From an embodied carbon happy hour to closed-door meetings on risks and resilience tied to climate change, Climate Week highlighted KPF’s ongoing commitment to leading the conversation on sustainable design.
Held annually during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Climate Week NYC is an opportunity to connect with changemakers and leaders from around the world. Though Climate Week is not solely focused on the built environment, buildings are responsible for around 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As the impacts of global warming continue to have devastating impacts on cities through extreme heat, flooding, and intense storms, it is critical that architects, engineers, and other built environment professionals play an active role in conversations around decarbonization and resilience.
KPF’s Climate Week programming was focused on connecting people and sharing ideas at the cutting edge of sustainable design. On Monday, September 21, KPF joined AIANY’s Committee on the Environment and Carbon Leadership Forum NY to host an embodied carbon game night, an interactive event that brought together architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers, and sustainability leaders.
On Tuesday, September 22, KPFers in the New York office joined together for Sustainability in Practice, a town hall presentation that explored KPF’s growing body of sustainable design work. The event featured remarks from firm leadership and the KPF EP team, as well as presentations about exciting new projects including the Vagelos Innovation Laboratories in New York and the Tower Urban Oasis in Taipei.
With extreme weather everywhere, risk and resilience were top of mind during Climate Week this year. On Wednesday, September 23, KPF hosted the US Green Building Council for an invitation-only roundtable, convening leaders in finance, real estate, and the building sector to discuss how architects, developers, and the people who finance and insure building projects can handle the risks associated with climate change and value resilient design.
On Thursday, September 24, KPF hosted the Urban Land Institute for a forum on District Energy and Decarbonization. This morning event explored how district energy may be a pathway to decarbonization in New York City. The event featured the launch of a new research report, “Block by Block: How Urban Real Estate Can Lead the Electrification Transition at the District Scale,” and a panel discussion with KPF’s Global Director of Sustainability Carlos Cerezo Davila, Ben Rodney (Hines) Miguel Maldonado (EDC), Linnea Patton (Con Ed), James Perakis (Carbon Signal), Will Sibia (Urbs.), and Kara Kokernak (ULI Impact Lab).
Later that day, KPF’s Green Design, Resilience, and Wellness (GRoW) employee group hosted Dorit Aviv and Eric Teitelbaum, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design’s Thermal Architecture Lab, for a presentation on novel radiant cooling technology that is being deployed on KPF projects to improve outdoor comfort in hot climates.
To cap off the week on Friday, September 25, KPF hosted award-winning filmmaker Nathan Kensinger for a screening of his 2018 documentary “Managed Retreat,” and a teaser for his forthcoming film, “The City and the Sea.” A Q&A with Claire Dub, KPF Video Director, followed.
