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Join DAC in partnership with the Danish Embassy in Washington, DC, for a Danish-American dialogue on resilient communities and how to build for the future.

With rapid urbanization, demographic changes and climate changes globally, our cities and buildings are facing immense challenges. This calls for innovative design solutions in order to secure communities strong enough to handle the urban challenges. But how do we achieve these goals?

Through a cross-cultural dialogue and case examples, we explore how Danish architectural firms - known for their focus on sustainability - and American architects are balancing the variety of aspects needed in comprehensive urban development, that strengthens resilient communities.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain in-depth knowledge on the design process and choices made specifically by Danish architects when trying to maximize sustainability.
• Illustrate examples of international sustainable design and their positive impact on the environment and local cultures.
• Identify the challenges architects face in urban development while seeking to make sustainable design and material choices.
• Understand the benefits of international cooperation and dialogue as they apply to sustainable design and eco-friendly urban development.

Speakers include:

Anna Muessig, Gehl- Anna is a Partner and Senior Project Director at Gehl where she leads Gehl’s US partnerships in the public sector. Anna partners with municipal agencies, business improvement districts, and others to realize a vision of public life as a driver of shared prosperity, community belonging, and climate action. A skilled listener and facilitator, Anna brings 15 years of experience leading complex processes with multiple stakeholders to deliver transformational urban projects. Anna leads teams that translate community voice and behavioral insights into catalytic projects. She holds a Master in City Planning from MIT. Before Gehl, she founded a public art nonprofit and served on the board of Brooklyn's Green Hill Food Cooperative.
 

Daniel Baumann, Henning Larsen- Daniel Baumann, Partner and Design Director at Henning Larsen, co-leads the firm’s US studio in New York City. With nearly 15 years at Henning Larsen's offices in Copenhagen, Munich, and New York, he has directed several award-winning projects across Scandinavia, Europe, and North America. As a key member of the global leadership, Daniel maintains a commitment to design excellence and international knowledge-sharing. In the New York office, he oversees complex projects with an iterative, research-based, and co-creative process, coordinates large teams, and manages decision-making. His design philosophy emphasizes a contextual approach, with each project being uniquely tailored to its site, microclimate, program, density, and user experience at eye level, resulting in innovative and practical solutions. In 2018, Daniel—a Danish-German dual citizen—relocated to New York City to help steer Henning Larsen’s ambitions in North America. He leads significant international projects, including innovation districts, mixed-use masterplans and buildings, commercial offices, multifamily and student residences, and civic projects.

Tanya T. Eagle, AICP, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, PERKINS EASTMAN- With fifteen years of experience in the sustainable design and planning industries, Tanya leads sustainability efforts and manages third-party market standards across Perkins Eastman. Tanya creates and manages firmwide sustainability initiatives and policies, leads material health initiatives across the firm, and guides project consultation across global offices. Tanya is currently the co-chair of the AIA Materials Pledge Working Group and helped develop the recently released AIA Materials Pledge reporting framework. Tanya advocates for the intersection of health, wellness, and the built environment, and has extensive experience speaking at leading industry forums such as the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design, NeoCon, and Metropolis symposiums. She is active in industry leadership groups, and is passionate about sharing practical steps toward a sustainable future.

Moderated by: 

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Lance Davis, FAIA, LEED FELLOW, MSU Fellow- Lance Davis is the sustainability architect for the U.S. General Services Administration in Washington, DC. He is also the program manager for P100, the Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service. He has a Bachelors of Architecture from Mississippi State University where he is a Fellow. He is also a Fellow of the AIA and a LEED Fellow. He is past chair of the USGBC's LEED Steering Committee,is appointed to President Biden’s Climate Smart Infrastructure Working Group, and a former member of ASHRAE’s Task Force for Decarbonization. He helped author the book Sustainability Matters and is featured in the book, The Rise of Living Architecture.  

Organized by:

The District Architecture Center & Embassy of Denmark in Washington D.C.