Conscious Design Podcast™

How Architects Can Lead the Climate Movement

Kevin Kennon · May 10, 2025

Entrepreneur · Wellness · Leadershipin

Interview with Kevin Kennon

How Architects Can Lead the Climate Movement — Kevin Kennon

Podcast: Conscious Design Podcast™

May 10, 2025 · 48 min

In this episode of the Conscious Design Podcast, host Ian Peterman sits down with internationally renowned architect Kevin Kennon to explore how architecture must evolve—merging sustainable design, AI-driven innovation, and emotional impact to shape a better world. Kevin shares…

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How Architects Can Lead the Climate Movement

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Key topicsGood Bones — Why the Best Return Is in the Building Already StandingKevin Kennon has spent 40 years putting buildings up and taking old ones apart, including the conversion of the American Express Building in Tribeca and the rebuild of Macy's Herald Square. Most developers price a site as if the structure on it were a cost to clear, when the frame, floors and shell are often the most valuable thing in the deal. He walks through how he reads an existing building for what it can carry, where reuse beats new construction on cost and timeline, and where it does not. Listeners leave able to look at an older property and tell whether the return sits in the land or in what is already standing.Own Worst Client — Why the Best Projects Start When You Stop Taking CommissionsAfter 40 years taking commissions from other people, Kevin Kennon founded Beyond Zero DDC and became the client he used to work for. He argues that the work practitioners are proudest of only happens when they carry the risk themselves, and that waiting to be hired quietly caps what a firm can ever build. He covers what changed once he was raising the money, picking the sites and answering to investors: slower decisions, harder trade-offs, and far fewer compromises written into someone else's brief. Listeners leave with a clear view of what a practice gives up by staying on the commission model, and what it takes to fund a first project of their own.How to Build Zero-Carbon Where There Is No Power GridKevin Kennon builds at zero carbon on sites with no power line, no water main and no road, as founder of Beyond Zero DDC and after 40 years on projects as large as the 1.5 million square foot Barclays North American headquarters. A remote site removes the usual escape route: there is no grid to buy clean power from, so the building has to make and store its own. He explains what that forces, from off-grid generation and local materials to the trade-offs between what gets shipped in and what gets built on site. Listeners leave knowing which of those choices transfer to ordinary projects on the grid, and which only work when there is nowhere to plug in.View all topics →

About Kevin Kennon

Award-Winning Architect and Sustainable Design Visionary

40+ Years of architectural practice40+ Design awards20+ Iconic buildings1.5M sq ft Barclays North American Headquarters

Kevin Kennon is an internationally renowned architect with more than 40 years of experience designing landmark cultural, commercial, and hospitality projects around the world. Known for combining design ambition with deep human insight, he brings a humanity-first philosophy to architecture — creating spaces that do more than impress visually; they shape how people feel, connect, recover, and remember an experience.

As Founder and CEO of Beyond Zero DDC Inc., Kevin is leading the development of a new model of luxury hospitality: zero-carbon wilderness resorts designed around intimacy, wellbeing, adventure, and safety. Rather than treating sustainability as a marketing layer, Kevin approaches it as a natural consequence of building responsibly in remote environments — while placing the guest experience at the center of every design decision.

His portfolio includes the 1.5 million square foot Barclays North American Headquarters, the Rodin Museum in Seoul, multiple award-winning Bloomingdale’s stores, and leadership of United Architects, a finalist in the World Trade Center design competition. His work has been featured in the permanent collection of MoMA, New York, and he has received more than 40 international design awards.

Kevin’s expertise spans architecture, adaptive reuse, urban development, hospitality design, and high-level real estate advisory.

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About this episode

In this episode of the Conscious Design Podcast, host Ian Peterman sits down with internationally renowned architectKevin Kennonto explore how architecture must evolve—merging sustainable design, AI-driven innovation, and emotional impact to shape a better world.

Kevin shares powerful stories, fresh insights, and bold ideas that challenge how we think about design—from how natural disasters influenced his early life to pioneering zero-emission eco-resorts. This episode explores how architecture can evolve alongside climate change, technology, and culture—while still creating spaces that truly connect with people.

𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀

00:00 – Guest Intro

01:30 – Kevin's Early Life and Influences

03:00 – The Impact of Natural Disasters on Kevin's Childhood Home

05:16 – Kevin's Journey into Architecture

08:35 – Challenges in the Architecture Industry

17:48 – The Role of Technology and AI in Architecture

21:01 – Innovative Projects and Future Visions

29:02 – Project-Based Companies and Buy-In

36:28 – The Emotional Impact of Architecture

44:19 – Challenges and Collaboration in Architecture

About Kevin Kennon and Kennon Design Consultancy

Kevin Kennon is an internationally renowned architect with over 40 years of experience, specializing in environmentally sustainable and innovative design. As the founder and CEO of Beyond Zero DDC Inc., he leads the development of zero-carbon-emission luxury eco-resorts in remote wilderness locations around the world, merging design excellence with ecological responsibility. The company collaborates with leading architects, engineers, artisans, acousticians, hoteliers, property managers, chefs, yogis, equestrians, guides, trainers, athletes, and sustainability experts to help create a better, greener, more socially conscious, and humanitarian future.

His extensive portfolio includes landmark projects such as the 1.5-million-square-foot Barclays North American Headquarters, the Rodin Museum in Seoul, and multiple award-winning Bloomingdale’s stores. He also led United Architects, a finalist in the prestigious World Trade Center design competition, further cementing his influence on architectural innovation.

Kennon’s expertise encompasses adaptive reuse, urban planning, and large-scale developments, with his work featured in the permanent collection of MoMA in New York. He has received over 40 international design awards and is widely recognized as a thought leader in the fields of urban development, climate change, and sustainable architecture. In addition to his architectural practice, he serves as an expert witness and has lectured at esteemed institutions such as Yale and Columbia, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective to his work.

Learn More about Kevin Kennon and Kennon Design Consultancy

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinkennonarchitect/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pkk2418/?hl=en

Website: https://www.kdcaia.com/publications

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We created this content so that creative entrepreneurs like you can integrate social and environmental responsibility into your brand’s DNA through #ConsciousDesign. Ian Peterman, the leading expert in Conscious Design, hosts the Conscious Design podcast and is the co-author of the book "Conscious Design."

Guest: Kevin Kennon