The Green Impact Report Quick take: Quick take: What if your master plan was smart enough to beat policy to the punch? Kristen DiStefano shares bold strategies from Atelier Ten that are shaping the future of zero-carbon communities — before the ink is dry on today’s code.
Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion
Kristen DiStefano is a Director at Atelier Ten and a leading voice in environmental design.
Trained in both civil engineering and architecture, she brings technical fluency and people-centered creativity to some of the West Coast’s most ambitious sustainable projects.
From net-zero campuses to district-scale reuse systems, her work bridges policy, performance, and people.
Breaking Ground on Better Building
In this episode, Kristen DiStefano revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:
Key Insight #1: Building a blackwater-powered future in Mission Rock
The Challenge: Water reuse wasn’t even legal when the project began.
The Solution: Design a district-wide blackwater treatment and reuse system anyway.
ROI: Now required by code, the system will save an estimated 16 million gallons annually.
Key Insight #2: Rethinking energy at California College of the Arts
The Challenge: Maker spaces with kilns, glass furnaces, and labs have huge loads.
The Solution: Dual strategy — reduce architectural demand and work directly with studio leaders to tackle equipment use.
ROI: Smart controls + future microgrid + PV = a scalable model for low-carbon academic buildings.
Key Insight #3: Expanding what “zero carbon” really means
The Challenge: Too many sustainability frameworks stop at operations.
The Solution: Kristen argues for a broader carbon scope: refrigerants, site work, EV infrastructure, and even transportation emissions.
ROI: A regenerative, resilient framework that keeps pace with reality—and policy shifts.
Sustainable Soundbite
Your Green Building Action Plan
Transform your next project with these steps:
This Week: Revisit your project’s early-stage energy and water assumptions — are you future-proofing or checking boxes?
This Quarter: Map your carbon strategy across all five pillars: operations, embodied materials, refrigerants, transportation, and site impacts.
This Year: Pilot one regenerative or district-scale solution — even if it’s ahead of current code. Be the reason it’s normalized later.
Connect & Learn More
- 🌿 Explore resources from this episode: Green Building Matters Podcast
- 🔗 Connect with Kristen DiStefano: LinkedIn
- 🗒 Read the transcript here.
Don’t forget to catch more episodes and resources for all of your green building news at the Green Building Matters website.
Want More Green Building Insights?
Get sustainability tips 2x a week.
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here:
Green Building Matters, Inc © 2025 | Good Green Fun