Hospitality Design - January/February 2011 - 87

Jason McLennan
CEO, Cascadia Green Building Council Author, Living Building Challenge Co-creator, Pharos HD: Any jaw-dropping concepts you’ve come across that you can’t wait to see come to fruition? JM: What I’m most excited about is the huge momentum behind our Living Building Challenge (www.ilbi.org) and the dozens of projects emerging around North America and beyond. These are buildings that are net zero energy and net zero water, primarily free of redlist chemicals and a host of other leadership qualities—they are quite simply the greenest buildings in the world. And we are seeing that we can live on this planet in a way that makes a regenerative future possible. HD: Where many people advocate small changes, you’re looking for nothing less than a complete overhaul of how we approach design. What does the built environment need to look like for you to rest? JM: One thing people can do is stay tuned to our Living City competition where we will be recognizing compelling visions for a

truly sustainable city of the future from leading designers all over the world. The winning projects will actively demonstrate how our communities need to work and the healthy interconnections between food, water, waste, energy, and many other ‘ﬂows’. My hope is that these submissions begin to show what’s possible and how wonderful the future could be if we make the right decisions for our cities and towns. That said, I don’t think I’ll get a chance to ‘rest’ in my lifetime. The transformation to a restorative civilization will take the work of many people over many years, but we have to begin it in earnest now. We can’t wait until vague timelines in the next decade. HD: What should we be on the lookout for in 2011? JM: I think the green movement will only continue to grow in 2011— despite a sluggish economy. Energy prices will continue to rise which will make it tougher on a lot of people, yet easier to make the case for smart energy investments. Living Buildings will continue to pop up in more states, showing that true sustainability is possible now.

Born and raised on a small resort in Southern Illinois, Michael Jantzen’s creations are as intriguing for their hospitality angles as for their often awe-inspiring sustainable design. Here we show just a few of his models (yes, these are photos of plastic models, not renderings) that seem to continually keep his front-page status at inhabitat.com, treehugger.com, and allow him to have his own page of trends on trendhunter.com. “I’m trying to reinvent things; reinvent the built environment,” says Jantzen. “People seem to be much more open to a more adventurous aesthetic when it comes to hotels, restaurants, and resorts. And functionally it opens up all these amazing possibilities for people to go to these places and experience these things they never have before. You go there and you realize your hotel is being powered by the wind or the sun, and you can see it, it’s not a secret. So they become part of the play; you’re being entertained, inspired, and educated all at the same time by the future possibilities of sustainable design.” Top, from left: A Gathering Place, Eco Sushi House, and North Slope Ski Hotel. Above: Desert Winds Eco Spa. Right: Eco Tower. Opposite page, from left: Red Sky Guest Quarters and Solar Winds Desert Hotel.

www.hospitalitydesign.com

January/February 2011

http://www.ilbi.org http://www.inhabitat.com http://www.treehugger.com http://www.trendhunter.com http://www.hospitalitydesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - January/February 2011