About the site:
The GreenDesignCollective was created by Emily Kemper, LEED AP, as part of a Master's Thesis in Building Science at the University of Southern California's School of Architecture. The focus of the thesis is the "green your home" learning tool but the entire site was designed and launched with a loftier goal in mind: to start a dialogue within a given community about how to design greener buildings. Such is the meaning behind the tag line on the home page: “empowering your community to save energy through design.” The “green your home” tool serves this goal through encouraging a specific user group – homeowners – to save energy by renovating their homes in a way that will make them energy efficient. In the long run, it is hoped that the mission of the GDC will evolve to include multiple user groups, including homeowners and end-users of all buildings, but also to gather input from the design community itself.

About the designer:
Emily Kemper hails from Cincinnati where she graduated with a six-year Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2002 from the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). After practicing for several years, Emily decided to return to graduate school to expand her knowledge of whole building design: she recently received a Master of Building Science from the USC School of Architecture, where her research focused on energy efficient housing, carbon neutral architecture, and sustainable urbanism. While at USC, Emily served as President of USC’s Graduate Architecture Student Association (GASA) and as the Graduate Student Representative to the AIA-LA’s Board of Directors, and was a founding member of the USC Innovation Leadership Council. Emily was also a contributor and school blogger on Archinect.com, and was the winner of the grand prize in the $10,000 2008 Saul Goldin Memorial Lighting Design Competition for a lighting design of a restaurant. Emily hopes to one day teach environmentally responsive design strategies to college students while encouraging innovative and sustainable architecture as a professional.

Please feel free to email any comments or concerns to emily@greendesigncollective.com.