo Ratti, who along with his architecture firm won a Metropolis Responsible Disruptors Award for Hot Heart, a proposal to heat the city of Helsinki using a set of floating basins in the Gulf of Finland. Then, in part two, senior editor Kelly Beamon talks to Don Pawson, a director of engineering at SmithGroup, who designed the very first sewage waste energy exchange system in a commercial building in the U.S. Brilliant stuff. Resources: Carlo Ratti Designs a Floating Structure to Heat A City and Create Community: metropolismag.com/projects/carlo-ratti-hot-heart/ A Water Utility Office Designed to Rival Most Museums: metropolismag.com/projects/smithgroup-dc-water/ Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

Interior designers work with stuff, day in and day out—chairs, tables, lights, countertops, tiles, wallpaper. The research company ThinkLab estimates that the average interior designer has over about 26 times the buying power of the average consumer. Of course, most interior designers are buying that stuff on behalf of their clients. But the key thing here is that interior designers have influence. How can they use it to do better by people and the planet? Interior designer Laurence Carr is a trailblazer and an advocate in this area. Carr believes in design that is restorative and regenerative. Which means she doesn't want to just stop at doing less harm to the environment, she believes that design can actually help restore balance between humans and their ecology, and can allow natural systems to regenerate.  In this episode, Metropolis's senior editor Kelly Beamon sits down with Carr to discuss the myriad alternatives available to interior designers today, what challenges persist, and how we can all be a bit more responsible with the stuff in homes, offices, hotels, and other spaces. Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

When we think about the carbon emissions of buildings so far we've focused largely on two things: the emissions involved in operating the buildings and those involved in the building materials and construction. But there's a third piece that we've largely overlooked, which is all the stuff inside the buildings: furniture, carpet, the lights, the seats. All that stuff puts greenhouse gases in the air when it's made, when it's transported, installed, and eventually discarded. Now consider a company like Salesforce, which designs and develops enterprise software and operates 59 offices around the world. Every time one of those offices is renovated, it means carbon emissions, which is a problem for a company that's committed to sustainable practices. But through some consistent efforts, Salesforce has been chipping away at the carbon emissions of its workplaces. In this episode, brought to you in partnership with Interface, we discuss those efforts with Amanda von Almen, senior manager of sustainability and head of sustainable business environments at Salesforce, and Lisa Conway, vice president of sustainability, Americas, at Interface, who supplies all of the flooring solutions at Salesforce—and explore why workplaces are really an important factor in the fight against climate change. Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

In 2002, the architect William McDonough and the chemist Michael Braungart came up with a rather revolutionary idea. The duo had recently published their groundbreaking book, "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things," and would go on to become leaders in the sustainability movement, In fact, they anticipated many aspects of what we today call the circular economy. But back in 2002, the architect and the chemist wrote an essay titled Buildings Like Trees, Cities Like Forests for a book called "The Catalog of the Future." Today, 20 years later, we return to that idea: Can buildings be like trees? This episode includes two segments. First, Metropolis editor in chief Avinash Rajagopal reads the introduction to Braungart and McDonough's essay. Then, we dive into Urban Sequoia, a proposal by the architecture firm SOM that takes giant redwood trees as the inspiration for carbon-capturing skyscrapers and cities. Resources: Urban Sequoia Raises the Bar on Carbon Neutral Urban Design: metropolismag.com/projects/urban-sequoia-responsible-disruptors/ Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

Even if you don't care about technology, it's likely you've heard something about the metaverse. It's a sort of 3-dimensional, immersive internet that would take lots of technologies that exist already today, like video games, VR, and NFTs, and find a way to connect all of them. While our team was reporting on this new phenomenon for our January/February 2022 issue, we began to wonder about the carbon footprint of the metaverse. There is no metaverse without the cloud, which actually lives in buildings—steel and concrete buildings called data centers. If more people get in the metaverse, more stuff gets on the cloud, more data centers—you get the picture. There's got to be a way to start addressing this before the problem gets out of hand. Can we build an online world that doesn't destroy the real one? In this episode, reporter Audrey Grey speaks to Drs. Julie Kriegh and Hyun Woo "Chris" Lee, UW College of Built Environments colleagues, who were part of a team imagining a completely different future for data centers. Resources: The Design Guide to the Metaverse: metropolismag.com/viewpoints/metaverse-design-guide/ Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

