Evolving Our Building Sciences Practice

Page is an early signatory of the AIA 2030 Commitment to achieve carbon-neutral buildings in the next 11 years. For the past two years, the firm has been evolving our sustainable practice group and we are pleased to now share our new interdisciplinary Building Sciences practice that will formally encompass an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability, high performance, resilience and wellness in our work.

As architects of the built environment, it is our role to educate our clients on the impact of their design and materials decisions on users and the environment. We have enhanced our documentation processes to efficiently track and report the impact of Building Sciences on our work. And, we will continue to demonstrate the feasibility of designing higher-performing buildings and the impact of selecting healthy, low carbon emission materials.

Building Sciences Director Jill Kurtz leads a cross-firm team that ensures the practice is part of every project at Page across market sectors. Jill combines a research-based approach with a client-centric mindset in her leadership. Her 15 years of sustainability consulting experience helped her develop a unique framework for Page to ensure the firm honors its promise of creating design that makes lives better through high-performing, healthier and more resilient buildings.

Her career of integrating sustainability into best building practices came first from extensive international development work in East Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, which showed her that doing more with less is a means of survival for much of the world. Coupling her B in Architecture with a MS Intercultural Studies and M of Environmental Building Design, Jill supports teams to leverages both qualitative and quantitative data to inform design strategies. Under her leadership, we are incorporating a more integrated approach to building performance modeling into early design concepts, quantifying the carbon impact of our projects, advancing how we incorporate wellness into projects, and more holistically defining our approach to resilience.