From Seed to Skyline - Rethinking the Future of the Built Environment
Cities are changing, and the role of our buildings is changing with them. Join an interdisciplinary panel featuring leaders in ecology, façade engineering, and living infrastructure as they explore how the built environment can move beyond sustainability toward measurable ecological performance. Through a moderated discussion, the panel will examine emerging technologies, ecological design principles, and real-world innovations that are reshaping the relationship between architecture and nature. Whether you're an architect, designer, developer, or sustainability professional, you'll leave with new perspectives on creating healthier, more resilient cities.
Speakers
Andrea Zani - Associate Director at Eckersley O'Callaghan Andrea Zani is Associate Director and Facade Performance & Sustainability Lead at Eckersley O'Callaghan a world leading facade engineering firm. As Associate Director, Andrea manages facade projects across the US and leads business development in the Northwest. He co-leads EOC’s environmental facade and sustainability initiatives, bringing expertise in facade performance, building physics, and sustainability. His background includes contractor-side experience at Permasteelisa, where he was actively involved in shaping and driving the Group’s decarbonisation strategies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. Andrea holds a Masters degree and PhD in Building Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. He is VP and co-chair of the Society of Façade Engineering North America Hub, is active in Façade Tectonics Institute (FTI) advocacy and is a member of its Embodied Carbon Working Group. He also collaborates with LBNL Window Group, CBE Berkeley, EURAC Research and other research centers on several research activities.
Linkedln - Eckersley O'Callaghan
David Brenner - Founder and CEO Habitat Horticulture David Brenner is founder and CEO at Habitat Horticulture, a pioneer in living wall design and development. David is a visionary in the field of vertical gardens. He holds a degree in Environmental Horticulture Sciences and Psychology from California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo. He credits his time spent apprenticing at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, with setting him on the path to living wall design. It was at Kew that he came to appreciate the beauty of epiphytic plants—those which have naturally evolved to grow vertically on trees. David speaks on the benefit of living walls in urban architecture and his work has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, CBS, Wall StreetJournal, Dwell, Architectural Digest, The Los Angeles Times, Wired, Work Design Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, andSan Francisco Magazine. In 2019 he was honored to join the 2019 Class of the “Top 40 Under 40” by The San Francisco Business Times.
Linkedln - Habitat Horticulture
Robin Grossinger is an urban ecologist and the Founding Principal of Second Nature Ecology + Design. He collaborates with designers, developers, and local communities to bring the beauty and functional benefits of high-quality nature into innovative projects that make our cities better, healthier, and more resilient places. As a co-author of Making Nature’s City, an internationally-used guide to ecological design, his work has been featured in a UN-Habitat Global Urban Lecture and covered by media from NPR to The New York Times. He works in the Bay Area and globally, including leading the design for biodiversity at the award-winning St. John's Terminal in Manhattan.
Website - Second Nature Ecology + Design
Agenda:
5:30pm - Doors Open
6:00pm - Panel Starts
7:30pm - Panel Ends
7:30pm-8:00pm Networking
Thank you, Habitat Horticulture, for sponsoring this event.
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