William McDonough

88
William McDonough bigraphy, stories - American architect

William McDonough : biography

21 February 1951 –

William Andrews McDonough is an American designer, advisor, author, and thought leader. McDonough is founding principal of , co-founder of with German chemist Michael Braungart as well as co-author of and The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance, also with Braungart. McDonough’s career is focused creating a beneficial footprint. He espouses a message that we can design materials, systems, companies, products, buildings, and communities that continuously improve over time.

Stanford University Libraries will be host to the archives of McDonough. This will be a first of its kind real-time "Living Archive" that is a collaboration between the Library and the subject. The New York Times’ David Streitfeld’s article, "The Era of Deep Archiving Begins," notes the significance of the effort. |url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/the-era-of-deep-archiving-begins/

Criticism

In May 2008, Vanity Fair magazine offered an extensive profile of McDonough, which included a close look at several of his clients and projects, in the piece "Industrial Design, Take Two."

After naming McDonough one of Fast Company Magazine’s "Masters of Design" in 2004, the same magazine followed up in 2008 with a more critical look at McDonough entitled "Green Guru Gone Wrong." While acknowledging McDonough’s contributions to the green movement, the article suggests that McDonough has been overly protective of his certification process, and in some instances has not inspired cooperation with other individuals and businesses.

Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute

On May 20, 2010 at Google Corporate Headquarters, the Googleplex, McDonough announced the launch of the Green Products Innovation Institute, which was later renamed the . The Institute builds on the 2008 California state law that establishes the nation’s first green chemistry program. The non-profit public/private Institute has received the Cradle to Cradle product certification program on an exclusive, worldwide basis to accelerate the transition to safe material use and increased material reutilization. Executives from Google, Walmart, YouTube, Shaw Inc. and Herman Miller Inc. joined McDonough for the announcement.

Biography

McDonough was born in Hongkong, the son of an American Seagram’s executive, and trained at Dartmouth College and Yale University. In 1981 McDonough founded his architectural practice, and his first major commission was the 1984 Environmental Defense Fund Headquarters. The EDF’s requirement of good indoor air quality in the structure exposed McDonough to the need for sustainable development.

McDonough’s architecture practice, William McDonough + Partners operates studios in Charlottesville, Virginia, and San Francisco, California. McDonough moved his practice from New York City to Charlottesville in 1994 when he was appointed as the Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia. He relinquished this position in 1999 to focus on expanding his professional practice.. He is also co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), based in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is chairman of McDonough Advisors, which provides high-level consulting to companies, organizations, and governments around the world.

A number of large corporate projects for The Gap, Nike, and Herman Miller, led to his commission for a 20-year, US$2 billion environmental re-engineering of the Ford Motor Company’s legendary River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The project included rolling out the world’s largest "living roof" in October 2002. The roof of the 1.1 million square foot (100,000 m²) Dearborn truck assembly plant was covered with more than 10 acres (40,000 m²) of sedum, a low-growing ground cover.

In 1996 McDonough became the first and only individual recipient of the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development. In 1999 Time called him "Hero for the Planet". In 2002 he wrote (with Michael Braungart) Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. In 2004 he received a National Design Award for environmental design from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.Design Futures Council Senior Fellows http://www.di.net/about/senior_fellows/