Episode 032 | Alex Lukachko: Designing Buildings For The Long Term

About this episode

Alex Lukachko discusses the challenges and opportunities in designing buildings for the long term in the context of the climate crisis.

In this episode I talk with Alex Lukachko. In our conversation, Alex talks about the rapid change that we face within the design and construction industry as we try to move the entire industry towards the goal of zero-carbon (and perhaps restorative construction) that we need to address the climate crisis. He talks about the challenges of designing buildings for the long-term, but he also talks about opportunities to help this effort if we look to the past. We also talked about what gives Alex hope, and keeps him going when things look dark, and the advice he would offer listeners about what they can do to be part of making a difference in meeting the challenges of the Twenty First Century Imperative. Alex is a Principal at RDH Building Science Inc. and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s John H Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. Alex is well known in Canada’s building industry as an important thought-leader in building science, zero-carbon building design, and climate change adaptation. An architect by training, with degrees in both philosophy and architecture, from the University of Waterloo, Alex currently leads an interdisciplinary…

People in this episode

Host: Craig Applegath

Guest: Alex Lukachko

Topics covered

• design and construction
• zero-carbon buildings
• climate crisis
• long-term building design
• building science
• sustainability

Keywords

• zero-carbon
• building design
• climate change
• sustainability
• architecture
• energy retrofits
• construction industry

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: RDH Building Science Inc., University of Toronto

Places: Toronto, Canada

More episodes of The IMPERATIVE Podcast

• Episode 040 | Nadia Amoroso: Visualizing Climate Action · May 21, 2026 · 33 min
• Episode 039 | Chris Turner: The Case for Climate Optimism · April 21, 2026 · 46 min
• Episode 038 | Ethan Tapper: How to Love a Forest in a Time of Global Change · March 22, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Episode 037 | Ken Greenberg: Designing Cities in the Face of Climate Change · February 21, 2026 · 59 min
• Episode # 036 | Lynda Ulrich: Find What You Are Uniquely Built To Contribute · January 21, 2026 · 49 min
• Episode 035 | Patrick Crabbe: Carbon is the Universal Language · June 21, 2022 · 48 min