Gerald Sheff Chair in Architecture at McGill University | Transforming sustainable design through systems ecology and thermodynamic principles
Prof. Kiel Moe stands as one of contemporary architecture's most radical voices in sustainable design, fundamentally challenging conventional approaches through his pioneering application of Howard T. Odum's EMERGY concepts to building construction and his development of "construction ecology" as a comprehensive framework for understanding architecture's planetary impacts.
Currently serving as the Gerald Sheff Chair in Architecture at McGill University since 2018, Moe has established himself as a leading theorist and practitioner who views buildings not as isolated objects but as terrestrial phenomena embedded within complex webs of energy, material, and social relations extending from molecular to planetary scales.
EMERGY (Energy Memory) represents Moe's most significant theoretical contribution to architecture. This methodology, adapted from ecologist Howard T. Odum, measures the cumulative solar energy required to produce any material or system, providing a universal metric that reveals the true ecological costs of building materials and construction processes.
Moe's groundbreaking work conceptualizes timber buildings as "carbon pools in the carbon cycles of a forest," advocating for design based on "donor values of the forest system" rather than extractive models.
Comprehensive theoretical framework defined as "the web of corporeal and incorporeal relations that presuppose building" - tracing materials from geological formation through construction to decomposition.
Development of "maximum power design" principle paradoxically argues that architecture should maximize energy intake, use, and feedback rather than minimize consumption.
Application of ecological systems theory to architecture, understanding buildings as nodes in global networks of material and energy flows with hemispheric scope of impact.
Co-authored with Ravi Srinivasan, Routledge
Seminal work introducing architects to EMERGY methodology, providing universal metric for ecological costs of building materials and construction processes.
Actar Publishers
Comprehensive construction ecology analysis tracing materials from geological formation through extraction, processing, construction, and eventual decomposition.
Co-edited with Daniel Ibañez and Jane Hutton, Actar Publishers
Examines wood across scales from cellular structure to regional forest systems, conceptualizing timber buildings as carbon pools in forest cycles.
Princeton Architectural Press
Early exploration of thermal innovation through material properties, establishing foundation for molecular understanding of building performance.
Building for Architecture Research and New - developing carbon-negative construction approaches linking sustainable forestry with timber innovations
Mass timber research advancing heat-exchanger design principles through EMERGY-informed approaches
Northern Quebec climate adaptation and shoreline resilience using regional materials and knowledge systems
McGill University School of Architecture (2018-present)
Inaugural permanent holder of this prestigious chair, focusing on regional, carbon-negative construction approaches leveraging Quebec's unique forestry and hydroelectric resources.
Moe's current research trajectory points toward increasingly integrated approaches to architecture and ecology, positioning him at the forefront of reimagining architecture's role in planetary stewardship.
Moe's work suggests that achieving genuine sustainability requires not just better technical solutions but fundamental reconceptualization of architecture as terrestrial phenomenon engaged with the complete web of relationships that make building possible.