Pliny Fisk III

Last updated
Photo by Lauren Jones PF I Lauren Jones Best.jpg
Photo by Lauren Jones

Pliny Fisk III (born May 30, 1944 in New York) is a co-founder and co-director of the "Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems" (CMPBS), [1] a sustainable design and planning 501c3 non-profit established in 1975. Fisk also serves as Fellow in Sustainable Urbanism and Fellow in Health Systems Design at Texas A & M University, where he holds a joint position as signature faculty in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Planning. [2] Fisk has previously held positions at: Ball State University, The University of Texas (at Austin), Mississippi State University and the University of Oklahoma.

Contents

Education and personal life

Fisk received B.Arch., M.Arch., and M.L.Arch. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. His graduate studies focused on ecological land planning under the guidance of Ian McHarg. His work has also been influenced substantially by Russell Ackoff in various disciplines associated with the systems sciences.

He has four children and is married to Gail Vittori.

Work

Fisk's special contributions in the research field have been principally in materials and methods; [3] from low-cost building systems development (referred to as „open building“) to wide-ranging material development (that includes: low carbon and carbon balanced cements, and many other low impact materials). [4] He was instrumental in developing the first input/output life-cycle assessment model for material flow in the U.S. and connecting this to a Geographic Information System, so that human activities can be placed into the context of natural systems on a national scale. The model for preserving abundant, naturally renewable resources is entirely removed from the questions of social equity, quality of environment and human welfare. The model represents greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants and toxic releases of over 12,500,000 businesses. He has also developed an alternative land planning and design methodology (referred to as „Eco- Balance Design and Planning“).

Early work

After completing his education at University of Pennsylvania, – Fisk worked for Ian McHarg (in Philadelphia); and (in 1969) he assisted McHarg – as the coordinator of engineering and ecology for New Orleans East: a new town of 100,000 (on the Mississippi Delta). He – served as an assistant professor at Ball State University: for one year (1969–1970), – before accepting a teaching position at The University of Texas at Austin. [5]

Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems

In 1975 (with a seed grant from the Menil Foundation), – Fisk (and his then wife: Daria Bolton) founded the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS) in Austin, Texas. [5] CMPBS – is a nonprofit 501(c)3 education, research, and demonstration organization.

The CMPBS site – features numerous demonstration projects: including the „Advanced Green Builder Demonstration Home“ (AGBDH) – a 170 square meter structure, featuring numerous sustainable building techniques, including: a 50,000 liter rainwater harvesting system and two methods of straw-bale construction. The AGBDH – is the first modern building in the U.S. to use 100% Portland Cement-free concrete. The concrete used in the building – is a fly-ash, Caliche mix (developed by CMPBS). The AGBDH – was also designed for easy disassembly; pays particular attention – to the lifecycles of water, energy and materials; and incorporates local and recycled materials. [6] [7] The AGBDH – currently serves as the main offices for CMPBS.

Other examples of Fisk's work on the CMPBS site – include the 2002 University of Texas at Austin entry for the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition, the Greenforms erector-set prototype and a foam and MgO Cement modular building system. [5]

Pliny Fisk – currently co-directs CMPBS with his wife (Gail Vittori).

Crystal City, Nicaragua and the Laredo Demonstration Farm

Site of Laredo Demonstration Farm, now the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center LaredoDemonstrationFarm.png
Site of Laredo Demonstration Farm, now the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center

When the „Lo Vaca Gathering Co“ shut off the natural gas supply to the small town of Crystal City (Texas) in the fall of 1977, – Fisk developed the idea of using Army surplus wood stoves and abundant mesquite for heating. By January 1978, Crystal City residents – had installed nearly 1,000 wood stoves. In subsequent years – Fisk led an effort to manufacture and install inexpensive solar hot water heaters using salvaged materials. The production of the solar collectors – also helped bolster the job market of Crystal City. [8] [9] [10]

In 1983, Fisk was sponsored by the „Center for Investigation and Documentation of the Atlantic Coast“ (CIDCA) – to set into motion a large scale indigenous housing program for the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast. Fisk's goal in the project – was to draw upon the available natural and human resources of the region to address an extreme housing shortage.

