Ed McGraw, CEO of Ashley McGraw Architects and 2016 graduate of the LENSES Facilitator Program, used LENSES to design a workshop for a new Living Building Challenge project at Binghamton University, located on a 70 acre nature preserve at the university. The University plans to design and build a research station and classroom on the site. The project is to be fully Living Building Challenge certified and will be one of just 13 certified buildings in the world. As a result of the day-long regenerative development workshop, three key initiatives were identified – develop an overall management plan for the Nuthatch Hollow property, design and construct a Living Building, and embed these efforts into the University culture and community.
“Using the LENSES Framework and bringing key stakeholders together in a LENSES workshop added a richness of thinking, ideas and possibilities that would have been missed by following a traditional design process.”
– Ed McGraw, CEO of Ashley McGraw Architects
Integrating the LENSES Framework pushed individuals and the group to identify the true essence and potential of the entire 70 acre preserve – through experiencing the site, developing guiding principles for decision making, and galvanizing an inspired vision for the future.