CMPBS Co-Directors Pliny Fisk and Gail Vittori will host a session titled “Serious Commotion – Anticipatory Protocols, Prototypes + Policies” at the Living Future 2013 unConference in Seattle, Washington. The session chronicles nearly 40 years of CMPBS’ seminial work. Using protocols, policies and prototypes as a framework, the Co-Directors will illuminate early work that foreshadows contemporary advances in resilient and regenerative design, then juxtapose these advances with twelve lenses into how the green movement may evolve in the future.

The session occurs from 3pm to 4pm on Thursday, May 15th in the Vashon Room of the Westin Seattle Hotel. More information can be found here: http://living-future.org/unconference2013.

CMPBS Co-Director Pliny Fisk will participate in the XI Congreso Arquitectura 2013 (XI Congress of Sustainable Architecture – Heritage – Education) conference in San Jose, Costa Rica. Pliny will deliver a lecture, titled “Lenses for a Maximum Potential Future,” which offers twelve lenses that can be used to achieve a maximum potential, sustainable future. Pliny explains how, instead of forcing our work into the narrow lens of a single method, we have found the need to constantly adapt our methodologies to address the ever-shifting challenges at hand.

The XI Congreso Arquitectura 2013 conference is convened by Colegio de Arquitectos de Costa Rica, an organization with the goal to strengthen and develop the architecture profession and advance architecture within the country. The conference aims to analyze the current state of architecture and facilitate trans-disciplinary thematic debate on the need to create sustainable cities and revitalize assets for future populations. The Colegio de Arquitectos also hopes to raise awareness that childhood education on this subject is a fundamental component of addressing this need.

The conference convenes from May 2-4 at the Costa Rican Center of Science and Culture in San Jose, Costa Rica. Pliny’s session will be held on Saturday, May 4th from 5:00pm to 5:45pm. More information can be found at http://www.coarqcr.com/congreso2013.html.

CMPBS Co-Director Gail Vittori will co-host two sessions at CleanMed 2013: Creating Healing Environments in Boston, Massachusetts. The first is titled “LEED for Healthcare Inspiring High Performance Healing Environments,” which provides an overview of LEED for healthcare, its evolution, and its application at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas – the first LEED Platinum-certified hospital in the world. Gail hosts this session with Michele L. Van Hyfte, AIA, LEED AP (Manager, Environmental Stewardship at Seton Network Facilities in Austin, Texas) and Melissa Gallagher-Rogers, LEED AP (Director, Technical Solutions at U.S. Green Building Council). The session occurs on Wednesday, April 24th from 3-4pm.

Gail’s second session is titled “Future Think: The 21st Century Hospital” and makes the case that a new pattern language of 21st century healthcare design is emerging: intrinsically human-focused, restorative, regenerative and resilient. The session focuses attention on the Nanaimo General Hospital’s new emergency department, in which the experiences of staff and patients evidence the benefits of a radical approach in daylight. Gail hosts the session with Ray Pradinuk (Healthcare Research and Innovation) and Robin Guenther (Sustainable Healthcare Design Leader at Perkins + Will). The session occurs on Thursday, April 25th from 2-3:30pm.

The CleanMed 2013: Creating Healing Environments conference takes place from April 24-April 26 at Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, MA. Pricing information can be found on the CleanMed website  here and you can purchase tickets here. Read more about Gail’s sessions, or any other CleanMed 2013 events on the Complete Agenda, found here.

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CMPBS Co-Director Gail Vittori was featured in the article “On the Roof With…Gail Vittori: Understanding the Benefits (and Challenges) of Green Healthcare Infrastructure with Gail Vittori” published in Spring 2013 by the Living Architecture Monitor.

In an interview conducted by Jennifer Foden Wilson, Gail explains the confluence of environmental and human health and, consequently, the importance of building green healthcare facilities. Gail discusses convening the Green Guide for Healthcare and describes specific ways green building can simultaneously benefit the environment and health facility patients and staff.

