A Chicago architect is producing a holistic planning approach to reduce carbon emissions in dense urban cores. The fledgling urban replanning effort, which Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is developing for the 550-building Chicago Loop area, is a process that starts with a survey of existing buildings in a district to assess age, use, condition, energy consumption and more. The survey is a first step toward devising a district-wide approach to sustainable retrofits and appropriate adaptive reuse. The planning framework can be used as a model for retrofits in other cities, urban cores and building campuses, says the architect.
The goal of the firm’s Chicago Central Area Decarbonization Plan, which it is sponsoring with its own funds and with cooperation from the city and local organizations, is to improve the performance of every building and major infrastructure system within Chicago’s Loop. The idea is to reduce the area’s emissions of 3.9 million metric tons of carbon per year, to meet the goals of the 2030 Challenge.