Organize With Us

Making time to gather and learn from each other is not a common practice in construction. Ensuring we "make payroll" and attending to clients' needs tend to occupy all our time. In an industry that seems plagued by competition, it can be hard to identify opportunities for collaboration. Sometimes it takes recognizing our common struggles to organize a better way forward. 

Past Events

17 April 2021 - School for Independent Learners Building Design Challenge

After conducting an initial structural and energy inspection of the school, CIS held a day-long session where we asked students and faculty to answer:  How might we improve our school infrastructure to stimulate positive impact on the surrounding environment and community? Ideas and presentations included the creation of a student-led maintenance team, a point-system for environmentally sustainable behavior of students, and an edible garden design. We are exploring more curriculum ideas with students and excited to take this event to more schools in the area.

24 February 2021 - Zonda's ProSales 100:

Adam Sgrenci moderated a panel on Relationship Building with guest speakers from 84 Lumber and US LBM. What are our industry leaders currently doing to strengthen relationships at the ecosystem level? Results of event were captured in this article co-authored by CIS and Zonda

6-13 November 2020 - SF Climathon: Regenerative Building Challenge

CIS was honored to be invited by the Climate-Kic team to lead and mentor a challenge around regenerative building. We selected the Central Valley of California as our project focus. The team members brought an incredible amount of knowledge and passion to the competition. We salute you Brett Gentry, Lian De Castro, Marques Anderson, Sam Butler, and Vidit Manglani!

February - June 2020 - Regenerative Design Lab (Virtual)
 
Off the heals of an inspiring week with our collaborators, Peter Coughlan and Adam Sgrenci dug-in to launch a series of workshops with new project teams in Nepal, India, Madagascar, Venezuela, Nigeria, and California. During the series, we presented our ideas on regenerative development for these areas and received feedback and guidance from our web-based audience members.  We then began creating presentations for our in-country project teams in an effort to raise capital for their initiatives. No money was raised, but a lot was learned about the world of regenerative finance. This led to the initial launch of Basecamp.

20-24 January 2020  Regenerative Building Roundtable

Our international group spent 5 days together at Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California exploring the ideas of regeneration and how they intersect with the needs of the changing construction industry. In attendance were contractors, architects, developers, systems designers, tech entrepreneurs, educators and workforce development advocates.  Among the results, was a small dose of rocket fuel to propel a handful of initial projects forward including Worker Housing in Calistoga and Student Housing in Madagascar.