Nature-Adaptive Design with Fernando Arias

<p><strong>Fernando Arias</strong> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">is the Director of Sustainability at Clark Construction Group. The firm has been named as one of the greenest contractors in the US, with a tremendous amount of completed LEED projects. In today’s episode, Fernando shares with Charlie Cichetti the story of his colorful childhood that helped shape the sustainability-minded professional that he is now.</span></p> <h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Child of Nature</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Colombia-born, Fernando was surrounded by the fertile land of the City of Eternal Spring. Coffee plantations, flower farms, and a variety of butterflies are among his earliest childhood memories prior to his family’s big move to New York.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I’ve always been immersed and impressed by the abundance of natural and urban ecologies and I learned to respect the natural environment very much.” - Fernando Arias</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His first interests involved tinkering with toys and their machineries, eventually leading him to become part of the military as a tech mechanic, but his career track was never a linear path. Over time, he switched gears.</span></p> <p> </p> <h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Greatest Influencer</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It was when he moved to San Francisco that he met the person who enabled him to change paths. With his talent in collage and 3D art, Fernando was steered into thinking about taking up architecture classes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fernando’s interest in the physics of buildings grew into a fascination with how forces and nature affect the form of buildings. He went abroad and got more immersed in the landscape environment.</span></p> <p> </p> <h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Integrating Nature in Design</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A few years down the road, he furthered his studies at Columbia University. Fer