A Quarterly Journal from McLennan Design. Redesigning our relationship to the natural world. Volume 1 , Issue 1
ARCHITECTURE A new model for humanity’s relationship with water? Read. PLANNING Can the design of a memorial help us both remember and let go? Read.
DEDICATION A tribute to the genius of Buckminster Fuller. Read.
“How can we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?� - Buckminster Fuller
WELCOME
to the inaugural issue of Love + Regeneration, the quarterly magazine produced by McLennan Design for those who want to engage with ideas and conversations around a truly regenerative, living future. Picking a title for this publication proved challenging, as there were many ideas and issues we wanted to convey, but we kept coming back to these two words – LOVE because it drives everything we do and REGENERATION because this is our goal, to show that it is possible to design buildings and communities that help make the world a better, healthier place for all life. Throughout every issue, we plan to publish feature stories that describe ideas that can reshape some aspects of society, case studies on our projects and those of others we admire, news from our global practice and other edifying information on topics ranging from astonishing species to aspirational poetry. Over time we will expand to add contributions from our primary collaborators — other engineers, architects and sustainability thinkers — to round out each issue. Much more than a newsletter or blog, Love + Regeneration is a multi-media communication and education tool. I’ve long been struck by the absolute uncompromising sincerity of Buckminster Fuller’s famous query, “How can we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?” What better provocation to represent the aspirations of this publication? It is for this and many reasons that we have dedicated this inaugural issue to Bucky and his amazing legacy. Bucky noted we have all the knowledge, we have done the experimentation, we know what we need to know to “carry on in a far more intelligent way.” It’s only the doing that remains, “In the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation.” We hope this publication acts as a resource and inspiration to our friends engaged in the work of building a regenerative world. We hope that it allows you to stay current with the ways we are trying to make change through the field of architecture and design. We hope it reads as an invitation to conversation and the kind of spontaneous cooperation Bucky named as crucial to a living future. And we hope you enjoy it and share it with others with whom you’re in conversation!
with warmth,
JASON F. McLENNAN CEO, McLennan Design
Summer 2018
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JASON F. MCLENNAN
EDITORIAL TEAM
RESEARCH AND EDITORIAL CONTENT - KRISTINA AVRAMOVIC OLDANI GRAPHIC DESIGN - ALBERT TRESKIN + KRISTINA AVRAMOVIC OLDANI PG 14, 16, 17, 18 + 22 INFOGRAPHICS AND VIDEOGRAPHY - JOSHUA FISHER ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT - BONNIE TABB
CONTRIBUTORS
DAVID WHYTE FROM RIVER FLOW: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS. 2012, MANY RIVERS PRESS. The author of nine books of poetry and four books of prose, David Whyte is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development, where he works with many European, American and international companies. In organizational settings, using poetry and thoughtful commentary, he illustrates how we can foster qualities of courage and engagement; qualities needed if we are to respond to today’s call for increased creativity and adaptability in the workplace.
FOLLOW MCLENNAN DESIGN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
FIND US ONLINE WWW.MCLENNAN-DESIGN.COM JUNE 2018, ISSUE 1 LOVE + REGENERATION IS A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF MCLENNAN DESIGN, LLC. COPYRIGHT 2018 BY MCLENNAN DESIGN, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONTENT MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION AND IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
NAVIGATE
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35 36 ON THE COVER: Buckminster Fuller Photo by Getty Images
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ASPIRE
How do we adequately thank our predecessors? An homage to a global thought leader. Our tribute to Buckminster Fuller
DESIGN
A new model for humanity’s relationship with water? A Proven Radical Water Efficiency Paradigm
CELEBRATE
How can we make each day count? An Interview with MD’s Managing Partner, Dale Duncan
EDIFY
What are we up to? Exciting news from McLennan Design and its Partners.
ELEVATE
Sometimes A poem by David Whyte
VISUALIZE
How can design serve as both a reminder and an invitation to let go? A Memorial to the 7th Battalion/158th Aviation Regiment
EMULATE
What do we have to learn from the natural world? A look at the Stormy Petrel 5
ASPIRE
Summer 2018
“I HAPPEN TO HAVE BEEN BORN AT THE SPECIAL MOMENT IN HISTORY IN WHICH FOR THE FIRST TIME THERE EXISTS ENOUGH EXPERIENCE-WON AND EXPERIMENT VERIFIED INFORMATION CURRENT IN HUMANITY’S SPONTANEOUS CONCEPTIONING AND REASONING FOR ALL HUMANITY TO CARRY ON IN A FAR MORE INTELLIGENT WAY THAN EVER BEFORE.” - FROM GUINEA PIG B
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Buckminster Fuller The inaugural issue of our new magazine, Love and Regeneration, is being dedicated to the amazing Buckminster Fuller, an individual who has inspired so many around the world to think differently and to seek solutions that make the world better for all life. Celebrated for his out of the box thinking, prolific, stream of consciousness writings and engaged teaching, and perhaps best recognized as the inventor of the geodesic dome, Buckminster Fuller paved the way for the kind of blue sky thinking we aspire to at McLennan “WHEN I AM WORKING ON A PROBLEM, I NEVER THINK Design.
