Russell Fortmeyer

As Woods Bagot's global sustainability leader, Russell leads the firm's response to climate change and ecological imperatives across the firm's operations, culture, and projects. Trained as both an engineer and architect, his career encompasses sustainable practices at all scales, including large-scale urban master plans, climate action plans for cities, sustainability management planning, and sustainability certifications for commercial office, residential, mixed-use buildings, hospitals, airports, and museums. Russell has taught environmental systems at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) since 2011, where his courses focus on urban microclimates, circular economy approaches to design, and zero carbon architecture. His research includes a 2014 book on low-energy facade design, Kinetic Architecture, and a 2016 Bellagio Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation to advance his study of air quality in urban public spaces in a collaborative project with the architect Doris Sung. In 2019, he was the curator of the USA Pavilion at the Milan Triennale, where his immersive video exhibition, RECKONstruct, investigated material lifecycle assessment approaches to reducing embodied carbon of design. Russell has led the sustainability strategies for several landmark projects, including the LEED Platinum BD+C and LEED Platinum EBOM certified Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center and the net zero energy design for the new US Embassy in Beirut, which is a LEED ND-certified compound targeting a LEED Platinum rating for the main embassy building. In 2019, Russell led the technical team for the Green New Deal for the City of Los Angeles, which mapped a pathway to zero emissions by 2050. He has a BS in architectural engineering from Kansas State University and an MA in Architecture form the University of California, Los Angeles.