KEYNOTE - Build Together. Grow Together. Own Together: A Cooperative Blueprint for Climate-Healing Construction
The member businesses of the Seed Collaborative pursue a common mission: to lock carbon into the walls of buildings through the use of straw structural insulated panels (S-SIPs). The bigger bet they are making, though, isn't about the material; it's about the model. This keynote goes inside a network of decentralized, bioregional manufacturers built around one cooperatively owned hub, with shared R&D, financing, purchasing, and training that no single small manufacturer could afford alone. Drawing on cooperative principles from the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the Mondragón Corporation, and on hard evidence that social connection—not technology—is what actually saves us in a crisis, Ace McArleton (New Frameworks) and Greg Bossie (Rare Forms) will make the case that traditional, competitive business models are too slow to solve the compounding challenges of climate change, the housing shortage, and the disappearing skilled workforce. For developers, architects, owners, builders, and everyone else in the room, they will provide a more equitable working, tested alternative to the competitive default—and a concrete invitation to join in building it together.
Session Chairs
Session Speakers
Identify the principles of cooperative and shared-services business models, and how they contrast with conventional, competitive approaches in architecture, construction, and manufacturing
Describe the Seed Collaborative’s standardized training approach for manufacturing, installation, and design, and its role in enabling localized, high-quality deployment
Evaluate the operational functions of the Seed Collaborative model—including shared sales, marketing, workforce development, scheduling, SOPs, and R&D—and assess how shared resources can accelerate climate-restorative building practices at scale
Identify opportunities for collaboration, shared infrastructure, or co-ownership within participants’ own organizations and regions
Pending approval for 1 credit hour toward AIA, BOC, NARI, Phius, and RESNET certification