Team > Lori

Lori Ferriss

AIA, PE, LEED AP BD+C

Principal Consultant, Partner

Creative. Perceptive. Curious. Strategic.

- Team Building and Alignment

- Sustainability Assessment
- Sustainability Action Plans
- Sustainability and Resiliency Practice Strategy
- Regenerative Design

Lori believes that the built environment shapes the world socially, culturally, and environmentally, and that design firms play a critical role in creating positive change at every scale. Her work as a consultant supports leading design firms in aligning their practices with that responsibility, helping them translate design excellence into lasting impact through how they operate, lead, and deliver work.

As a licensed architect and professional engineer, Lori brings a practice‑grounded perspective to firm strategy shaped by deep technical training, award‑winning design work, and leadership in sustainability. She is known for designing processes and ways of working that reflect each firm’s culture, values, and ambitions, helping firms evolve intentionally rather than reactively. Her approach is grounded in close listening, practical insight, and a deep respect for the realities of practice.

“The built environment is a powerful lever for positive impact locally and globally. We have the opportunity to advance climate action, steward culture, and community, and create beauty through our daily actions.”

At Cameron MacAllister Group, Lori advises firms on project management, organizational structure, and strategic planning, with particular attention to how sustainability is integrated into everyday decision-making. She helps firms build future‑focused practices by aligning values, operations, and delivery models.

A core focus of Lori’s work is supporting rising leaders as they move from leading projects to leading firms. She works with designers and technical leaders to strengthen their ability to lead teams, influence culture, and contribute meaningfully to the profession while advancing their firms’ goals.

Lori brings a global, industry-wide lens to her client work through long-standing leadership roles with the American Institute of Architects, Climate Heritage Network, and the International Council of Monuments and Sites. She serves as an AIA Strategic Councilor, is a past chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment and is actively engaged in global built environment climate action efforts, helping firms understand where the profession is headed—and how to engage thoughtfully and credibly in shaping its future.

