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ECOWEEK The Book#1 AUTHORS

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A. EDITORS

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Elias Messinas is an architect, educator, and environmental consultant, graduate of Yale School of Architecture, Bezalel Academy, with a doctorate degree from the National Technical University of Athens. He is a consultant for 'green' buildings and teaches sustainable design studio and workshops at Technion Institute of Technology, Holon Institute of Technology and University of Patras. Elias is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the founding chairman of ECOWEEK and editor and senior writer of ECOWEEK printed and digital content. Elias is the author of numerous articles on architecture, sustainability, and historic architecture, author of two books on the synagogues of Greece (Bloch Publishing Company, New York, 2013, and Gavrielides Editions, Athens, 1997), and a blogger for the Jerusalem Post.

Dan Price is an architect graduate of the Technion Institute of Technology, Haifa and the Porter School for Environmental Studies at the Tel Aviv University. As the partner of architect Ada Karmi-Melamede, he worked on numerous projects of various scale, from private houses to public buildings and university campuses. Dan teaches Architecture at the Technion Institute of Technology and is the co-author-with Ada Karmi-Melamede of 'Architecture in Palestine during the British Mandate, 1917-1948' - Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2011 (Hebrew) Israel Museum, 2014 (English). He is a principal of Price, Piltzer, Yawitz Architects practicing in Tel Aviv. In addition to his academic activity, Dan is pursuing a PhD focusing on the social housing projects built in Israel 1948-1967’s as a model for sustainable housing. 

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B. FORWARD

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David W. Orr (USA) The Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Special Assistant to the President of Oberlin College and Executive Director of the Oberlin Project, he is the recipient of seven Honorary degrees and other awards including The Millennium Leadership Award from Global Green, the Bioneers Award, the National Wildlife Federation Leadership Award, and a Lyndhurst Prize acknowledging "persons of exceptional moral character, vision, and energy." He has lectured at hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Europe. His career as a scholar, teacher, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur spans fields as diverse as environment and politics, environmental education, campus greening, green building, ecological design, and climate change. He is the author of seven books and co-editor of three others. He is presently the Executive Director of the Oberlin Project which is focused on making the City of Oberlin a model of full-spectrum sustainability and replicating that effort through a National Sustainable Communities Coalition. David Orr was among the world experts featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary "The 11th Hour" on Climate Change.

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C. CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

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Julie Bargmann (USA) Internationally recognized as an innovative designer in building regenerative landscapes and with interdisciplinary design education. Leads projects at the D.I.R.T. studio (Dump It Right There) that explore past and present industrial operations and urban processes in relationship to ecological systems, cultural constructs and emerging technologies. Holds a degree in sculpture from Carnegie-Mellon University, Masters in landscape architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design followed by a Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Awarded the 2001 National Design Award by Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum. TIME, CNN and Newsweek, along with national and international design publications have recognized her as leading the next generation in making a difference for design and the environment.

Bjarke Ingels (Denmark & USA) Started Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in 2005 after co-founding PLOT Architects in 2001 and working at OMA in Rotterdam. Through a series of award-winning design projects and buildings, Bjarke Ingels has created an international reputation as a member of a new generation of architects that combine shrewd analysis, playful experimentation, social responsibility and humour. He has received numerous awards. Bjarke has been active as a Visiting Professor at Rice University’s School of Architecture and most recently at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Bjarke currently holds a guest lecturer position at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Francoise-Helene Jourda (France) Award-winning architect Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Legion d'Honneur, and a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. She has been teaching Architecture since 1979, at the Ecole d'Architecture de Lyon, France, Ecole d'Architecture de Saint-Etienne, France, the School of Architecture in Oslo, Norway, University of Minessota, USA, the Polytechnic of Central London, UK, the Technical University of Kassel, Germany, and since 1999 at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria.

Michael Sorkin (USA) Distinguished Professor of Architecture and Director of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at the City College of New York, Michael Sorkin is principal of the Michael Sorkin Studio, an award-winning architecture and urban design practice in New York. From 1993 to 2000 he was Professor of Urbanism and Director of the Institute of Urbanism at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In addition to writing innumerable articles on architecture and the built environment, he has authored Variations on a Theme Park (1992) and Indefensible Space: The Architecture of the National Insecurity State (2007). Sorkin is the founder and president of the non-profit Terreform and chairs the board of directors of the Institute for Urban Design.

