Practice and Design Conference |

GENERATE 2024: Breakout Series 2

GENERATE 2024

Breakout Series 2

Mass Timber: Process and Perspective

Mass timber has gained momentum nationwide and the mountains of Colorado are no exception. Sustainable materials like cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber are being used to bring a modern wood aesthetic to a variety of project types, including offices, multi-family/mixed-use, commercial, and more. Presented by the principal architect on these first Colorado CLT office buildings, topics will include why mass timber was used, unique design and detailing considerations, and interaction with building officials related to fire and life safety.

Joe Anastasi, AIA is a Principal at OZ Architecture, based in Denver where he spearheaded the adoption of mass timber and construction with award-winning design in the Front Range area. In delivering the first cross-laminated timber office in Colorado in 2016, Joe has continued to share his firm’s unique process in making these projects a reality. In addition, Joe’s leadership roles span a wide variety of complex and culturally significant projects in the workplace and mixed-use practice areas. He leads the collaboration with teams of architects, consultants, and clients from concept design through construction administration. His goal is empowering his clients to make informed decisions and ensuring the design vision is carried through to completion. His signature concepts and buildings, specifically in the timber industry, reflect his commitment to creating spaces that enhance personal experiences and the environment.

Climate Positive Design: The Next-Generation of Architecture

Let’s explore how the next generation of architecture can be climate positive—decarbonized, resilient, and healthy. We need buildings with superpowers that deliver regenerative outcomes and address the imperatives of this century. Current design practices, relics of the 20th century, leave significant performance gaps. The modern tradition in architecture has taken advantage of energy and carbon-intense active systems to free the architect from climate and comfort concerns. The current trend of sustainable modern architecture is about increasing the energy efficiency of these active systems while still using them as a design crutch. We are now at a pivotal point requiring an urgent transformational architectural response. It is time again for architects to own the design outcomes of comfort, energy, and carbon.

Climate positive design offers creative opportunities for architects to embrace climate-responsive approaches. This means creating inherently passive buildings, significantly reducing loads, using less energy, and being more resilient and healthy. With this new architectural response to climate, we can rethink active systems to be smaller, smarter, and deeply integrated. Our built environment can become climate positive by rapidly reducing carbon emissions from materials and energy flows while integrating with the electrical grid to support its decarbonization. Regeneration is the next generation of architecture.

Tom Hootman, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, CPHC

Principal, Form & Flow

Tom Hootman is an architect, engineer, teacher, and author. He is the founder of Form & Flow, a building performance design consultancy for next-generation architecture. He works with clients to achieve healthy, resilient, decarbonized buildings. Tom brings over 30 years of industry experience and has experience leading integrated design within architecture, MEP engineering, and energy modeling practices. He is a pioneer and thought leader in zero energy and zero carbon design. He has worked on over 15 zero energy projects, including his first, NREL’s Research Support Facility, and his latest, the City of Denver’s net zero energy pilot project for the Parks and Recreation department. Tom is passionate about sharing his knowledge and inspiring others in the industry. He has published widely, including “Net Zero Energy Design,” published by Wiley. He is also a sought-after speaker and has presented around the world, including at Greenbuild, AIA National, and Living Future. Tom is also active in educating the next generation of architects. He teaches sustainable systems at the University of Colorado’s graduate architecture program and has been an active contributor to DOE’s solar decathlon program.

John Nelson, M.S., M.E., LEED AP, LFA, BEMP

Senior Regenerative Advisor, Associate, Perkins & Will

John Nelson is a building performance analyst at Perkins & Will’s Brainbridge Studio (formerly McLennan Design), where he focuses on passive design implementation for deep green projects. John is passionate about creatively using energy modeling as a tool to help design teams solve complex building performance problems and create synergies between architecture and systems that allow projects to be high-performance and cost-effective. He brings 19 years of industry experience across a wide range of market types. Some of John’s recent projects include work on Snohetta’s Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is pursuing the Living Building Challenge, and the innovative Coorstek Redevelopment in Golden, CO. John has conducted extensive research on thermal mass and passive cooling, and has contributed to the academic and industry body of knowledge on these topics. A recent example of this research includes the Radiant Whole Life Carbon Study for Clark Pacific. John has a degree in Construction Management and two engineering degrees, including an MS in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado. This unique background aids John in creatively tailoring unique, economical, and pragmatic solutions to achieving energy performance.

