ATLAS Colloquium: Designing for Climate

Designing for Climate: Can green machines provide hybrid infrastructure for repairing ecosystems? Speaker: Victor Olgyay Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 11:30am - 12:30pm MT Abstract: We are entering into a challenging time, where the earths ecological systems are under stress from several directions. While the specific issues are surmountable, the interdisciplinary context of environmental issues encourages the application of an interdisciplinary solution set for success. What if we partner with the environment, and design scaffolding that assist environmental systems to rebuild? This is the essence of a hybrid approach to infrastructure, aka “green machines”. Repair degraded ecosystems by creating frameworks that include a hybrid of manmade and living systems. This talk will briefly review the basis for hybrid systems and illustrate landmark projects. Current examples will show application to current concerns, such as wildfire spread, atmospheric carbon drawdown, and water cleansing amo...