It is a challenge that we all, together, face. Decarbonization planning has become critical to achieving net zero targets and building a sustainable future. This week on DesignIDEATE, we're joined by a Gen Z professional who has carved out a unique specialty in this urgent field, bringing fresh perspective and expertise exactly when we need it most.

CARBON COPY

Decarbonization aims to reduce CO2 emissions from human activity. Sparked by the 2015 Paris Agreement—an international treaty aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels—countries and organizations worldwide have adopted decarbonization strategies to reach net zero by 2050.

The stakes couldn't be higher. NASA and NOAA confirm we're living through the ten warmest years on record. Rising global temperatures drive extreme weather, sea level rise, ecosystem disruption, and threats to our food, water, and health systems.

While reducing fossil fuel consumption remains essential, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasizes that removing existing atmospheric carbon must be integral to our decarbonization strategies. The CO2 already in our atmosphere can linger for centuries, continuing to affect our climate for our children’s children.

We're thrilled to speak with a newly appointed team member of the USGBC—the organization that has transformed the architecture and design practice by driving energy reduction at scale.

Her call to action is, delivered with refreshing directness, “Let’s do this! “

Join us for this compelling conversation about decarbonization, career paths in architecture, design and sustainability, and what it takes to drive real change.

The RMI Report:  https://2022.responsibleminingindex.org/en 

CLF: Carbon Leadership Forum: https://carbonleadershipforum.org/

The ECO Project: https://www.cset.org/eco-project

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#JSDAInc #research #shift #futureofwork #humancentric #hybridwork #workplace #hybridworkspace #hybridworkspaceresearch #culture  #NewDesignTools #futureworkspace #futureofwork #workspace #energizespace #liveworkbalance #thinkdifferently #DesignIDEATE

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We expose the innovative world of Mattie Mead, founder and creator of Hempitecture, who is revolutionizing sustainable construction through natural fiber materials ranging from US grown and rapidly renewable, hemp-based insulation to groundbreaking PlantPanel and FiberFill products. This visionary entrepreneur reveals how bio-based building materials are transforming the future of construction and environmental responsibility.

Bio Building

"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."
– Robert Swan, Polar Explorer

Known as a pioneer in sustainable construction, walking in to join us on this week's session is guest Mattie Mead is the visionary founder and creator of Hempitecture, a company at the forefront of natural fiber building materials innovation. Through their leadership, Hempitecture has developed a comprehensive range of eco-friendly construction solutions, from high-performance hemp insulation to revolutionary PlantPanel systems and versatile FiberFill products that are redefining industry standards for sustainable building practices.

Considering the construction industry's urgent need for carbon-neutral alternatives and the growing demand for healthy indoor environments, Mead's work addresses critical challenges facing modern builders and architects. Their natural fiber materials not only provide superior performance characteristics but also contribute to carbon sequestration, making buildings part of the climate solution rather than the problem. Through an exploration of biomaterial innovation and regenerative design principles, Mead opens conversations about how natural building materials can create healthier spaces while supporting agricultural communities and environmental restoration.

Connect with this entrepreneurial spirit, responsible for changing the landscape of sustainable construction on DesignIDEATE.

We challenge you to envision a carbon-positive future on this episode of DesignIDEATE 

#JSDAInc #hemp #research #sustainability #greenbuilding #naturalfiber #hemparchitecture #biomaterials #carbonneutral #healthybuildings #regenerativedesign #sustainableconstruction #ecofriendly #climatetechnology #greendesign #futureofconstruction #biobased #environmentaldesign #carbonpositive #Ag #farmers #regionalism

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We probe into the mind of Robert Reich, R2AI, who consults with large financial institutions to utilize AI, ML, Strategy as a team member to augment and automate routine compliance. A serial entrepreneur with a long affiliation with the University of Colorado at Boulder, reveals how AI is innovating the future of work. 

Innovation Insight

 “AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don't.”    Ginni Rometty, Former CEO of IBM

Known as a visionary, this week’s guest Robert Reich is leader/creator/investor in AI experiences and opportunities. Within the last year, he founded R2AI, a new platform that utilizes AI agents, machine learning algorithms, and language models that streamlines compliance processes. Simultaneously, his firm offers strategy and training on AI, ML, Data, Models and serves as a mentor of both The Unreasonable Institute and Techstars. Mr. Reich has a long affiliation with The University of Colorado.

Considering the recent paradigm shift at vaccine maker Moderna, where IT and HR departments merged, partnering with OpenAI, causes us to dialogue to further query the impact on the Future of Work. Connecting through an exploration of an AI Maturity Index, Reich opens the conversations he has with the C-suite, positing the potential introduction of AI agents as employees in the organization, as Moderna is fully realizing in real time. 

