An in-depth Conversation with Jenny Heim, Sustainable Design Leader at McMillan Pazdan Smith
Better Buildings for Humans is a podcast dedicated to exploring how the built environment affects human health, wellness, productivity, and overall quality of life through the lens of sustainability.
In this episode, host Joe Menchefski sits down with Jenny Heim, Sustainable Design Leader at McMillan Pazdan Smith (MPS), for a wide-ranging discussion on architectural inspiration, sustainability, wellness — and what it truly means to design buildings that endure for generations.
Here’s a summary of topics discussed in this episode:
Jenny’s Early Influences and a Creative Foundation
Jenny’s decision to pursue architecture began early. As a creative child who loved to draw, she found a formative spark through the Girl Scouts, where earning an architecture badge led her to design house plans and sketch buildings endlessly. This experience unlocked her realization that architecture was a way to combine creativity with the tangible, physical world — not just ideas on paper, but spaces people inhabit.
Another major influence came from her family heritage. Jenny’s father is from Austria, and as a child she visited the country multiple times. Those trips left a lasting impression: centuries-old buildings, towns designed around people instead of cars, and a strong culture of preservation. She discovered that even the new buildings were constructed to last hundreds of years, and that sustainability was deeply embedded in the built environment. This exposure to architecture’s potential durability, intentionality, and beauty became a touchstone for how Jenny thinks about her work today.
Sustainability in Practice
Jenny’s first professional internship was with an architecture firm in Austin, Texas, where she worked on the AMD Corporate Technology Campus in South Austin. The project had ambitious sustainability goals but was also highly contentious, as it was built over the sensitive Edwards Aquifer, drawing intense community and political scrutiny.
This experience taught her that architecture isn’t just about buildings but about the broader context of place, community, and environmental responsibility. The project demonstrated how early design decisions can dramatically influence outcomes.
Deep Technical Expertise
After several years of traditional architectural practice, Jenny transitioned into a role as a sustainability consultant. Over this period, she worked on more than 80 green building certification projects, including LEED, Fitwel, WELL, and Austin Energy Green Building (AEGB).
This phase of her career allowed her to become deeply technical and “nerd-out” about sustainable strategies. She gained valuable insights that she passed onto clients about how sustainability goals are tracked, verified, and ultimately realized in a project.
What Does a Sustainable Design Leader Do?
Jenny joined MPS nearly three years ago to help integrate sustainability strategies across our entire firm. She works firm-wide to support and unify sustainable design practices. As Sustainable Design Leader at MPS, Jenny’s role is both strategic and collaborative. She works across every firm practice area, including:
- Education
- Commercial
- Civic
- Healthcare
Her responsibilities include:
- Supporting and educating project teams about sustainability
- Creating consistent sustainability strategies across all sectors
- Working directly on projects with ambitious sustainability goals
- Helping define sustainability strategies in collaboration with clients
- Integrating design excellence with measurable performance outcomes
At MPS, design excellence is defined as an intentional and elevated focus on design process and impact, supported by transparency, data, and measurable results.
Blending Sustainability and Human Wellness
Jenny approaches sustainability and wellness by seeking “both-and” solutions that support environmental performance and human health simultaneously. Historically, these goals were sometimes seen as conflicting, particularly when energy efficiency was prioritized over occupant experience.
This combined approach is simple but powerful: when sustainability and wellness are integrated properly, they become inseparable. Remove one, and you weaken the other.
Greenville Technical College, Prisma Health Center for Health and Life Sciences.
One of the most compelling examples of this “both-and” approach is the Greenville Technical College Prisma Health Center, designed by MPS. The building:
- Creates a central, cohesive location for healthcare education
- Bridges real-world clinical experience with the academic environments
- Incorporates simulation spaces, collaborative zones, and modern learning environments
- Integrates daylighting and outdoor views into every classroom and occupied space
- Achieved Green Globes certification, providing measurable and transparent sustainability data
The result is an open, collaborative environment that supports both environmental goals and occupant-centered learning — helping students succeed academically and professionally.
Embodied Carbon and Wellness
Embodied carbon is one aspect of the sustainability discussion that Joe and Jenny dive into. According to the Carbon Leadership Forum:
Embodied carbon refers to the emissions generated through the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of construction materials.
Unlike operational carbon (energy used during a building’s life), embodied carbon is locked in from the moment a building is constructed. Together, operational and embodied carbon represent the full carbon footprint of the built environment — and embodied carbon alone accounts for nearly 45% of total emissions.
The Biggest Opportunities Happen Early
Jenny stresses that the biggest opportunities to reduce embodied carbon and improve wellness often occur at the very beginning of a project.
Key strategies include:
- Reusing existing buildings, especially those with cultural or community significance
- Preserving existing infrastructure and materials already extracted and in place
- Supporting community health by maintaining established places and identities
When adaptive reuse isn’t possible, teams should ask critical questions:
- What is the right size for the building, and should it be smaller than originally planned?
- Can spaces be flexibly designed to serve multiple functions?
- Are both current and future needs being addressed without overbuilding?
Structural systems have massive, embodied carbon impacts. Concrete and steel are major contributors, but Jenny encourages exploring hybrid systems that incorporate more wood, including mass timber. Wood not only reduces embodied carbon but also offers proven wellness benefits:
- Connection to natural materials
- Improved cognitive performance
- Enhanced thermal comfort
The goal is optimization, not maximization, and finding balance across performance metrics.
This philosophy echoes the centuries-old buildings that Jenny admired in Austria — structures designed to last for generations. She challenges designers to ask whether today’s buildings could reasonably serve people 200 years from now.
Daylighting as Best Practice
Daylighting is a core strategy at MPS and is integrated into virtually every project, especially in k-12 and higher education buildings. Healthy, beautiful, natural light supports occupant wellness while also reducing energy demand when designed properly.
Fairforest Middle School offers daylighting, security, and collaborative spaces.
Selecting Materials for Health, Carbon, and Performance
Material selection is among the most complex challenges in contemporary architecture. Jenny frames it through the lens of resilience and recovery, particularly considering the recent catastrophic flooding that took place in Asheville, North Carolina, where she is based.
Key lessons include:
- Concrete and other high-impact materials are not disappearing — but demands for lower-impact alternatives are rising.
- Architects must partner closely with consultants, contractors, and manufacturers to understand opportunities for improvement and real-world impacts.
- Collaboration accelerates progress far more effectively than working in isolation.
Wofford College, Chandler Center for Environmental Sustainability Studies includes several sustainable design features.
In the Southeast, Jenny highlights the abundance of southern yellow pine and opportunities to increase mass timber usage locally. MPS has embraced this on several projects, including the Wofford College Chandler Center for Environmental Studies, which features cross-laminated timber decking and roofs sourced from regional materials.
What Makes a Great Building?
To close, Jenny answers the podcast’s signature question:
A great building is one you want to preserve, one you want your children — and their children, to experience and love.”
Buildings that are loved are more likely to endure, and that is an excellent measure of sustainability.
Listen to the entire podcast to discover even more about how thoughtful leadership, early decision-making, and a human-centered approaches can shape buildings that are healthier, more resilient, and worthy of lasting generations.
Thanks to Joe and the entire Better Buildings for Humans team for producing this insightful podcast exploring how the buildings where we work, play, and live impact our daily lives.
