victor olgyay headshot

Victor Olgyay

Principal
  • Carbon-Free Buildings

A principal architect directing RMI’s buildings practice, Victor is leading an initiative to encourage widespread adoption of comprehensive building energy retrofits resulting in energy savings of at least 50 percent. Victor has a wide range of experiences in architectural design and planning, with specializations in bioclimatic building and daylighting design.

Background

Using integrated environmental design consulting activities, Victor aims to help transform the built environment into a sustainable built ecology. A registered architect, he has contributed to the design of hundreds of successful green building projects throughout the world that span diverse climates and building types. He has worked independently and with several private and state firms producing architectural design, programming, post-occupancy evaluations and design guidelines.

Prior to RMI, Victor was an associate professor and director of research at the UH School of Architecture from 1993 to 2000 and has overseen numerous energy, environmental and lighting research projects under contract to various state and federal agencies. He was appointed chairman of the AIA Honolulu Energy and Environment Committee 1995–2000, and in 1998 he was named a Dana Fellow of the Joslyn Castle Institute for Sustainable Communities. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the American Solar Energy Association, and a member of the National Academy of Environmental Design Research Committee.

His current research has focused on ecological restoration and on ecosystem services as criteria for green building assessment. This work was published by Elsevier and has been widely presented, including at the American Solar Energy Association and the Towards Net-Zero conference. Recently Victor’s research has expanded into building tool application, especially for demonstrating the reduction of carbon, water, and ecological footprints.

Education

Master of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1986
Bachelor of Science, Antioch College, 1980
Licensed Architect, Colorado and Hawaii
LEED 2.0 Accredited Professional

Location

Boulder, CO

Twitter

@VOlgyay