Presenter:

Debra Guenther, Principal, Mithun

The Sustainable Sites Initiative, a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the U.S. Botanic Garden, was founded in 2005 with the goal of utilizing the entire site to not only conserve valuable resources, but to actively rebuild critical ecological capacity. Specifically, the Initiative has been investigating how designers, engineers and others can measure their success (or failure) in maintaining or improving the ability of the site to provide ecosystem services. This approach builds on the success of the LEED rating system to create integrated sites, and begins to meet the goals of the Living Building Challenge. To do this, the Initiative has been working with experts from around the country to address design issues associated with soils, hydrology, vegetation, material selection and human health and well-being. Come learn about Initiative’s studies and benchmarks to have a valuable asset at your fingertips when measureable performance of site sustainability is vital to a project’s success.

Session Format: LECTURE.

Presenter Bios

Deb Guenther

Deb Guenther, principal at Mithun, an interdisciplinary design firm seeks to integrate natural systems with innovative infrastructure solutions. Nationally recognized for leadership in sustainable landscape architecture, Deb 's work spans scales from big picture planning to detailed design. Her work has resulted in two ASLA national honor awards. Deb is the former chair of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council board, and has represented ASLA on the Sustainable Sites Initiative Steering Committee since 2006.