Marta Pozo Gil (Holland) Architect and licensed BREEAM assessor. She has been working with MVRDV since 2007 where, in addition to her role as a Project Leader, Marta leads MVRDV's Sustainability Department. By forming environmental strategies and energy-efficiency guidelines for each design process, Marta ensures a high standard is maintained for all of MVRDV's projects. Marta has been involved in the conceptualizing and execution of projects of various scales, among them the design team for Montecorvo Eco City in Logrono, Spain, and a dense urban masterplan in Bordeaux, France - an ambitious "eco-quartier" where all energy consumed by the masterplan will be produced on-site. Marta has received degrees from Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain (2001) and TU Berlin, Germany (2004). She lectures regularly and has won several awards.

Kengo Kuma (Japan) Architect graduate of the University of Tokyo and Columbia University. He established Kengo Kuma & Associates 1990. He taught at Keio University from 2001 to 2008, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008, and in 2009, he was installed as Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, University of Tokyo. He was awarded the International Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award in 2002 (Finland), International Architecture Awards for the Best New Global Design for "Chokkura Plaza and Shelter" in 2007, and Energy Performance + Architectutre Award in 2008 (France). He is an International Fellow of RIBA, UK, and Honorary Fellow of AIA. Kengo Kuma is also a prolific writer / critic and his books have been translated into English, Chinese and other languages.

MariaLuisa Palumbo (Italy) Architect and senior fellow of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology of Toronto University, author of New Wombs, Electronic bodies and architectural disorder (Birkhauser, 2000) and Architettura Produttiva. Principi di progettazione ecologica (Maggioli 2012). Since 2003, she directs the Master di Architettura Digitale at the Italian National Institute of Architecture (IN/ARCH) in Rome. In 2004 she founded Romalab, Laboratorio di Architettura Relazionale, a research laboratory focused on the issue of public space and the search of new strategies for the development of the contemporary city. Her essays have been published in several collective books. Since 2010 she collaborates with Domusweb.

Annalisa Metta (Italy) Landscape Architect at OSA Architetture e Paesaggio set up in 2007 in Rome. OSA integrates buildings and urban planning, indoor and outdoor spaces and people behaviors through architecture and urban design.

Braha Kunda (Israel) Architecture and Environmental Design Senior Lecturer and former Head of Interior Design Department at the Design Faculty HIT - Israel. She received her B. Design from Bezalel Academy and M. Arch from Rice University, Houston USA. Braha participated also in the Heschel Organization Environmental Leadership program, and is involved in the formation and activity of Mabadat Pais Design Terminal.Braha has professional and academic experience in total architectural and environmental design of housing, commercial and public projects in a wide range of scales. Major interest in contextual design related to social and cultural aspects.

Jan Johansson (Denmark) Architect from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He graduated in 1993 and has participated in master classes then in Barcelona. He then had his own office and also worked at other studios. Also worked with a housing association, a municipality and project developer at two companies in Copenhagen. Since 2007 he has been a lecturer in architecture and sustainability of the Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA). Jan has been visiting professor at Politecnico di Milan Bovisa in 2010.

Gil Peled (Israel) Founder of Eco-Challenges Sustainable Design & Consultancy, has pioneered sustainable retrofits of existing residential buildings in Israel. Gil graduated from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, with a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Architectural Studies on Sustainable and Affordable Housing and with an MSc. with distinction, on transformations of Sacred Buildings and Spaces. Gil is a member of international bodies perusing sustainable development and has lectured at international venues in the UK, the Netherlands, Japan and South Africa.

Ulf Meyer (Germany) Architect, partner in the architecture office of Ingenhoven Architects in German. Graduated from the Technical University (TU) of Berlin as Master of Architecture, and studied-abroad at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, Ill. with the international IIT Fellowship and the Academic Scholarship of the Federal Republic of Germany. He is Distinguished Hyde Chair of Excellence for sustainable urban design at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln. Ulf is a member of the FuturArc Forum for Green Building in Southeast-Asia and Australia, correspondent for Central Europe for "World Architecture" magazine, London, UK, and Editor at "archplus" architectural magazine in Berlin. Ulf has lectured at universities all over Europe, the USA and Canada as well as Japan, China, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. He has taught at the Bauhaus Graduate School of Design in Dessau/Germany and at summer schools with the Middle Eastern Technical University of Ankara/Turkey, the Georgia Institute of Technology of Atlanta/Georgia, the Rice Design Alliance of Houston/Texas and the University of Kansas Lawrence/Kansas (USA).

