Builders tend to think of resilience in terms of designing and constructing buildings that will stand the test of time. But bending the arc toward a world full of healthy, ecologically responsible buildings is a long game, and we need resilient people and resilient organizations for our work to grow in scope and scale.

My own career in natural building has developed over nearly 30 years, and in this session I’ll be examining what it’s taken to be resilient in the face of changes both predictable and unpredictable, and how the colleagues and organizations supporting me have come and gone, succeeded and failed. All building toward some kind of answer to the question: What does it take to be resilient in this line of work?

And this won’t be all about looking backward… I will always attempt to use the lessons of the past to inform the future. How can we intentionally keep ourselves and the various facets of our movement healthy and resilient moving forward?

The formal presentation portion will only take half the allotted time, with the remainder dedicated to an open, facilitated conversation that will bring in the experiences of participants and the group’s ideas for how we can keep our collective work resilient.

AIA- CEU

This session explores resilience in natural building beyond structures—focusing on the people, organizations, and communities that sustain the work over time. Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience, the presenter shares lessons from successes and failures to help participants build personal and organizational resilience, maintain health and well-being, and support the long-term growth of sustainable building practices. The session includes a facilitated conversation to integrate participant experiences and strategies for collective resilience.

Prerequisite Knowledge:
None Required.

Learning Objective 1:
Identify key personal and organizational factors that contribute to resilience in the natural building profession.

Learning Objective 2:
Analyze lessons learned from successes and failures in sustaining long-term building projects and organizations.

Learning Objective 3:
Apply strategies to maintain health, well-being, and resilience in both individual and organizational practice.

Learning Objective 4:
Develop approaches for fostering collective resilience, collaboration, and sustainability within the natural building community.

Chris Magwood is working to help create a world where buildings are a leading part of the climate solution instead of a major contributor to climate change and doing so in a way that makes the world more equitable, healthy, beautiful, and efficient.

In 2022, Chris joined the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Embodied Carbon initiative within RMI’s Carbon-Free Buildings team. There he leads efforts on HomebuildersCAN, a unique community of practice for homebuilders working to decarbonize, and the development of RESNET Standard 1550 for the measurement and reporting of embodied carbon for homes.
In 2019, he helped to establish Builders for Climate Action, and has been leading development of the BEAM carbon estimator tool for low-rise construction. At BfCA, he co-authored four major studies on embodied carbon in homebuilding.

From 2011-2022, Chris was a director and teacher at The Endeavour Centre, a not-for-profit sustainable building school. Prior to that, he ran a design/build firm specializing in carbon-storing, healthy, energy efficiency new construction and renovations.

Chris has authored seven books on sustainable building. His latest book, Building Beyond Zero: New Ideas for Carbon-Smart Architecture, is co-authored with Bruce King and published by Island Press.