Sim Van der Ryn has been leading the way for a more regenerative, resilient, and sustainable future as a pioneer of the green building movement. This movement emphasizes the value to our health and well-being of a direct connection to nature. Designing in collaboration with nature is a major tool toward creating a vital new architecture for an empathic world. Van der Ryn has been a leading proponent of the green building movement (even before it was known as that), and for more than a half a century has been leading the way to a more regenerative, resilient, and sustainable future. His books include The Integral Urban House: Self-Reliant Living in the City (Random House 1982) and Design for an Empathic World: Reconnecting to People, Nature, and Self (Island Press 2013)

Interview Date: 1/22/2014   Tags: Sim Van der Ryn, nature deficit disorder, regenerative architecture, Christos’ fence, People’s Park, Occupy movement, resilience, green building, closed environments, toxic environments, watercolors, water coloring, five principles of eco-design, biomimicry, Bill McDonough, Jason McLennan, Bucky Fuller, Buckminster Fuller, mimic nature’s process, incidental contact, natural light, Monterey hospital, Real Goods Trading Company, water conservation, ecological architecture, Community, Environment/Nature/Ecology, Social Change/Politics