Green Champions Across Campus
July 2008
As a child, Steve Wiesenthal was forced to eat canned asparagus. It was that experience, says the University’s lead architect, that “convinced me that there’s a better way.”
Today, Wiesenthal lives in a LEED-certified home and commutes to work via bicycle. “For me, bicycling is the perfect pace at which to see the world while exercising my mind and body,” says the avid biker.
Before coming to Chicago, Wiesenthal worked at the University of California at San Francisco, where he helped establish and lead a robust sustainability program. At Chicago, he hopes to help foster a culture of sustainability.
“As an architect for the past 25 years, I’ve been passionate about how human interaction with the natural and built environments intertwine,” he says. “I’m heartened that our society today has made huge progress since the ‘first energy crisis’ in the late 70s to incorporate environmental considerations into much of how we build and live.”
