MaineBusiness.com

FALMOUTH - One of Maine’s leading green-design architects, Rick Renner of Richard Renner Architects in Portland, says we can’t afford to keep making buildings that are a drain on the environment, and that green design offers a powerful alternative.

Renner will give a free green-design presentation at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, in the visitor center of Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, an award-winning green building he helped design in 1996.

An architect for over 30 years, Renner led the renovation of Maine College of Art’s Porteous Building, the first U.S. EPA Energy Star Showcase Building in Maine. Later, he worked with fellow architects Sam Van Dam and Carol Wilson to design Maine Audubon’s visitor center at its headquarters in Falmouth, which won a Sustainable Design Award from the Boston Society of Architects.

In his "City House, Country House" presentation, Renner will focus on the two LEED Platinum-rated green-building homes he has designed—a two-story house at Cranberry Ridge in Freeport, a collaboration with Wright-Ryan Construction, and a loft apartment and studio space where he lives and works in downtown Portland. These residential projects are examples of how green design can reduce a building’s impact on the environment while creating a pleasant place to make a home.

"I truly believe high-performing buildings are better for people and make a difference for the environment," said Renner. "We can make huge changes in our demand for energy without compromising our lifestyle."

While cutting those energy needs is first and foremost in green design, Renner said it also offers alternative ways to think about location, materials and how buildings work to create many other positive environmental impacts—including reducing sprawl, curbing climate change and improving the health of inhabitants.

"It’s a wonderful opportunity to have Rick speak in one of the first green buildings he helped design," said Gilsland Farm Audubon Center manager Eric Hynes. "Our visitor center has been a great success in showing how a versatile, useful and attractive building can work with the environment rather than against it."

The presentation is free and open to the public, but please RSVP by calling (207) 781-2330, ext. 275.

MAINE AUDUBON works to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action. For more information, please visit www.maineaudubon.org