Prior to joining CMG, Lori was a principal and practice area leader at Boston-based higher education firm Goody Clancy, where she also served as the firm’s first Director of Sustainability. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Master of Engineering in High-Performance Structures from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Author:
Peer Reviewed
- “Scaling Up Climate Action through Stewardship of Built Heritage: A Methodology for Quantifying the Carbon Savings of Existing and Historic Buildings at Agnes Scott College,”2026 (under review)
- “Incorporating Embodied Carbon into Preservation,”2026 (under review)
- “Sustainable Reuse of Post-War Architecture Through Life Cycle Assessment,” Journal of Architectural Conservation Special Edition: Climate Emergency, June 2021
- “Defining the “Smart” Energy Retrofit,” 2020 AIA/ACSA Intersections Research Conference: CARBON, Co-Author
- “Roadmap the International Existing Building Code: Integrating Code Analysis into the Design Process to Balance Cost, Schedule, and Preservation,” APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology, Spring 2018, First Author
Non-Peer Reviewed
- ARCHITECT, “Building Momentum: 5 Takeaways from COP30,” January 14, 2026. https://www.architectmagazine.com/carbon-positive/the-buildings-are-the-climate-story-so-why-is-cop30-still-missing-it
- World Economic Forum, “How culture and heritage can be catalysts for climate resilience,” November 12, 2025. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/11/culture-heritage-catalysts-for-climate-resilience/
- Midia Ninja, “Heritage and Climate: Unlocking Low-Carbon Futures at COP30,” November 11, 2025. https://midianinja.org/en/opiniao/patrimonio-e-clima-destravando-futuros-de-baixo-carbono-na-cop30/
- Architizer, “‘My Life’s Ambition Is to Become Redundant’: Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan’s First Female Architect, on Decarbonization and Decolonization,” May 13, 2024, https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/stories/yasmeen-lari-decarbonization-decolonization/.
- “Leveraging Avoided Emissions Through Retrofit and Reuse: the CARE Tool,” Skins, Issue #138 (March 2024),
- ARCHITECT Magazine, “CarbonPositive: Caring for the Buildings We Have,” December 2023
- Architizer, “Dear Architects: If You Really Want to Be More Sustainable, Start Prioritizing Reuse Projects,” April 2023
- ARCHITECT Magazine, “CarbonPositive: Carbon Intelligence for Reuse Decisions,” December 2022
- ARCHITECTURE New York State, “Leveraging Existing Buildings for Climate Action, January 2022
- “Building Reuse is Climate Action,” Learning by Design Magazine, Summer 2021
- “The New Net Zero,” Boston Society of Architects, February 20, 2020
- Keeping History Above Water: 74 Bridge Street, 2016, Exhibit contributor
- Environmental and Cultural Sustainability in the Built Environment: An Evaluation of LEED for Historic Preservation, May 2010
Contributor:
- HOK, “What COP30 Means for the Building Sector,” December 10, 2025
- Wolf, Justin R. “Built Buildings Lab Promotes the Embodied Values of Existing Buildings.” Green Building Advisory, June 22, 2025.
- Flint, Anthony. “As American Architects Gather in Boston, Retrofits Are All the Rage.” Bloomberg CityLab, June 12, 2025.
- Wolf, Justin R. “Federal Definition of ‘Zero Emissions Buildings’ Released.” Green Building Advisor, June 20, 2024. “COP28 and the Built Environment,” ARCHITECT Magazine, January 2024
- Gonchar, Joann. “After COP28, Architects Signal Progress in Scaling Back the Carbon Footprint of Buildings,” Architectural Record, December 2023
- “The Future of High-Performance Buildings,” AIA Blueprint for Better, 2022
- “Public perception thwarts decarbonization. Could preservation be the answer?” AIA, 2022
- “Your Campus Historic Buildings: Flagships for a Sustainable Future,” Learning by Design Magazine, Fall 2021
- International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, “Best Practices Guide: Laboratory Resilience,” Peer Reviewer
- “Embodied Carbon Tools: Assessing the Options,” Building Green by Paula Menton, September 9, 2019
- “Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile,” by John Ochsendorf, 2013
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Buildings Concrete Sustainability Hub Massachusetts Institute of Technology Interim Report, December 2010, Research Assistant
