SUSTAINABILITY
Klaus Philipsen founded his firm 17 years ago as a laboratory for Smart Growth and the implementation of the ideas and principles developed through his volunteer work. His work with the growth management group 1000 Friends of Maryland and on a Baltimore County land trust, as well as his European education have made sustainability a key ingredient of ArchPlan's work, long before this term became fashionable. Klaus designed his first green roof on an urban high school in Germany in 1976 followed by a green roof on a corporate headquarter.
All of ArchPlan's staff is currently LEED accredited. Our approach to sustainability transcends the green point system. We believe that urban revitalization, rehabilitation and adaptive reuse are important contributions to sustainability especially when combined with new "green" technologies such as hybrid rainwater harvesting systems, thermal solar, LED lighting and daylighting in combination with shading and rainscreen systems to name a few. We have been weaving environmentally friendly design and energy efficiency into all designs since 1992, no matter if they were for affordable or high end projects.
