The Godfather of Green Building Soul

(Berkebile center in signature Bow-tie)

Bob Berkebile has been one of the foremost proponents and developers of green architecture. In the late 1980’s he lobbied the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to create a committee to study how buildings could be designed with a more environmentally friendly goal. He took an organization that was reducing its environmental research efforts, and brought them into a mindset where that trend was reversed. However, Berkebile’s most important contribution may be how in 1993, he helped to create a new group, not restricted to just architects, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). In addition to being one of the pioneers of the green building movement, Berkebile also worked with greening the White House, during Clinton’s presidency, and worked with the National Science Foundation in making the McMurdo Research Station in the Antarctic more environmentally sound.