Kristen DiStefano on Designing for Future-Ready Sustainability

The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

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The Green Impact Report

Quick take:

What if your master plan was smart enough to beat policy to the punch? Kristen DiStefano shares bold strategies from Atelier Ten that are shaping the future of zero-carbon communities — before the ink is dry on today’s code.

Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion

Kristen DiStefano is a Director at Atelier Ten and a leading voice in environmental design. Trained in both civil engineering and architecture, she brings technical fluency and people-centered creativity to some of the West Coast’s most ambitious sustainable projects. From net-zero campuses to district-scale reuse systems, her work bridges policy, performance, and people.

🌱 Breaking Ground on Better Building

In this episode, Kristen DiStefano revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:

Key Insight #1: Building a blackwater-powered future in Mission Rock

The Challenge: Water reuse wasn’t even legal when the project began.
The Solution: Design a district-wide blackwater treatment and reuse system anyway.
ROI: Now required by code, the system will save an estimated 16 million gallons annually.

Key Insight #2: Rethinking energy at California College of the Arts

The Challenge: Maker spaces with kilns, glass furnaces, and labs have huge loads.
The Solution: Dual strategy — reduce architectural demand and work directly with studio leaders to tackle equipment use.
ROI: Smart controls + future microgrid + PV = a scalable model for low-carbon academic buildings.

Key Insight #3: Expanding what "zero carbon" really means

The Challenge: Too many sustainability frameworks stop at operations.
The Solution: Kristen argues for a broader carbon scope: refrigerants, site work, EV infrastructure, and even transportation emissions.
ROI: A regenerative, resilient framework that keeps pace with reality—and policy shifts.

🌎 Sustainable Soundbite

"Eventually the goal would be to never emit carbon to begin with. But we’re not quite there yet. So let’s chart the path."

— Kristen DiStefano

📌 Your Green Building Action Plan

Transform your next project with these steps:

This Week: Revisit your project’s early-stage energy and water assumptions — are you future-proofing or checking boxes?
This Quarter: Map your carbon strategy across all five pillars: operations, embodied materials, refrigerants, transportation, and site impacts.
This Year: Pilot one regenerative or district-scale solution — even if it’s ahead of current code. Be the reason it's normalized later.

Connect & Learn More

🌿 Access full episode resources: [GreenBuildingMatters.com/podcast]
🗒 **Read the transcript here.**
🔗 Connect with Kristen DiStefano: [LinkedIn] | [Atelier Ten]

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