Bill McDonough Speaks To Builder Magazine

John McManus of BuilderOnline writes.,“I talked with Bill McDonough on Monday this week, and his responses to questions around the meaning, the pathway, and the gratification–personal and business–of innovation in our businesses, industry sectors, and housing community amount to a “rearrangement of our mental furniture” on many fronts. We talk expansively of issues that inform Bill’s approach to architecture, planning, business, product development, and communities. Topic areas include concepts like live-work everywhere all the time, re-use, disassembly, the “circular economy,” and what would make a 15-year-old excited about getting into the housing community today.”

When asked about the opportunity areas that are most ripe for the most meaningful Cradle to Cradle reinvention Bill McDonough replied, “The Circular Economy grows out of Cradle to Cradle. It’s the second condition. The first is, safe and healthy materials and biological and technical cycles… in other words, design for next use. Then it goes back to soil or back to industry use.

The second is Circular Economy means reusing things, but also there’s a quantification, and if we reuse poisonous things, have we done a good thing? It begs the question of what is the quantity. That’s why Cradle to Cradle is so important. Quality first, then quantity.”

Read Full Interview with Bill McDonough HERE