Biography

In the southwest Rocky Mountains, my formative years were spent shaping, and shaped by, non-human nature. My architectural career proceeded to harness environmental forces through the planning, design and construction of communal rainwater catchment pavilions in Rwanda; solar/geo-thermal powered, net-zero energy neighborhoods and mixed-use urban infill projects in the USA; and prototypical, self-sufficient, digitally-fabricated engineered timber homes, greenhouses, public space interventions, and future 'Biocities' in Spain. Presently, my doctoral research investigates how geospatial data can inform nature-based value chains for development which catalyze the sustainable regional economies we’ll need to meet the demand for a worldwide doubling of built floor area by 2060 - while mitigating and adapting to global climate change by advancing carbon neutrality, resource security, biodiversity, and ecologic resilience alongside human health and wellbeing.

Previous Education

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia Advanced Ecological Buildings 2019
University of Colorado at Boulder Env. Design: Architecture 2014

Links

https://valldaura.net
https://www.instagram.com/mnmnsalka
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsalka