Amber Nelson, MArch, MLA, LEED AP
Description of your work in green building:
Having a dual masters in Architecture and Landscape Architecture, I’ve done a bit of everything it seems in the green building world, from designing and building a green runway for the New York Chapter’s first sustainable fashion show, to retrofitting a 1970’s landscape into a native plant oasis and starting a sustainable tour company. These days I’m mostly in architectural education, teaching highschoolers around the world about architecture school in my online Architecture Discovery Courses, where sustainability is a constant theme.
Sustainability passion:
Native plants! Not only are native plants great teachers about how to live sustainably in a micro-region (think: biomimicry), they also have evolved to be the lowest maintenance and resource-intensive and most beneficial for any landscape. As climate change continues to warp our world, planting native and planting everywhere will become ever-more crucial.
Most meaningful experience with MGGBC Chapter:
I’m brand new here, having previously spent years in Latin America in Brazil and Mexico, but I was a member before that in the New York Chapter of GBC. The summer social I attended recently spoke my love language as we did a planting take home activity at Growing Green.
What will most impact the future of green building:
Breaking down the isolation between the careers of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. I find it so strange how we all exist within our own bubbles, yet we are all shaping the physical world around us. We need to genuinely collaborate at all stages of the building process if true sustainability will be achieved.
Favorite LEED (or sustainability) Project:
The Tenderloin National Forest is a project that transforms a derelict alleyway in the heart of one of the most crime-ridden areas of San Francisco, CA, into a community-run garden art space. For me, it’s these small ultra-local community empowerment projects that make all the difference.
Favorite place in the St. Louis region or Missouri Gateway GBC territory:
There’s too many wonderful places here to pick just one but I recently discovered that we have a beach! Officially in IL (just barely) Chouteau Island Fishing Area in the middle of the Mississippi is a rare chance to hang out in the middle of this great river and connect with the powerful forces of nature that are too often ignored in our daily lives.