Fall 2023 / quarterly
Overview
Welcome to Lot21
I’m excited to share our first issue of the QUARTERLY and introduce the reason we’re here.
We are a content platform and resource to help the design community decarbonize the world.
Coming from this industry ourselves, we’ve built this resource to advance a common cause. Design touches every person on the planet, and our lot can play a pivotal role in advancing climate action faster.
Many of us are growing more concerned about the velocity of climate change and pondering how to join forces in response. But the paths to action aren’t easy. Too few have the time to digest climate content. And what exists is often scientifically complex, full of jargon, and spread across countless sources. Even so, the need for design involvement and influence keeps growing. As more countries, cities, and companies pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2050, they’ll require more help from the design community than ever before to fulfill their climate pledges and ESG goals.
That’s why we need more designers with a seat at the table guiding conversations about decarbonization. And it’s why we’re here: to inform, inspire, and ultimately empower more designers across disciplines.
We do this by amplifying the exemplary work of our peers advancing climate action today. Every quarter you’ll be able to quickly browse relevant and actionable stories in our portfolio from the categories listed below, making it easier to stay informed.
Solutions — natural and technological approaches to removing excess carbon emissions
Projects — exemplary works from across design disciplines at the forefront of climate action
Resources — an aggregated directory of materials and tools to help decarbonize the world
Policy — national and international policies and agreements we need to legislate change
Lots — leading initiatives from the thinkers and doers advancing climate action in new ways
Over the years, I’ve heard the public discourse on climate change span from hopeful to a distressed standstill. We’ll deliver an optimistic outlook for the built environment and the design disciplines that shape it. This is where we can break new ground.
We hope you enjoy the QUARTERLY and will join us each season by subscribing for free below.
With you, we can do a lot more.
Lew Epstein
Founder / CEO
Projects
Collected works at the forefront of climate action
Thammasat Urban Roof Farm / LANDPROCESS
Architizer spoke with LANDPROCESS founder Kotchakorn Voraakhom about the climate-adaptive Thammasat Urban Rooftop Farm, TURF.
The project unites the principles of modern landscape design with traditional agriculture of rice terraces, to transform wasted space into a productive organic rooftop farm — Asia’s largest.
Timber Adaptive Reuse Theater / CO Adaptive
This project exemplifies adaptive reuse by —
Utilizing existing building stock and simultaneously reducing demolition waste.
Repurposing removed building materials to create architectural features while minimizing virgin materials.
Leveraging low-carbon mass timber from sustainably forested North American sources.
Urban Sequoia NOW / Skidmore Owings Merrill
Taking inspiration from nature, Urban Sequoia NOW is a design for a building that will sequester carbon throughout its lifecycle.
The concept, readily constructible today, rethinks projects as living organisms that reduce embodied carbon, generate energy and absorb carbon while lasting longer than typical 60-year building lifespans.
Resources
Materials and tools to help decarbonize the world
The materials in our directory apply to aspects of the built environment that can be decarbonized by design. Explore below.
Algae include seaweed and kelp, the largest seaweed subgroup, and all forms of algae provide an important carbon sink.
Checkerspot bio-manufactures algae-based performance materials for sporting and clothing consumer brands.
National Institutes of Health reviews the uses of microalgae to produce polymers and various bioplastics.
Our tools directory can help you assess materials and guide your efforts toward advancing climate action in the built environment. Go deeper.
Global Monitoring Laboratory measures the carbon dioxide data on Mauna Loa constituting the longest record of direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Climate Action Tracker is an independent scientific project that tracks government climate action and measures it against the Paris Agreement’s aim of pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.
Policy
Advancing climate action through legislation
Our National policy directory includes measures in response to climate change. Find states leading or needing climate legislation now. Compare below.
Designers can play a major role in this comprehen- sive decarbonization plan, which establishes a time-
frame for utilities to fully decarbonize electricity
supply by 2050, with interim goals such as cutting
carbon emissions by 50% by 2032 and 75% by 2040.
This bill provides financial support to design and rebuild homes or commercial buildings that are climate resilient, energy efficient, and use renew- able energy with battery storage in response to destructive extreme weather events.
The frameworks, goals, and agreements within our International directory recognize achievements in response to climate change. Go deeper.
This framework provides an interactive timeline of key milestones in the evolution of international climate policy, and a foundation to build upon.
NDCs embody each country’s effort to reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change. NDCs are
non-binding, country-specific targets and plans to
ensure greenhouse gas emission reductions are
updated every five years.
See our listing for: Climate Action Tracker
Lots
New initiatives to help decarbonize the world
Rewilding Cities
In The Built Environment
The World Around Summit
Deema Assaf, Founder & Director of TAYYŪN, an Amman-based research studio is exploring intersections of urbanism, deep ecology, and ethics of placemaking; focusing on urban rewilding and regeneration of urban ecosystems through urban forest creation and cross-species architecture.
Carbon Removal Policy
Carbonfuture
Sebastian Manhart, Senior Policy Advisor of Carbonfuture, shares exclusive insights into the maturity of Carbon Dioxide Removal legislation and development of CDR targets, financial incentives and federal congressional support across all 50 US States.
Regenerative Design
PROWL
Collaborating closely with the industry’s most advanced manufacturers and suppliers to make use of emerging technologies and innovative materials — PROWL co-founders Lauryn Menard and Baillie Mishler begin with the end to envision a circular outcome that manifests regenerative design from the outset.
Listening & Reading Suggestions
Zero:Redesigning cities for a future of extreme heat
My Climate Journey:Driving Market Integrity in Carbon Removal
Break Some Dishes:Shaping Sustaining Minds: Empowering Young Designers
A Matter of Degrees:The Journey of Justice40
The Carbon Almanac:The Daily Difference
