Mayer Architects got an early start in the field of sustainability when Gerhard Mayer came to the USA on a Fulbright Scholarship in sustainable design. He subsequently completed a Master Degree at RPI in this field.
Sustainability has remained a core principle for the practice in everything we do. As fact based realists, we see the biggest possibilities for the least amount of effort to move towards a more sustainable environment in the field of urban planning. Walkable communities, traditional neighborhood developments, urban repair infill projects, transit based neighborhoods and transit oriented developments achieve sustainability simply by minimizing the need for vehicular circulation without reducing either the flexibility for the people living there, while simultaneously increasing their quality of life.
Led by a LEED-AP, we also strive to design ‘green’ buildings. This could mean very simple structures, or complex active buildings with double envelope walls, regenerative mechanical systems, automated climatic control mechanisms as well as other features, all designed to reduce the building’s carbon footprint.
It is our commitment to work towards an architecture that not only uses less energy than what we are used to at this moment, but to make buildings net contributors to the energy household of the community.
Buildings ought to not make the environment just a little bit worse – they ought to make the environment better by their sheer existence.
As a society, we are not there yet – but as a firm, we are committed to striving towards this goal.