Kirsten Ritchie is confident that "green building" should become the standard

Director of Sustainable Design at Gensler, an expert from San Francisco (USA), Kirsten Ritchie has been successfully working on the formation of sustainable construction for more than 30 years, using a scientific approach in the development of environmental and human-oriented indicators.  The project of the Gensler architectural bureau, in which Kirsten Richie works, the ShanghaiTower tower, an office building with a height of 632 meters, was recognized as the best skyscraper of 2016 by the International Council on High-Rise Buildings and the Urban Environment (CTBUH). This award is given to skyscrapers that meet the principles of sustainable construction.

At 100+ Krsten Ritchie talked about the construction of environmentally friendly, energy efficient and comfortable buildings. In an interview with our correspondent, she noted that such projects can pay off much faster than is commonly believed.

- How do you explain to people who are far from construction what "green construction" is?

- Green buildings are buildings that offer the same functions as regular buildings. But they add comfort to people, while not using excessive non-renewable resources. That is, we do all the same things, but we approach construction more rationally.

- At the lecture, you talked about the use of wood in "green construction". I can imagine what the "greens" would say to you...

- Of course, wood is one of the materials that can be classified as "green". But it all depends on how we approach the use of this resource. If we just cut down trees and don't plant them, it won't be a green resource.  One of the problems is that when using wood in construction, we have to use glue. And this raises concerns about the negative impact on people's health.  New methods are currently being developed: how can we approach the use of wood more wisely and at the same time minimize all risks associated with the use of additional chemicals. In any case, if we are talking about wood construction, then this is low-rise construction. Maximum of 10 floors. If we want to build a high-rise building, then for now we will have to build from metal.

- You showed a very colorful and interesting presentation on airports at your lecture. Are there any examples in Russia and around the world of what an airport should be like in terms of environmental friendliness and design so that people like it?

- There is no gold standard. There are good examples all over the world - in China, in America. There are great airports that you want to return to. And this is a very important criterion - a good airport should look and function in such a way that you want to return to it. People say about one of the airports in America that they will arrive there six hours before departure.

- I wonder what kind of airport is in the USA, where people want to arrive in six hours?

- This is San Francisco International Airport Terminal 2. Our company worked on it 10 years ago. Back then, we didn't know much about "green technologies" and caring for the environment. It was after the events of September 11.  Back then, we were thinking about how to increase security. And we also thought about how to increase the profitability of the airport.  To do this, we couldn't just raise the rates of the airlines. I should have done something else. We also wanted to make the airport more comfortable. Specialists from the hospitality (hotels) and retail sectors were involved in the airport planning process. Because before that, airports were always designed by people associated with airlines. But we thought we needed more people who understand this. For example, from the field of sales. That's why we brought in people from different industries.

- Did you manage to increase profitability?

- yes. The project of the second terminal turned out to be very successful. Moreover, we have managed to set up all the processes so that this profitability is constant. And when the project for the first terminal began, we not only wanted to maintain these indicators, we set the bar even higher for ourselves. At the same time, we wanted to do everything so as to use fewer materials, reduce electricity and water consumption, but at the same time further increase the level of comfort and impressions for people.

- How widespread is "green building" in America today?

- In America, the government is now striving to ensure that this approach becomes the standard in construction.  There are currently about a million buildings in America built using this technology. And they show how comfortable it is to be in them. For example, you go inside such a building, and the air in it is cleaner. It does not come from air conditioners or other artificial sources. You feel a natural influx of clean air.

- Is it expensive? And what are the payback periods for such projects?

- The cost of building such buildings may be the same as with conventional approaches. But it can also increase by an average of 5-7 percent. It all depends on how experienced your team is and how innovative the construction will be. That is, the more innovations, the more expensive. And the return period on spent investments can vary from 3 to 7 years. But again, everything depends on the professionalism of the team at the construction level. At San Francisco Airport, everything was calculated so competently at the project level that all investments were returned in one year.

- Have you and your company already had experience of cooperation with Russian companies? And are you ready to work in Russia if such an offer is received?

- yes. We would definitely like to build relationships with companies in Russia. I recently visited Chelyabinsk and there I managed to communicate with the local business community on this topic.  Our company is already working with some Russian companies, but now we are mainly engaged in interior design. And I would like to expand these relations and build entire buildings according to the principles of green construction.