Moments like this panel is why this organization needs to exist.
The Lost Spaces Conference is a yearly event targeting independent developers who plan to do renovate homes in at-risk communities. From a sustainability professional’s point of view, independent developers are the builders committing the largest number of “offenses”. They don’t mean to – we know that. But they’re building for the public, adding to our constructed environment and city fabric, without the knowledge that we have. Without the knowledge that many of the larger firms have had for many years. This is why Andrea Texada told Jason Hyman that we have to be there.
In the photo attached, Andrea Texada shows an audience of independent developers Houston’s floodplain map. Even though the Houston Chronicle published this map 7-8 years ago, none of the people sitting there had seen the overlay of our built environment INSIDE of Houston’s massive floodplains and floodways. She was able to trace, with her finger, the areas where our most frequently flooding neighborhoods are located within the huge red blobs that mark where – probably 200 years ago – there were once marsh lands or something akin to it. She also explained in plain terms why sustainability is important. Insulation types, drywall, windows, doors… These are very common topics among architects and LEED professionals. Without the layman’s explanation though, it sounds like a ruse to spend more money to anyone else.
This is why we do this work.
Builders Without Borders 