William McDonough
Architect and sustainable design author
William McDonough is an American architect who works in green and sustainable design. He co-wrote Cradle to Cradle and later wrote The Upcycle.
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American Born 1951 in Tokyo, Japan
About William McDonough
William McDonough was born in Tokyo, Japan, on February 20, 1951. He is an American architect and academic, and he founded the practice William McDonough + Partners. He also once led the architecture school at the University of Virginia as its dean. His work centers on green and sustainable architecture, often drawing on his cradle-to-cradle design theory. Among his projects are a living roof and truck plant for Ford at its Rouge site in Dearborn, Michigan, and the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College. In 1992 he was commissioned to write The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability for the City of Hannover's EXPO 2000. In 2002 he co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, and in 2013 a follow-up, The Upcycle. McDonough co-founded several not-for-profit organizations, including GreenBlue, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and Make It Right, which was set up with Brad Pitt to build homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He also chaired the World Economic Forum's Meta-Council on the Circular Economy from 2014 to 2016.