You can view the article here.

CMPBS Co-Director Pliny Fisk is published in brand new book, Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development, published in January 2013 by CRC Press.

Pliny’s chapter provides fascinating detail on creating sustainable futures for Southwestern cities and CMPBS’ ProtoCity Approach in the Ciudad Jarez, Mexico/El Paso, Texas Metroplex regions.

Other sections of the book include chapters related to topics of Physical Aspects of the Desert Environment, The Living Desert, Desert Planning, Ecology in Design of Urban Systems, and Urban Sustainability. Authors include renown experts Anthony Floyd, David Orr, Paulo Soleri, Kim Sorvig, Frederick Steiner, and many more!

View more information on this exciting new resource or purchase here.

CMPBS Co-Director Pliny Fisk was featured in the article “The Winter the Gas was Cut Off to Crystal City,” published in December 2012 by the Solar Reflector, Texas Solar Energy Society’s online newsletter.

The article describes Pliny’s work in Crystal City, Texas in the late 1970s. He spearheaded an effort to provide 2,000 solar water heaters to town residents after the local natural gas company cut off their natural gas supply.

You can view the article on Texas Solar Energy Society’s website here.

Block 21, a project on which CMPBS served as LEED consultant, was featured in the piece “Slideshow: Austonian, Block 21 top ULI’s list of winners,” in the Austin Business Journal on Thursday, December 13, 2012. The article identified the properties that the Austin chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) recently selected for its first Development of Distinction Awards; Block 21 won in the “new development commercial or mixed-use category.”

Block 21 is the property located at 200 Lavaca St., which includes the W Austin Hotel and The Residences at W Austin, as well as Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater, and various other commercial and business venues. Stratus Properties and Canyon Johnson Urban Fund II developed the property and CMPBS provided LEED consultation services; Block 21 has correspondingly received LEED for New Construction Version 2.2 Silver Certification. The Austin chapter of the ULI designed the Development of Distinction Awards to highlight the best local practices in land use and encourage similarly high quality development. Read the Austin Business Journal article and view the slideshow to see Block 21 and other Development of Distinction Award winners.

Innovation Is Madness | Mark Decena from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems’ Co-Director Pliny Fisk is the subject of Kontent Film’s Innovation Is Madness – a semifinalist in GE’s Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition

Check out GE’s Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition, which features “stories about innovative people who are reshaping the world through act or invention, directed by the world’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers,” to view CMPBS’ Co-Director Pliny Fisk speaking on his philosophy and work. Kontent Films produced and Mark Decena directed the film, titled Innovation Is Madness, which they then entered into the competion. The film has reached the semifinalist stage and is up for a screening at Sundance Film Festival, a $100,000 prize, and Audience Favorite recognition. For this last part, we need your help!

Please take a moment to watch the video and click on the vote button at the end. Then share it with your friends, family, and colleagues through email, your blog, social media sites, etc. Voting ends on December 20th, so please vote while the polls remain open.

Vote Now!

CMPBS Co-Directors Pliny Fisk and Gail Vittori will host a session titled “EcoBalance and Biomimicry: New Lenses Integrating Cyclical Processes” at Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in San Francisco, California. Pliny teams with Kathy Zarsky, Systems Director at Holos, to deliver a presentation on using ecoBalance Design, viewed through a biomimicry lens, to sustain life support across life cycles, using balance as a performance metric. Pliny and Kathy will present and Gail will moderate the session.

The panel occurs on November 15 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco during Greenbuild. More information can be found on the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo webpage.

CMPBS Co-Director Pliny Fisk is facilitating Ball State’s Department of Landscape Architecture Design Week 2012 in Muncie, Indiana. Pliny is internationally renown for his work in life cycle planning and design. He will administer a workshop on planning for continued development of the White River corridor as it runs through Muncie.

Design Week occurs October 29th through November 2nd at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The event schedule and more information can be found on the event website.