Interview with Edward Mazria about Architecture 2030

Nov 14

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This film is a presentation about “Architecture 2030” organization which was created by Edward Mazria. He is a this year’s winner of the Purpose Prize. The award was founded by John Templeton Foundation and is given to people who are combining their passion and experience to make a significant contribution to social well-being.

The Architecture 2030 is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization which was established in response to the climate change crisis. The mission of Architecture 2030 is to transform the global building sector from the major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions to a central part of the solution to the climate change, energy consumption, and economic crisis. The main goal of this organization is to change the way of planning, developing, designing and constructing buildings.

In this film we can hear about Mazria’s inspirations for creating Architecture 2030. He talks about his past, times when he started architectural studies. What is interesting, the climate change wasn’t the main reason for founding the organization. This idea came to him in a Disneyland, when he was there with his granddaughter. He was reviewing some materials and suddenly saw a graph of greenhouse gas emissions. He discovered that the building environment is responsible for 70% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally. This discovery was the dominant impulse to create Architecture 2030.

Mazria also describes how Architecture 2030 works. He explains that thanks to a number of programs they are able to educate and train architects in designing carbon neutral constructions. These architects will be intimately connected with the outside environment, instead of shutting the old one out.

At present, more and more states have adopted the targets of Architecture 2030, it was made mandatory even by the Federal Government made for all new federal buildings and major renovations. Mazria hopes that if we, as a community, decide to move in a different direction we can make a lot of changes not only locally but also globally. Unfortunately, the main question is if can we get there fast enough as the “clock is ticking”.