Senior Advisor
San Francisco Bay Area
Chris Garvin is an highly accomplished sustainability expert and architect who has run small companies as the managing director /CEO /CSO and active voice in the sustainable design community with over twenty years experience. His work spans across building type and scales and includes developing innovative products and building systems integration to large-scale planning issues and building code development.
An integral contributor to Terrapin’s development, Chris was named a Partner in 2008 and Managing Partner in 2014. His interests include high-performance design at both the building and community scale, zero energy communities, biomimicry, biophilia, and data analytics. For more than three years as the CEO/Managing partner, Chris managed all financial, HR, and communications strategies for the company.
Complementing his work at Terrapin, Chris lectures frequently on sustainable design and has taught at the Pratt Institute’s Center for Professional Practice. He also advises organizations on sustainability issues, including the National Building Museum and the New York Academy of Sciences. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Urban Green Council, the New York chapter of the US Green Building Council, and on the Advisory Board for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. Chris is active in the green building community including serving as Co-Chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) for three years and was awarded a two-year national Fellowship with the Environmental Leadership Program in 2005-2006.
Chris received a Bachelor of Architecture degree with honors from Carnegie Mellon University. He lives in San Francisco.
Specialties: Chief Sustainability Officer, CEO, Managing Director, leadership, Environmental/Sustainability issues in the Built Environment, Green Products development, Comprehensive Sustainability of Real Estate Development, human health and wellbeing, Biomimicry