Designing from the Land: Fire Resilience Through Architecture and Landscape
Presented by Backen & Backen in partnership with Design Bay Area and 1 Hotel San Francisco for SF Design Week 2025
Event Series Overview:
This is the first in a series of co-branded events with Backen & Backen and Design Bay Area. This series will consist of multiple events throughout the year, each focusing on a specific aspect of design and its future implications: LAND, BODY, BUILDING.
Event Overview:
As climate and fire risks intensify, the practice of how we build must evolve, and our relationship with where we build must follow. What does it mean to design from the land—not just on it?
In a time of increasing climate volatility and wildfire risk, this conversation explores how fire-adapted design can emerge from a deeper relationship with place. Rather than imposing resilience from the top down, we’ll ask how the land itself can shape design—through its vegetation, water cycles, cultural memory, and regenerative potential. We’ll explore the tension between human intervention and letting nature lead, and how landscape, vegetation, and site planning can create a future where buildings are more deeply attuned to the land they inhabit.
Panelists