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"Paul Murdoch...

A primary task of this generation is to create new patterns of development that sustain human habitation on this planet. Towards this end, the principles adopted for our practice are intended to ensure that each project contributes to an overall goal of environmental responsibility while striving for design excellence. As architects, we are uniquely qualified to help formulate and translate policy into tangible form; mitigating pressures of urbanity with the need to heal the natural environment. Each design solution is seen as a contribution to the human condition; as it exists today and evolves into future generations."

(Bold emphasis mine)

If this doesn't come off as the typical arrogant liberal attitude then I don't know what does. First he is strongly suggesting that there is something wrong with our present way fo life. It sure sounds a lot like the "current American lifestyle is unsustainable" from one of the design jurors. Then he basically spits in the face of anyone who disagrees. "Translating policy into tangible form?" WTF? We're talking about a monument, not a plan for implementing, say, the War on Terror -- or was his statement a Freudian slip? "Pressures of urbanity"??? It's a field in the middle of nowhere! Maybe it's me, but that statement seems designed for the express purpose of confusion and deflection--of the fact that they are clearly pandering to the same Islamofascists who brought the plane down in the first place.

As a member of the AIA and Eco-Cities Council in Los Angeles, Paul has spoken widely on many aspects of sustainable design. Paul Murdoch Architects has designed or consulted on a variety of projects notable for their environmental design sensitivity, including an off-the-grid solar, straw-bale house, a regional library awarded a Merit Award for building-integrated photovoltics by AIA Research and the NREL, commercial buildings, and urban design/master planning for large mixed-use projects.

Nelson Byrd Woltz is a full service twenty-person landscape architecture firm based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1985 by University of Virginia faculty member Warren Byrd and partner Susan Nelson, the firm has maintained a commitment to education while engaging in a broad range of public and private projects.