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Gail Vittori, co-director of Austin’s Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, (www.cmpbs.org) and recently appointed chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, found her calling accidentally. When she arrived in Austin in 1977, after having studied economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Vittori began working in the political realm, with no particular professional plan in mind. But when she visited the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS), her uncertain career path became quickly clear. “I began getting involved at the center, working on various projects,” she explains, “and was struck by how untraditional thinking about ways to connect communities of people within the context of understanding [building and eco] systems completely worked for me.” Vittori began working regularly at the center in 1979, and went on to become co-director with her husband, the much-lauded Pliny Fisk, in 1991. Today, she enjoys that title while overseeing the center’s Sustainable Public Initiatives program, and acting as a sustainable design consultant for local and national projects, and is seen as a stalwart in the burgeoning green building industry in Texas and beyond.
Vittori and the center’s work reaches far and wide – and it all began in the 1970s in Austin. In 1989, the center partnered with the city to create the first green building program in the world by developing some core ideas, institutionalizing green building, and generally changing the way people think about how to build. “The development of the center put Austin in a very strong position to have a voice, so that what happens in the broader region of Texas is followed throughout the industry,” explains Vittori. “Green building programs don’t just focus on current knowledge, but on expanding that knowledge and examining the unknown in regards to how builders, contractors, designers, architects and city planners think about designing, changing and being responsive to regional ecology.”
CMPBS is a nonprofit educational, research and demonstration organization specializing in life cycle planning and design. Jim Nations, a board member for the organization since 1982, and the board’s president now for a decade, says he’s seen the center evolve and develop, beginning in 1975, “from a family-run operation with a lot of experimental ideas, to an absolutely cutting edge, state-of-the-art think and action tank on sustainable lifestyles, buildings and energy efficiency.” Vittori’s global notoriety is a testament to that.
Nations compared Vittori’s appointment to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to “receiving a Nobel Prize or a MacArthur award. Her modesty is a window to her soul and a reflection of her dedication to this mission,” he says. “That organization is cutting edge, nationally and internationally, and they chose Gail to lead them on that level. That’s huge.”
The U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) was founded in 1983, and began receiving Department of Energy funding in 1996, thereby giving it credibility and a forum to lead on national and international fronts. The organization was formed as a way to begin analyzing how to influence the building environment so that standards and guidelines could be set. Today, it has a membership that includes car manufacturers, school systems and even chemical companies, and gives out millions of dollars annually in grants for research money and project funding. According to the USGBC’s strategic plan for 2009 through 2013, while being green has become mainstream, green buildings and other green products remain very small percentages of total market shares. The organization realizes that the pace of change must increase to prevent significant deterioration of ecological conditions in many places around the world, and Vittori, mother of two, is noticeably passionate about that mission.
In the case of healthcare buildings, Vittori believes replacing existing mechanical systems with systems that perform better on the energy scale while providing a better indoor environment that would produce immediate returns financially for the failing industry, while enhancing the productivity and well-being of the people inside. This concern and interest led Vittori to write Sustainable Healthcare Architecture, co-authored by Robin Gunther of New York City, published in November 2007, and now in its second print. The book, which also includes a number of essays by various essayists, addresses issues of healing and health in the adult healthcare environment, a topic Vittori considers timeless. (For further information on the book see www.cmpbs.org/t.news.html).
Vittori paints the future of the center with a broad brush. “As we continue to look at how we best fulfill our mission, which is to create a sustainable world, one of our best opportunities,” she offers, “is to make the place that we work,” she says, referring to the center itself, “a very compelling and informative experience for visitors. We are in the midst of a master-planning phase for the property we occupy so we can enhance that experience. We also aim to strengthen the [impressive and sought-after] intern program.” And, finally, Vittori believes the center will reach back and revisit its roots, after having worked a great deal in the private sector for the last five years, and begin to look at fundamental research and policy and education questions. “We at the center are in a great position to revisit those questions and come back with clarity on how we can best collaborate and influence the decades ahead.” She is confident that the green industry will equally expand its reach and roots as more and more people become committed and educated about its necessity.
The center is open for public viewing the first Friday of every month, and prefers a call from would-be visitors beforehand at 512.928.4786. Groups may arrange showings, also by phone.