In 1991: the Texas Department of Agriculture (and – Laredo Junior College) – hired Fisk (and CMPBS): to design and build a demonstration farm (outside the arid South Texas city, of Laredo). The 2-acre (8,100 m2) farm. [11] [12] [13] [14]

City of Austin: Green Building Program

In 1991, Fisk and Vittori – developed "A Conceptual and Contextual Framework (for the City of Austin)"; that – served as the basis – for the formation of the world's first municipal green building program (now – operating as „Austin Energy Green Building“). [15] [16] The cooperative effort – earned the United Nations Earth Summit Award: for Exemplary Public Environmental Initiative, in 1992 (the only United States organization – to receive recognition at the Earth Summit).

Awards

In 1992 – Fisk received the United Nations Earth Summit Award: for Exemplary Public Environmental Initiative, for the City of Austin's Green Building Program – conceived and developed by The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems. [17]

In 2002 – Fisk was awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s first Sacred Tree Award: in the public sector category. [18] [19] He – is also a recipient of the Passive Solar Pioneer Award (from the American Solar Energy Society) [20] and the National Center for Appropriate Technology’s 15th Year Distinguished Appropriate Technology Award, [3] – recognizing significant work in the field of environmental protection.

Fisk – led two award-winning student teams for Department of Energy Solar Decathlon:

The US Green Building Council – honored Pliny Fisk with the USGBC Leadership Award – for Organizational Excellence, in 2008: for his role – as a founding member of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment.

Publications

See also

Gail Vittori
Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems

Related Research Articles

Pliny may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green roof</span> Roof that is covered with vegetation and a growing substrate

A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems. Container gardens on roofs, where plants are maintained in pots, are not generally considered to be true green roofs, although this is debated. Rooftop ponds are another form of green roofs which are used to treat greywater. Vegetation, soil, drainage layer, roof barrier and irrigation system constitute green roof.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BedZED</span> Housing development

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge, London, England. It is in the London Borough of Sutton, 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Sutton itself. Designed to create zero carbon emissions, it was the first large scale community to do so.

Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environment of particular areas. Classical prudent design may have always considered environmental factors; however, the environmental movement beginning in the 1940s has made the concept more explicit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green building</span> Architecture designed to minimize environmental and resource impact

Green building refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This requires close cooperation of the contractor, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages. The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. In doing so, the three dimensions of sustainability, i.e., planet, people and profit across the entire supply chain need to be considered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian McHarg</span>

Ian L. McHarg was a Scottish landscape architect and writer on regional planning using natural systems. McHarg was one of the most influential persons in the environmental movement who brought environmental concerns into broad public awareness and ecological planning methods into the mainstream of landscape architecture, city planning and public policy. He was the founder of the department of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. His 1969 book Design with Nature pioneered the concept of ecological planning. It continues to be one of the most widely celebrated books on landscape architecture and land-use planning. In this book, he set forth the basic concepts that were to develop later in geographic information systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar Decathlon</span>

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The winners will be those teams that best blend design architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency, and smart energy production. In the summer of 2018, DOE merged its two student building design competitions into one Solar Decathlon competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable architecture</span> Architecture designed to minimize environmental impact

Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reflective surfaces (climate engineering)</span>

Reflective surfaces can deliver high solar reflectance and high thermal emittance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LEED</span> Standard for green building design

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes, and neighborhoods, which aims to help building owners and operators be environmentally responsible and use resources efficiently. By 2015, there were over 80,000 LEED-certified buildings and over 100,000 LEED-accredited professionals. Most LEED-certified buildings are located in major U.S. metropolises. LEED Canada has developed a separate rating system adapted to the Canadian climate and regulations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zero-energy building</span> Energy efficiency standard for buildings

