Cultural Shifts: Corgan's Varun Kohli on High Performance, Good Surprises, and Principles for Design
Climate change resiliency and adaptation continues to be a priority for me and our Corgan-Echo team — our sustainability group — as we simultaneously work to integrate sustainable design in all of our work. Ensuring that we understand climate risks in the buildings we design and provide appropriate design response will be critical.
A big focus for myself and Corgan-Echo right now is to address atypical building typologies and ones that are notorious for high energy use intensity (EUI). Corgan’s portfolio of projects includes Data Centers and Aviation, which are complex projects with high level of equipment and IT energy loads. While some loads in such buildings are somewhat out of architects’ purview, we are working closely with our clients to find solutions for both operational and embodied carbon reduction strategies. And on that note, the third priority for us is to tackle embodied carbon in our projects. As we become more proficient in achieving operational net-zero carbon (NZC) buildings, our focus will shift to embodied carbon in our buildings, and not only for core and shell where the focus has been thus far, but also interior finishes and furnishings.