Galia Hanoch-Roe (Israel) Graduate of the Landscape Achitecture program of Rutgers University, and Masters and Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale University and CUNY graduate school is the Director of the Tel-Aviv–Jaffa Metropolitan Area Chapter of Society for Protection of Nature, Israel. Practiced landscape architecture at Looney Ricks Kiss, Princeton, NJ and "Tichnun Nof" Israel. Galia has studied Permaculture and Sustainable Design in Mexico, US and Israel, and participated in the "Ministers Project" - a joint project of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, leading the process with 12 agricultural educational farms in Tel Aviv and Center Israel, to design and build educational areas in the farms and establish programs on sustainability for students. Galia has taught at the University of Haifa.

Elena Barthel (USA & Italy) Came to the Rural Studio from the School of Architecture of the University of Florence in Italy, where she graduated in 1999, and recently accomplished her PHD with the thesis 'Design & Build at the Rural Studio: the education of the Citizen Architect'. While she run her private practice in the historical centre of Florence Santo Spirito, a well-known craft district, she taught at the Department of Urban Design of the University of Florence, at the Architectural Association in London and lead Auburn University Study Abroad in Florence for the academic year 2010. In 2008-2009 she taught the Second Year Studio at the Rural Studio as Visiting Assistant Professor.

Ivan Redi (UK & Austria) Principal of ORTLOS Space Engineering based in London and Graz, founded in 2000 as a network of interdisciplinary partners. Within the trans-disciplinary framework of ORTLOS projects, which constantly expand the boundaries of classical architectural fields by using cutting-edge technologies, there is a strong emphasis on advanced environments, energy efficiency and regenerative architecture. Their work has been published and exhibited worldwide. Mr. Redi is currently teaching at Graz University of Technology, Bartlett University College London and lectures around the world.

Thomas Doxiadis (Greece) Architect and Landscape Architect, ASLA. Graduate in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from Harvard University (1998), and BA Harvard University (1992). Taught as Associate Professor at the University of Patras and University of Thessaly, and as Assistant Professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Position of Manager, Organizing Committee of Olympic Games Athens 2004 (1999-2003 and Agency Director of Planning and Environmental Protection of Athens (1999-2001). Head of consulting firm doxiadis+.

Richard Ingersoll (Italy & USA) Born in California in 1949, Richard earned a doctorate in architectural history at UC Berkeley, taught at Rice University from 1986-97 and currently teaches at Syracuse University in Florence (Italy). He is an advocate for Agricivismo, the social application of urban agriculture. From 1983-98 he was the editor of Design Book Review. His recent publications include: Architectures of the World. A Cross-Cultural History of the Built Environment, 2012; Sprawltown, Looking for the City on its Edge, 2006; Global Architecture, 1900-2000. A Critical Mosaic, Volume I: North America, USA and Canada, 2000. He writes criticism for Arquitectura Viva, Lotus, and Bauwelt.

Isaac Meir (Israel) Desert Architecture expert born in Thessaloniki, graduate of the Technion Institute of Technology and Associate Professor and former Chair of the Desert Architecture & Urban Planning, and Dept. of Man in the Desert of the Ben Gurion University. He has published widely in several languages and has been Visiting Lecturer at Environment & Energy Studies, AASA, London, and Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University.

Vasileios Ntovros (Greece) Architect graduate of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with graduate studies at ΙΑΑC-Barcelona. Founding member of lighting team BEFORELIGHT. He has participated in F451arquitectura-Barcelona, and the 6th Biennale of young Greek architects with the passive solar design Crack-Printing Press. He practices sustainable design and the use of digital tools in construction of energy autonomous buildings.

Orjan Nyheim (Norway) Holder of a master degree in architecture from NTNU, with a master thesis on studying the possibilities of building off-grid in Norway, architect at the architectural firm Pir II, which uses a holistic approach to environmental friendly buildings. Pir II has received several awards.                             

Joseph Cory (Israel) GEOTECTURA Studio is an award-winning design practice that offers comprehensive services including architecture, interiors and environmental simulations. Established by architect Dr. Joseph Cory, Geotectura integrates sustainable design principles within each project. Geotectura projects are based on multi-disciplinary research using an open source design approach and BIM to optimize results for each challenge. Geotectura designs buildings that aim to reduce the impact of natural resource consumption and greenhouse emissions, reduce operating costs, optimize life-cycle economic performance and enhance occupant comfort and health. The research and experimental approach are well integrated within each design challenge taking into consideration how the design will improve comfort, usability and productivity. Geotectura academic projects sophistication and economics have established a new benchmark for academic buildings in Israel.

