Sofie Pelsmakers is a chartered architect and environmental designer with more than a decade of hands-on experience designing, building and teaching sustainable architecture. She taught sustainability and environmental design and led a masters programme in sustainable design at the University of East London. She is currently a doctoral researcher in building energy demand reduction at the UCL Energy Institute and co-founder of Architecture for Change, a not-for-profit environmental building organisation.
She is author of The Environmental Design Pocketbook (RIBA Publishing, 2012), which synthesises her practical and academic expertise to support the building industry towards a significant change in its design and building practices. It received commendation for the RIBA’s 2012 Presidents Awards for Outstanding Practice Based Research.
Why we wrote Designing for the Climate Emergency
Reflections on sustainable Nordic architecture
It’s no coincidence that Nordic countries are some of the most advanced in the world when it comes to low energy design. In this article, three assistant professors of architecture based in Denmark and Finland discuss areas where we can learn from our Nordic neighbours — and where we might return the favour.
International Selection - What we can learn from igloos
Nothing drives innovation like adversity. Facing up to the prospect of scarce energy and other resources, we can take inspiration equally from the Inuit and the most avant-garde of passive house designers, as Sofie Pelsmakers reveals in her choice of six uniquely inspiring buildings from around the world.