Newsletter: August 2025

During this month of August — particularly when I’m on a bike ride — I’m very aware of the shifting light. Though we reached the peak of summer sunshine during the solstice in June, and there’s still a good bit of summer left to enjoy, here in August the quality of the sunlight signals a transition and a transformation. The seasons are beginning to change. Fall is on the horizon, as are new days and new ways. 

Times of transformation often bring about a tension. We want to hold on to what is slipping away, in part because we have not yet reached what is coming ahead. But this liminal season is one for great opportunity. It provides a chance to weigh what has worked — what we’d like to go forward with into this new time — and a chance to let go of what no longer serves. 

Here’s more of how we’ve been looking both forward and back at MCTIGUE, and where we’re headed next.
 

Drew Pedrick, AIA, Founder and CVO, MCTIGUE
 

Shared Ground, Thank You!

Earlier this summer, Drew participated in the “Rebuilding with Resilience in LA” conference hosted by The Resilience Company, SnapHQ, SidePorch, and others. In between the invigorating sessions he sat down with Shared Ground podcast host and SidePorch founder Sean Knierim, Anuj Desai of Southern California Edison, and philanthropic and nonprofit advisor Lisa Cleri Reale to discuss resilience rooted in design, systems thinking, community care, and hard-won personal lessons.

If you know anyone who would benefit from true stories of kindness, resilience, generosity and support during and after the 2025 LA wildfires, we encourage you to introduce them to SidePorch and Shared Ground! 
 

Plants: the Building Blocks of the Future!

Can plants be the supporting basis of our buildings? Believe it or not, roofs woven from eelgrass 400 years ago are still standing, and today there’s been a great deal of innovation in the areas of biophilia, biomimicry and other nature-based place. 

For example, To Grow a Building in Jerusalem is exploring 3D robotics to build structures with materials of soil and seeds. And organizations such as Mycohab, Redhouse, MIT, along with forward-looking funding sources are now creating building materials with mycelium — the root structure of fungi — for form based, insulating and surface solutions.  

At MCTIGUE we are very excited to work with others in this wild, living frontier! 
 

New Conversations = New Understandings of Conscious Architecture

We’re grateful — for many reasons — to have interacted with so many new clients so far this year. Early conversations give us a chance to better understand what concerns and questions you have in your season of building or rebuilding.

In particular, it’s refreshing to be reminded that the term “Conscious Architecture” — one we’ve been using to describe the work we do at MCTIGUE for almost a decade and a half — may not be as familiar to others as it is to our team! 

If you’ve ever scratched your head and said, “What is this Conscious Architecture, really?” we invite you to take a look at the past, present, and future of MCTIGUE, as well as some of the pragmatics, practicalities and possibilities of this practice.

We’d be honored to answer all of your questions in person!
 

From Drew: Looking Forward and Back in NYC

This has been a very hard year, in so many ways, beginning with the Palisades and Eaton Fires.  We’ve had only little breaks to refresh and rebuild our own resilience until now - a trip to Florida, DC, New York and Connecticut.  New York City, in particular, was a great opportunity to step back into my family heritage, including buildings my grandfather and I both worked on, new buildings by our friends at Foster+Partners, experiential museums like Mercer Labs, and project work in Connecticut with fantastic team members we’ve known for decades.  We’ve also had an abundance of great meals, long walks and time to recharge!
 

Save the Date: Ideas Festival Emory

Save the date for October 18th, 2025 at Oxford College of Emory University

This weekend featuring some of the most impactful and interesting scientists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and creators of our time will also include our own Drew Pedrick! 

Registration will open soon. To stay in the know, follow them on Instagram.

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