Stelios Zerefos, Chris Tessas (Greece) Zerefos Tessas Architects Engineering Consultants is an award winning firm founded in 2005. Its innovative projects promote contemporary architectural debate while respecting the environment. Projects range from private residences and office buildings to research institutes and museums that integrate micro-climatic and energy considerations early in the design process. The firm has been widely published.

Uri Gilad (Switzerland) Studied at HIT, Israel and the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam where he graduated with honors under the personal guidance of Prof. Herman Hertzberger. He gained his professional experience while working for Herman Hertzberger and Wingender Hovenier Architecten. During this time he was involved in designing residential and public projects and leading international competitions. In 2010 he joined Wingender Hovenier Architecten as an associate architect. Since 2013 Uri is a partner at office_winhov, Amsterdam. Uri teaches at the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam. Since January 2010 he has been an assistant professor, at the Amsterdam School of Arts on the research project Tectonics in contemporary Brick Architecture. Uri divides his time between Amsterdam and Zurich where he is involved in several projects.  

Maciej Siuda (Poland) Graduated with honors from the Faculty of Architecture at Wroclaw University of Technology in 2008. His diploma, XYZ Structure, was awarded in a number of international and national competitions. From 2005 to 2007 he studied at the Faculty of Architecture at University of Technology in Valencia and made an internship at the SQArquitectos office (Valencia), and later in other offices in Madrid, Tokyo and Alicante. Since 2011 he has been developing his independent work, collaborating with various architects and designers form Spain, Poland and Japan. Co-creator of the international workshop of architecture and urbanism IWAU. Since 2011. He teaches design at the Swietokrzyska University of Technology and developing videogames graphic design for the Foundation of Neurorehabilitation in Valencia. 

Ivan Harbour (UK) Joined the award-winning firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (former Richard Rogers Partnership) in 1985 and was made a Director in 1993. Ivan is currently Design Director of a number of prestigious architecture and master planning projects around the world. He has taught in Europe, and Australia. Winner of the 2006 Stirling Prize.

Daniel Pearl (Canada) is an architect, associate professor at the School of Architecture at La faculté de l’Aménagement of Montreal University (UdeM) since 2001. His teaching focuses on green building construction, tectonics, ecosystemic thinking and the introduction of the integrated design process into architectural and urban design studies. Daniel is a founding board member of the Canada Green Building Counciil and founding chair of its Academic Education Committee. Daniel established – with Mark Poddubiuk - L'OEUF (l'Office de l'Eclectisme Urbain et Fonctionnel) in 1992, focusing on sustainable architecture, urban housing, residential and commercial renovation, as well as research, critic and theory. L'OEUF developed its reputation particularly in sustainable and environmental architecture, known for the architectural quality, technical and professional skills as well as active involvement in the academic, professional and community context. This expertise is founded on a search for balance between the appropriate techniques, the economic feasibility, the architectural expression et environmental impact of the project. L'OEUF members, as architects, support the fact that they are stewards of a built environment that is dignified, human, pleasant, functional, sustainable and sensitive to the environment.

Alessio Battistella (Italy) Founder of ARCo a young group of engineers and architects, founded in Milan in 2009. ARCo uses low cost materials and sustainable techniques to develop projects of Architecture through international cooperation, particularly educational projects, in Palestine and Mozambic. The work of ARCo was featured at FMG (Spazio per l'architettura) in Milan and has won awards, among them the second prize ex aequo at "Premio Fondazione Renzo Piano for a young talent 2011", and the Silver Award of the Holcim Foundation 2011 - Africa and Middle East.

Jana Leoni (Germany) Director of EcoCityLab a partnership between the Technische Universitat Berlin and the EcoCityLab, a networked group of academics and students in the fields of landscape design, architecture, urban design and urban planning focused on the design of ecocities starting at the scale of the sustainable urban block and theoretically probing the notion of a new green urban aesthetic. Holder of a Dipl.Ing and M.Urb.Des. is a practicing urban designer based in Berlin.