2026 Preservation North Carolina Annual Conference, Keynote
2026 Climate Threats, Building Loss, and Heritage – Decision Makers at a Crossroads, Panelist
2026 SHIFT Convenings, Boston and Climate Week NYC, Panelist, Closing Lecture
2026 ULI New York, ”What's Old is New: The Business Case for Adaptive Reuse”
2026 ULI San Antonio and the Office of Historic Preservation, ”Sustainable Buildings Start Here: The Power of PACE & the CARE Tool”
2026 UNFCCC SB62, Virtual Delegate
2025 Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction Annual Assembly, Climate Heritage Network Representative
2025 USC School of Architecture Lecture Series, “Designing a Past-First Future”
2024 Association for Preservation Technology/Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals, Workroom: “Total Carbon Impact: Building a Case for Conservation”
2024 UN Climate Change Conference COP29 “Built Heritage as A Driver For Climate Action,” Panelist
2024 Past Forward ‘24 Closing Keynote “Built Heritage: From Victims of Climate Change to Climate Action Heros”
2024 1772 Foundation Climate Summit “Preservation as Critical Climate Action”
2024 Association of University Architects Sustainability Committee Invited Lecture
2024 Northeast Embodied Carbon Summit “Pushing Forward: Trends for the Next 5 Years,” Panelist
2024 Columbia University, GSAPP Lecture Series
2024 Northeastern University, School of Architecture Lecture Series
2024 DOE Building Buildings, Better Plants Summit “Digging Deeper: Embodied Carbon in Commercial Buildings,” Panelist
2024 UN Buildings and Climate Global Forum “Leveraging the Existing and Historic Built Environment for Climate Action and Climate Justice,” Session Organizer and Moderator, and “CARE Tool Pitch,” Presenter
2024 Past Forward Symposium “Climate Change and Buildings,” Panelist
2024 Reimagine Buildings ‘24 “Hour 24: Closing the Circle: Equity, Resilliency, and Future Horizons”
2024 Saving Places Conference, Colorado “Keynote from the CARE Tool Developers” and “Practical Applications of the CARE Tool”
2024 Greenbuild Webinar “Practical Decarbonization Tools,” Panelist
2023 UN Climate Change Conference COP28 “Market Transformation Activation – Preparing for Paris 2024,” Moderator, and “Enabling Circularity in the Built Environment,” Panelist
2023 Conversations about an Abundant Future “Future Buildings,” Panelist
2023 Association for Preservation Technology Annual Conference “Preservation is Climate Action: Using the CARE Tool as a Lever”
2023 AIA/ACSA Intersections in Research Conference, Material Economies: “Assessing Carbon Impacts of Brutalist Concrete Buildings: Case Study of the Lincoln Campus Center”
2023 Preserve Arkansas Women in Preservation Lecture Series
2023 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, Innovation Stage “CARE Tool: Accelerating Building Reuse for Climate Action”
2023 AIA Philadelphia 2030/COTE Speaker Series “Carbon Benefits: Reuse of Existing Buildings and Campuses”
2023 AIA Conference on Architecture A’23 “Performing Beautifully – The COTE Top Ten Awards” and “COTE Open Forum”
2023 ILFI Living Future 2023 “Decarbonization for Everyone: Three Tools to Plan Low-Carbon Buildings”
2023 Campus and Facilities Energy Summit “An Architect’s Insight: Best Practices and Tools to help in Decision Making in Building Reuse and Retrofit”
2023 ASHRAE Winter Conference “Estimating the Avoided Carbon of Building Reuse with the CARE Tool”
2023 AIA New Orleans Rising Symposium, Keynote “Envisioning a Regenerative Future: Reuniting People and Planet through Design”
2022 Wagdy Anis Symposium on Building Science “Tessellated Clay: Designing the Improved Masonry Rainscreen”
2022 Greenbuild “Building Reuse Is Climate Action: The Value and Complexities of Building Reuse for Community, Climate, and Culture”
2022 Climate Adaptive Design Symposium: Where Building Science Meets Climate Science “Building Reuse is Climate Action: Leveraging Existing Buildings to Achieve and Equitable, Net Zero Built Future”
2022 National Trust Canada Conference, Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals Workroom “Energy, Carbon, and the Value of our Existing Buildings”
2022 One Cape Summit (Cape Cod Commission Annual Conference) “Climate Solutions for the Built Environment”
2022 AIAVA Embodied Carbon101 “EPDs”