Deep Green is back for Season 2 on March 1! Can we build an online world that doesn't destroy the real one? Check your feed on March 1 for our debut episode of season 2, which will explore the carbon footprint of the metaverse. Then join us every other Tuesday for future episodes covering topics like buildings as trees, water bodies as batteries, and a whole lot more. Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

Waste is a complex issue. How we generate waste, what kinds of chemicals and materials are in our garbage, where we choose to dispose of it, and who is affected the most by the trash we generate—all of these things make waste reduction and management very challenging.But one thing is clear: if we think of our trash as simply worthless and dirty, we've pretty much lost the battle against climate change. So maybe that's our starting point—our mindset about what we value and what we throw away. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Aquafil, synthetic materials producer of Econyl. Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Aquafil, synthetic materials producer of Econyl. A couple of weeks ago, British prime minister Boris Johnson got into a bit of a pickle with some remarks ahead of the UN climate change conference, also known as COP26, which happened in Glasgow. A group of 8- to 12-year-olds met the prime minister at 10 Downing Street this week and asked him, ‘What will you do to make sure less plastic gets into the oceans?” He got a lot of plastics manufacturers and associations really upset when he said recycling isn't the answer. Is he right? That's the question we're going to try and answer today. What is the problem with recycling plastics? In segment one, materials guru Dr. Andrew Dent, who consults with big global brands on what their products should be made of, takes us through the ins and outs of how we can address our plastics problem. Then, in segment two, we hear a success story from Giulio Bonazzi, CEO of plastics manufacturer Aquafil, who managed to wean an entire division of his company off of virgin plastic. Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

In this episode, produced in partnership with global flooring manufacturer Interface, Metropolis Editor in Chief Avi Rajagopal sits down with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and Lisa Conway to discuss how we can all fight the climate crisis—emphasis on all. Dr. Wilkinson is an author, strategist, and teacher. Her books on climate include the best-selling anthology "All We Can Save" and "The Drawdown Review." She leads the All We Can Save Project, which she cofounded with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in support of women leading on climate. She also cohosts the podcast "A Matter of Degrees," telling stories for the climate curious with Dr. Leah Stokes. As vice president of sustainability at Interface, Conway helps the company work toward their mission: climate take-back. She is also cofounder of the Materials Carbon Action Network and an incredible leader on climate change and sustainability within the architecture and design professions. Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced so many shifts and undercurrents in our world, and many are so subtle that historians will probably spend decades tracking and understanding them all. But some are not so subtle, if you know where to look at the data. Between April and June this year, construction of multifamily housing—apartment buildings and condos—grew by 25.5% in suburban areas. By contrast, construction of the same type of building declined by half a percentage point in major cities. There's no two ways about it. There's going to be a lot more Americans living in suburbs. Every new building means more carbon emissions in the atmosphere, so if the suburbs continue to see as much new construction as they have this past year, we have to act fast. What can we do to A) use the buildings we already have in the suburbs and B) modify existing infrastructure to mitigate some of the negative effects of new construction? Luckily, there's plenty of good news out of the suburbs on that front. In this episode, Metropolis editor Ethan Tucker speaks with Professor Ellen Dunham-Jones, who is co-author of the book Retrofitting Suburbia, a compendium of 32 case studies for how suburbs are building for better quality of life and a better impact on the planet. Resources: Can Underused Malls Help Build Healthy Communities?: https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/underused-malls-dlr-group/ Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

In this sequel to our last episode ("How Can We Create Green Affordable Housing?"), we continue the conversation with Shelley Halstead, executive director of the nonprofit Black Women Build. Conventional wisdom holds that the answer to America's housing crisis has been—how can we build new homes, build them cheaply, build them fast, and build them at scale? But every new building we put up is a carbon debt—tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We need other strategies. Metropolis editor speaks with Halstead about Black Women Build, which she founded to help Black women purchase rundown houses and learn the skills to rehab the buildings into homes they can live in. Through sheer dint of their labor, women have seen homes that they purchased for $6,000 or $11,000 now be valued at $80,000. It's a painstaking but thorough way of chipping away at racial and economic inequity, one person and one house at a time. Resources: How Recycling Buildings Could Solve the Urban Housing Crisis: metropolismag.com/sustainability/reuse-urban-housing-crisis Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

