Brent Bucknum

Brent Bucknum lives and works in former
wetlands of West Oakland, California, where he founded the Hyphae
Design Laboratory; an ecological design and civil engineering firm dedicated to
bridging the gap between architecture, environmental art and applied biological
research. The company is currently working on a diverse range of projects from affordable
housing water studies, to living roof design,  greywater system design,
environmental sensor-based public art installations, rural sanitation in
developing countries, and ultra-green data centers. Bucknum also regularly
collaborates with greenmeme, an art collective in Los Angeles, and is founder and director of
the Urban Biofilter, a local environmental justice non-profit, dedicated to
urban forestry and green infrastructure.

Bucknum has experience managing
large projects in the architectural, engineering an d consulting sectors and in the
non-profit sector. From 2005-2008, Bucknum worked for Rana Creek, an
ecological restoration and design firm based in Carmel Valley, California.
He helped launch the Living Architecture department and served as its first
design director. Bucknum’s work includes the design of institutional, municipal,
commercial, and residential scale living roofs, ecological landscapes,
rainwater catchment systems, living walls, greywater systems and constructed
wetlands. In the A/E/C sector he previously, worked for Greenfield
International, a brownfield remediation company in Cambridge,
Massachusetts; Organic Arts, a natural building firm in Minnesota; for Scully Construction, a custom building company
in Vermont.

In the non-profit and community
sector, Bucknum worked for the Hayward
Unified School
District as a grant writer; and as assistant
director to SMFN, a farmer-run food distribution and branding non-profit
supporting 55 local farms. Bucknum also co-founded, The Chlorophyll Collective an environmental education group educating and researching about
algae-based food and biofuels, in Oakland.
California.

Bucknum received two degrees from Carleton College
in Northfield, Minnesota, in International Environmental
Policy and Environmental Technology and Science. He has gained most of his
practical knowledge, working in the field. Research and international
projects have enabled him to work with a variety of cultures in Mexico, the Philippines,
Europe, New Zealand, India, and Morocco, equipping him with a diverse knowledge
of appropriate building techniques.

Bucknum regularly lectures on diverse topics from
architecture to entomology. He has lectured at U.C. Santa
Cruz, CCAC, Berkeley Extension and Merritt
College. He has taught
workshops on living roof construction, ecological design, stormwater management
and earth building. He has also spoken and critiqued student work at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, U.C. Santa Cruz, Cabrillo
College, Sci-Arc, University of Maryland, West Coast Green, Planit Green, Green
Roofs for Healthy Cities, and local USGBC and AIA Chapter meetings.