San Francisco hosts the world’s largest green construction conference

Buro Happold

15/11/2012 Written by: Gideon Susman No comments

I must admit that when I was asked to submit a paper to Greenbuild 2012 in January this year, the fact that it was in San Francisco made writing it all the easier; the chance to explain my research to an international audience, in a city full of stunning architecture, great food and a renowned lively and progressive culture!

Mark Dowson and I submitted the paper Innovative use of PCM and Aerogel in low energy buildings. It was accepted and almost a year later I am sitting in the Buro Happold’s San Francisco office writing this. The Bay area has far exceeded my expectations and we have been fortunate to experience some of what the city has to offer but my main focus over the next few days will be on the conference.

Greenbuild is not only unique in size but also in scope. Topics range from cutting edge technology to the relationship between sustainable construction and wider economic recovery. Buro Happold has a considerable presence this year; as well as our presentation there will be two education sessions, and a special set talk from Alan Shepherd on Evolving design process to enable zero emissions projects.

As with all conferences, Greenbuild is a chance to share knowledge and make new connections. I hope our presentation has given the audience a lot of food for thought and inspires future low energy design solutions. I’m also looking forward to making new links with attendees and exhibitors in the three Expo halls. We are aiming to bring back to London an understanding of favoured approaches to sustainable design from this part of the world. This includes work being undertaken by the our San Francisco office and that of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL) which we’ll be checking out on Friday. LBNL’s new Flexlab facility may provide the opportunity for independent testing of the NewMass system. It should be a very interesting few days.