Event Description
Materials matter—not only in terms of embodied carbon, but also in terms of toxicity, off-gassing, recyclability, circularity and many more attributes. Two U.S. studies have shown newborn babies have well over 200 chemicals in their blood at birth—some of these chemicals are commonly found in building materials. What we build with is just as important as how and where our buildings are built.
The Common Materials Framework (CMF) connects and aligns sustainability information to drive consistency across the building ecosystem. In order to drive radical change—while helping manufacturers, design professionals and building occupants—there must be alignment. And now it’s coming. mindful MATERIALS has recently been joined by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the International Well Building Institute (IWBI), the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to establish a common language and a shared foundation for materials data and transparency standards.
By moving toward increasingly sustainable materials, transparently, we not only reduce energy, water, harmful ingredients, and waste in manufacturing—we also mitigate impacts during distribution, transportation, and future phases of use, reducing carbon emissions while also safeguarding health and environmental quality.
CES: Estimated 1 LU/ HSW for AIA Members
Speaker
James Scott Brew, FCSI, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, Senior Sustainability & Wellness Architect, NIKKEN SEKKEI
Moderator: Yasushi Leo Nishimura, Past President, AIA Japan
Speaker Bios
James Scott Brew is a senior resilience and wellness architect with NIKKEN SEKKEI (Tokyo, Japan) where he specializes in helping to create healthy, sustainable, and energy efficient buildings that achieve greater resiliency for clients, campuses, and cities. He has over 35 years of design, management, and construction experience and has completed hundreds of projects—at many scales, focused on historic preservation, retrofits, healthy, high-performance, LEED/WELL certified, and Passive House buildings. His work extends from the U.S. to Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Before joining NIKKEN, Mr. Brew co-led the buildings practice at Rocky Mountain Institute and was a principal owner, vice-president and pioneer of sustainable design helping to grow his own Minnesota-based architecture and engineering firm from a small firm to nearly 200 people on 7 client focused teams.
Moderator: Yasushi Leo Nishimura
AIA Japan Chapter Representative, AIA International 2024.
2020 President, AIA Japan.
International Committee Member, Japan Federation of Architects and Building Engineers Association since 2020.
President, United Experts LLC since 2017.
Maki and Associates 2004 - 2011.
Researcher, TU Wien
Bachelor & Master of Engineering, The University of Tokyo.
Born in Tokyo 1975. Airplane Private Pilot.