Orizzontale (Italy) An architecture collective based in Rome whose primary interests are reactivation processes involving urban scrap. Intercepting places, ideas and things rejected from metropolitan (re)productive cycles, Orizzontale activates collaborative “public acts” in the form of semi-permanent architecture or installations, in which material and immaterial wastes mutually restore each other’s meaning. Since 2010 Orizzontale has been promoting do-it-yourself projects of common relational spaces, giving form to both dismissed and unseen images of the city. These projects represent the ground for experimenting new kinds of interactions between city dwellers and urban commons as well as occasions to test the boundaries of architectural creation process.

Maria Livia Olivetti (Italy) Architect and PhD holder, heads the national research project "Living Urban Scape" funded by the Italian Ministry of Education at the University of Roma Tre. Her research focus on strategies and tactics for the urban landscape design and renovation. She published a volume and several articles on the relation between architecture and natural systems and, along the research activity, has always worked as architect. In 2010 won the "Young Italian Quality" prize within the project for a cultural center in the Olivadi municipality (together with C. Garofalo). In 2013 founded "PICS_Public Identity and Common Space", a research /action platform in which development she is actually engaged.​

Hilde Sponheim (Norway) Partner at LPO Architects holds a master's degree in Architecture from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology she is working mainly with urbanism and urban development issues and has experience from challenging tasks dealing with sustainability and environmental issues. LPO is an Oslo-based architectural firm working in a wide range of architecture-related tasks, from large urban development projects and complex buildings, to advisory services and exhibition design. Through public organizations as Future Built and clients with high environmental ambitions, LPO have done projects as Papirbredden and Lierstranda in Drammen, and the Bellona house in Oslo.

Tom Rankin (Italy & USA) Founder and director of Studio Rome, a design firm devoted to research and practice of environmentally sustainable architecture and urbanism. He practices architecture and teaches at Universita di Roma "La Sapienza" (School of Engineering) and coordinates the University of Minnesota Rome architecture program for Accent. He received his Master's in Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, a BA in Architecture at Princeton, and a "Laurea" in Architecture at Universita di Roma 'La Sapienza'. He is the founder of the non-profit cultural travel association Scala Reale. From 2002 until 2008 he was President of the American Institute for Roman Culture, a non-profit organization he co-founded. He has written articles and presented frequently at conferences. His blog on the Still Sustainable City is a reference point for sustainable urbanism in Rome.

David Knafo (Israel) Architect partner in Knafo Klimor Architects committed in developing sustainable and humanistic architecture in its regional context.

Alexandros Kouloukouris (Greece) Architect and co-founder of KARD architects a brand created from a merged process of two dominated practices in Thessaloniki, Greece, Kouloukouris & associates and Sempsis+Raidis architects. Both offices have more than 35 years of architectural and planning experience in almost all sectors of private and public development.

Michael Christensen (Denmark) Principle of CHRISTENSEN & Co Architects. Architect and graduate of the Aarchus School of Architecture, lectures at the Copenhagen School of Architecture and is a juror in architectural competitions in Denmark and internationally. The firm completed in 2010 the Green Lighthouse, Denmark’s first carbon neutral public building.

Gernot Minke (Germany) Trained architect with doctoral degree and a retired professor from the University of Kassel, Germany, where he directed the Building Research Institute for 38 years. In this timespan he conducted over 50 research and development projects in the field of building with earth, straw bales, bamboo, green roofs, earthquake resistant houses built of earth and low-cost and energy-saving housing. He was invited to give presentations at more than 60 international conferences and is author of more than 300 articles and 10 books. His book Building with Earth was published in 8 languages. Of late he has been mainly conducting practical workshops and lectures in the Americas and Europe.

Costas Stef. Tsipiras (Greece) With 30 years in the profession and with more than 200 passive solar and ecological houses in Greece and abroad, he is a graduate of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Ecole du Batiment (Paris), and doctorate from the University of Grenoble. He has authored and co-authored 14 books, among them several books on ecological Architecture. Costas is principal of S.OL.AR. (The Hellenic Association of Holistic Architecture) founded in 2003.

Robert Swan, OBE (UK & USA) Explorer, Leadership Expert and a living legend who has earned his place in history alongside the great explorers and adventurers who have tested their physical and mental strength to the limit in the planet's most hostile environments. By the age of 33, he had become the first person to walk to both the North and South poles. His 900-mile journey 'In the Footsteps of Scott,' across the treacherous Antarctic ice cap to the South Pole stands as the longest unassisted walk ever made. The successful completion of his North and South Pole expeditions marked the beginning of a new phase in his life, shaping a lifetime goal for him to work for the preservation of the Antarctic as the last great wilderness on earth.

