Introduction / Firm Commitment

As architects, designers and planners, as creators and

stewards of the built environment, we recognize the great impact we have on the world around us. We continue to develop best practices that inspire change, promote health and wellbeing and support the respectful consumption of resources. In an effort to better understand and reduce our environmental impact, we have joined the AIA 2030 Commitment, where we track and report the predicted energy use of our projects. Our participation in this Commitment allows us to measure progress towards carbon neutrality.

As a part of this commitment we have developed this Sustainability Action Plan. The plan outlines a course of action to integrate sustainable design incrementally,

consistently and broadly into our design process and workflow, to track and measure design strategies and project performance in order to inform our future work, and to report our progress and the impact of our business.

Much of RATIO’s portfolio has inherently incorporated sustainable design strategies that best serve our clients for maximum efficiency and cost savings. Historically our metric for sustainable design has been USGBC’s LEED Green Building Rating System. While LEED has made an incredible impact on the building, design and construction industry, we recognize that it does not suit every client or project and believe that LEED certification is only one mechanism to achieving high performance. In every project we must advocate for better performance, energy and water savings,

less resource use and waste, and healthy environments. This work must not be siloed - rather it should be fully integrated into our design process and workflow.

The AIA 2030 Commitment requires us to ask new questions and challenge our traditional assumptions. It requires a significant improvement in the performance of our projects and the operation of our business. We understand the magnitude of the challenge and the urgency with which we must address it.

RATIO’s Sustainability Action Plan outlines a framework for achieving design excellence, operational and knowledge leadership. It serves as a roadmap for elevating and

formalizing our sustainable design efforts at RATIO.

We begin each design conversation with a profound recognition of the potential impact of our work, and seek to minimize that impact at each step in the design process, whether through cutting-edge technology or age-old principles of siting and construction.