Location: McEwen School of Architecture, Lecture Hall

1.5 ConEd Learning Hours
1.5 AIA LU
4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

The time is here for design, architecture, and urbanism to all work together toward one common goal: climate change mitigation and adaption.

With the building industry being responsible for 39% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is time we start taking designing with carbon seriously. During this session, Rotterdam, Netherlands-based architecture and urban design practice MVRDV highlights how it is implementing carbon into its design narrative. Going through several examples, it will become clear what those in the architecture profession can do to steer on impact in their process.

Design and technology strongly support each other in addressing the challenges we are facing. Leading a group of both environmental and computational designers, MVRDV’s NEXT’s Sanne van der Burgh explains how the practice words with computational tools and workflows as well as with hands-on knowledge of known methods and materials to address the global urgencies.

Learning Objectives
1. Learn about carbon in the design process—where it is and how to reduce it.
2. Understand the application of circular design principles.
3. Explore transformations or “how not to build.”
4. Understand computational tools and workflows in the design process.

Sanne van der Burgh is an architect and an associate director at MVRDV, and head of the practice’s NEXT (New Experimental Technologies) R&D group, which focuses on the development of visionary tools that help cities become more dense, more green, and more resilient. She leads multiple teams within MVRDV, realizing projects of various scales, phases, and across several continents, including the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot, the refurbishment of the Lyon Part Dieu shopping center, and a visionary project for revitalizing New Delhi’s sanitation and infrastructure: Barapullah Springs. Sanne is a versatile architect with demonstrated design achievements. In 2019, Architizer named her as one of 25 young architects to watch. In 2021, she was the winner of a Female Frontier Award for “Innovation in Architecture,” organized by World Architecture News. A dedicated advocate for environmental awareness in architecture, urbanism, and our daily lives, Sanne believes in the capacity of design to inspire and have a positive impact on people and their surroundings.