Finding Interconnectedness in the Pillars of Green: Build for Impact

On this episode of Build for Impact, host and LEED architect Daniel A. Huard was joined by Miranda Gardiner, Vice President, Sustainable and Performance Design Manager at HKS, Inc.
As usual, Huard and Gardiner focused in on Huard’s four pillars of green building -- sustainability, resiliency, transparency of materials, and wellness.
“What strikes me about your pillars is that they’re so interconnected,” Gardiner said. “While they stand alone, and you can look at any one of them … What’s unique about the work that we get to do is finding the interconnectedness of them and finding the things that make sense and cross over.”
As the conversation turned to mentors and educating the industry on how best to approach these interconnected pillars of green building, Gardiner outlined the core aspects of mentorship relationships she’s found most beneficial in her own career.
“When people ask me about who I mentor or who is in a mentor relationship with me, I tell them that the best mentoring relationships I’ve had are with people where it’s been a give and take,” she said. “I act as a mentor, and they act as my mentor, whether they’re 10 years younger than me or 20 years older than me.”
Huard and Gardiner also touched on advancing the conversation surrounding green building and finding ways to help the conversation around sustainability resonate with everyone undertaking a new project or renovation, adopting an attitude of making room for everyone under the “umbrella” of sustainability, and more.