The Carbon Issue

Released with the 2024 spring edition of KPF Review, the firm’s bi-annual publication, The Carbon Issue looks at four projects that address decarbonization in their designs. Although carbon dioxide gas is invisible to the naked eye, it is the best shorthand we have for the environmental cost of urbanization.

Each project featured below showcases a different approach to decarbonization, from utilizing a long-term perspective, to making use of all-electric mechanical systems, to creating passive design buildings, to exploring material innovation.

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In this short film, learn from leaders of the team, including Principals Jill Lerner and Bruce Fisher, Environmental Design Director Carlos Cerezo Davila, and Director Florence Chan, as they talk through their approach to the project.

For the new Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) campus, the KPF team faced a dilemma: How do you create a 267-acre research university that showcases the latest in sustainable design with an accelerated timeline of only 18 months?

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In this short film, learn from leaders of the team, including President and Design Principal James von Klemperer and Directors Greg Mell and Ana Leshinsky, as they talk through their approach to the project.

A key goal for Bard College’s new residential dorms was to achieve Passive House certification, one of the most stringent standards for a building’s energy efficiency.

Read more about KPF’s approach to passive design here.

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In this short film, learn from leaders of the team, including Principal Marianne Kwok, Directors Greg Mell and Darina Zlateva, and Lead Sustainability Specialist Elias Anka, as they talk through their approach to the project.

Burrard Exchange is a loft-like, biophilic office tower that departs from its context in select ways, most notably in its use of mass timber as a key structural element and primary aesthetic motif.

Read more about KPF’s approach to material innovation here.

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In this short film, learn from leaders of the team, including Principals Jill Lerner, Hana Kassem, Jorge Mendoza, and Environmental Design Director Carlos Cerezo Davila, as they talk through their approach to the project.

Designed for Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, this biomedical research building will be the first purpose-built, all-electric academic research lab building in New York City.

Read more about KPF’s approach to electrification here.

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