Building Sustainably with Masonry: Innovations for a Low-Carbon Future

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 | 12-1 p.m. Eastern Time
1 LU/HSW

Join us for an insightful webinar exploring the intersection of masonry and sustainability, where we’ll discuss the tools, strategies, and innovations shaping the future of this timeless building material. This session will cover the role of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) in evaluating and reducing the environmental impact of masonry. We’ll explore decarbonization approaches for manufacturing and construction. Examine how masonry aligns with Passive House principles to deliver high-performance, energy-efficient buildings. Whether you're a designer, contractor, or sustainability professional, this webinar will provide practical knowledge and actionable insights for incorporating sustainable masonry into your projects.

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Image by Freepik.

Learning Objectives:

  • Explore Masonry EPDs and how they provide transparency for environmental material impacts.
  • Evaluate strategies to research embodied carbon in masonry construction using the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3).
  • Examine Passive House design principles and how they contribute to thermal performance, energy efficiency, and more.
  • Identify decarbonization strategies across the masonry lifecycle from manufacturing to end-of-life reuse or recycling techniques.
     

About the Speaker

mark swanson, aia,csi, leed ap
north central regional director, IMI

Mark SwansonMark is a licensed architect with decades of experience working for architectural and design/build firms. He has led project teams across several building project types including office buildings, aviation, retail, and multi-family housing. Mark has a passion for empowering the design, engineering, and construction community. He champions technological solutions to assist in the design, detailing, and documentation of masonry in contract documents and building information models.

Throughout his career, Mark has brought innovative solutions that keep masonry content and knowledge at the fingertips of the design and construction community. In addition, he promotes efficient and sustainable masonry strategies to lessen our impact on our environment and infrastructure.

Mark has over 7 years of ACE mentorship involvement, working with public high school students in Maryland and Minnesota. He has run masonry workshops at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture and runs a local monthly masonry educational series.

cole cabler
Director of Industry Development and Technical Services, IMI

Cole CablerCole is an architectural designer with a demonstrated history of working in the architecture and planning industry.

Before joining IMI, he worked for a variety of architecture firms in Oregon and Washington. In addition to project design and construction administration, he has served in project management and BIM leadership roles.

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