2022 Sustainable Minds Webinar “Understanding the New Carbon Estimating Tools for Early Stage Building Design”
2022 AIA Conference on Architecture A’22 “Design for Climate Action & Climate Justice: Redefining Value”
2022 Just Transitions: Heritage Education for Climate Adaptation (ICOMOS University) “Material, Reuse, and Equity”
2022 Preservation Priorities Task Force Webinar “Calculating Carbon Savings from Building Reuse and Retrofit”
2022 Pratt Institute Earth Action Week “Heritage is Climate Action”
2022 Harvard Circular Economy Symposium “CLOSING THE LOOP: Is Circularity just a fad?”
2022 BuildingEnergy Boston (NESEA Conference) “Goals that Stick”
2021 AIA Tri-State Conference, “Leveraging Existing and Historic Buildings for Climate Action”
2021 COP26, “Lessons from the Vernacular and Historic Built Environment,” at the Buildings Pavilion
2021 COP26, Climate Heritage Network Annual General Assembly
2021 Historic England Webinar, “Climate Heritage Network COP26 Preview – Building Reuse is Climate Action”
2021 New Buildings Institute Getting to Zero Forum: “Saving Buildings to Save the Climate – The Quantifiable Benefits of Heritage Building Reuse and How to Achieve Them
2021 National Trust for Canada Annual Conference: “Plenary Panel - Environmental Reset: Decarbonizing Heritage & Making Mainstream Impact” and “Deep Dive Discussion – Building Data for Climate Action: New Tools Promoting Reuse Through Better Metrics for Operational, Embodied and Avoided Carbon”
2021 Boston Society for Architects, Opinion & Matter, Existing Buildings: Speaker, moderator, and program advisor
2021 Boston Society for Architects, Committee on the Environment: “Quantifying Total Carbon for Smart Reuse,” Co-Presenter
2020 ABX (Boston Society for Architects Conference) Workshop: “Building Reuse is Climate Action: Verification Methodologies”
2020 Historic England Webinar, “Making the Case for Building Reuse through Better Metrics for Avoided Operational and Embodied Carbon”
2020 AIA/ACSA Intersections in Research Conference: Carbon: “Designing a ‘Smart’ Energy Retrofit,” Co-Presenter
2020 APT/SCUP Webinar “Managing Your Historic Campus Facilities in Today’s Resource-Constrained Environment”
2020 Association for Preservation Technology Annual Conference, Workshop: “Quantifying the Environmental Benefits of Preservation: LCA for Existing and Historic Buildings”
2020 AIA National Convention, Los Angeles, CA (postponed), “Reusing Existing and Historic Buildings to Achieve Climate Goals”
2020 BuildingEnergy Boston (NESEA Conference) “Testing Intuition: Re-evaluating Transformative Reuse Projects”
2020 Boston Society for Architects, Embodied Carbon 101 Series: Program advisor and “Basic Literacy” and “Carbon Accounting,” Moderator. Adopted by AIAU and one of the top courses of 2021.
2020 Association for Preservation Technology Northeast Chapter Annual Symposium: “Transforming a Mid–Century Dormitory into a High–Performance Asset”
2020 AIA Historic Resources Committee Taliesin West Colloquium, Program advisor
2019 Association for Preservation Technology Annual Conference: “Leveraging the Historic Built Environment to Meet Carbon Reduction Targets”
2019 Boston Society for Architects Embodied Carbon Conference, Advisory panel member
2019 Traditional Building Conference “Zero Net Carbon and Heritage Cities: Policy, Practice, and Preservation”
2018 ICOMOS Canada Annual Meeting Sustainable Development | The future of our heritage in a changing climate: Adaptation, Mitigation, and Resilience”
2018 Climate Heritage Mobilization, a Global Climate Action Summit Affiliate Event, Program advisor
2018 Carbon Smart Building Day, a Global Climate Action Summit Affiliate Event, Program advisor
2018 BuildingEnergy Boston (NESEA Conference) “Thermal & Energy Analysis for Architects: Why, When, & How”
2016 Keeping History Above Water Conference Workshop: 74 Bridge Street Case Study, a workshop to educate and explore adaptation challenges and solutions for historic properties vulnerable to rising sea levels
2014 Association for Preservation Technology Northeast Chapter Annual Symposium: “Updating Historic Buildings for Changing Codes and Technologies”
2012 Construction History Society of America: “Stair Construction of Rafael Guastavino”
Northeastern University (August 2021 – December 2021), Boston, MA
Adjunct Faculty, School of Architecture
Course taught: Structural Systems

