In this program, San Diego architect Drew Hubbell approaches sustainable design from lived experience. He grew up on a property near Julian, California, where his parents, including his late father, noted artist and architectural designer James Hubbell, built experimental structures with adobe, stone, mosaic, reclaimed cedar, and other local materials.
In 2003, the Cedar Fire destroyed half of the buildings on the property. Hubbell says everything wood burned to the ground and even glass melted like wax on top of the adobe, while the adobe, stone walls, and masonry survived.
That experience shapes the way Hubbell talks about architecture now. He presents sustainability not as a style, but as a practical approach to building with climate, materials, beauty, and risk in mind. He describes his firm’s use of straw bale construction, earthen plaster, lime plaster, reclaimed timber, metal roofs, and insulated concrete blocks in projects across Southern and Northern California.
“I’m sharing all these natural building systems that we’ve been working with for 30 years because they are very environmentally friendly. They use less energy, they’re using local materials, and they’re fire-resistive in the end,” he says.
Hubbell also makes the case that fire-resilient design is not only about the walls. Homes face threats from direct flames, flying embers, and radiant heat from nearby structures. He points to vents, eaves, roofs, windows, gutters, slopes, and landscaping as details that can affect whether a building survives.
“One of the weak links we found are the vents of homes. In a fire, the embers will suck right up into the attic, catch the roof on fire.”
His examples, from monasteries and interpretive centers to homes in fire-prone communities, show how design choices can be both practical and expressive. For homeowners, architects, and designers, Hubbell offers a grounded reminder: building beautifully and building wisely do not have to be separate goals.
Watch: Green Building in the Age of Wildfires and Extreme Weather