The Architecture of Healing with Michael Green + Natalie Telewiak

Design and the City

Michael Green and Natalie Telewiak love wood. These Vancouver-based architects champion the idea that Earth can, and should, grow our buildings--or grow the materials we use to build them.

They are the principals of Michael Green Architecture, or MGA, and have made it their mission to tackle world housing and climate change by harnessing the power of timber, which they call “the most technologically advanced material we can build with,” to sequester carbon, to accelerate construction and reduce local disruption, and to create spaces that foster more holistic well-being in our built environments.

In this episode, Michael and Natalie dive deep into the ethos behind their design and material choices in some of their standout projects, like the Ronald McDonald House of British Columbia and Yukon, with reSITE founder, Martin Barry. They weigh the advantages and limitations of mass timber construction and dissect the complex nuances faced when striving for true sustainability.

One could argue, what is sustainability without community? Without affordability? Without connection? As pillars of MGA’s practice, it is the combination of these factors that render their work both remarkable and mindful. Their projects are rooted in the local ecosystem and designed for inhabitants to build connections to nature and to each other.

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Design and the City, is a podcast produced by reSITE about the ways we can use design to make cities more livable and lovable. reSITE is a global non-profit and platform connecting people and ideas to improve the urban environment. We work at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, politics, culture, and economics, acting as a catalyst for social action and innovative leadership. We encourage the exchange of ideas about making cities more livable, competitive, resilient, inclusive, mobile, and designed with humans in mind to protect and public space, architecture, and sustainable development in cities.

Learn more at www.reSITE.org

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This podcast was directed by Elizabeth Mills and produced by Alexandra Siebenthal, with support from Martin Barry, and Radka Ondrackova as well as the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture and Nano Energies, and edited by LittleBig Studio.