ABOUT BEAUTY, BUT WHEN I HAVE FINISHED, IF THE
Bucky has played an SOLUTION IS NOT BEAUTIFUL, I KNOW IT IS WRONG.” important part in our CEO’s life, even though the two never had a chance to meet. Jason F. McLennan’s great professional mentor, Bob Berkebile, was a student of Bucky’s, and so many of his important ideas and philosophy were translated through stories and lessons imparted by Bob. Later, Jason’s work on the Living Building Challenge was awarded the Buckminster Fuller Prize, the world’s top prize for socially responsible design, and he had opportunity to connect to the Buckminster Fuller Foundation and to Bucky’s family, including his daughter Allegra. McLennan views this award as his top professional honor, given his deep admiration of Bucky’s ideas and powerful vision. “Give people something to move towards instead of spending your time battling entrenched ways of thinking,” Bucky said. “If you want to change something, make that which you wish to change obsolete.” This wisdom inspired the kind of paradigm shift thinking from which the Living Building Challenge and other Living Future Challenges emerged. Now we’d like to think we take the same spirit forward in all we do at McLennan Design, where possible, trying to channel Bucky’s incredible vision of a better, regenerative world fueled by love and hope for the future. This issue is dedicated to you Bucky!
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A PROVEN RADICAL WATER EFFICIENCY PARADIGM
HOW A LIVING BUILDING HOME SHOWS TRUE WATER RESILIENCE BY JASON F. MCLENNAN
The Over Consumption of Water Since 2015, the world has watched Cape Town, South Africa’s four million residents live with the reality of water scarcity and its experts adjust predictions of when Day Zero – the day when taps are shut off due to exhausted water supply – will arrive. This water crisis has brought attention to the state of water resources and an uncertain future in which water scarcity is a reality the world over. In Cape Town, unchecked population growth combined with years long drought exacerbated by climate change has led to the current crisis, where water is being rationed to 13 gallons per person per day, with the inevitability of system shutdown even so.1
AN ESTIMATED 780 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD LACK ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER, RESULTING IN THOUSANDS OF DEATHS EACH DAY.
The Pacific Institute’s world water conflict database seeks to comprehensively chronicle water conflict going back to ancient times. The database contains 400 entries; thirty-seven of these have occurred since 2010, including skirmishes, terrorist attacks, and armed assaults that have resulted in injury, infrastructural destruction, and death.2 And the Institute expects to see this increase: 1 Leahy, Stephen. “From Not Enough to Too Much, The World’s Water Crisis Explained.” Na-
tional Geographic. 22 March 2018. (news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/world-water-daywater-crisis-explained/?beta=true) 2Water Conflict Chronology Map [map]. Pacific Institute. (www2.worldwater.org/conflict/
map)
At left: Heron Hall’s water systems serve as a case study for resilience. Photo by Dan Banko. At right: Water scarcity and lack of access to clean drinking water is already a reality in much of the world. Photo: Shutterstock.com
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“Our work suggests that the risks of waterrelated violence and conflict is growing, not diminishing, as population, resources, and economic and environmental pressures on scarce water resources increase. Many of these risks are materializing at the subnational level rather than as disputes among nations, but even at the national level, there are growing concerns about tensions in Africa and parts of Asia that share international rivers but lack international agreements over how to manage those waters.”3
IN THE US, WHERE INDIVIDUAL WATER CONSUMPTION TOPS WORLD STATS AT 80- 150 GALLONS PER DAY, GROUND WATER IN MANY PLACES IS BEING DEPLETED AT FIVE TIMES THE RATE OF NATURAL REPLENISHMENT BY PRECIPITATION.
An estimated 780 million people in the world lack access to clean water, resulting in thousands of deaths each day. Additionally, as many as four billion people experience severe water stress for at least one month each year.4 And Cape Town isn’t the only major city in the world to experience monumental water shortages: according to National Geographic, fourteen of the world’s twenty mega cities are currently experiencing water scarcity or drought conditions.