Diebedo Francis Kere (Germany & Africa) Awarded with the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2009 and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for his community projects in Burkina Faso in Africa, Francis Kere is a distinguished leading architect in sustainable and community projects.

Kristian Skovbakke Villadsen (Denmark & China) Architect, partner at Gehl Architects. Holder of a  Master of Architecture and Urban Design degree from Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark.  Kristian has been with Gehl Architects since 2005 and has been an associate since 2008. His focus area is on capacity building, competition briefs, regeneration strategies for deprived areas, strategic planning frameworks and sustainable cities. He is responsible for Gehl Architects operations in China. He is an external lecturer at DIS (Danish International Study Abroad) and KUA (Copenhagen University).

Benjamin Gill (UK & Greece) One Planet Communities International Technical Manager at Bioregional (UK). Ben is a Chartered Environmentalist with IEMA, graduated in Earth Science from Cambridge University and completed an MSc in Environmental Technology at Imperial College. He draws on experience from working in a broad range of environmental fields such as energy efficient building design, running environmental education programs and managing the Appropriate Technology department in an environmental education center in Spain. Based in Greece, Ben currently manages Bioregional’s involvement in One Planet Communities in France, Luxembourg, Tanzania and Portugal. He provides technical support to the partners in first developing and then implementing the ambitious sustainability strategies. Ben has also planted and manages a small woodland, grows his own food and keeps bees.

Michael Photiadis (Greece) Graduate of MIT he has designed some of the most prominent buildings in Greece, among them: ''GAIA'' research center of the Natural History Museum in Kifissia, the Vorres Art Museum in Peania, the headquarters offices for BP Hellas, Fiat Hellas, and was the partner architect for the New Museum of Acropolis with architect Bernard Tschumi. He teaches in Europe and the US.

Francesco Bedeschi (Italy) Architect and professor of integrated architectural design and historic preservation with the Italian Program of the University of Arkansas Rome Center. He is also the site coordinator of the program of study in Italy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, State of New York. An international member of the American Institute of Architects and member of the board of the GBC Italia.

Abram de Boer (Holland) Architect, engineer, entrepeneur at Studio NOA Architecten, founder of the foundation Urban Vitamin and PHD-researcher at the University of Applied Science Amsterdam and the Technical University of Delft. Abram is a graduate of TU Delft.

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D. YOUNG CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

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Magdalena Malska (Poland & Germany) is an entrepreneur and an architect graduate of Krakow University of Technology, and a scholarship student of the Erasmus Program at the Politecnico di Milano. She practiced in architecture firms in Poland (Graf), in the Netherlands (WAM Architecten) and is currently working in Germany (m3 architektur + design). She writes for architectural magazines and is involved in the organization of International events such as ECOWEEK. Magdalena is an ECOWEEK Associate, and coordinates ECOWEEK in Poland and the UK.

Mehtap Leyla Turanalp (Turkey & USA) is a City and Urban Planner graduate of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul and of the Izmir Institute of Technology. Leyla has been involved in Design symposia, among them, 'Taksim Square Renewal Project', and MSFAU. Leyla is currently working as a Research Assistant for Prof. Rafi Segal at MIT in Boston. Leyla is also an Associate of ECOWEEK.

Dimitrios Farmakis (Greece) is a ΒΙΜ Consultant at Solvia Studio, and BIM Engineer at ALICE TechnologiesDimitrios studied Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, focusing on virtual design and construction, energy efficient building design and construction management. Through his various roles, ranging from BIM instructor at Stanford to BIM engineer for the world’s first automated construction scheduling software, Dimitrios has gained broad exposure to various BIM tools and the Integrated Design process. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Design Build Institute of America (DBIA).

Jelena Lucic (Serbia & China) holds a Master of Environmental Studies and BA of International Business. Jelena is the founder of NGO ECOIST based in Belgrade, Serbia, with the mission to improve urban sustainability. ECOIST organised ECOWEEK in Belgrade, the first International GreenBuild Conference, and a number of innovative programs. Jelena was the Business Development Manager for a Cyprus-based international company, and is currently developing new marketing strategies for a company in China. Jelena is a speaker, lecturer, editor and a guest author for a number of blogs and magazines.

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Rose Lee's House by Rural Studio (Image by Hursley)

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