Tom Kubala to Present at Sustainability Fair

Tom Kubala of The Kubala Washatko Architects, Inc. has agreed to be a major presenter at the 2009 Sustainability Fair at the Door Community Auditorium (DCA) on April 18. Kubala’s architecture firm is well known for its design of the acclaimed Aldo Leopold Legacy Center, in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Completed in the spring of 2007, the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center earned the highest LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Making use of geothermal technology, natural lighting and ventilation, and Wisconsin’s second largest solar array, the facility’s design allows the building to generate more than 100 percent of its energy needs.

The project was more than putting together the technology and arranging the space to make a green building, according to Kubala. In his presentation on April 18, he will explain how the architecture firm intended to put into practice a larger definition of sustainable design, incorporating the idea that human activity, natural cycles, and our built environment are intertwined in a relationship of life and energy. The architects steeped their methods and choice of materials in the holistic philosophy of ecological systems that Leopold himself espoused.

Tom Kubala and partner Allen Washatko began their architectural practice in 1980 in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Over their professional careers the two have persisted in striving toward a goal to make “living” architecture and “buildings that smile.” This process requires them to take a philosophical approach to their design work.

“Sustainability has been a natural by-product of a life-seeking architectural practice,” says Kubala.

The Door County Sustainability Fair is presented by Sustain Door, Inc. in cooperation with the Friends of Gibraltar Schools. For exhibiting information, sustainable businesses and organizations may contact Rick and Stella Rogers at 920.746.9792. More information about Sustain Door is found at http://www.sustaindoor.org.