Brook Muller, dean of the College of Arts + Architecture, and Assistant Professor of Architecture Liz McCormick will join a panel discussion on October 27 hosted by Clean Air Carolina. The event, on the topic of sustainable development in response to pandemic and climate change, will take place at 4:00 pm virtually, through Zoom. Registration is required.
Moderated by Clean Air Carolina board member Allison Shockley, the panel includes City Planning Director Taiwo Jaiyeoba, CEO of Odell design studio Brad Bartholomew, and Shannon Binns, executive director of Sustain Charlotte.
McCormick is a licensed architect, LEED AP, and Certified Passive House Consultant. In both her practice and research, she explores climatically sensitive and contextually appropriate building enclosure designs that connect the occupant to the outdoors and reduce the dependence on mechanical conditioning.
Author of the book Ecology and the Architectural Imagination (Routledge, 2014), Dean Muller studies the design implications of resilient, decentralized water and wastewater systems in dense urban contexts. In his work he encourages an ecologically responsible approach to design in which architecture contributes to environmental wellbeing. The built environment, Muller argues, must be created within the context of the wider “parent” ecological system in a way that doesn’t just limit negative “side effects” on the environment but impacts it in positive ways.
“Might there be beneficial ecological implications by viewing the system as a building/environment pairing? Working on urban redevelopment sites that have been compromised ecologically as a result of previous human activity, would it be possible for built interventions to minimize externalities while delivering benefits to the parent (eco)systems in which they are embedded?”