In the US, where individual water consumption tops world stats at 80 - 150 gallons per person per day, ground water
in many places is being depleted at five times the rate of natural replenishment by precipitation.5 Coastal US cities that rely on groundwater are watching as water levels drop to alarming lows, resulting in salt water encroachment that further threatens what’s left. In Houston, Texas, which receives sixty inches of precipitation annually, groundwater levels have still declined by 400 feet, resulting in both a tenuous water supply and some 10 feet of subsidence, directly contributing to the city’s particular vulnerability to flooding – the repurcussions of which have played out to devastating effect in recent years: last year’s Hurricane Harvey costs have been estimated as high as 125 billion dollars and 88 lives were lost.6 Many coastal cities have begun looking to the oceans for their water supplies, investing millions in desalination plants. A proposed 100 million gallons per day desalination plant in Texas is estimated to cost $658 million.7 The proposal suggests several options for disposal of the concentrate stream (the salt and other impurities filtered from the water), including deep well injection, reintroduction to marine environments, or disposal in surface water, all of which have unknown, long-term environmental impacts. Additionally, the energy intensity requirements of this water source dwarf all other sources at more than 5Griffiths-Sattenspiel, Bevan and Wilson, Wendy. “The
water-and-conflict/)
Carbon Footprint of Water.” The River Network. May 2009. (albertawater.com/docs/Carbon FootprintofWater.pdf )
4Leahy, Stephen. “From Not Enough to Too Much, The
6 “Costliest US Tropical Cyclones Table Updated.” National
World’s Water Crisis Explained.” National Geographic. 22 March 2018. (news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/worldwater-day-water-crisis-explained/?beta=true)
7Texas Water Development Board. (www.twdb.texas.gov/
3“Water and Conflict.” Pacific Institute. (pacinst.org/issues/
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Hurricane Center. (www.nhc.noaa.gov/news/UpdatedCostliest.pdf ) innovativewater/desal/faq.asp#indexes
four times the rate of brackish water and nearly seven times that of groundwater. 8 In the 20th century, the link between energy and water was largely ignored: systems were developed with the assumption supplies of each would remain robust and inexpensive. But the energy intensity of treating and distributing our dwindling water supplies is increasing: “with water demand growing and many local, low-energy supplies already tapped, water providers are increasingly looking to more remote or alternative water sources that often carry a far greater energy and carbon cost than
existing supplies.”9 Currently, 13% of the US’s energy consumption is spent moving water around, representing 521 MWh/year, which translates to 5% of our annual carbon emissions,10 and this number is on the rise.
Above: A desalination plant in Hamburg, Germany’s harbor.
Our current systems are outdated, failing, and environmentally and economically costly. Energy spent solving this crisis is largely directed at fixing these systems, which ultimately amounts to throwing good money after bad. Predictions place the global demand for water at 40% beyond
9 Griffiths-Sattenspiel, Bevan and Wilson, Wendy. “The
Carbon Footprint of Water.” The River Network. May 2009. (albertawater.com/docs/CarbonFootprintofWater. pdf ) 8 Griffiths-Sattenspiel, Bevan and Wilson, Wendy. “The
10Griffiths-Sattenspiel, Bevan and Wilson, Wendy. “The
Carbon Footprint of Water.” The River Network. May 2009. (albertawater.com/docs/CarbonFootprintofWater. pdf )
Carbon Footprint of Water.” The River Network. May 2009. (albertawater.com/docs/CarbonFootprintofWater. pdf )
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Above: Heron Hall, a registered LBC project. Photo by Iklil Gregg.
available supply by 2030. 11 And yet, all of these issues around water do not actually have to exist. They all stem from simple overconsumption and an old Victorian era paradigm, unfortunate and unnecessary, especially when models of living exist where people can use radically less water, yet with improved health, economic and ecological outcomes.
LBC – A Radical Approach to Water Systems Design In 2006, while leading the Cascadia Green Building Council, I launched the Living Building Challenge, a new certification
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program based on actual measured building performance. Living Buildings’ indicator of success is the data derived from the 12-month performance period, in which systems’ outputs are measured, their functions honed, and the success of the project verified in seven categories, or petals: water, energy, materials, health + happiness, place, beauty and equity. The intent of the Water Petal is “to meet all water demands within the carrying capacity of the site and mimic natural hydrological conditions, using appropriately-sized and climate-specific water management systems that treat, infiltrate or reuse all resources on-site.”12 In other words, projects have
11“What is a Water Footprint?” Water Footprint Calculator. 13
12“Living Building Challenge Water Petal Intent.” Inter-
May 2017. (www.watercalculator.org/footprints/what-is-awater-footprint/)
national Living Future Institute. (living-future.org/lbc/ water-petal/)
to be virtually independent of municipal water utilities, and utilize precipitation or groundwater that is fully recharged for 100% of their function. Initially illegal in all jurisdictions across the US, through the advocacy of many, net positive water pathways are now increasingly possible, and projects are demonstrating a completely different relationship to water – one that is in balance with the watershed and climate in which the buildings are located. Seattle’s Bullitt Center, widely considered the greenest commercial building in the world, has proven the efficacy of the LBC’s vision for water stewardship. The building’s graywater system collects rain that falls on the rooftop PV array, funnels it to a 56,000-gallon cistern in the basement and treats and distributes the water throughout the building. Graywater from sinks and showers is re-collected and circulated through a rooftop constructed wetland before being released to infiltrate at a street level green swale. Thus far, the center does not have the necessary permissions to provide treated rainwater from kitchen faucets in the building, so redefining potable remains a regulatory sticking point, but this is only for a small fraction of the building’s water use. The building is nearly 100% off the water grid. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center serves as another case study for the LBC’s water imperative. The Virginia Beach, VA center is possibly the first commercial building in the United States to receive a permit for drinking treated rainwater (the regulatory obstacle that keeps the Bullitt Center from fully
utilizing its graywater system) - an important precedent. With plentiful (45 inches per year) and well distributed rainfall, the system requires just two, 1,650 gallon tanks which can float the center through 23 days of drought. It too utilizes composting toilets and low flow faucets and fixtures. Its native landscape did not require any permanent irrigation measures after an establishment period. The center provides its public a living example of responsible water in tandem with an
Above: A diagram of Heron Hall’s simple, closed loop water system.
