Entrepreneur, Architect, and LEED Fellow Hafsa Burt

The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

Hafsa Burt, LEED Fellow, previously worked at Frank Gehry & Associates and SOM before starting hb+a Architects. With an undergraduate, Masters Degree in Architecture & a minor in Electronic Design from SCAD she brings to her work an avant garde streak & a strong commitment to the triple bottom line.

An environmentalist, she adopted and actively advocates for the 2030 challenge and is a huge proponent of high performance buildings. Her focus includes “Eliminating Toxins”, with Indoor Air Quality as a specialty. She has actively spoken on the topic of Indoor air quality as it relates to the practice of Architecture since 2009 all over the west coast and is an industry expert on “Healthy Building Practices”. She has served on the Council of Experts at USGBC’s California Chapter on Indoor Air Quality and has served as a liaison for the Green Schools’ Committee for USGBC State, primarily focusing on legislative decisions affecting Environmental Sustainability in the past. At the moment she is involved in Federal Advocacy at USGBC.

She is also actively involved with the American Institute of Architects and is a member of the AIA California Climate Action Committee which looks at legislative decisions as they relate to the building environment, and has been involved in advocating for decarbonizing the built environment and is working with a group on policies that address Embodied Carbon and Life Cycle Analysis of projects.

In 2019 founded a development arm for the firm called Box Lab which is focused on the development of zero energy/zero carbon buildings.

She is involved in all projects, with a commitment to the practice of architecture as a collaborative and innovative enterprise and brings with her years of experience in Commercial, Institutional, Industrial and mixed-use realms in project size ranging from 2000 square feet to over 2 million square feet and project types ranging from tenant improvements to San Francisco airport.

She has been awarded the title of ENR’s 20 under 40 construction professionals in California and American Institute of Architects' coveted Young Architects' Honor Award and Fast Company's Innovation in Design for Box Factory.

Show Highlights

• Educating clients on electrification and lifecycle analysis before it becomes a policy decision.

• Make your projects efficient as possible with minimizing materials and functions.

• Box Lab develops projects and prototypes with the highest sustainability goals, a minimum footprint and zero energy.

• What we need to know about the built environment post pandemic for healthy buildings.

• The new umbrella of ESG for healthy buildings and air quality.

• Hafsa’s firm creates a universal design from the angle of sustainability and social justice.

• Early phase lifecycle analysis comparison, cost and what can be done.

• Trends happening at the policy level decarbonization to reduce operational emissions.

• California has started a good precedent to codify embodied carbon and help craft policies toward embodied carbon.

“Challenge your thinking and also be as purpose-driven and as early as possible. You just cannot live in a vacuum. It's a global community and we have to be aware of what's happening and we need to make sure that every choice that we make, everything that we do is purpose-driven and you have a very strong reason why you're doing anything.”

-Hafsa Burt

Get the episode transcript here!!

Show Resource and Information

• Yak Butter & Black Tea: A Journey into Forbidden China

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