Richard Graves

Introduction

Richard Graves is an associate professor in the School of Architecture of the College of Design, and director of the Center for Sustainable Building Research. 

In his role at the Center for Sustainable Building Research, Graves’ focuses his research on six key areas: energy and climate change; the water cycle; equitable building designs; sustainable materials; metrics for tracking the value of sustainable designs; and community resilience. 

From 2012 to 2014, Graves was the executive director of the International Living Future Institute, leading the operations and strategic efforts around  the institute’s signature programs, including the Living Building Challenge, the Living Community Challenge, Declare product labeling, the Natural Step USA, Ecotone Publishing, and the Cascadia Green Building Council. He is a former senior vice president for community and education with the U.S. Green Building Council, where he directed programs for its national and international members. As a volunteer with the USGBC, Graves served on the National Board from 2006 to 2010.  

Graves is a registered architect who has worked on ecologically sustainable building and planning projects around the world.