In October, Living Shelter Architects participated in the annual Northwest Green Building Slam + Summit. It was an inspiring event and we wanted to take a moment to distill down the highlights and what we felt was most important to share with you. These are the 5 things we learned from our experience at the Slam + Summit:
1. Why did we participate in the Green Building Slam and Summit?
We love being involved with EcoBuilding Guild events – the participants are so engaged and passionate about the difference they can make in the world of residential design and construction. Over the years, we have been honored to present at 8 of the 12 Seattle Slam events. I always attend, whether presenting or not, as so many members of ‘my tribe’ are there sharing their most interesting stories and projects of the past year. It invigorates and inspires!
2. What about our Net Zero Carbon DADU project did we most want to resonate with the audience?
For our Net Zero Carbon DADU project, we wanted to share the possibilities of achieving a high level of sustainability by using integrated design on a small project. This was also our talented project designer Roy McGarrah’s first project in the Slam, and both his style and his cool folding ship’s ladder for accessing the loft and roof deck were a hit with the audience.
3. What did we enjoy most about being part of the Net Zero Carbon panel at the summit?
What we enjoyed most was how the panel format made integrated design more visible by having the all different players interacting - people could see how we synergize design alternatives, and maybe get excited about working in a partnership like this themselves. This format also allows us more interactive time with the attendees, sharing parts of the project that are the most interesting to them.
4. What are our takeaways from the slam/summit weekend?
This is such a special gathering and a bit hard to explain. Some might call the experience a hybrid of building science nerd-out and hippy love fest. We are all on a mission to save a viable world for our children’s children and other living beings, using building and climate science as our guide. There was an increased focus on the social elements of sustainability this time, which was so timely with so many marginalized populations growing. In all, I feel inspired by and cared for by my fellow green building enthusiasts and want to spend more time with them.
5. Did we discover anything that we want to incorporate into our future projects?
Not really any nuts and bolts things to incorporate – what I discovered was more about how to work together more thoughtfully, along with a deeper desire to engage with both colleagues and non-profit organizations on with social equity projects.
Living Shelter Architects thrives on collaboration and inspiration. Attending the Green Building Slam + Summit energizes our team and provides us with a place to share, learn and network with like-minded people.
Do you want to work with people passionate about sustainable living? Are you wondering how to incorporate sustainable practices into your home or community? We’d love for you to get in touch, contact us.