Most low-wage workers in the United States don't currently make enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment. Millennials aren't able to buy homes because they are, on average, poorer than their parents were at the same age. However, the last thing we need is to worsen the climate crisis as we solve America's housing crisis. Every time we build a new structure, we put carbon emissions in the air. If we had to provide housing for every American by building new apartment blocks, that would put us deep in the red on carbon emissions. Now, if we could convert existing buildings into affordable housing, that would be something. To discuss that and other avenues to address both climate and housing security, senior editor Kelly Beamon sat down with two guests: Katie Swenson, senior principal at MASS Design Group and author of Design With Love: At Home in America, and Shelley Halstead, executive director of the nonprofit Black Women Build.  Resources: How Recycling Buildings Could Solve the Urban Housing Crisis: metropolismag.com/sustainability/reuse-urban-housing-crisis Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

It's August 2021 and there's no clear end in sight for the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks, of course, to the Delta variant. The Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. has had to change its advisory a few times this year. Its most current advice: If you're in an area with high infection rates, wear a mask everywhere, whether you're vaccinated or not. If your area hasn't been affected much by the Delta variant, you should still be wearing a mask indoors, whether you're vaccinated or not. It's all about air—whether you are indoors or outside. So what should we do for clean air? First, we all intuitively know now that indoor air is riskier, generally speaking, than outdoor air. Because of the way we build commercial buildings now in the United States, inside air invariably goes through an HVAC system, which is basically recirculated air that isn't immediately exchanged with the air outside. The system was built this way to recirculate heating or cooling—but of course it also recirculates germs. Our reporter Audrey Gray sits down with Nathan Stodola, chief engineer at the International WELL Building Institute, and Josh Greenfield, director of high performance design at HDR, to talk about how thoughtful design can help cool things off and keep us safe.  Next, you've likely heard a lot about engineered and technological solutions for clean air but, as you now know, they invariably require energy and many times they're just a band-aid fix. So should we turn to nature? Should we be thinking about bigger changes, fundamentally shifting the way we design buildings and their connection to natural systems like plants, soil, and micro-organisms? To answer that, reporter Akiva Blander speaks with Brent Bucknam of Hyphae Design Laboratory. Resources: -      After 2020, Designing For Indoor Air Quality Will Never Be the Same: metropolismag.com/architecture/designing-for-indoor-air-quality/ Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.

The Tokyo Olympics are underway—in the middle of a pandemic, with the Delta Variant of SARS COV-2 doing the rounds. But some analysts and activists have pointed out that the pandemic isn't the only problem with the Games. Tokyo wanted to host the most sustainable Olympics yet. The organizers promised recycled cardboard beds in the athlete's village, and super green timber stadiums. But, according to a study published by researchers from the University of Lausanne in the journal Nature earlier this year, they've fallen well below the mark. Can one have a sustainable Olympics? In this episode, we try to answer that question. First, how does Los Angeles plan to avoid Tokyo's fate when it hosts the games in 2028? We speak with Brence Culp, the chief impact officer for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, and Nurit Katz, UCLA's Chief sustainability Officer, to learn more about the sustainability vision for LA28. Next up, the afterlife of stadiums. Remember that sustainability analysis of the Olympic Games? Well, the researchers identified Nine Factors that determine the sustainability of the Games. Their number one factor? Long-term viability of Olympic infrastructure. The Velodrome, originally designed for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, was recently converted into the Biodome, an enormous zoo-cum-terrarium. We speak with Yves Paris, Biodome director, and Rami Bebawi, cofounding partner at KANVA, to learn more about the project. Resources: -      An evaluation of the sustainability of the Olympic Games. Nat Sustain (2021): doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00696-5 -      LA28: la28.org -      IOC Sustainability Strategy: extrassets.olympic.org/sustainability-strategy/1-1 -      Montreal Biodome: metropolismag.com/architecture/kanva-montreals-biodome/ Connect with Metropolis: metropolismag.com Instagram: @metropolismag Facebook: facebook.com/MetropolisMag/ Deep Green is a production of SANDOW Design Group.