Happy Earth Day. Everyone, as this year’s earth day has come to pass, we’re thinking about talking about the concepts of sustainability and resilience in terms of reducing our impact on the environment and designing buildings and projects that are more sustainable and resilient to minimize the negative effects of the, of the built environment on our natural environment. And I’ve talked about this before, many times architects in Michigan are, are well aware of the global climate change and the impact of buildings on our environment. Uh, the greenhouse gas emissions that they create not only in the mechanical, uh, and natural resources consumed for heating and cooling, but also the impact of the manufacturing process of all the products necessary to build any particular building, whether it’s framed in wood or if it’s made out of poured concrete or large structure manufactured from steel. All of these products that go into the structure of a building and the finished materials of a building having embodied energy, which is a, a calculable, uh, impact of carbon dioxide, which results in greenhouse gas emissions. From the process of making these different materials. Architects in Michigan have been exploring alternatives to these heavy carbon use materials that have more

beneficial then detrimental impact to the environment and our material choices these days have to be very critically thought through because we don’t want to just harm the environment and hopefully anybody that follows our practice and interested in working with us knows that we are environmentally conscious architects that seek to improve buildings. But we also want to make our buildings healthier for the people that live work and occupy them even if they’re there just for a fleeting moment to visit their loved one or have a doctor visit for a hospital. Architects in Michigan are consciously thinking about improving the built environment for the globe and for the occupants of our globe. If uh, the environment goes to waste and our global climate change issue consumes itself, consumes the earth, then we will have no, no planet or people to design buildings for. And that would be a terrible future to think about. And we want to think about making sure that that doesn’t happen on this Earth Day and every day, which should be considered a positive step forward for the sustainability and resiliency of our entire planet.

Architects in Michigan look forward to speaking with you if you have a earth day project or a building project that wants to improve its footprint on the environment. We have done a lot of research and read a lot of papers about choosing better materials, choosing your site carefully so that you’re not building on a greenfield site or disturbing a natural habitat. We can do a fantastic design on any previously developed land in our urban areas and architects in Michigan can help you find the most appropriate site for your project, whether it be a school hospital, office building or your own home. We can help you navigate the zoning codes and the building codes and choose a ideal site that can give you all of what you wish for in your building as well as something that does not impact our environment and creates a positive force in the sustainable future of our planet.

Resiliency is a newer subject, but the concept of resiliency is something that architects in Michigan had been studying for a long time. Through their training in school as an architect through our professional development and continuing education as an architect, we understand that resilient design is a design that is forward thinking, design that does not negatively impact the environment or does so. And there’s little an impact as possible, a while producing that can withstand the heavy extreme forces of a hurricane or a tornado, which I’ve spoken about in the past on its own. The subject of resiliency. So I, I think we won’t need to dwell on that too much, but given that this is earth day and it only comes around once a year, it shouldn’t be overlooked or a thought of only one time a year. It’s something that architects in Michigan will always bring in conversation to any client of any building type so that they are aware of the design choices they’re making and the impacts on the environment of that particular building.

Sustainability is a hot topic these days, and not only in the built environment, but for our government officials and, uh, land use experts. Uh, sustainability is a critical subject when thinking about designing a new building or renovating an existing building. And there are design choices that one can make as a client, working with an architect and Michigan to carefully select the minimal amount of material, the most sustainable materials, uh, which many of our manufacturers nowadays are promoting and labeling their materials with the information necessary to make these decisions, which is excellent resource nowadays. And so we only work with material providers and product representatives that stand by their products and their process of making these building products that are the most sustainable and the carbon neutral option. And that’s what we look forward to most on this earth day and any day that we are working on this planet.

If you think earth day does not matter then I would refer you to research more on the topics of climate change, sea level rise, and carbon content in the atmosphere. The impacts of each of these subjects individually can devastate an ecology, but we are stacking the negative impacts of all of these issues and more on top of each other that is exponentially putting our planet on a direct path to collapse faster each day. We must stop and think about the future generations, our children, and ask ourselves if we really cannot do more to save this planet for them. It is no longer about us, but our children, and our children’s children.