Heidi Creighton, AIA, LEED Fellow, WELL Faculty, Fitwel Ambassador – Associate Principal, Sustainability, Buro Happold Engineering

As part of the AIA|LA Citizen Architect initiative, we are profiling architects that are currently engaged in civic affairs by serving on Boards, Commissions, Neighborhood Councils  or who work for public agencies.

IMAGE CREDITS:  Heidi Creighton, AIA

Sustainable Southern California

We live in an amazing place. Los Angeles County: 4,084 square miles, 88 cities, 10 million residents, seaports, beaches, mountains, museums, movies, oil fields, forests, lakes, rivers and deserts. A biodiversity hot spot, known the world over.

But Los Angeles, the city and county, are growing fast, and as citizen architects and citizen scientists it’s part of our job to be involved in this growth, to improve and redefine the built environment and to discover, preserve and restore the natural environment. Our civic engagement can transform our region with new ideas about how a modern city can support a healthier, more sustainable urban life.

As one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the U.S. — and one of the nation’s least-affordable housing markets — Los Angeles County is an open laboratory for research, policies, planning and designs to improve the lives of everyone who lives here.

Clean air, clean water and economic opportunity are essential to a healthy city, and we must work to make them available in areas harmed by redlining and discriminatory public policies of the past. We can work toward the equity and resilience that are fundamental to the long-term sustainability of Los Angeles County.

Ensuring equitable outcomes and helping small communities find a way to organize — for better access to jobs and health care, for example — will require concerted effort and systems change. It can sound like an insurmountable challenge, but these changes can be made in small steps that add up to real achievement over time.

Los Angeles County has a Chief Sustainability Office that provides policy support and guidance for the Board of Supervisors and the county departments, as well as for unincorporated areas and the region in general. The goal is to make communities healthier, more livable and economically stronger, as well as more equitable, more resilient and more sustainable.

Through BuroHappold I have been coordinating the development of a county sustainability plan called OurCounty — a detailed and holistic blueprint for the future, an inclusive and truly regional vision. It has given me a much better understanding of the history of our region and how past discrimination has damaged communities. The LA County Board of Supervisors adopted this plan in August 2019.

Projects at the county level affect millions, but smaller projects can be very effective and meaningful. I experienced this kind of small-project approach last year, when I was able to work with BuroHappold and Bridges To Prosperity to build a 200’ footbridge in a remote area of Panama. This bridge gives an isolated community of 1,120 a safe crossing to schools, farm-markets and health-care facilities on the other side. Before the bridge, they waded or swam and many children started their school day with wet pants, socks and shoes.

This is a remote community, and this connection to the wider world invites opportunity that otherwise was unknown. Also, in this village there are very specific gender roles and opportunities, and the bridge project allowed all who live there to see the women beside me doing construction work that in their world is reserved for men.

For the past six years I have served on the USGBC-Los Angeles Board of Directors. This organization is a group of practical, informed professionals and advocates who are working to make Southern California a more sustainable place, and working with them has been inspiring and fulfilling. USGBC-LA is a good place to learn about living sustainably, about balancing today’s environmental impact and consumption with tomorrow’s requirements, and why business as usual is not a good option.

As Los Angeles stakeholders, you and your organizations will need to work together on the goals and actions identified in the OurCounty plan. There are a lot — 12 holistic goals and 148 underlying actions — and there is plenty for all of us, from improving transportation and reducing commuting miles to insuring water independence and quality, clean air and ecosystem health, all to be done in a creative, equitable and transparent manner.

Here’s what you can do immediately: Engage with policy makers. Push your clients to go beyond mere code compliance. Commit to carbon neutrality studies for your projects. Volunteer for organizations you support. Mentor future sustainability leaders.

As architects and designers of the built world, we need to lead the way and solve these problems. I chose to raise my family here and am a proud Angeleno. Please join me in working for a healthier world for future generations here in Los Angeles. My Home. Our Home.

Heidi Creighton, AIA, LEED Fellow, WELL Faculty, Fitwel Ambassador – Associate Principal, Sustainability, Buro Happold Engineering

Heidi Creighton is a registered architect, a LEED Fellow, WELL Faculty, and a Fitwel Ambassador. Her work focuses on sustainability and wellness strategies and certifications for academic, healthcare, commercial, and residential projects.

She provides sustainability consulting services at the building and masterplan scales, as well as 3rd party certification management (LEED, Living Building Challenge, and WELL), post occupancy evaluation, and health and wellbeing-focused design.

Heidi is a passionate advocate for a restorative built environment, delivering socially, economically and environmentally sustainable developments. Heidi has led multiple initiatives within BuroHappold dealing with internal sustainability, wellness and diversity. The LA office received LEED-CI Platinum certification and Los Angeles Green Business certification. In 2014, Heidi led an internal happiness workshop for the LA office that resulted in a number of improvements including better lighting design, solutions to heating and cooling problems and a weekly office yoga program.

In support of a firm-wide diversity initiative, Heidi proposed that BuroHappold U.S. pursue the JUST Label. BuroHappold U.S. now has its JUST Label, accomplished through the policy, diversity and pay-scale data needed for reporting to this transparent database. This label underlines BuroHappold’s commitment to and engagement with our employees, today and in the future. She has also been instrumental in the launch of a Diversity & Inclusion Forum at BuroHappold, intended to promote understanding and appreciation of diversity within the office.

Heidi has been active in the green building industry for more than 15 years and has served on the USGBC-LA Board of Directors since early 2013. She is an Officer of USGBC-LA in the position of Secretary.

Recent speaking experience includes: Not Why, But How: Diversity, Equity and Sustainability at MGBCE Keynote (2017); Healthy and Happy: The Importance and Value of Human Capital at Greenbuild (2016); Alphabet Soup: Deciphering Sustainability Rating Systems and Lessons Learned at the Neighborhood Scale at APA California (2016); Healthy and Happy: The Importance and Value of Human Capital at AIA National (2016); Integrated Health and Wellness: WUSTL’s Hillman Hall at MGBCE (2016); USC Comprehensive Post-Occupancy Evaluation Study: The Impact of Indoor Environmental Quality on the Building Occupants’ Behaviors at MGBCE (2016); Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in the Workplace at USGBC-LA (2016); Workplace Changes and the Effect on Acquisitions at NAREIM (2016); Designing Your Life: Finding Balance at AIA-LA Women Leading Design (2015); The Value of Diversity at AIA-LA Women Leading Design (2015); Healthy and Happy: The Importance and Value of Human Capital at MGBCE (2015), and The Added Value Women Bring to the Design Profession at AIA-LA Women Leading Design (2015).