GNFZ Talks Equity and Air Quality at the 2024 AIA Conference on Architecture & Design

By Beth Heider

Elizabeth (Beth) Heider, GNFZ Advisor

Architectural design typically focuses on what you can see, touch, hear, and feel. But today's environmental dilemma requires a paradigm shift to one of the most impactful — and invisible — elements of the human experience: air quality. And because the built environment is the largest global emitter and a primary source of air pollution, architects and anyone involved in the field of architecture are uniquely positioned to drive environmental transformation and tackle this growing threat to ensuring long-term health and wellness, and a universal standard of living.  

This is why I was delighted to have the opportunity earlier this month to moderate a timely and comprehensive panel discussion curated by GNFZ for AIA’s 2024 Conference on Architecture & Design. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Holly Samuelson, Associate Professor of Architecture — Building Technology and Sustainable Design at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Emma Van Lieshout, Energy and Sustainability Manager for The RMR Group, and GNFZ’s very own Vice President of Client Success, Manisha Yadav. 

Our session, Designing for Air Quality: Boosting Accessibility and Zero Emission Goals, was designed to include case study presentations from each of these extraordinary women, followed by an hour long facilitated conversation with attendees about shared best practices, insights for the next chapter of net zero in America and beyond, and why equity in design and decarbonization is the collective key to unlocking cleaner air and better living. 

Beth Heider and GNFZ’s Roger Limoges and Manisha Yadav

If the pandemic has taught us anything these last four years, it’s that indoor and outdoor air quality are interconnected. They are inextricably tied to each other, and to the actions we take — and avoid — in creating our built environment. In every corner of the world, how we design today and in the very near future will have a significant, if not existential impact on the people breathing inside and beyond the confines of the world we build.

Dr. Samuelson focused on the intersection of climate change, energy efficiency, and air quality. She introduced us to HouseZero, the home of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (CBGC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that she believes can serve as a design prototype for better breathing and what designing with energy efficiency can do to create more equitable communities. 

Emma Van Lieshout highlighted the use of LEED v5 in tandem with additional performance strategies to optimize indoor air quality. 

And GNFZ’s Manisha Yadav presented the net zero acceleration journey of SRK, a Surat-based, multinational brand endeavoring to become the most sustainable diamond crafting company in the world. SRK was recently awarded GNFZ’s first net zero certification for their two flagship facilities: SRK House and SRK Empire. By prioritizing IAQ alongside its net zero emissions goals, SRK demonstrated its holistic approach to environmental stewardship, corporate responsibility, and community development — and is setting a positive example for other entities ready and willing to address the challenges posed by high temperatures in the global South.

With more than 150 people in attendance, we had a broad ranging and engaging Q&A — where we further explored the acute need to expand indoor air quality research, the importance of incentivizing healthier design in commercial real estate, how to collaborate to position indoor air quality as an urgent matter requiring the full cooperation of the public and private sectors, and how we can ensure incremental net zero design actions for indoor air quality also helps companies achieve Scope 1, 2, and 3 emission reduction measures related to air pollution. 

It is wonderful to see GNFZ and its growing family of partners and friends take center stage in addressing both the challenges of air quality and the implementation of actionable strategies for equity and design remedying them — not only with the AIA’s community, but with audiences around the world.  Stakeholders who are reaching out for the guidance, inspiration and support they need to begin their own decarbonization journeys. 

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