Event:
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20

PANEL: Design + Context
Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall
6:30 PM

Michelle Addington - Professor, Yale School of Architecture
Dickson D. Despommier - Professor of Public Health and Microbiology, Columbia University
Cameron Sinclair - Architecture for Humanity

Moderators: Mitchell Joachim, Ph.D. - Terreform 1; Adjunct Professor of Architecture, GSAPP & Ioanna Theocharopoulou, Ph.D. - Adjunct Professor of Architecture, GSAPP

About:
Even though “green” is everywhere, the concepts of sustainability and ecological design are still marginal in schools of architecture as well as in architectural discourse at large. That buildings and cities are significant polluters and catalysts of climate change is beyond question. Buildings and the building industry currently contribute at least 40-50% of greenhouse gases. As more than half of the world's population will live in cities by the end of 2008, most of them in developing countries where environmental controls are often weak or nonexistent, thinking about “sustainable development” seems all the more urgent.

This event will bring together a confluence of approaches that will not only inform but also inspire. We intend to introduce both the larger framework of sustainability --social, political, economic and environmental-- as well as the specific issues related to ecological design. The speakers we have selected range from scientists, environmental historians, engineers, architects, activists, journalists and educators.