My World Too: BNIM Architects to Air on PBS Nationwide
BNIM will be featured in episode eight of My World Too: Season 1 on Saturday, June 12. My World Too is a new series airing on 225 PBS stations across the country including NYC, San Fran, Chicago, DC and many more, and tackles global issues such as food production, clean energy and housing. This series features inspirational stories of environmental stewardship, organic practices and Earth-friendly innovations that viewers can learn from and apply in their own lives.
My World Too host, Mike Wunsch, interviews Steve McDowell, Jeremy Knoll, Dana Sorensen and Joyce Raybuck about BNIM’s commitment to sustainable building practices and creating spaces people want to be in. Mike Wunsch speaks to each individual about what it means to build sustainably and what that looks like within our communities. BNIM Associate Principal, Joyce Raybuck shares as architects, “It’s our duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of our society and community.”
During the segment, Mike inquires how architecture can address the challenge of climate change and the increased intensity and quantity of severe weather. The BNIM team discusses the journey of helping rebuild Greensburg, Kansas after a devastating tornado destroyed over 90 percent of the town. Through investing in new technologies, renewable energy plants, water management strategies, and adopting a city-wide LEED Platinum ordinance, the City now serves as a national example of sustainable architecture and resilience.
“I’m really looking forward … to reduce our impact even further, and … get into the realm of positive buildings – they don’t affect the environment in a negative way but they give back and have some sort of regenerative aspect to the building.”– DANA SORENSEN
Towards the end of the show, Mike asks where the team sees BNIM going in the future. Joyce Raybuck emphasizes the continued importance of architects and designers addressing climate change in their work with buildings accounting for nearly 45 percent of the total U.S. GHG emissions. Steve McDowell explains, “We are at this point where we have to change the way we’re doing things, in order to peacefully coexist with the systems that got here first.”
