Attend and network with others working to transform the building industry across the US. Get the latest, regional, national & international Passive House news. Hear reports on ongoing efforts and help brainstorm new ones.  Please invite friends or colleagues who may be interested.

This month's speaker: Greg Esparza

Greg Esparza is a designer and builder with over a decade of experience in custom residential design and construction as a co-founder of Moontower Design Build in Austin, TX. In 2021, Greg immersed himself in designing and building a prototype project called Cross Cabin, a “plant-based” homemade of hemp, cork, and cross-laminated timber for himself and his family in Austin. Inspired by this experience, Greg established Cross Cabin Build & Supply to represent and distribute healthy, high-performance, and low-carbon building materials in Texas. Greg has a passion for building with natural, plant-based materials rooted in the commitment of the AIA Architecture & Design Materials Pledge to support health at three scales—human, social, ecosystem—and to prioritize climate impact and circular economy considerations with all material specifications. The Cross Cabin has been featured on the Build Show Network, Dwell+, Passive House Accelerator, The Architect’s Newspaper, as well as the 2023 AIA Austin Homes Tour where the most frequent feedback on the home was “I love the smell!”.

Presentation description:
From the AIA Framework for Design Excellence to the Architecture 2030 Challenge, reflecting on the environmental impact of building materials from point of resource extraction to future deconstruction and disposal is a pressing issue in architectural practice. In residential work, it is extremely challenging to push for lesser-known materials on the basis of newer metrics such as carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions when these materials can present challenges with budgeting, procurement, enclosure design, finding installers, and "selling" clients on the merits of using products that are not yet mainstream. This project is a case study in elevating the selection of renewable, recyclable, and low embodied energy building materials as the point of departure for the design and search for cost efficiencies and creative opportunities within the simple and direct material expression that is possible with cross-laminated timber structures.