William McDonough is an architect, designer, thought leader, and a globally recognized trailblazer in sustainable development, most known for co-authoring “ Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things ” with Michael Braungart. The "Cradle to Cradle" philosophy revolutionizes the industrial processes and it has been implemented in several, yet not enough, developments worldwide. It is a design transformation that implements a biological and a technical cycle to human building and consumption. Our biological and technical waste should be able to be re-used and up-cycled over and over and over, as opposed to a "take, make, waste" approach that's so pervasively packed our industrial systems.

McDonough is responsible for the design of multiple self-sustaining communities worldwide and has received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development. In 2007, McDonough and Brad Pitt co-founded the Make It Right Foundation to bring Cradle to Cradle-inspired homes to people in need after Hurricane Katrina. Time magazine recognized him as a “Hero for the Planet,” noting: “His utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world.” And, this doesn't even cover the breadth of McDonough's accomplishments.

During the 2016 HIVE (Housing, Innovation, Vision & Economics) Event in Los Angeles, McDonough spoke to a room full of housing innovators about the giant elephant in the room. How do we combine sustainable development with healthy business profit? How do we learn to sacrifice higher profits for ecologically, environmentally, and elegantly healthier buildings and community development? Because, although we've made huge scientific jumps in sustainable possibilities, there still exists the same, obsolete practices that have led to our current 220 million tons of waste each year , 55% of which end up in landfills.

He challenged businesses in the industry to place values over value and to see sustainability as human and ecological health.

"Sustainability is intergenerational value creation"

As a designer, he explains the concept of design itself as "the first signal of human intention" . So when we build things (buildings, products, communities), design answers the question of what intention we are building with. Is it intelligently designed for long-term optimization and abundance? Not only for us as a species, but also for the complex, intertwined natural world which provides us the resources? Or is it trivially designed to provide healthy monetary profits for the builder and short-sighted ecological destruction?

Slowly but surely sustainability in housing is becoming easier and easier to obtain for the builders, and more and more attractive to homeowners. In 2009, McDonoughand Braungart co-founded the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, to certify sustainable products. For home builders, there are more and more products being used to build completely sustainable homes.

This cradle to cradle mountain hut is built to be completely self-sustainable and generate its own energy.

BarkHouse creates interior and exterior siding and panels for housing that are made from reclaimed tree bark.

Icetone countertops are C2C certified and use recycled glass and other materials to create an elegant look to the home.

To browse more sustainable home products certified by Cradle to Cradle visit their product registry .

For a more in-depth look at the Cradle to Cradle philosophy and the circular economy watch below: