Our concept of eco-effectiveness means working on the right things - on the right products and services and systems - instead of making the wrong things less bad. Once you are doing the right things, then doing them "right," with… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
We celebrate the cherry tree not for its efficiency but for its effectiveness - and for its beauty. Its materials are in constant flow, and all those thousands of useless cherry blossoms look gorgeous. Then they fall to the ground… — William McDonough Copy Share Image
I am very focused on large-scale deployments of renewable power and how we're going to get this done. Imagine our military bases covered with… — William McDonough Copy Share
You don't filter smokestacks or water. Instead, you put the filter in your head and design the problem out of existence. — William McDonough Copy Share
You need that same creative force that exists in a building like Disney [Walt Disney Concert Hall] to actually tackle that most prosaic of… — William McDonough Copy Share
And to use something as elegant as a tree? Imagine this design assignment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water,… — William McDonough Copy Share
I'd so much rather have exciting architecture that causes one to stop, breathe, and reflect on the potential of the human mind, the craft,… — William McDonough Copy Share
To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things-products, packaging, and systems-from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist. — William McDonough Copy Share
We are not a green standard, we are a quality standard. We're different, we're multi dimensional. — William McDonough Copy Share
Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an… — William McDonough Copy Share
If anybody here has trouble with the concept of design humility, reflect on this: It took us 5,000 years to put wheels on our luggage. — William McDonough Copy Share
The problem I have with carbon as a bad thing issue, is that people go out and say they want to be zero carbon.… — William McDonough Copy Share
If you don't have an end game of something delightful, you're just moving chess pieces around. — William McDonough Copy Share
“Ultimately a regulation is a signal of design failure...it is what we call a license to harm: a permit issued by a government to… — William McDonough Copy Share
I just think it is so delightful to see people, let their elbows free. I think the exuberance of it all is really exciting… — William McDonough Copy Share
