Archinect - News

Lake|Flato Architects is the latest firm to achieve B Corp status

2023-07-13T17:18:00-04:00

Texas-based Lake|Flato has announced its recent attainment of B Corp certification in a move they say is geared at enhancing the firm’s already-strong social and environmental credentials.

As the first entity in the state to achieve the certification, Lake|Flato joins a vanguard of some 30 others nationwide that have obtained B Corp status following the addition this spring of New York mainstay SO – IL. The 39-year-old firm had already been operating under the International Living Future Institute’s “The Just Label” standards and recently began the important task of self-reporting benchmark data to the organization B Lab, resulting in a positive B Impact Assessment score of 104.9.

Heather Holdridge, the firm’s Director of Design Performance, said: “As the saying goes, ‘if you can measure it, you can improve it.’ B Corp certification requires rigorous documentation and validation of our firm’s environmental performance and equity, diversity, and inclusion practices. Lake|Flato now ha...

What You Don’t See

2018-09-18T19:06:00-04:00

Follow the intricate supply chains of architecture and you’ll find not just product manufacturers but also environmental polluters. Keep going and you’ll find as well the elusive networks of political influence that are underwritten by the billion-dollar construction industry.

In "What You Don't See," Brent Sturlaugson examines the supply chains of architecture to make the case that designers must expand their frameworks of action and responsibility for thinking about sustainability.

Unraveling the networks of materials, energy, power, and money that must be activated to produce a piece of plywood, Sturlaugson argues that "any full accounting of environmental, economic, or social sustainability has got to consider not merely individual buildings and sites but also the intricate product and energy supply chains that are crucial to their construction."

Architect turned sea-flooding specialist keeps Panama City afloat

2016-04-21T18:33:00-04:00

Banfield’s dedication to environmental issues was born by chance in 2000, when she moved with her husband and three children to Clayton...Together with Carlos Varela, her legal-minded neighbor, Banfield created a community association to defend the rainforest. She remained on the front lines for years, sacrificed her architectural career and eventually began public campaigns for a variety of environmental causes.

Although the Harvard GSD formed the Office for Urbanization recently to study the effects of sea rise and climate change, Vice Mayor of Panama City Raisa Banfield has taken a more direct approach, physically halting flood-prone projects during construction and connecting with like-minded colleagues around the globe to find solutions.

As the article notes, "As glaciers melt and oceans flow higher, 'sea-level rise is an issue on almost every coast,' says Rosetta Elkin, landscape architect and professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. It’s particularly tough in Panama City, because the entire town was built too far to the east, 'where sea levels are precipitously low' — thanks in part to American bases — says Arosemena. As Banfield goes through the rigmarole of finding a solution and calling together a global group of problem-solvers like the Dutch, she may stand a chance at creating some scaffolding for the many other cities that will have to look this same issue in th...

Better a small house than a skyscraper that signifies nothing

2014-03-24T13:38:00-04:00

The White House may be the centre of great power, but it is not in itself that big or that shouty. It’s just a nice, white house, rather elegant, with a fine sweeping drive, but utterly dwarfed by the US Treasury next door – a fact that is, in itself, a bit of a clue to the relative significance of wealth in American society. [...] If the White House gleams simply because of the influence of the man inside it, the rest of the Washington complex is designed to make its case for significance.