Welcome to a new era of inspiration within DesignIDEATE. 

We challenge you to vision change on this episode of DesignIDEATE.

#JSDAInc #research #shift #futureofwork #humancentric #hybridwork #workplace #hybridworkspace #hybridworkspaceresearch #culture #NewDesignTools #futureworkspace  #futureofwork #energizespace #liveworkbalance #subliminal #thinkdifferently #DesignIDEATE  #JSDADesign  #openassembly   #JSDApodcast   #neuralarchitecture   #machinelearning  #sustainability #impact 

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Author of the national best-seller, 'Rise Up', this week’s guest, Russell Stoddard hails from Boise and has been instrumental in guiding the business community’s value system, setting a new path for future business. 

Culture Catalyst 

"How you climb the mountain is more important than reaching the top.”
- Yvon Chouinard

The founder of Oliver Russell, a marketing/advertising firm, candidly admits that his intuition leads, often jumping forward into new ventures. His need to carve his own path led him to a series of entrepreneurial interests. Oliver Russell  was one of the first B Corporations (B Corp for short) in Boise, and the first Idaho Public Benefit Corporation. Social responsibility was a brand value of his firm, expressed through modest philanthropic investment. Through a connection, he became aware of B Lab and their new certification. In a community where the nuclei of social good is particularly strong, Russ may be the godfather, having become certified 15 years ago, and then increased his impact by founding a number of non-profits that shape the eco-sphere of purpose driven organizations. Russ Stoddard has recently founded Inspiration Alley, a co-working space for creatives, where a number of prominent global figures are featured in mural form on the exterior walls his building downtown. This endeavor has gained him local and national recognition. The support of the arts and sustainability has been central to Russ’s persona and his impact on the business community has been large, and one, assuredly, to note. 

Welcome to a new era of inspiration at DesignIDEATE ... Imagine increasing your impact on this episode of DesignIDEATE.

Not yet a member of DesignIDEATE? JOIN US! Write to [email protected] and share your contact info ... and find us on LinkedIn/Janice Stevenor Dale. www.JSDA.com

The world of architecture and design is poised for a profound transformation. As artificial intelligence emerges as a revolutionary force, its integration into creative disciplines is reshaping not only how we design but also how we think about design itself. 

Generative Design

“AI-powered generative design tools allow… (designers).. to swiftly generate and explore numerous design alternatives, optimizing layouts and selecting materials for innovation and practicality.”

– Hassan Ragab, AI artist

In this special series of DesignIDEATE, we delve into the future of the profession by exploring the concept of "neural architecture"—a synergy of human creativity and machine intelligence that has the potential to redefine the landscape of architectural and design practice.

At its core, neural architecture symbolizes the convergence of biological inspiration and computational innovation. Just as neural networks in AI mimic the structure and functioning of the human brain, architects and designers are beginning to work symbiotically with AI systems to achieve outcomes previously deemed impossible. These tools can learn from vast datasets, predict outcomes, and offer optimized solutions at an unprecedented speed. But what does this mean for a profession deeply rooted in raw artistic expression, catalytic impulse, humanism of habitat, cultural context, and emotional resonance?

As we navigate this intersection of design and technology, the idea of neural architecture serves as a metaphor for collaboration—a blending of human creativity and machine intelligence into something greater than the sum of its parts. Whether you're an architect, designer, technologist, or simply curious about the future, this series will illuminate the possibilities, challenges, and opportunities of integrating AI into the world of architecture and design.

Welcome to a new era of creativity at DesignIDEATE. 

Meet Dr. del Campo, an international AI thought leader through publications, research and advancements at NYIT and beyond.

Dr. Matias del Campo, author, theorist and practitioner, posits the future view of AI and its influence on the potential and practice of architecture/design. Professor del Campo is currently serving as Director of the Master of Science ACT program (Architecture, Computational Technology) and as Associate Professor at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). He co-founded SPAN in Vienna in 2003 with Sandra Manninger, establishing a practice renowned for its integration of contemporary technologies in architectural production. SPAN's award-winning designs are shaped by the intersection of computational methodologies and philosophical interrogations, a conceptual framework they describe as "design ecology."

Free your imagination on this episode of DesignIDEATE  

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It might have been an ordinary day in downtown LA, an Interior Designer with a large A&E firm tasked with modernizing a number of college campus facilities, heard the sounds of ground shaking demolition. An unusual (or was it?) scene was occurring nearby ...

