by Thompson E. Penney, FAIA

This year, meetings of the AIA Board have opened with a thoughtful presentation by an outside guest. The practice, although relatively new, is really a revival of an old custom. In the early years of the AIA’s history, meetings typically were prefaced by a scholarly paper. The presentation might be made by a member of the Board or the academic community. In this way, the Board signaled to itself, the members, and the outside world that the “business” of the AIA was the advancement of knowledge. I have found such presentations open meetings to the oxygen of fresh ideas. They also set the tone for thoughtful deliberation.

The recently held Board meeting in Santa Fe was no exception. Ray Anderson, the founder and chair of Interface, Inc., one of the world’s largest interior furnishings companies, was invited to share why he has embarked on a mission to make Interface a global pioneer in sustainable development. The pairing of site and speaker could not have been more fortuitous. Visitors to Santa Fe discover a city that has been profoundly shaped by its environment from its very beginnings. Settlers quickly learned from the indigenous peoples to make wise use of the natural materials at hand. Sustainability was not simply the right thing to do; it was the thing to do if the community were to survive. Adobe ruled and gave Santa Fe a unique look, a special identity, and a singular beauty. When you walk the streets of Santa Fe, you know you are in a special place.

Now, centuries later, here was Ray Anderson, a son of the South, applying the same ethic to the most modern of materials, and challenging the AIA Board and architects everywhere not only to make sustainability the core of their practice ethic, but also, like him, to be advocates of sustainability to our clients, decision makers, and the public. The very fact that Mr. Anderson made his mark in an industry that is notoriously a huge consumer of petroleum and traces his roots to an area of the country not immediately identified as a hotbed for environmentalism made his advocacy all the more compelling.

Standing up for sustainability
But shouldn’t such advocacy be left to the experts, those of us who are specially trained in sustainability? Without going into the matter of what all of us architects should know as part of a core professional curriculum, handing over the responsibility of advocacy only to the experts is risky business. It’s not a formula for wise government, nor is it a formula for a profession that wants to be taken seriously in public debate. All of us may not have all the resources to qualify as experts. But that is no excuse for sitting out the debate and ducking the opportunity for leadership. By advocating sustainability, we can make a difference.

Not too very long ago, AIA Executive Vice President/CEO Norman Koonce, FAIA, and I had the opportunity to meet with Jeff McMillan, staff director of the House Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures/Committee on Ways and Means. It’s a long title for an important post. The subject was tax incentives for sustainable buildings. Initially our conversation was, to be honest, slow going. What I was hearing from him was that the market and technological advances would be sufficient to achieve the goal of a more sustainable environment.

But as we talked and related to him the compelling “proof” of the need for sustainability, I could sense “the wheels turning.” What seemed to be emerging was a consensus that more was needed than a total reliance on the market and technology to move us closer to the goal of a truly sustainable environment.

The proof came the next day when McMillan sent an e-mail to the AIA that contained a welcome message. He wrote:

“I believe that the AIA stands in a unique position to educate not only the Hill but also the country on the desirability and, frankly, the need, for energy-efficient and environmentally sound buildings. I hope that the organization can take the needed steps to fulfill the potential.”

McMillan had not only come to appreciate the AIA’s position on sustainability, he actually was challenging us to take the needed steps to make a difference.

Blueprint for success
I offer this story not as an example of our skills of persuasion; rather, this conversation illustrates the powerful story that we can and must tell as architects, which leads me to share the good advice our new friend offered as he got up to leave our meeting: If we are to rise to the challenge of being effective advocates of sustainability, we need to have (1) a simple, compelling, and understandable message that is (2) widely discussed in the media and (3) carried through the media and the public to our legislative leaders at all levels of government.

This sounds like a tall order. But we need to look no farther than the historic preservation movement to discover a template for success. Under growing public pressure and media coverage, tax incentives for historic preservation were legislated in the 1960s. This made preservation the right thing to do. Ultimately, commercial clients and government came to appreciate the economic sense of historic preservation. (Charleston, S.C., my home town, is a splendid example of the good that has been leveraged by this enlightened legislation.) Historic preservation became the smart thing to do.

Architects in partnership with the public made that evolution possible. In this new century, we can and must rise to the challenge again.

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