Neighborhood Data + Community Input: Key Ingredients of Co-Benefit Design

The body of evidence linking building design and operations to environmental sustainability, climate resilience, and social justice is both vast and fragmented. New databases are continually coming online with the promise of depicting a wide array of factors. But, they often stop short of linking place-based priorities with actionable design strategies. Green and healthy building regulations and best practice guides offer a toolbox of design and operations strategies that could be used to respond to the exposures and vulnerabilities made visible through these dashboards. But, they currently do not help users tailor their project to the environmental exposures and population health needs specific to the site and surrounding neighborhood. This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to a two-step, validated prioritization process that was developed with support from the AIA Upjohn Research Initiative. The so-called Alignment Process combines neighborhood data with participatory community engagement to bring design teams, community groups, and local government into alignment around a common vision for a proposed real estate project. We will work together to analyze and refine a Health Situation Analysis (HSA) of an active project in Colorado. We will then reflect as a group on ways the data could be used to support stakeholders in co-creating a common vision for the project that generates new value for all participants.

Adele Houghton, FAIA, DrPH, LEED AP, is President of Biositu, LLC where she works at the intersection of buildings, public health, and climate change. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows and received a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also teaches. Her book Architectural Epidemiology (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025), co-authored with Professor Carlos Castillo-Salgado of Johns Hopkins University, proposes a novel method for architectural design: combining neighborhood-scale environmental health data with participatory community engagement to maximize a building’s positive ripple effect on community and planetary health.

Gretchen Armijo, AICP, LEED AP, is Founder & President of Equity Policy Solutions, with 20 years of experience as an urban planner and public health professional specializing in healthy and equitable community development. She helps her clients understand the equity implications of land use decisions in order to expand access to opportunity and reduce systemic barriers to achieving health, social, environmental and racial equity. She works in sectors including affordable housing, land use, transportation, parks and green space, and climate and the environment.

Gretchen holds a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado- Denver and a Bachelor of American Studies from Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA. serves on the Habitat for Humanity – Metro Denver Advocacy Advisory Committee, and is a frequent speaker at planning and public health conferences and university classes.

Generating Innovation in Modern Design

Harvey Hine, AIA

HMHAI Founding Partner / Managing Principal / Principal Architect

Harvey Hine, AIA is the Founding Partner and Managing Principal of HMH Architecture + Interiors. Since starting the practice in 1989, Mr. Hine has overseen the design of over 400 projects. His designs have been recognized by the AIA, the ASID, and the IIDA, among others.

Mr. Hine grew up in Vienna, Austria—a city deeply entrenched in culture including rich traditional and modern architecture—his heritage leads the firm’s direction by placing emphasis on breaking away from conventional norms and ideas. He later moved to the States and acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design from the University of Colorado. And following that a Master’s degree in architecture from Harvard University.

Harvey Hine is a leader in the field of modern buildings that emphasize utility and simplicity in design and form. Over the last 30 years, he has taught at all levels of design studio at CU, Boulder , as well as serving on numerous jury panels. His office was awarded the 2022 AIA Firm of the year from the AIA Colorado Chapter. The firm’s work has appeared in numerous publications including Modern in Denver Magazine, 5280 Magazine, LUXE Magazine, Architect Magazine and dwell.com

When not contemplating architecture, you’ll find Harvey making jewelry at his cabin in Eldora or crushing black diamonds on the slopes.