Top: Below: Seattle’s Bullitt Center, considered the greenest commercial building in the world. Photo courtesy of Bullitt Center. Bottom: Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center. Photo courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
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educational experience focused on the hydrological functioning, overall health, and ongoing conservation of Chesapeake Bay. The pairing of the intense care for place, and in particular the water there, with the demonstrable commitment to living within the means of the ecosystem is a powerful combination not lost on the center’s thousands of annual visitors.
Heron Hall – Taking Residential Living to a New Level In designing my own home, Heron Hall, I wanted to demonstrate what was possible for a single-family residence and prove that a radical new relationship with water could be both functional and desirable. Many people think that Seattle is an easy place to be net zero for water – and yet the region often has over thirty days of drought or more and a lower rainfall count than most of the eastern and southern cities in the US. My goal was to be completely off the water grid and live on rainwater for all my year-round water needs. The path to net positive water was one of only a few key steps:
Step One – Reducing Loads The first step towards net zero for water was to dramatically change the amount of water required within the household – something any family can do if there is a willingness to consider different technology choices and behavior patterns. California successfully curbed its water consumption by 25% in response to the 2010-2016 drought just by encouraging individuals to take a more measured, careful approach to habits of
consumption, identify and repair inefficient or leaking fixtures, and limit excessive water consumption for non-essentials like private swimming pools and water intensive landscaping. Deeper reductions are possible and often easy. As a family, we’ve developed habits of personal water use efficiency – we take short showers, we turn off faucets while we’re not actively using the water that flows through them – basic stuff, so we had this going for us automatically.
I WANTED TO PROVE THAT A RADICAL NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH WATER COULD BE BOTH FUNCTIONAL AND DESIRABLE.
We selected and installed the most water efficient appliances and fixtures available on the market as a next step to reduce our water demand (dishwasher, washer), and careful design and installation ensured against losing water to leaks.
Because my landscape primarily consists of native or naturalized plantings designed to require very little irrigation beyond their establishment period, I’ve eliminated at Heron Hall what for many homes is a huge water footprint – watering lawns and gardens with potable water. As an added benefit, native plantings elegantly reference place, creating a sense of a home’s belonging in and to its natural surroundings. That said, I did install a separate agriculture cistern from 100% unfiltered rainwater to provide the water for my vegetable gardens and for water during the establishment period of landscape, but it is not potable water and uses only gravity for conveyance. 15
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The majority of personally consumed water in the US, collected or pumped, piped, treated, and available at our fingertips, is used to flush toilets. This makes the toilet our biggest opportunity for designing for radical water reductions. The average person uses (and presumably flushes) a toilet 7 times a day. Each flush is between 1.6 and 3 gallons of potable water, amounting to between 11 and 21 gallons of water per person per day. The final and biggest step in dramatically reducing home water use was in eliminating the flush toilet at Heron Hall. By replacing the standard flush toilet with Phoenix’s foam flush composting toilet system, I now make soil, not waste water. And each flush uses just a cup of water, or .065 gallons per flush. This means I’m using somewhere between 2 to 4% of the water an
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average person uses throughout the course of a day to flush.
Step Two - Understand Place and Climate for Water Infrastructure A comprehensive understanding of place and climate was the launching point from which we designed the water systems for Heron Hall and is foundational to designing a water system. In the pacific northwest, rain tends to fall in a concentrated wet season that stretches from October through June, with the summer months of July, August and September generally dry and often without any meaningful precipitation. Using this information, I worked closely with 2020 Engineers and Rainbank Systems to develop a water plan for my home. Heron
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Hall’s rainwater catchment system collects the rain that falls on the north and south slopes of its main volume. The water on the north slope is directed to a 15,000-gallon cistern that supplies all the interior water for the house. This cistern was sized based on precipitation and usage predictions to accommodate four months of drought – but as we soon learned after moving in, it was very much oversized. The water that falls on and is collected from the south slope of the roof is directed to a 9000-gallon agricultural cistern that provides all the necessary water for landscaping and onsite agriculture and makes for a beautiful landscape feature in its own right. By separating the two systems I do not waste energy to treat water that is used for landscape and agriculture. In climates that get less rainfall than Seattle, this water could easily be diverted for use within the house instead of being reserved 18
for outdoor uses, making net zero possible, even in desert regions of the US. Understanding how the system needed to accommodate the climate was crucial to building one that worked. In parts of the US where there is more or as much annual rainfall, more evenly distributed throughout the year, tanks and catchment areas would be smaller or water could be used more abundantly for landscape. In dryer parts of the country catchment areas may need to be larger to capture enough water to adequately supply a home. My home has several green roof areas not used for rainwater collection, but in a dry climate the entire roof could be used.
