Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Maurer.
Hi Christopher, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am an architect born and raised in Northeast Ohio, with many years of experience designing and building around the world. In addition to working in Florence Italy, New York, NY and Anchorage, AK, I led site offices in Malawi and Rwanda, where I learned a great deal about working with minimal resources and using architecture and construction as tools for positive impact in the communities we serve.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There has always been a tension in balancing our public interest work with work to pay the bills. It’s usually only the affluent who can afford the services of an architect, and we struggle to do what we at redhouse are passionate about which is leveraging architecture for environmental justice. Over time, we’ve gotten better at securing foundation grants and leveraging our market-based work to fund the research and humanitarian efforts that we believe are most impactful.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Redhouse is an architecture firm specializing in research, environmental justice, and design. We’ve developed building technologies for MIT, NASA, and other respected institutions. In Africa, we co-founded a company called MycoHab, which transforms unwanted and environmentally problematic bush into food and housing—all while regenerating land and sequestering carbon dioxide in the process. With NASA, we’re developing concepts for growing buildings on the Moon and Mars, and here in Cleveland, we’re creating technology to recycle and remediate building waste from our aging infrastructure.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Within architecture, I enjoy reading about alternative materials. Chris Magwood and Bruce King have written extensively on carbon-storing architectural processes. In mycology, Paul Stamets is a superstar—he, along with authors and producers like Merlin Sheldrake and Louie Schwartzberg, has made fungi engaging and accessible to the broader public.
I also try to maintain interests outside of architecture and mycology to keep me curious, including history, philosophy, biology, and physics. These disciplines help explore deeper questions such as the origin of life, the roots of human belief systems, and the nature of consciousness. Concepts like Sarah Imari Walker et al.’s assembly theory, David Chalmers’ “hard problem” of consciousness, and John Hamer’s Centre Place lectures on religious history keep me in awe of nature’s complexity—both in how far we’ve come in understanding it, and how very, very, far we have yet to go.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.redhousearchitecture.org
- Instagram: @redhousestudioarchitecture
- Facebook: @redhousestudioarchitecture
- LinkedIn: @redhouse studio architecture
- Twitter: @redhousearch
- Youtube: @christopherbmaurer3471
- Other: www.biocycler.org www.bio-hab.org www.mycohab.com www.redplanetworkshop.com
