Climate Change: A Crisis and an Opportunity

The Beacon at The Tower at PNC Plaza visualizes how the building maximizes its use of natural resources. Image © Chris Leonard.

This post is part of a series in which we look at the critical role that the architecture and design play in global efforts to address climate change. For more on the research behind it, take a look at our Impact by Design report.

Last year was a rough year for climate action advocates, particularly in the United States. We witnessed one of the three warmest years recorded; historic lows in Arctic sea ice; devastating hurricanes and flooding in Texas, the Caribbean, and Florida; and record-breaking wild fires throughout California. A report released in June by scientists from 13 federal agencies concluded that barring drastic action to reduce carbon emissions, we would likely see a 5 degree Celsius or more increase in temperature by end of the century, which would result in crop yields plunging, electricity consumption spikes, and untold damage to coastal cities.

By all these accounts, we are now amidst a global environmental crisis. And although crises are often devastating, they also offer up rare opportunities for rapid shifts of impactful behavior. Today, that shift is being led by a growing number of businesses, communities, and municipalities around the world that are setting and achieving ambitious but necessary carbon reduction targets. Over 50 cities in the U.S. have now committed to 100 percent renewable energy sources. New York City has set ambitious sustainability goals, including an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. Mayor Bill de Blasio has also recently announced the city’s plan to mandate energy retrofits to the city’s worst performing 14,500 buildings, which account for a quarter of the city’s emissions.

New York’s example demonstrates the important role that architects will play in this shift. Buildings account for roughly 40 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. By 2030, up to 135 billion square feet of new and rebuilt buildings will be constructed in the U.S., representing an increase of approximately 50 percent in our building floor area. Yet today, only an estimated 1 percent of commercial buildings are built to net-zero energy criteria.

As we begin to look at the future of our profession through the lens of this fast-approaching low carbon future, it’s evident that we can’t continue to design buildings using today’s process and expect different results. Here are five of the most important components of a forward looking, sustainable approach to building design and delivery:

1. Adopt an integrated approach – Any building solution able to deliver hyper aggressive performance goals needs a fully integrated team committed from the outset of the project. Engaging operators in the design process will help expand the conversation around the upfront cost of a project to include the building’s long-term operational expenses. Along with this approach, contracts will need to be structured to more equitably share risk between building owners, building consultants, and contractors so that everyone can take a greater stake in a building’s ultimate performance.

2. Set and adhere to carbon budgets – In a low carbon future, buildings must not exceed the renewable energy capacity of the site. This means our design process will revolve around our ability to maximize passive design strategies for energy reduction and allow the site characteristics to drive the building’s form and even program. Fortunately for us, there are a number of well documented projects showing the benefit of establishing ambitious energy use targets along these lines.

3. Leverage the power of computational design – As we begin to value carbon in the same way we value dollars and schedule, feedback from widely available software gives us the unique ability to optimize incremental improvements during the early phases of design. These tools require skill and practice to apply correctly and coordinate across consultants, which is why it’s critical that teams must begin assimilating them into their process today.



Computational design was used early in the design to generate NVIDIA’s iconic triangular roof. Image © Gensler.

4. Build in feedback loops – With the rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) and increased accessibility to inexpensive sensor technology, buildings can be designed with a “nervous system” for closely monitoring performance. However, simply specifying and installing the technology will not be enough. It will be critical to provide services to help our building owners to operate and gain usable insights from the data. In our Gensler New York office, we are currently using our own space as a testing lab to understand how IoT can influence behavior and help reduce energy consumption. Preliminary findings show that effective solutions will incorporate the right mix of the latest technology, analog data collection methods, and a strong focus on user experience.

5. Design for a changing climate and design for resiliency – Despite current efforts, we are experiencing climate changes around the globe, and we will continue to grapple with these shifts. Beyond increasing temperatures, this also means shifting floodplains, changing soil conditions, and more extreme weather patterns. We will need to become adept at leveraging climate change models to anticipate the attributes our buildings will need well into the future. Resources like weather files are already being developed to understand these future climate conditions.



FAR ROC, Far Rockaways design competition entry by Gensler, White Arkitekter and ARUP. Image courtesy of White Arkitekter.

Whether using these exact components or others, practitioners in our profession have an enormous opportunity. In her most recent book, author and activist Naomi Klein argues that “if we treat climate change as the crisis it is, we don’t just have the potential to avert disaster but could improve society in the process.” In this light, those of us who can look this crisis in the face in partnership with our clients will find ourselves as highly sought-after resources, invaluable members of our communities, and key contributors to building a livable low carbon future. Let’s not look away.

David Briefel is a Sustainability Director and Design Resilience Leader at Gensler. Since joining the firm in 2007, he has worked on projects varying from 1 million square foot workplace renovations to ground-up mission critical facilities. His recent work includes projects pursuing Living Building Challenge, WELL Building, and LEED v4 certifications. He is currently engaged in internal research on energy consumption, space utilization, and wellbeing. David is a graduate from Cornell University and Pratt Institute. Contact him at David Briefel@Gensler.com..