Claire Maxfield on math and persuasion in building design

Design the Future

Claire Maxfield directs Atelier Ten’s San Francisco office, which works, as a consultant to architects or owners, on an incredible range of large, complex, and environmentally ambitious projects — buildings, landscapes, and master plans. She has been integral to many significant green building milestones in the US and beyond.
We talked to her about what it is like to be a full-time green building nerd. She described how she uses a broad range of skills — analytical, technical, artistic, communications, and even persuasion — in the work. Her teams are leading the big decisions around leading-edge projects. And the woman-led office that she started (in a global recession) is growing and thriving. Claire sees that significant changes have transpired and the potential of emissions impact in the built environment sector. “We have all the technology that we need,” she says. “Where we are lacking progress, it is a lack of will. It’s our job to demonstrate the power of what’s possible.”

Talking to Claire offers a peek into her roots in the humanities side of environmentalism; she cites William Cronon’s work as a major influence, especially the books that explore the notion of humans as a part of nature, rather than separate from it.