Step Three - Apply Best Available Technology The final step in radical water reduction at Heron Hall was to apply the best technology
to using the rainwater the system captured. Water from the 15,000-gallon cistern is cycled through a 3-step process – a normal filter that is followed by charcoal and finally UV to deliver completely potable water for all needs within the home. Graywater from sinks and showers is not needed to be reused given the efficiency of the home and abundance of water, so it is integrated back into the soil through a drip irrigation system. Again, more arid locations could opt to clean and re-use this water if needed. The composting system requires minimal intervention and sometime 18-24 months after use will produce great topsoil for the garden.
How Did it Turn Out? Having completed the twelve-month occupancy period for the systems per the Living Building Challenge, we can confirm that each member of my family is using an average of 13 gallons of water per day, a number comparable to the individual water consumption of a person in Bangladesh or Kenya and an 87% reduction from the average American. This is a massive reduction without any drop in quality of experience. In fact, I’d argue that given that the water is rainwater (softer and free of chlorine, fluoride and all sorts of chemicals) that the quality of experience is far superior than the average American experience – but with a fraction of the environmental and economic impact. Treated rainwater provides my family with an excess of water. Based on actual usage recorded, our cistern could in fact float us
through 8 months of drought, which shows we could have easily had a cistern half the size we installed. Or, as designed, it shows that Heron Hall could easily be water independent even in a desert climate like Arizona. Imagine that – 100% rainwater powered homes in the American Southwest – with significantly reduced taxpayer burden and with an enhanced quality of water.
Above: Heron Hall’s 15,000 gallon cistern during installation. Based on recorded water use, this cistern can carry the home through eight months of drought. Photo courtesy of Jason F. McLennan.
AS DESIGNED, HERON HALL COULD EASILY BE WATER INDEPENDENT EVEN IN A DESERT CLIMATE LIKE ARIZONA.
Here is another interesting fact - Fourteen percent of the water consumed daily in the average US home is lost to leaky fixtures and plumbing and even
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Above: Efficient fixtures and appliances throughout Heron Hall eliminate leaks and radically reduce the amount of water my family is consuming each day. Photo by Iklil Gregg.
more when conveyance as a whole across a community is taken into account. The amount of water I am personally consuming in total in my home each day is equal to or less than the daily amount the average American is losing to system inefficiencies.
THE AMOUNT OF WATER I AM PERSONALLY CONSUMING IN TOTAL IN MY HOME EACH DAY IS EQUAL TO OR LESS THAN THE DAILY AMOUNT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN IS LOSING TO SYSTEM INEFFICIENCIES.
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What Does This Mean?
How do we share the world’s water equitably among 7.4 billion inhabitants? We start by eliminating waste and rethinking the 150-year-old Victorian water paradigm we have been locked into. Our community water systems are broken, misguided and so wasteful as to be near criminal in intent.
We need to start living within our means ecologically, retiring our debunked stories of the restriction and deprivation of doing so. We need to focus on the possibilities for regeneration and the much improved – not diminished – quality of life as evidenced by increased water quality, restored ecology, lowered costs of ownership and lowered or reprioritized taxes. These outcomes can be achieved by leveraging existing technology and collective will to change. The system in place in Heron Hall is replicable and scalable. With careful adaptations it works in every climate zone in the United States and Canada. With comprehensive understanding of place and the requisite adjustments to the plan, comparable systems can work even in places like southern California and Arizona. It is possible for humans to live and live well in
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these places while contributing to a world that is equitable, living within the capacity of place and engaging as part of the nutrient cycle. And we can do it now with available and proven technology and systems. Neighborhood scale water catchment and treatment systems are even more affordable and spread the impact at the sweet spot of scale between accountability and economics so that each home doesn’t have to have its own water treatment system. When these principles are applied to whole new communities, we begin to see change at a meaningful level. When we incentivize ingenuity around water usage and encourage decentralization – either on a house by house, or preferably block by block basis – we get extremely positive and radical results. Rather than wait for catastrophic failure and the accompanying monumental costs of replacement or overhaul, we need to begin investing in alternatives that successfully utilize the resources of a place without detracting or dumping: closed loop systems that healthfully participate in the ecology of place. Imagine if Heron Hall wasn’t merely a demonstration home, but the start of a radical new paradigm for water use – what would happen? There are 1.35 million open new residential building permits in the US currently. If these homes were built simply to comply with current building codes and each resident used 100 gallons of water per day, and if they housed the US average of 2.58 people, on a daily basis they would collectively consume 348.3 million gallons of water. If code standards were increased
to require the type of closed loop system featured at Heron Hall, and each resident used just 13 gallons of water per day, that number would reduce by 87% to 45 million gallons of water a day, the entirety of which could be rainwater utilized within a closed loop system. National carbon emissions would be reduce significantly and none of these homes would ever have a water bill again. It is time to move away from the vast centralized water treatment systems bankrupting our communities and shrinking our aquifers and time to begin living in harmony with place and watershed by adopting this new paradigm. Reductions in municipal expenses can be used to phase out our ailing centralized infrastructure, replacing them with more rational and modern approaches to water and waste infrastructure. We could see the health of our ecosystems rebound by way of restored groundwater levels and soil health. By addressing the challenge now we have the opportunity to create solutions that enhance quality of life and are more equitable, just and sustainable.