Full Circle

 “Sustainability is circular and businesses need to be circular to be truly sustainable”
– Paul Hawken

 
It continued for three days. Rose Tourje couldn’t shake it from her mind. Big equipment sounds, beeping, scraping, metal and wood crashing and splintering at the sidewalk, carelessly, one minute a collectible piece of 1960’s furniture, the next a destroyed, knurled mound scooped up and loaded in dumpsters the size of living rooms. The sheer enormity of the mass waste she witnessed was disturbing. Then, hauled away, dumpster after dumpster, after dumpster. Why couldn’t those products be reused? What was unacceptable about those products? Who might restore them? 

 In 2005, there was yet no viable systemic alternative related to used furniture – until ANEW, the Asset Network for Education Worldwide Inc. began as a Los Angeles non-profit. Now, with nearly 20 years of pioneering under the belt, its purpose is aligned not only with the technological revolution of every industry, but the growing concerns and science surrounding climate change. Now, every project that has considered their existing inventory of components of furniture and systems furniture has a future. From enterprise users to individual projects, ANEW works with the design community to record and audit the metrics from the surplus streams of each and every project; emissions tracking is verified as Scope 4 avoidance. ANEW has averted the waste stream of furniture, a 9-12 million ton per year contribution to long term landfill.

Meet Rose Tourje, on a mission beyond leading LA firms and Warner Bros, who formed ANEW. Living proof that design is a verb, and create is what we do, often without limit. ANEW is the leading non-profit organization in North America working with global companies at enterprise scale, with the disciplines of Design, CRE, Program Management, General Contractors, Facility Project Managers, Sustainability Directors and the greater Community to promote social and environmental sustainability through circular design.

As documented in ANEW’s multiple project case studies, when basic processes change, it affects the entire profession. It becomes a new way of design, new design thought, intention, and beginning with the end in mind becomes the way forward. Rose Tourje has moved the needle true north. 

We invite you test your entrepreneurial barometer imagining what you could do, on this episode of DesignIDEATE 

 ©2024 J S D A Inc. 

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Business leaders are looking to reinvent organizations, aligning their new AI informed work processes with the latest in technology, and with rapid solution delivery. Innovation within governmental agencies may be top of mind when we think about generating the latest methods for worker recruitment, but when your organization is responsible for solving interplanetary questions, it’s a natural. 

Open Innovation

 “Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down!” 

- Ray Bradbury

Our guest today, Steve Rader, NASA Center of Excellence (CoECI), is responsible for reinventing the way an org solves problems with unknown people who are not on staff; the way teams are composed, setting the parameters of competition and casting a wide net to capture the exact characters perfectly suited to find answers to our environment’s most esoteric questions.

Experienced with over 875 successful challenges, Steve Rader is the Program Manager of NASA’s Center of Excellence  for Collaborative Innovation and the NASA Tournament Lab which work to infuse challenge and crowdsourcing innovation approaches at NASA and across 12 agencies within the federal government. He is centered on promoting workforce excellence through open innovation tools, and has been doing so at mach speed for more than 15 years. Mr. Rader has a mechanical engineering degree from Rice University and has worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for over 30 years.  He worked in mission control, flight software development for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, the X-38, the Constellation Program, among many others.  

As documented in multiple case studies by Harvard and NASA, this change agent of change agents, Steve Rader has been creating the leading-edge practices of the future of work. We invite you take your seat on this mission to Mars and beyond, on this illuminating episode of DesignIDEATE ...

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Bending Diffusion

"Stradivarius was the most amazing craftsman ... because he figured out something with the sound and the science of acoustics that we still don’t fully understand”  

- Joshua Bell 

Zackery Belanger Bio:
Zackery Belanger is an expert on the intrinsic acoustic influence of shape and material in architecture. He is educated in physics and architecture, and has practiced on the design teams of projects such as Grimshaw's Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer. He was the inaugural Researcher-In-Residence at EMPAC, and is the author of the essay Acoustic Ornament, which argues for the intentional acoustic use of non-acoustic surfaces and objects. In 2017 he founded the Detroit-based studio Arcgeometer. Belanger was deeply involved in the recent merging of acoustics and lighting, and is a prolific speaker on acoustics.

In this Episode:
What if acoustics could be completely flipped, such that absorption was reflection? Zackery Belanger is pursuing exactly that. We’re talking with amazing people, and this week’s guest on DesignIDEATE is the head of Arcgeometer, a Detroit based consulting firm that has redefined the practice of acoustics from large scale performance spaces like EMPAC at Renssalear to the Bluebird Jazz Club. 

