HUBweek Change Maker: Shawn Hesse
Shawn Hesse, Boston Office Leader, emersion DESIGN, architect and sustainability expert
Shawn leads the Cambridge office of emersion DESIGN, an architecture and sustainability consulting firm. He focuses on integrating sustainability and social equity into all of his design, planning, and policy work and has proudly designed Net Zero energy projects. Shawn serves on the national board of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility and was also a fellow for the MIT Climate CoLab, an online platform where over 50,000 people from around the world create proposals and vote on what do to about climate change. Over 14 contests for the Climate CoLab are open now, with winners to be announced and awarded during HUBweek.
I almost didn’t know where to start since you’re so involved in so much– you’re the board chair of the USGBC MA chapter, on the board of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, you were a Climate CoLab Fellow, a subject matter expert for the City of Cambridge’s Net Zero Task Force. Is there a common thread across these organizations/initiatives? What’s the trigger for you to step in and get involved? And, do you sleep? Sustainability definitely runs at the core of the work that I am doing. I feel a deep responsibility to do everything I can to leave the world a better place because I am in it. Honestly, I can’t really say no to an opportunity to apply my knowledge and passion for something that is needed, and can make a real difference in the world. The other thread among all of them is that I actually enjoy working with the organizations and the people that I’m involved with. That piece is really important, because, I actually sleep a lot. I make up for it by working with these organizations in the evening or on the weekend, but since it’s fun, it doesn’t feel like work.
You are someone who is pioneering the intersection of social equity and architecture. Can you shed some light on what that intersection means, and why it’s important? My work around social equity and architecture has been driven by a realization that the sustainability movement has lost sight of the most critical question, which is — What are we trying to sustain? The simplest answer might be something like, “our way of life”… which then leads to a follow up question — who’s way of life? My way of life is much more comfortable than many others. If we are serious about planning communities that are sustainable — produce carbon free energy, clean water, clear air, grow healthy food, then we need to acknowledge that there are many people around us in the United States, and many more around the world that don’t even have access to those things today.
In architecture and design, this thinking has taken me through many topics, and I’m still very much exploring what the intersection really means. I have been interested in everything from construction safety and worker pay, to gender and cultural balance on design teams, to spurring sometimes challenging conversations with colleagues about the ethical implications of the act of designing prisons or border walls.
Who are your typical clients? What kind of organizations should be thinking about building sustainably/socially-consciously? At emersion DESIGN, we are committed to advancing organizations that advance society. Our biggest clients are universities and colleges, non-profits like museums and the Red Cross, and government agencies like NASA. We choose to work with those agencies because they are interested in long-term ownership, and in understanding the strategic impacts of their investments. Many of our clients have policies in place that have institutionalized sustainability into their building design and operations because they know that it saves them money, improves their employee and student happiness, improves productivity, and also demonstrates that they are investing in the future of their own organization and their mission.
What possibilities around social-driven and sustainable architecture/design get you most excited? Do you have any predictions for how the industry will evolve in the next few years? What I have been excited by most recently is the focus and attention that practitioners have started to give to health impacts of our work. Thinking about the health impacts of materials, chemicals, and indoor air quality is something that is much less about “doing the right thing”, and much more about “doing the smart thing”. It just so happens that many of the same strategies for building healthier, are also strategies for building more sustainably. Focusing on health impacts also brings socio-economic differences to the forefront much more than “sustainability” does, because the disparity in health outcomes based on socio-economic factors is well documented, and much less polarizing, so I think it has the opportunity for finding more common ground.
You were a Climate CoLab Urban Resiliency Fellow a couple years back. What were some of the takeaways from that experience? What was the most inspiring part of working on that project? What I found most striking about that was just how difficult much of this work is. Many cities around the world are dealing with major threats due to climate change, whether it is rising sea levels, or increased temperatures, or water shortages. And at the same time, the thinking around resiliency in architecture and planning is still very young. Everyone working on the problem from engineers and planners to city officials and big non-profits are in essence making it up as we go along. There are essentially no standards, and often not even a clear understanding of what the changes really are that cities should be planning for. I am most inspired by the Rockefeller Foundations 100 Resilient Cities program, which is helping cities all over the world higher resiliency planners, prepare vulnerability assessments, and most importantly, has established a very clear definition of resiliency that emphasizes the social community aspects of resiliency just as much, if not more than the physical infrastructure aspects.
You also have done a lot of teaching. What advice would you give to students in terms of how to think about the concept of “social impact?” Asking questions is the most important part of this work. The social impact of architecture (and any work, for that matter), can lead to some topics that are politically and emotionally charged. Any time you are in a conversation with someone that seems to disagree with you — ask more questions.
What’s the most interesting encounter you’ve ever had on a project? The first thing that comes to mind is related to reactions I’ve received when giving presentations about my work on social impacts. I’ve given the same presentation to several different groups, and at the same point in the presentation covering the same content, one crowd interrupted my presentation with spontaneous applause, and during the other presentation, several people from the audience interrupted me by yelling at me… telling me in no uncertain terms that they disagreed with my way of thinking. It has really caused me to think much more carefully about how I speak about these issues, and as I’m still learning myself, to ask more questions.
Rapid fire round:
Most off-the-wall advice you’ve received? Don’t ever let anyone know that you know anything about computers.
Favorite building in Greater Boston? I’m a sucker for the Eero Saarinen MIT Chapel
Three things you would want with you on a deserted island?A boat, a GPS, and a satellite phone. I love spending time outside camping and hiking, but I can’t change the world from that tiny island….
Interested in hearing more from Shawn? He will be speaking tomorrow morning at Creative Mornings Boston at 8:30AM.
Learn more about the MIT Climate CoLab, grand prize winners are invited to MIT during HUBweek and are eligible to receive $10,000. You could also win up to $2,000 just for sharing your favorite proposals! Shawn was recently quoted as a Change Maker in HUBweek’s 2016 Preview featured in The Boston Globe.
The HUBweek Change-Maker series showcases the most creative and inventive minds in art, science, and technology making an impact in Boston and around the world.