WE NEED TO FOCUS ON THE POSSIBILITIES FOR REGENERATION AND THE MUCH IMPROVED - NOT DIMINISHED - QUALITY OF LIFE AS EVIDENCED BY INCREASED WATER QUALITY, RESTORED ECOLOGY, LOWERED COSTS OF OWNERSHIP AND LOWERED OR REPRIORITIZED TAXES. 23
CELEBRATE
“IF THERE’S ANYTHING I TRY TO COMMUNICATE, IN ANY SITUATION, [TO] ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE, WHEREVER I’M AT, IT’S THAT WE ALL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE IT COUNT.” -DALE DUNCAN MANAGING PARTNER MCLENNAN DESIGN
DALE DUNCAN, MANAGING PARTNER, MCLENNAN DESIGN
watch video
MAKE IT COUNT
At McLennan Design, Dale’s is the voice of reason and role of finisher, meeting budgets, timelines and expectations in a host of capacities on any number of projects while also acting as managing partner. Dale shares his leadership expertise beyond McLennan Design by serving as the board of the Spencer C. Duncan Make It Count Foundation and previously as chair of AIA Kansas City.
EDIFY
Summer 2018
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL ARTICLE FROM ARCHITECTURAL RECORD.
HERON HALL ARCHITECTURAL RECORD HOUSE OF THE MONTH
In November 2017 Heron Hall was honored as Architectural Record’s House of the Month, a distinction granted to just one home a month from around the world, putting it in rarified territory alongside homes by some of the most internationally distinguished architects. This acknowledgement follows major articles published by Engineering News Record, Bainbridge Island Magazine and the Seattle Times’ Pacific NW Magazine who featured the home in 2017’s final edition. Heron Hall was also selected for the covers of Interiors + Sources Magazine and West Sound Home & Garden, and appeared in Green Building & Design Magazine. Throughout its construction phase and since completion, hundreds of architects, builders, engineers, students and the curious public have toured the home. It has become an important case study for code innovations by the University of Washington, inspired another local family to work with McLennan Design to build an LBC home elsewhere on Bainbridge Island, and bested its own ambitious benchmarks for water use and energy efficiency. Most importantly, after completing four seasons of occupancy, the family loves it and looks forward to the years to come.
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EDIFY
Summer 2018
CLICK HERE TO READ TRIM TAB’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE LIVING FOOD CHALLENGE.
LIVING FUTURE CHALLENGE FAMILY GROWS TO FOCUS ON FOOD
The Living Future Challenge family has grown again to include the ambitious new Living Food Challenge Pilot program. McLennan now serves as chair of the board of ILFI and he and McLennan Design team members Phaedra Svec and Jason Wilkinson have spent the last ten months visioning and creating the new Challenge, which was launched as a pilot project at the Living Future Unconference in Portland on May 3rd. The family of Living Future Challenges have rigorous, but demonstrably achievable standards of excellence that have welcomed radical innovation and resulted in the creation of the world’s most sustainable designs. The increasing international attention on the huge carbon footprint of the food industry and the ramifications of system-wide change given its current impact, make food the natural place to next shine the spotlight and apply the Living Challenge paradigm. Despite the complicated nature of our modern food systems, the holistic, systems design approach of the Living Food Challenge aims to, over time, change the way people think about, purchase and consume food. A group of pilot participants will work with and refine the draft standard over the next year.
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MCLENNAN DESIGN WINS MAJOR YALE UNIVERSITY COMMISSION
CLICK HERE TO READ THE PRESS RELEASE FROM YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL.
McLennan Design, in partnership with Boston based firm Bruner Cott, has won the commission to expand the historic Yale Divinity School campus. The project will feature dormitories, classrooms, a chapel and considerable outdoor amenities and campus linkages as well as resolve the entrance and arrival experience to the historic Divinity School quad built in the 1930s. Yale’s is the oldest divinity school in the nation and has graduated numerous leading scholars and community leaders over the years. The entire facility will be built to full Living Building Challenge status, making it the largest higher education LBC project in the world. The commission followed an intensive 12-month long consulting process wherein the two firms helped define the program and vision for the project while overseeing a cost estimate and analysis of the project’s LBC performance. “Thanks to the talent and commitment of the design team we’ve assembled, YDS is poised to make history. This project will transform how every college and university thinks about residential buildings in the future,” said Dean Gregory Sterling in a press release. Jason F. McLennan and Bruner Cott’s Jason Forney will co-lead their combined team through the design beginning this summer. 29
EDIFY
Summer 2018
CLICK HERE TO WATCH MOHAWK’S LICHEN COLLECTION PRODUCT VIDEO.