Taking an avant approach to acoustics, Zackery Belanger is an expert on the intrinsic acoustic influence of shape and material in architecture. Interested and studied in the intersection of psychics and architecture, he has practiced on the design teams of projects such as Grimshaw’s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center and is the author of the essay Acoustic Ornament. Exploring intentionally, the acoustical use of surfaces and ornament, he leads the redefinition of acoustics in spaces of all kinds, particularly interiors. Further exploration in the merger of lighting and acoustics has been his work as well. 

A cultural creative, Arcgeometer is a Detroit business serving as a consultant to the three-dimensional acoustics and lighting manufacturer, 3Form. 

Enjoy this thought-bending episode of DesignIDEATE!

#JSDAInc #acousticdesign #acoustics #soundwaves#research #shift #futureofwork #humancentric #hybridwork #workplace #hybridworkspace #hybridworkspaceresearch #culture #NewDesignTools #futureworkspace #futureofwork #workspace

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Invisible Comfort  

 “The best inventors are not bound by the limitations of their time”
– Rupe Goldberg

If you think you’ve fallen down a mechanical shaft, (imagine a scene from ‘Die Hard’) you have! And rightfully so, the infrastructure within a building is essential to its support of the users and user experience, contributing markedly to the innovation in building design, and certainly central to LEED and energy modeling. We work hand in hand, shaping the space and providing for the air circulation passageways needed by the selected smart-controlled heating/cooling systems.

The invisible systems that are the foundation of habitation for interior spaces is the exacting work of the mechanical engineer. Fresh air intakes, their location, even the orientation of the exacting side of the building (east, north, west) has much to offer in clean air designs. In spaces large and small, and spaces that serve our needs 24/7/365, PBS Engineers dominate the field in airport terminals across California. Joining us this week, Tariq Hassan, PE reveals the evolution of those systems as the world responds to population and heat increases on limited energy. DesignIDEATE, explores with Mr. Hassan, Associate Principal and Senior Mechanical Engineer, PBS Engineers, who shares the challenges of serving up new concepts and solutions toward achieving greater sustainability at LAX International airport and many others. 

Working as a professional engineer since 1997, Tariq Hassan is responsible for the comfort of millions of travelers passing through Los Angeles International Airport. Fresh and conditioned air is his forte. Offering his leadership in the industry, he serves as Associate Principal and Senior Mechanical Engineer at PBS Engineers with offices across the Southern California. Tariq has over 27 years experience designing the largest airports in California including LAX. From terminal and lounge renovations to specific HVAC upgrades in active terminals, he is versed in project management, cost estimating and specification.

Listen to this fresh episode of DesignIDEATE today!

#JSDAInc #shapinghumanspaces #sustainability #energy #mechanicaldesign #infrastructure #research #shift#futureofwork #humancentric #hybridwork #workplace #hybridworkspace

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"Despite seven large orgs recently losing their Black women HR/DEI leaders, there are many who can lead DEI and shifting culture. But, the work is not the kind of work that people may want to do - it is deep, it is significant, it is seeing actual change from the top down. The biggest challenge that orgs are facing is themselves.  Change happens beginning with the ability to see potential, invest in people and set aside funding to support people.”  

-Whitney Mestelle, iMentor

Diversity Gains

With shifting population demographics, organizations adhering to a unified strategy have embraced diversity across all hierarchical levels. However, a confluence of events, including the Black Lives Matter protests alongside the transition to remote work amid the pandemic, has provided a contrasting narrative. While diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives are not novel in the workplace, the intensified scrutiny on systemic racism has compelled many businesses to contemplate enhancements. Yet, as enterprises strive to bolster the efficacy of their D&I endeavors, they're discovering that mere policy updates fall short of addressing the underlying issues.

Amidst this backdrop, human resources (HR) leadership roles have undergone a transformation, with HR leaders ascending to the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) position while diversity officers find themselves marginalized. Although recruitment efforts have proven successful, there is a noticeable disparity in advancement opportunities, regardless of employees' backgrounds. Notably, Black and Latinx employees, in particular, face hurdles in advancing at the same rate as their white counterparts.

Boston Consulting Group's examination of the industry in 2020 highlighted two fundamental issues: a deficient sense of belonging and challenges in navigating professional environments. These circumstances are particularly daunting for individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, underscoring the imperative for systemic interventions.

#JSDAInc #iMentor #DEI #diversity #equity #inclusion #shift #futureofwork #humancentric #hybridwork #remotework #hybridworkspace #culture #futureworkspace #pronouns #gender #genderfluid #genderfluidityindesign #energizeworkspace #lifeworkbalance #thinkdifferently #DesignIdeate #JSDADesign #JSDAPodcast 

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