William McDonough

View the PDF Flyer

William McDonough has been a leader in sustainable development since the 1970s. Trained as an architect, McDonough's interests and influence range widely, and he works at scales from the global to the molecular. He has written and lectured extensively on his design philosophy and practice; 20 years ago, he wrote The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability, and 10 years ago, he and Dr. Michael Braungart co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Both are considered seminal texts of the sustainability movement.

McDonough served as Dean of the University of Virginia School of Architecture; he is also a Visiting Professor at the same university's Darden School of Business and a Consulting Professor at Stanford University. He is a member of the board of trustees of ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability.

In this Wrigley Lecture, McDonough will discuss his co-authored book, Cradle to Cradle, which offers practical steps for innovating within today's economic environment. Part social history, part green-business primer, part design manual, he argues that an industrial system that “takes, makes, and wastes” can become a creator of goods and services that generate ecological, social, and economic value.