REFRAMING THE FUTURE HOW TURNER CONSTRUCTION IS TURNING LOW-CARBON BUILDING INTO REALITY
By Sophia Bacanurschi
Forma Systems uses structural optimization to reduce material which saves cost and carbon.
Photo courtesy of Anna Olivella
The construction industry has set ambitious goals for reducing embodied carbon, but one question continues to surface: How do we translate long-term aspirations into action today?
For general contractor Turner Construction( Turner) and engineering firm Buro Happold, the answer was more ambitious than another white paper or presentation. This year, they built it.
The exhibit grew out of the SE 2050 Commitment Program, which calls on structural engineering firms to reduce embodied carbon in structural systems, with the goal of achieving net-zero embodied carbon by 2050. Reframing the Future was designed to show how the building community can put the goals of SE 2050 into practice today. The exhibit challenged conventional approaches to structural design while demonstrating that lower-carbon construction is already possible using technologies and materials available today.
“ When it launched, embodied carbon was a new topic, and we found ourselves explaining the terminology to a lot of people. Today, it’ s in the regular vernacular of practitioners, but the long-term vision still feels almost like a dream; it feels somewhat aspirational. And what we wanted to show in Boston at the biggest structural engineering conference of the year, is that these technologies are becoming readily available to practitioners today, and this long-term vision is actually much closer or attainable than maybe people might realize.”
- Luke Lombardi
6 GREEN STUDENT EDITION 2026