University of Washington (November 2021 – December 2021), Seattle, WA
Adjunct Faculty, School of Built Environment
Course taught: Adaptive Reuse graduate research seminar
Guest Lecturer: MIT, Columbia University, UC Berkeley, Northeastern University, Cornell University, Harvard
- City of Boston, Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) Review Board, Member (2025-present)
- UNEP Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, Climate Heritage Network Representative (2025-present)
- World Economic Forum G20 Alliance, Sustainability Task Force (2024)
- International Living Futures Institute, Zero Carbon Evolution Working Group (2024)
- AIA Committee on the Environment Chair (2023), Leadership Group Member (2021-2024)
- Climate Heritage Network, International Steering Committee Member (2022-2024), Working Group Coordinator (2019 – Present), a network founded by the International Council on Monuments and Sites with the goal of mobilizing the arts, culture, and heritage sector to climate action.
- ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change, Vice-Chair (2026-present), Expert Member (2017 – Present)
- Association of Preservation Technology International, Co-Chair for the Technical Committee for Sustainable Preservation (2020 – present).
- Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing and Historic Buildings (ZNCC), Founding Co-Chair (2017 – Present), a network founded by the Association for Preservation Technology, AIA, RAIC, Architecture 2030, and International Council on Monuments and sites to accelerate sustainable reuse of the built environment toward a net zero future.
- City of Boston ZNC Zoning Embodied Carbon Technical Advisory Group Organizer and Member, 2021
- City of Boston GHG Mitigation Performance Standard Technical Advisory Group Member, 2020
- Boston Preservation Alliance Board of Young Advisors Past President (2017)
- Boston Society for Architecture, Historic Resources Committee member (2011 – present)
- ENR Top 20 Under 40, 2026
- Urban Land Institute Kohn/KPF Fellow, 2025
- Invited White House Embodied Carbon Advisor, 2024
- COP28, COP29, COP30 Official Delegate
- AIA 2022 Young Architects Award
- Preservation Action, Preservation Action Hero, 2022
- International Co-Sponsored Meeting on Culture, Heritage, and Climate Change, one of 100 invited global experts at a week-long working meeting convened by the IPCC, ICOMOS, and UNESCO (2021)
- COP26 Speaker on traditional and heritage structures as strategies for resilience and climate action
- New England Real Estate Journal, 2020 Ones to Watch
- Preservation Massachusetts Paul & Niki Tsongas Award, 2018, recognizing emerging leaders in historic preservation
2024 AIA Arizona SRP Sustainable Award, Juror
2024 FRAME Magazine Design Awards, Juror
2023 International Union of Architects, UIA World Congress, Science Track Peer Reviewer
2022 AIA Los Angeles Design Excellence Awards, Juror
- New Hampshire AIA Merit Award, Dartmouth College Irving Institute for Energy and Society
- DC Preservation League 2021 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award, Center Building at St. Elizabeths West
- Boston Society for Architecture Harleston Parker Award, Harvard Art Museums Renovation and Expansion (with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Payette)
- Built Environment Plus Green Building Showcase: Energy and Carbon Leader Award, Dartmouth College Irving Institute for Energy and Society
- Congress for the New Urbanism Charter Award, “Keeping 74 Bridge Street Above Water”
- Congress for the New Urbanism New England Chapter 2016 Urbanism Award, “Keeping 74 Bridge Street Above Water”
- 2014/2015 Miles Crown Hall Americas Prize, Grace Farms (with SANAA)
- 2017 AIA Awards - Architecture, Grace Farms (with SANAA)
- Cambridge Historical Commission 20th Annual Preservation Awards, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, E52, Morris and Sophie Chang Building (with Beyer, Blinder, Belle)
- Boston Building and Material Reuse Summit, Participant 2022
- Fifth National Climate Assessment, Workshop Participant 2022
- Bay Area Deconstruction Work Group, Participant 2020
- Matters and Opinion, Practice-Based Research, Participant, 2020
- Sustainable Design Leaders Summit, Participant, Summer 2020
- ILFI unconference, Participant, 2020
- Carbon Positive Conference, Participant, 2020
- Climate Heritage Network Global Launch, Invited Participant, 2019
- Carbon Positive Summit, Invited Participant, 2019
- AIA Conference, Participant, 2017
- Pocantico Center Preservation Fellowship, Applicant, 2017, 2020
- BuildingEnergy Boston Workshop, Embodied Energy and Carbon: Calculating the Life Cycle Impacts of Buildings, Participant, 2017
- AIA Historic Resources Committee Taliesin West Colloquium, Participant, 2017
- Association of Preservation Technology Documentation Workshop, Participant, 2016
- Association of Preservation Technology International Annual Conference, Attendee 2015-2019
- Association for Preservation Technology Northeast Chapter Annual Symposium, Attendee 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
- Massachusetts State Preservation Conference, Participant, 2013, 2015
- Wood in the 21st Century: Design and Preservation of Contemporary & Historic Architecture, Participant and Poster Author

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