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 his place is for the birds! Really. And for the bugs and butterflies and worms. But it is also a great place for people. It's the Gap company campus in San Bruno, California, and it's not like any other office building. It's beautiful, sure, with high ceilings, indoor courtyards and loads of natural light. But this building is designed to exist peacefully with nature.
The floor is raised to allow cool night air to flow through the building and naturally flush out daytime staleness. The wavy roof is covered with soil and planted with native grasses and flowers. Everything in between, from carpets to paints to woods, is poison-free and earth friendly.
The office was designed by William McDonough, an architect and inventor who likes bow ties and lives in a house Thomas Jefferson designed 200 years ago. For 15 years, McDonough has created buildings that are gentle to the earth.
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Plans for a "green community" in Indiana
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His "green buildings" include the Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio, which uses plants and microbes to purify its own wastewater. Under construction is a 640-acre solar- and wind-powered community in Chesterton, Indiana.
Inventive Thinking
For many years, McDonough says, we have been trying to protect the environment by doing "less bad," by dumping fewer poisons into our air, land and water. But "less bad" isn't good enough: "Let's say you want to drive your car south, to Mexico. But you're heading north, to Canada, and speeding along at 70 miles per hour. It doesn't do much good to slow down to 20 miles per hour, does it? You're still driving in the wrong direction! The only solution is to turn the car around."
McDonough's new idea is to make the things we throw away out of stuff that helps the earth. He and partner Michael Braungart have invented fabric that breaks down into chemical-free dirt after it's thrown away and sneakers with soles that break down into food for earthworms. Lately, McDonough is thinking about soda cans. Why can't we have cans that we could toss into our gardens, made of stuff that would help our tomatoes grow?
"The world is about to change," says McDonough. "Kids are great at asking 'Why can't we do this a different way?' That's where we begin. And together we will invent a new world and new ways of doing things."
By David Bjerklie
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