LICHEN COLLECTION WINS MULTIPLE MAJOR DESIGN AWARDS
Since its launch at Neocon 2017, The Lichen Collection, a Living Product Challenge (LPC) certified plank carpeting system designed by McLennan Design for the Mohawk Group, has garnered significant accolades from the industry; 2017 Neocon Gold Award, Interior Design HiP Award, Nightingale Awards Best of Competition, Nightingale Awards Gold (in floor covering category), Interior Design Best of Year Award (in floor covering category), and An Inspired Future/BGIS Sustainable Product Award making it the most decorated interior product in the building industry for both aesthetics and design and sustainability. The carpet tile is the first floor covering product to achieve LPC certification and, as such, is free of red list chemicals and acts as a pioneer for a host of environmental indicators. “When the Living Product Challenge was launched, we thought, ‘Who better to work with us on the design of a living product than Jason McLennan, the founder of the challenge?’ We did an opening charrette to review the Living Product Challenge and all that it entailed. After that meeting, we could see a path to achieve the certification,” reports Jackie Dettmar, Vice President Design + Product Development with Mohawk Group.
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Inspired by assemblages of multi-hued, multi-textured lichens and their regenerative role in our ecosystem, the Lichen Collection is on the path to give more resources back to the environment than it uses during its entire life cycle.
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EDIFY
Summer 2018
THE NEW OFFICES OF MCLENNAN DESIGN ARE A SHORT FERRY RIDE FROM THE HEART OF SEATTLE.
MCLENNAN DESIGN MOVES TO NEW OFFICE
McLennan Design (MD) has moved to a new location as the office continues to expand with international and local leadership work. MD has moved into the second floor of the LEED Gold building designed by fellow friend and Bainbridge Island architect Matthews Coates. Located next to Bainbridge Island Museum of Art across from the ferry terminal in the island’s main town center of Winslow, the new space will house McLennan Design for the next three years at a minimum. Bainbridge Island, situated at the threshold of Washington state’s iconic city, Seattle, and some of its most rugged and beautiful wild places, the Olympics, is a natural fit for the growing firm, whose design work is often realized in urban contexts but with a deep understanding of and attention to its greater natural world impacts. The island sits at the heart of the Puget Sound community and the office’s proximity to the ferry terminal make it a convenient hub for collaboration and ideation. While the firm’s focus is international in scope, it is currently building Bainbridge Island’s second LBC certified home and working locally with King County on an innovative, net zero energy design for a parks department facility in Renton.
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ORGANIC POLYMER FLOORING ACHIEVES LPC PETAL CERTIFICATION
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TEKNOFLOR NATURESCAPES LPC CASE STUDY
Shannon Specialty Floors has just achieved the Living Product Challenge petal certification for its new organic polymer flooring product, Naturescapes HPD. This product line, complete with 24 designs in 3 styles, fills a longstanding need in available deep green building materials. “Where we’ve been our whole lives is in the PVC-vinyl game, but the market wanted something more,” says Harlan Stone, CEO of Halstead/Metroflor Group, Shannon Specialty Floors’ parent company, in a short product film released by the company. “They wanted a high performance but more sustainable product.” McLennan Design’s Jason F. McLennan, also featured in the product film, provided consulting services throughout the product’s development. McLennan focused on the positive handprinting potential of the manufacturing process, “Let’s make sure that the kind of impacts we’re having are first of all as small as we can make them in terms of the environmental impact on the footprinting side, but as large as we can make them in terms of the positive externalities, the impacts we can have to community and to people’s health and their well-being and their financial security, and hopefully also to the environment.”
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EDIFY
Summer 2018
MCLENNAN DESIGN SECURES JUST LABEL
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Organization Name: McLennan Design Organization Type: Service Provider Headquarters: Bainbridge Island, WA Satellite Facilities: Kansas City, MO Number of Employees: 10 Social Justice and Equity Indicators:
Diversity Non-Discrimination Gender Diversity Ethnic Diversity
Equity Full Time Employment Pay-Scale Equity Union Friendly Living Wage Gender Pay Equity Family Friendly
Safety Occupational Safety Hazardous Chemicals
Worker Benefit Worker Happiness Employee Benefit Continuing Education
Local Benefit Local Control Local Sourcing
Stewardship Responsible Investing Community Volunteering Positive Products Charitable Giving Animal Welfare Transparency
THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LABEL MDI-001
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MCLENNAN DESIGN’S JUST PROFILE.
EXP. 06/30/2020
INTERNATIONAL LIVING FUTURE INSTITUTE
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justorganizations.com
McLennan Design has secured its coveted JUST Label for socially responsible business practices. JUST, a program of the International Living Future Institute, leverages the power of voluntary corporate transparency for change. Participating organizations disclose impacts on their employees, their communities and the environment in six categories: Diversity, Equity, Worker Safety, Worker Benefit, Local Benefit and Stewardship. Each participating organization receives a label that serves to, at a glance, provide a snapshot of these impacts. The program envisions a better, more socially just and equitable world, and serves as a tool for intentional organizational growth by clearly identifying areas for improvement. JUST integrates with the ILFI’s Living Building Challenge, authored by Jason F. McLennan: in order to meet the requirements of the LBC’s Equity Petal for projects, at least one of a project’s team members must have a JUST Label.
