OZ | Sustainability

OZ SUSTAINABILITY

One of our values at OZ centers on Stewardship. It drives us to create solutions that respect the communities they impact.

Buildings account for a significant amount 42% of annual greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Because of our role as leaders in the design profession, our work can have a profound impact on the environment. Because of the level of influence that we carry, it is our duty as design professionals to mitigate these impacts, and advocate for energy and resource efficient solutions.

We are further obligated to lead by example seeking environmentally sustainable strategies for the way we operate our business. In this way, we are positioned to make a meaningful difference for society through our work.

To that end, OZ is proud to be a signatory to the 2030 commitment. To fulfill this commitment, we are actively benchmarking our projects, setting goals for energy and carbon reductions, and measuring our results against a trend towards net zero emissions in 2030. We are evolving our process and deploying new tools to help us make smart decisions throughout the design process, and through active monitoring and results from commissioning, we are able to confirm that we are delivering the results expected in the design phase. This commitment is causing us to change the way we work, and we are optimistic that we will see results improve across our entire portfolio of work as we aim to meet the challenge.

The projects that follow highlight OZ’s commitment to forwardthinking and progressive design.

Our work can have a profound impact on the health of our planet. As architects, we can influence projects and clients and develop creative solutions that limit environmental impacts. I feel it is our duty as design professionals to capitalize on this opportunity and make a difference through our work.”

DAVID SCHAFER PRINCIPAL

OZ

ARCHITECTURE

It is our responsibility to create sustainable, holistic solutions that have a positive impact environmentally, socially, and economically.

We believe that society deserves high-performing buildings that support resilient, healthy communities. As a proud signatory of the AIA 2030 Commitment, we are actively developing solutions that reduce our industry’s carbon footprint.

At OZ, stewardship of our environment manifests itself in a variety of ways that can be distilled down to four categories based on the results each strategy delivers:

PEOPLE

We recognize the impacts of climate change on our communities and seek opportunities to create restorative projects that reverse this trend.

PRACTICE

OZ’s commitment to sustainability is multigenerational. Our passion for environmental stewardship is a unifying force, and we continually evolve our processes to leverage the most current thinking in building science.

PROCESS

We are committed to minimizing the environmental impact of each project by prioritizing passive design strategies. We thereby limit the building’s appetite for energy before exploring active systems to serve that appetite in an efficient manner.

PROJECTS

Our work strives to balance environmental, social, and economic priorities and deliver adaptable solutions across all three pillars of sustainability.

Lake Tahoe, California