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Thursday, September 10, 2009
NYTimes.com: Off With Its Top! City Cuts Tower to Size
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NYTimes.com: New Yards Design Draws From the Old
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The following paragraph was culled from an article published in Metropolis about the U.S.G.B.C.'s new corporate headquaters. Keep in mind this was published before the Van Jones hullabaloo. For the full piece click here.:
But the quote wall is perhaps the most faithful barometer of office culture. Submitted by the council's 196 employees, the quotes are taken from Jesus Christ ("Whatever thy hand findest to do, do it with all thy heart") and his secular equivalent ("'Do, or do not. There is no try.' -Yoda"). They are from the author of The Green Collar Economy ("It's time to stop borrowing and start building .") and the mouth of a sworn enemy ("'The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when?'" -Ronald Reagan"). There are seven from Mahatma Gandhi; six from Frank Lloyd Wright; five each from Barack Obama, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and E. E. Cummings; four from John Muir; and three from Dr. Seuss. Other offices have mountain retreats and trust falls. The USGBC has its quote wall. "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars," goes one quote from Oscar Wilde, caught in a rare instance of sounding more like Sacheen Littlefeather.
Which prompts the question: Does a corporate look suit an organization whose employees find inspiration in Van Jones? Or is that disconnect precisely the point? As much as the aesthetic seems to belie the institution's character, it's in lockstep with its mission-to spread green building far and wide. Corporations are among the last frontiers and, by dint of their size, the ideal candidates to usher in change. With its new office, the USGBC is turning itself into a billboard for the idea that green business practices extend beyond a few recycling bins and a company-sponsored Earth Day picnic; they penetrate all corners of office life, from carpeting and desk lamps to the very process by which the space is designed. Efficiency and collaboration are the new watchwords, ideas that both green activists and corporate suits can embrace. "We're putting together technologies that are already in existence but have never been quite assembled in this way," Wilson says. "We're not a hundred percent sure how everything is going to turn out, but we want to be able to tell this story to all kinds of people." The lesson is right there on the wall: "To move the world, we must first move ourselves."
But the quote wall is perhaps the most faithful barometer of office culture. Submitted by the council's 196 employees, the quotes are taken from Jesus Christ ("Whatever thy hand findest to do, do it with all thy heart") and his secular equivalent ("'Do, or do not. There is no try.' -Yoda"). They are from the author of The Green Collar Economy ("It's time to stop borrowing and start building .") and the mouth of a sworn enemy ("'The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when?'" -Ronald Reagan"). There are seven from Mahatma Gandhi; six from Frank Lloyd Wright; five each from Barack Obama, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and E. E. Cummings; four from John Muir; and three from Dr. Seuss. Other offices have mountain retreats and trust falls. The USGBC has its quote wall. "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars," goes one quote from Oscar Wilde, caught in a rare instance of sounding more like Sacheen Littlefeather.
Which prompts the question: Does a corporate look suit an organization whose employees find inspiration in Van Jones? Or is that disconnect precisely the point? As much as the aesthetic seems to belie the institution's character, it's in lockstep with its mission-to spread green building far and wide. Corporations are among the last frontiers and, by dint of their size, the ideal candidates to usher in change. With its new office, the USGBC is turning itself into a billboard for the idea that green business practices extend beyond a few recycling bins and a company-sponsored Earth Day picnic; they penetrate all corners of office life, from carpeting and desk lamps to the very process by which the space is designed. Efficiency and collaboration are the new watchwords, ideas that both green activists and corporate suits can embrace. "We're putting together technologies that are already in existence but have never been quite assembled in this way," Wilson says. "We're not a hundred percent sure how everything is going to turn out, but we want to be able to tell this story to all kinds of people." The lesson is right there on the wall: "To move the world, we must first move ourselves."
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