3 things With … Heather DeGrella

3 things With … Heather DeGrella

Portland has an amazing sustainability community and we want to highlight that amazing people and work that shapes our unique city.  We’re sharing  their answers to questions we posed.

Meet Heather DeGrella, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Fitwel Ambassador is Associate Principal | Sustainable Design Director at Opsis Architecture.

Heather’s tireless passion for green building is evident throughout her career of extensive community and professional service, public speaking and practical application on a diverse number of design and research projects. Taking inspiration from nature, Heather applies her expertise in sustainability and wellness throughout the project life cycle and into operations ensuring that sustainable design goals have been realized.

Take it away Heather!

What does sustainable mean to you?
What sustainable means to me is continuously evolving. Sustainability in its most basic definition goes something like “take only what is essential to meet current needs and don’t steal from future generations’ ability to meet their needs.”

It encompasses environmental, social, and economic aspects (the Triple Bottom Line), with a focus on minimizing negative impacts and creating long-term solutions for a healthy planet and society. The textbook definitions are useful as a starting point and frame of reference, but to me the real meaning of sustainability is more holistic and more complex.

In the last 25 years in the AEC industry, the definition of sustainability has adapted to include resiliency, circular economy, social equity and equitable engagement in the design process, biophilic design, embodied carbon, and more.  I recently attended an amazing weeklong biomimicry workshop in Costa Rica. We learned about the 9 Life’s Principles, strategies inspired by nature and used in biomimicry to create sustainable solutions, such as Be Resource Efficient, Adapt to Changing Conditions, Be Locally Attuned and Responsive, Use Life-Friendly Chemistry, and Optimize Rather Than Maximize. As a result, I am inspired to develop a new definition of sustainability, one where it is essential to ask “What would nature do?”

Name a Portland (or Oregon) project or collaboration that has inspired you, and tell us why you are inspired by it.
The Portland Materials Transparency Collaborative, of course! I am inspired by the collaborative nature of the group (see, it’s right there in the name), with over 60 architects and designers who put aside the competitive nature of the industry to work together in the common pursuit of transforming the market to embrace full disclosure of how materials are made (the ingredients, the labor practices, the extraction practices, the manufacturing process, etc). Since 2015, we have worked together to educate ourselves and our regional industry, through regular meetings and special events. Our most recent event was a panel for Sustainable Building Week called “Uncovering Imbedded Inequities: the unintended consequences of architectural specifications that promote Implicit Bias, Modern Slavery and Social Injustices.”

Tell us a bit about your Sustainable Building Monthly presentation– what will people learn/ take away?
This event will be an opportunity to learn more about the PMTC, past accomplishments and resources, and to join in the discussion as we envision our focus and events for the next few years. We’d love to learn about other organizations with collaboration potential, which topics on material health and transparency are of most interest to you, and where you need the most resources. An in person social hour will be followed by a group discussion with PMTC leadership to prioritize efforts in 2023/2024. No prior involvement or future commitment with PMTC required!

PS: Take the survey that will help inform the discussion for the May 9 Sustainable Building Monthly … and be sure to register here!