SustainabilityWe confront climate change, social inequity, and biodiversity loss on every project.

Sustainability in Advocacy

At KieranTimberlake, sustainability is embedded in how we think, work, and collaborate. We are signatories of the AIA 2030 Commitment and the AIA Materials Pledge, reflecting a long-standing belief that architectural practice must respond meaningfully to climate change, human and planetary health, and social equity. These commitments provide a shared framework for accountability while allowing each project to respond to its specific context, reinforcing a commitment to transparency, shared learning, and continual improvement.

Beyond practice, KieranTimberlake contributes to broader industry efforts through research, tools (Tally, Roast, Pointelist), publications, presentations, and leadership roles intended to reveal and improve the social and environmental impacts of architecture.

Sustainability in Culture

The firm’s Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) articulates our environmental ethic across five interrelated topics: carbon, water, ecology, materials, and people. The SAP supports project teams in setting ambitious, project-specific goals while aligning with the commitments of the firm and the clients we serve.

Research is central to this culture. KieranTimberlake’s research explores topics such as ecological resilience, supply chain ethics, and environmental justice–informed life-cycle assessment. On every project, teams look for opportunities to apply these insights so that research informs routine practice rather than remaining experimental. All staff maintain a green building credential, such as LEED GA or LEED AP, and a monthly lecture series brings external voices into the office to share perspectives on sustainability, materials, and emerging practice. Periodic internal surveys assess familiarity with sustainability strategies and help guide updates to the SAP, training efforts, and knowledge sharing.

Sustainability in Practice

Each project begins with a Research in Environmental Design (RED) Report, which establishes essential background information and frames a project’s approach to sustainability. The RED Report helps identify opportunities, constraints, and priorities early in the design process, aligning project goals with KieranTimberlake’s commitments to zero-carbon, resilient, healthy, and equitable buildings, as well as with client ambitions.

We facilitate sustainability workshops with project stakeholders to align design goals, community values, and client commitments. These conversations help establish holistic goals that integrate people, place, and planet.

Throughout design, project teams conduct environmental analyses to inform decision-making. These may include coarse energy analysis, thermal comfort modeling, life-cycle assessment, and daylight and glare studies. By embedding these tools within the design process, teams can evaluate tradeoffs, test assumptions, and support outcomes that balance environmental performance with architectural intent in step with the design process.

We work closely with our partners to ensure sustainability goals are clearly communicated and integrated across all disciplines. This collaborative approach helps embed sustainability into each scope of work rather than isolating it as a separate task. When possible, the firm pursues post-occupancy evaluation to better understand how occupied projects perform. These evaluations may address energy and water use, ecology, inclusivity, and occupant satisfaction, providing feedback that informs future projects and strengthens the connection between design intent and lived experience.

Sustainability in Operations

We endeavor to partner with and work for people who share a similar environmental ethic. Together, we are able to achieve lofty goals. Additionally, we also value turning every stone and seeking continual improvement in every aspect of practice and operations. It all adds up.

The firm’s office functions as a testing ground for many of these ideas. The Ortlieb’s building is all-electric, operates with mixed-mode ventilation, and achieves net zero carbon when accounting for renewable energy generation, setting it above the 90^th percentile for energy use intensity among office buildings. Water use is significantly reduced through low-flow fixtures to achieve 80% reduction in water use intensity. An eleven stream waste system, including composting, has diverted over 40 tons of waste from landfill to compost since 2018. More than half of all daily commutes occur via public transportation, bicycle, or on foot.