Building with Nature: A Symposium to Explore the Frontiers of Green Building, Biomimicry and Architecture October 18, 2012

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is planning to redevelop its campus in University Circle. One of the goals is to create a building that embodies the Museum's mission of inspiring a passion for nature, protecting natural diversity, fostering health and providing leadership to a sustainable future.
To explore the latest thinking, the Museum is hosting a public symposium about the integration of buildings and nature. Following the educational success of the Museum's PNC SmartHome exhibit in 2011, the symposium will stimulate ideas about the potential for new kinds of buildings in Northeast Ohio — radically better buildings that respond to human needs while restoring the Earth's natural systems. The symposium is one of several opportunities for the community to be involved in the Museum's building project.
Topics and speakers include:
- The new green museum: The museum as a living building telling the story of sustainability -- Curtis Fentress, Fentress Architects
- The greenest buildings: The Bullitt Center and the Living Building Challenge -- Chris Rogers, Point32
- Design at the sustainable edge: The idea of a theoretical minimum for buildings -- Alexis Karolides, Rocky Mountain Institute
- Biomimicry and architecture: Innovation inspired by nature -- Ilaria Mazzoleni, Southern California Institute of Architecture
- Buildings in ecosystems: Site sustainability and performative landscape design -- Steve Benz, OLIN Studio
- Responsive design: Buildings that interact with changing environments -- David Benjamin, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
- Integrating sustainability: Lessons from achieving low-energy and high-performance buildings -- Denzil Gallagher and Craig Schwitter, Buro Happold

Free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register online (http://www.cmnh.org/product/SE062/Buildingwithnature.aspx) or send an email to [email protected] or call 216-231-1177.

Official Website: http://www.cmnh.org/product/SE062/Buildingwithnature.aspx