David Bergman has a unique background blending architecture and ecodesign with environmental economics and policy. This has led him down a road starting in architecture and expanding into teaching and writing on a range of topics in sustainability and, more recently, founding and directing the Center for Circularity in Interior Design (CCID), a nonprofit dedicated to driving the adoption of circular design and decarbonization principles in interior design, reducing climate change and other environmental impacts while advancing design and the industry and opening new economic opportunities.
ARCHITECTURE and DESIGN
As an architect, LEED Accredited Professional and Certified Passive House Designer, he runs a multidisciplinary design studio emphasizing the application of sustainable/eco design principles to architecture, interiors and product design. He is an expert in the field of sustainable design, frequently teaching, speaking and writing on topics in sustainability.
The architecture and interiors practice undertakes a wide range of residential and commercial projects including renovation, interiors and new construction. Designing for both environmentally-aware and “conventional” clients, Bergman’s work incorporates what he terms “Transparent Green,” the seamless merging of eco design with the individual needs of each project, resulting in designs that are effortlessly green.
WRITING and SPEAKING
He is the author of Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012). His blog, EcoOptimism, explores how we can come out the other side of our concurrent ECOlogical and ECOnomic crises in a better place than we started.
David co-authored Sustainability Districts for NYC: Building an Equitable and Resilient Future for the NYC 2030 District and EcoDistrict programs.
Other recent writing includes an essay “Communicating Sustainability in Architecture” in What is Sustainable Architecture (Archhive Books, 2021), “Balancing the Three Es in Sustainable Design at the New York School of Interior Design,” for GB&D, and “EcoOptimism, or How We Come Out Ahead of the Game”. He has also contributed essays and posts to numerous other websites.
In an earlier part of his life, he co-authored the 2nd and 3rd editions of Anyone Can Fly, a first-hand guide and narration of the experience of learning how to fly private planes.
Bergman’s speaking engagements have included the topics of circularity in interior design, “Cities in Nature/Nature in Cities,” “Green Design as (Un)usual” and “Transparent Green, or the end of green design.”
TEACHING
In addition to his practice and directing the CCID, Bergman is Program Director of the New York School of Interior Design Master of Professional Studies in Sustainable Interior Environments. He is also an adjunct faculty member of the Parsons School of Design where he has developed core sustainable design courses for four departments and has previously taught at Yale University and at the Fashion Institute of Technology. He was the co-creator of “Educating the Educators: A Crash Course in Ecodesign,” a program to bring sustainable principles to design schools.
In 2005, he created and taught an interdisciplinary seminar at Yale on the emerging topic of the mainstreaming of green design, exploring his concepts of Transparent Green. He also co-curated and produced “Assignment: Green,” an exhibit and conference at the Municipal Art Society focusing on sustainable design education in New York City colleges.
NONPROFIT BOARDS and CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
Bergman is the founder and director of the Center for Circularity in Interior Design.
He is a trustee of Yale Blue Green, an organization of Yale alumni in sustainability fields. He previously founded and co-chaired the Yale Blue Green NYC chapter.
Bergman serves on the Executive Committee of the NYC 2030 District. The NYC District is part of the 2030 Network: a global network of thriving high performance building districts and cities, uniting communities to catalyze transformation in the built environment and the role it plays in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
He was an Executive Board member of the Designers Lighting Forum of New York, whose mission is explore and present the power of lighting in design, for many years and recently moved to the Advisory Board.
Bergman has also previously served on other boards including Furniture New York (an organization of New York designers and manufacturers) where he was a past president, O2NYC, the Municipal Art Society Urbanists (founding board member), NYDesigns, Traditional Home Magazine’s Green Advisory Panel, and Greenopia’s NYC Advisory Council.
EDUCATION
Bergman received a Master in Architecture from Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and Economics from Yale University.
ACCREDITATIONS
New York State Registered Architect, LEED Accredited Professional, Living Future Accreditation, Certified Passive House Designer, Associate AIA.
PRESS
Bergman’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The New York Post, Natural Home, Traditional Home, The New York Observer, AP, NY1, and numerous design publications