A Zero Energy Building (ZEB), also known as a Net Zero Energy (NZE) building, is a building with net zero energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site or in other definitions by renewable energy sources offsite, using technology such as heat pumps, high efficiency windows and insulation, and solar panels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable city</span> City designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact

The sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact, and resilient habitat for existing populations, without compromising the ability of future generations to experience the same. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines sustainable cities as those that are dedicated to achieving green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. They are committed to doing so by enabling opportunities for all through a design focused on inclusivity as well as maintaining a sustainable economic growth. The focus also includes minimizing required inputs of energy, water, and food, and drastically reducing waste, output of heat, air pollution – CO2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register first coined the term ecocity in his 1987 book Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, where he offers innovative city planning solutions that would work anywhere. Other leading figures who envisioned sustainable cities are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities.

Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes." Ecological design can also be defined as the process of integrating environmental considerations into design and development with the aim of reducing environmental impacts of products through their life cycle.

Richard Steven "Dick" Levine is an American environmental architect, solar energy and sustainability pioneer, and professor at the University of Kentucky. He is one of the early solar energy innovators in the U.S., a holder of U.S. patents on structural systems and solar energy applications, and the architect of a number of award winning solar buildings including his widely published Raven Run Solar House (1974). Levine is co-director of the Center for Sustainable Cities at the University of Kentucky. His contributions to sustainable urban planning are in both the theory and practice of the sustainable city-region. He has over 150 publications on solar energy and sustainability research, conducted in Italy, Austria, China and the Middle East.

Gail Vittori is co-director of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, a non-profit design firm established in 1975 dedicated to sustainable planning, design and demonstration where she has worked since 1979.

Environmentally sustainable design is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability and also aimed at improving the health and comfortability of occupants in a building. Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, the health and well-being of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar power in Utah</span> Overview of solar power in the U.S. state of Utah

Solar power in Utah has the potential to provide all of the electricity used in the United States. Utah is one of the seven US states with the best potential for solar power, along with California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. Utah allows net metering for residential systems up to 25 kW and up to 2 MW for non-residential users. Utah's renewable portfolio standard can best be described as a goal and calls for obtaining 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 – if it is cost effective.

Kenneth L. Haggard is an American architect, educator, and solar pioneer who has designed more than 300 buildings and seen more than 200 built. He is a licensed architect in California and Florida. He and his partner Polly Cooper were awarded the American Solar Energy Society Passive Solar Pioneer Award in 1996. They have been leaders in both passive solar architecture and the rediscovery of straw bale building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wisconsin Energy Institute</span> Energy research center

The Wisconsin Energy Institute serves as the collaborative home of energy research and education for the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and greater Midwestern region, and houses the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, along with research space for the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate change in Texas</span> Climate change in the US state of Texas

The climate in Texas is changing partially due to global warming and rising trends in greenhouse gas emissions. As of 2016, most area of Texas had already warmed by 1.5 °F (0.83 °C) since the previous century because of greenhouse gas emissions by the United States and other countries. Texas is expected to experience a wide range of environmental impacts from climate change in the United States, including rising sea levels, more frequent extreme weather events, and increasing pressure on water resources.

References

  1. "Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems - Building a Sustainable World Since 1975". Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  2. "Welcome - College of Architecture" . Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today's Environmental Problems". washingtonpost.com. 1997-11-05. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  4. "Video News - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  5. 1 2 3 "Pliny the Greener" Architecture Magazine June 1998, 55.
  6. "Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems" Contemporary American Architects Vol. IV. Taschen Press, 1998. 48.
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "The Town that turned off the gas" The Christian Science MonitorDecember 7, 1979, B1.
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 23, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "Blueprint for Survival" Architecture Magazine, May 1991, 64.
  12. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 20, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Home" . Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  17. "Pliny the Greener" Architecture Magazine June 1998, 55.,
  18. "USGBC "Sacred Tree" awards". BuildingGreen. 2002-12-01. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
  19. "EcoBuilding Pulse: Environmental performance, sustainability, green-building projects, green products, and green-building news" . Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  20. "American Solar Energy Society" . Retrieved 29 June 2016.