Profile

Individuals lead their lives in the urban fabric of towns, cities, and metropolises. These places need to be designed and planned to enable the health and happiness of people within communities. I attended the University of Oregon and earned my bachelors’ degree in Architecture. I emphasized my studies in sustainable design and became an active participant in the education of green practices throughout the school and community. As a student, I helped run the University’s Backer Lighting Lab. The lab was used as a resource for students to learn about environmental control systems, including best daylighting practices, temperature controls, passive heating and cooling, and the newest innovative solutions in green building design.

After graduation, I moved to Seattle. I began my work at Callison as part of the Sustainable Studio, helping large projects integrate green solutions. I helped developed manuals to ease architects use of Ecotect and IES and help coordinate sustainable practices within critical (high energy load) buildings. I performed climate analysis and energy modeling for LEED buildings and coordinated weekly meetings to help designers learn new innovative products.

I recently graduated from the Master of Urban Planning and Design program at the University of Washington. Through the Environmental Planning Specialization, I was able to expand my expertise with sustainable solutions within the built environment. Looking at site design at a larger scale, I am now able to see new possibilities in water conservation and energy efficiency. Furthermore, I can adapt sustainable designs to fit the problems occurring due to climate change variability.

Currently I am in the Interdisciplinary Doctoral program in Urban Design and Planning. I want to focus my studies in the Ph.D. program on Urban Form and Environmental Planning. To deal with adaptability and resiliency in respects to climate change, I feel that we will need to collaborate urban form and design with environmental practices. I am specifically interested in researching biomimetics as a new tool for designers and planners to create a more resilient world. With biomimetics, buildings and infrastructure will be able to change as our environment slowly changes with the climate. I believe this is the next necessary step in planning and urban design.

If you have any questions, please contact me at stefanie.r.young@gmail.com.