"The heart of ecological design is not efficiency or sustainability. It is the embodiment of animating spirit, the soul of the living world as embodied in each of us waiting to be reborn and expressed in what we design."

-Sim Van der Ryn, Design for Life



Sim Van der Ryn  is a visionary, author, educator, public leader, and internationally distinguished pioneer in ecological design.  For more than 40 years, Sim has been at the forefront of integrating ecological principles into the built environment, creating multi-scale solutions driven by nature’s intelligence. He has served as California’s first energy-conscious State Architect, authored seven influential books, and won numerous honors and awards for his leadership and innovation in architecture & planning. Sim’s collaborative approach and meta-disciplinary accomplishments help show the way to an evolving planetary era that values both the integrity of ecological systems and the quality of life.


    A recent New York Times profile writes, “Long before sustainability became the buzzword du jour, there was Sim Van der Ryn, the intrepid pioneer on the eco-frontier". The 70-year-old architect is part of a generation of visionaries who are more interested in the long term value of their their work than in self promotion. Sim emphasizes, “We are engaged in an Ecological Revolution , every bit as profound as the preceding Industrial Revolution.”  While addressing an assembly of architects, Sim states, "The worst thing you can do is keep making no changes. That's where the risk lies."


    Native to the Netherlands, at the age of 5, Sim’s  family, fled war torn Europe in 1939 to the outskirts of New York City. There, in Manhattan’s nearby deserted marshes, vacant lots, and pocket parks, began Sim’s innate fascination and respect for the natural world.  He found an inner calm in the midst of unfamiliar orderly life forms. Looking back at this time, Sim writes in his newest book, Design for Life, "What I found in that haggard slice of nature was myself.”  The unspoken tragedy that he and his family left behind along with his experiences in nature imprinted him with a lifelong concern for social justice, equity and ecology. “When you escape one holocaust, you don't want to be part of creating another.”


    Trained as an architect with a degree from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; licenses from California and New Mexico; and certification from the National Council of Architectural Registration, the theme of Sim's career in design, teaching and research has been applying principles of physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design. His regenerative design solutions create environments that are resilient to human needs, place, ecology and climate.  An early innovator as California State Architect (under Gov. Jerry Brown) who introduced energy efficient design and renewable energy to California and his thirty years as a theoretician and hands- on Professor of Ecological Design at UC Berkeley, his influence on shaping the Green Architecture and Sustainable Design movement are  widely recognized today. 


Teaching


     
 


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Media


Sim has been the subject of countless magazine and newspaper articles.  Residential Architecture Magazine gave him its 2005 Leadership Award, and Progressive Architecture magazine gave him a merit award for his Marin Solar Village.  Sim is also featured in the November 2007 Green issue of Dwell as well as the May 2006 Green Issue of Vanity Fair. Fine Homebuilding’s Summer 2006 issue selecting the 25 most important houses in America, among them “Falling Waters”, includes Sim’s 1974 Integral Urban House as, “the birth of green”. 


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Organizations


Sim founded the Farallones Institute in 1969, which helped to create national awareness of "ecologically integrated living design." The work started by the Farallones Institute continues today at the non profit Ecological Design Institute www.ecodesign.org a tax exempt non profit Corporation. EDI’s activities comprise two branches: education, facilitation, public event speeches and presentations. The other branch provides design and consulting services through Sim Van der Ryn and a network of collaborative talent.


The Eco-design Collaborative is the design and consulting arm of EDI focusing on what Sim  calls. “surpass-ability”: design solutions for a carbon neutral world though design workshops , retreats and brain storming, master planning and conceptual design, and green architecture . The Center for Livable Futures is EDI’s educational and training arm . EDI offers training,  facilitation, education, and research services in ecological design and “Surpass-ability” to businesses, government agencies, professional organizations and educational institutions.


Speaker


Sim is a sought after keynote speaker and provocateur who has spoken to business, civic, university, professional, and environmental groups around the world, including Korea, Japan, Tibet, the Netherlands, Italy, and  major US cities. (see list of upcoming talks) e mail sim@ecodesign.org for rates and availability.



2007 Highlights


•  Juror, San Francisco Green Architecture Awards

•  Regenerative Design – Public Lecture Series, College of Marin, February

•  Green Design – Sonoma State College, March 21

•  AIA Town Hall Meeting/Design Charette, Las Vegas, April 13

•  Integrating Sustainablity With Success -Urban Land Institute, April 24, Pittsburgh

•  AIA OHIO LECTURE SERIES   Cleveland,  May 14

•  AIA OHIO LECTURE SERIES Cincinnati, May 15

•  AIA OHIO LECTURE SERIES Columbus, May 16

•  ENVIRON, New Orleans. May 17

  1. • EDRA National Conference, Sacramento, May 31

  2. • CSI Northeast Regional Conference, Portland, ME. Aug

•  West Coast Green. September 2007


2006 Highlights


• Smithsonian Institution, Portland

• Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff

• Ecosa Institute, Prescott, Arizona

• West Coast Green, San Francisco

• Green Festival, San Francisco

• USGBC LEED Visioning Summit, Asilomar

• Green Schools Symposium, Los Angeles

• Bioneers Annual Forum

• Provocateur, Cuningham Group Annual Retreat

• University of Idaho


2005 Highlights


• Master Speaker, GREENBUILD, Atlanta

• National Building Museum, Washington DC

• Philadelphia University

• Bioneers

• San Francisco Green Festival

• Timber Framer’s Guild, Mt. Hood, Oregon

• Los Angeles Museum of Natural History

• Residential Architect of the Year. Miami


Author


Besides designing, consulting, and frequent public speaking, he has authored seven cutting edge books, including his latest, “Design For Life” (2006) as well as “Ecological Design” (1996) with Stuart Cowan, “The Toilet Papers”  and “Sustainable Communities” (1986) with Peter Calthorpe.  Other books include, “The Integral Urban House”, “Farallones Scrapbook”. “Dorms at Berkeley: The Ecology of Student Housing”, and hundreds of articles and papers in professional journals.


For Links to a variety of Sim’s publications, click here...


Awards/Honors (chronological - latest first)


Sim has collected a long list of honors and awards for his leadership and innovation. Among them Include:


•        Architect of the Year, Residential Architecture Magazine (2004)

•        Real Goods Solar Living Center won an AIA Top Ten Green Building Award  (1998)

• Richard Neutra Award for Professional Excellence, Cal Poly Pomona (2004)

• Governor’s Award as North Coast Green Entrepreneur by SAFE-BIDCO   (2004)

• Marin County Economic Commission Environmental Values and Resources Award, (2003)

• Goff Chair of Innovative Architecture, University of Oklahoma (2001)

• Sustainability Trailblazer Award, Marin Community Development Agency (2000)

•        John M. McPhail, Jr. Business Award, Marin Conservation League (2000)

• Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts Fellowship (1997)

• Rockefeller Scholar in Residence, Bellagio, Italy (1997)

  1. •President's Award for Planning, American Society of Landscape Architects (Colorado Chapter)                                      Arbolera de Vida Master Plan, Albuquerque, New Mexico (1999

• Nathaniel Owings Award, California Council American Institute of Architects (1996) for environmental leadership

• Commendation for Excellence in Technology, California Council American Institute of Architect(1981)

• Progressive Architecture Merit Award, Marin Solar Village (1981)

• Special Award, California Council American Institute of Architects (1978)

• Lindisfarne Fellow (1978)

• Guggenheim Fellow (1971)

  1. •Governor's Award for Excellence in Design, Migrant Farm Labor Community Design (1968)




My Favorite Projects


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