ThinkWoven develops design strategies to weave urban systems into ecosystems. We look at material flows within the built environment and develop design strategies to transform linear flows (take-make-waste) into circular loops. These include strategies for the waste streams created daily in buildings and public spaces, as well as waste created by building construction and renovation.
ThinkWoven was founded in 2018 by architect Clare Miflin after leading the development of the Zero Waste Design Guidelines. This innovative resource showcases the crucial role of design strategies to help buildings and cities reach zero waste, and improve waste operations to reduce negative impacts such as pests and litter, and produce local benefits such as increased resilience.
Recent work includes: consulting with developers for waste reduction and on-site organic waste processing for new developments in NYC (primarily mixed use with affordable housing such as The Peninsula or Chestnut Commons); consulting with property managers to improve waste management in existing housing developments in NYC (such as London Terrace Towers or Hillman Coop, or NYCHA PACT conversion projects); developing zero waste resources for Google’s new Bay Area developments; developing policy, design and operations strategies to reduce waste in NYC’s Financial District for the Downtown Alliance; and providing education and technical waste design assistance to architects and developers across NYC, supported by NYC Department of Sanitation.
ThinkWoven and the Center for Zero Waste Design share staff who split their time between consulting and non-profit projects.
Clare is an architect and systems thinker with experience designing buildings to Passive House, LEED Platinum, Living Building Challenge and AIA COTE Top Ten standards. While acknowledging the importance of rigorous metrics, she knows that inspiration, intuition and vision also have a vital role to play if humanity is to thrive. She was Associate Principal for Kiss + Cathcart, Architects from 2000-2018.
Active on the AIA NY’s Committee on the Environment serving as co-chair from 2017-2021 and she now leads the materials subcommittee. She is also on the board of BiomimicryNYC, and was Sustainability Coordinator for her local food cooperative.
Parker Limón is an architectural designer, researcher, and artist. He holds a Bachelor’s of Architecture from the Cooper Union. His research forward process investigates objects of social and cultural value. In addition to his architectural work, he has experience in the non-profit sector, in archives, and working with grassroots organizations in Brooklyn.
Jennah Jones is a multidisciplinary designer pursuing a masters in architecture at Columbia GSAPP (’24). Her approach to architecture is informed by her experience in product design, a discipline that centers ethnographic research and community-centered design. She’s passionate about environmental justice and biomaterials, her projects often reimagining waste management through a generative justice lens. Previously she has held design research positions at Julia Watson LLC, the Natural Materials Lab at Columbia GSAPP, and BlocPower.