Building at Risk is a research project and policy initiative aimed at convening architects, engineers, builders, clients, policy makers and all who use the built environment in addressing the human—and the more than human—risk associated with architectural designs and their construction.

Notwithstanding clear advantages and opportunities afforded by adding to, altering, renovating, and building homes, landscapes, places of business, and all manner of shelter, it is with increasing frequency that the act of building and the fabrication of its materials contribute to degradation of the environment, higher levels of human toxicity, forced migration and labor, and to building failures.

The building industry and the design culture it subtends, remain widely disparate and dis-aggregated. They are also amongst the most under-resourced, under-researched, and under-regulated practices and professions. The operating of our buildings and the products of which they are fabricated originate in climate destructive fossil fuels; the chemistry which synthesizes our materials contributes to measurable carbon emissions and increasing levels of human illness; those who labor in their extraction, manufacturing, and installation are typically the most dis-empowered, disenfranchised, and at risk; say nothing of those who labor on building sites, during construction or demolition. In fact, notwithstanding the fact that the science and know-how of building have not substantially changed in over 200 years, not a week goes by without a significant building failure causing unnecessary death.

Building at Risk seeks significant policy changes at the level of the building industry, and it’s allied professions to address the impact of fossil fuels, climate change, material toxicity, forced labor, urban migration, building failures and failures of governance on human health, well-being, and social justice.

• Fossil Fuels, Climate Change, and the Built Environment

• Material Toxicity and Human Health

• Forced Labor, Urban Migration, and the Building Industry

• Building Failures and Failures of Governance

• Information Modeling, Virtualization and Data Delirium