InterCoast Spotlight: Paul Kephart - President of Rana Creek Ecological Designs
March 31, 2014 | Blog
Paul Kephart, President of Rana Crek Ecological Designs, is really excited to have been asked to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Big Ideas Seminar’s. Renowned designer, biologist, and expert in land-use planning, Paul is best known for his pioneering efforts in Living Architecture, an alternative approach to conventional development through sustainable design strategies.
Paul has developed a profound understanding of natural processes over the course of almost thirty years of master planning, architectural design, landscape design, and project management. Paul is frequently sought out for his expertise in land-use, permitting, compliance regulations and zoning approval. He regularly consults with developers, government agencies and other private sector businesses. Paul is also known for his knowledge and design of large-scale wetlands, coastal and native grassland restoration projects. His expertise in sustainable architecture and ecologically sound landscape design has positioned him as an expert in ‘restorative’ buildings and site integration. Paul regularly shares his expertise and passion at public lectures and keynotes for USGBC, ASLA, and various universities.
When we spoke to Paul and asked him why it was important to him to attend and share his knowledge and experience with the participants he told us,
I'm passionate about living architecture and support for those who want to practice it in North America. I’ve had the chance to be part of some incredible projects with great teams and hope that some of the lessons we’ve learned we can share”.
Paul is interested to see what others are doing and exchange information and knowledge with people attending that are working in this space also.
We asked Paul who he thought would benefit the most from attending the seminar? “ I would Love to see city and provincial policy makers, administrators and facility operators. The architectural and landscaping communities all together because the issues we talk about will reach each and every segment and requires everyone participation to be truly effective”
Two of the projects that Paul has had a lot of learning with lately are the Vancouver Convention Centre, and the brand new Transbay Transit Park in San Francisco.
Vancouver Convention Centre
Transbay Transit Park in San Francisco
During our conversation with Paul we discovered that living green roofs and vertical green walls are already mainstream, and there are projects happening everywhere! Paul has seen the development of this industry and the technology that has been engineered to allow designers to create spaces that just weren’t possible a few years ago. It will be interesting as the public’s awareness increases and new technologies are bought to market what will be possible in the future.
We now know how important these projects are to our urban areas, and what they can do for us in terms of reducing waste, reusing and storing rain water, and providing beautiful habits for wildlife and people to enjoy. The question you need to be asking yourself is what future project will you be working on that will have a living green space incorporated into it, where before there was only concrete?
"Come be inspired! Bring your passion and creativity and come prepared to meet some leaders in the industry and the movement but come prepared to have a dialogue and share your information as well”
Green Tip of the Week: Don’t throw out those used ink cartridges it is possible to purchase refill kits that will allow you to refill these cartridges from the comfort of your own home! You can do this for a fraction of the cost of a new ink cartridge saving you money and the ink cartridge from the landfill.
Weekly Update: Look out for our upcoming features on InterCoast on the road. We are travelling around Canada in the coming weeks and meeting lots of people along the way.
Upcoming Events: Big Ideas In Living Architecture April 14th Calgary, April 15th Vancouver - get your tickets now.
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