Firm Profile
William McDonough + Partners (WM+P) is a 40-person design firm that executes a diverse
international array of projects from its offices in Charlottesville, Virginia and
San Francisco. As architects, planners, and leaders in sustainable design, all of
our designs integrate environmentally-intelligent design strategies. We practice
a positive, principled design approach that draws inspiration from living systems
and processes. At its heart, this unique approach celebrates the abundance of nature:
daylight, fresh air, diversity, life, and creativity.
William McDonough, the firm's founding partner, has played a prime role in defining
sustainable design for more than two decades. WM+P was organized in 1994 when Mr.
McDonough became dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia.
The firm's partners collaborate closely with Mr. McDonough to bring his design concepts
into reality. In the process, WM+P has created pioneering architecture and community
designs that consider the long-term consequences of design. Among the practice's
diverse achievements are several recognized landmarks of the sustainability movement:
the Environmental Defense Fund National Headquarters; the Herman Miller "GreenHouse"
Factory and Offices; 901 Cherry, Offices for Gap Inc.; the Adam Joseph Lewis Center
for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College; and the Ford Rouge Center Revitalization.
Typically serving as design team leaders working on a wide array of projects and
building types, WM+P adds unique value by integrating rigorous analysis and design
synthesis. Our solutions to architecture, planning, and community design problems
range across scales from the molecule to the region as we examine the economic,
ecological, and social consequences of design. Our buildings and communities embody
enduring standards of design quality and economic, ecological, and social responsibility.
Approach
William McDonough + Partners' designs celebrate the earth's abundance while nurturing
connections between human and natural communities. We employ a unique design approach
that looks to natural systems for inspiration and relies on the belief that all
design decisions should support the creation of community. We strive to create safe,
healthy environments, both natural and built, that embody the ideas and ideals of
the human community of which they're a part.
Fundamental to this approach is an emphasis on the cradle to cradle paradigm developed
by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart. Using this model, WM+P seeks to
move beyond current best practices of environmental efficiency, which tend to focus
on reductions in the use of material resources and the minimization of pollution
and waste. Instead, the firm pursues an "eco-effective" agenda that seeks to optimize
quality at all scales while considering a diverse range of economic, ecological,
social, and technical criteria. Simply stated, by encouraging patterns of human
activity that are regenerative by design, this "eco-effective" approach aspires
to be 100% positive, not just less negative.
We view ecological issues both as the source of innovative design solutions and
as a fundamental measure of quality. Our work embodies these principles and offers
instructive examples of a sustaining design that we hope will inspire our clients,
the design profession, and human community at large.
The design, construction, and operation of buildings and landscapes offer a signal
opportunity for a community to deliberate over the ideas and ideals that it wishes
to express: what problems do these places resolve? what aspirations do they embody?
what human relationships do they nurture? what legacy do they leave? Our approach
fosters a deep connection between the built and natural landscapes. By re-engaging
people with their natural surroundings, we wish to design in accord with the laws
that govern natural systems and processes, instilling an environmental intelligence
that was once second nature.
Visit our website: www.mcdonoughpartners.com
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