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ELEVATE
Sometimes if you move carefully through the forest, breathing like the ones in the old stories,
Sometimes David Whyte
who could cross a shimmering bed of dry leaves without a sound, you come to a place whose only task
Requests to stop what you are doing right now, and to stop what you are becoming while you do it,
is to trouble you with tiny but frightening requests,
questions that can make or unmake a life,
conceived out of nowhere but in this place beginning to lead everywhere.
questions that have patiently waited for you, questions that have no right to go away. 35
VISUALIZE
Summer 2018
VIDEO PROJECT SPOTLIGHT: 7TH BATTALION/158TH AVIATION REGIMENT MEMORIAL
watch video On August 6, 2011, a Boeing CH47D Chinook helicopter from the 7th Battalion/158th Aviation Regiment carrying 30 soldiers and one military working dog was shot down in the Wardak Province of Afghanistan. All lives were lost. On board was SPC Spencer C. Duncan, oldest son of Dale Duncan, McLennan Design’s Managing Partner. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS VIDEO ON MCLENNAN DESIGN’S VIMEO CHANNEL.
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In this video, Jason F. McLennan imagines a memorial to the 7th Battalion/158th Aviation Regiment and the fallen heroes on board. The New Century Air Center, near Gardner, Kansas, will be home to this memorial.
EMULATE
Summer 2018
In each issue we will feature a different, highly adaptive and fascinating member of Earth’s biosphere with lessons to teach us on the beauty and sacred web of life with which we evolved.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE STORMY PETREL “WALK ON WATER!”
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THE STORMY PETREL For a while, when we first conceived of this publication, we played with the idea of naming it The Stormy Petrel because the bird represented change and disruption. We eventually scrapped the idea - recent politics clouded the name Stormy - but not for lack of love for these harbingers of storms and emblems of resilience. Stormy petrels are pelagic birds, that is, they live the entirety of their lives, with the exception of the brief season in which they breed, at open sea. They factor into seafarers’ lore because of their seemingly preternatural ability to detect brewing storms prior to humans, and their habit of finding and flying in the leeward side of sailing vessels to protect themselves from wind and waves. Given their uncanny arrival at open sea and the dependability of that arrival as an omen of ensuing storms, stormy petrels earned the monikers water witches, birds of the devil, and satanites. The name petrel references the Biblical St. Peter, who was said to have walked on water. Likewise, the stormy petrel appears to walk on water. Its unique feeding technique includes a pattering motion of its feet, planted shallowly in water. This motion serves to both surface its food source and stabilize its body and head while it collects that food. The feeding process is aided by a wing shape that allows it to hover over a single place, much like a hummingbird. The bird’s beak further supports its life at sea—a gland in the beak desalinates sea water as it is drawn in through the birds’ nares (nostrils). In some sub-species of stormy petrels, the collected salt is actually expectorated back into the water. The graceful way these birds flourish in lives fraught with considerable challenge is evidenced by their relatively long lives, their habit of returning to the same nest and partner year after year, and the ability to be the smallest warm-blooded creature to nest so deep into the Antarctic. The way in which they simultaneously signal disruption AND the tenacity to not just survive, but to thrive in adversity, has earned Stormy Petrels the respect of birding and scientific communities the world over, not to mention that of the biophiles at McLennan Design.
“YOU ARE THE STORMY PETREL OF CRIME, WATSON.” Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Naval Treaty
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Summer 2018
ABOUT MCLENNAN DESIGN McLennan Design, one of the world’s leading multi-disciplinary regenerative design practices, focuses on deep green outcomes in the fields of architecture, planning, consulting, and product design. The firm uses an ecological perspective to drive design creativity and innovation, reimagining and redesigning for positive environmental and social impact. Founded in 2013 by global sustainability leader and green design pioneer Jason F. McLennan and joined by partner Dale Duncan, the firm dedicates its practice to the creation of living buildings, net-zero, and regenerative projects all over the world. As the founder and creator of many of the building industry’s leading programs including the Living Building Challenge and its related programs, McLennan and his design team bring substantial knowledge and unmatched expertise to the A/E industry. The firm’s diverse and interdisciplinary set of services makes for a culture of holistic solutions and big picture thinking.
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ABOUT JASON F. MCLENNAN Considered one of the world’s most influential individuals in the field of architecture and green building movement today, Jason is a highly sought out designer, consultant and thought leader around the planet. He is the recipient of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Prize, the planet’s top prize for socially responsible design. He has been called the Steve Jobs of the green building industry, a World Changer by GreenBiz magazine and has been selected as the Award of Excellence winner for Engineering News Record- one of the only individuals in the architecture profession to have won the award in its 52-year history. McLennan is the creator of the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and progressive green building program in existence, as well as a primary author of the WELL Building Standard, which is sweeping the globe. He is the author of six books on Sustainability and Design used by thousands of practitioners each year, including the Philosophy of Sustainable Design – considered the bible for green building – and is both an Ashoka Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Design Future’s Council. He has been selected by Yes! Magazine as one of 15 People Shaping the World and works closely with world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, leading NGOs, major universities, celebrities and influential development companies –all in the pursuit of a world that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. He serves as the Chairman of the International Living Future Institute and is the CEO of McLennan Design – his own architectural and planning practice designing some of the world’s most advanced green buildings. McLennan’s work has been published in dozens of journals, magazines and newspapers around the world.
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mclennan-design.com
