4/1/13 - Guest Lecture: Architecture in the Field

Today, the guest lecture really helped open my eyes to the architecture field. She talked about why she was going back to school—to learn the financing behind the “green” and “sustainable” design she was so passionately trying to apply to the world, especially the United States. She said one of the biggest challenges was that contractors, investors, and clients all want the numbers behind sustainable design. They want you to show them how, on a cash and savings analysis (data, numbers), building a sustainable structure is beneficial to them. She said she didn’t have the tools to do so because in her former education on architecture, she was never thought that. This really makes me hope that the architecture program here at the “u” has such education. If they don’t, they better watch out because I will “strongly encourage” the Architecture and Planning staff and administration to adjust the Architecture and Planning program to not only include sustainable design principles, but also include the financials behind those principles. Thinking about this is getting me really excited for change and for my future as an architect with my minor in Urban Planning and my Sustainability Certificate on its way!