Pliny Fisk III

Pliny Fisk III (born May 30, 1944 in New York) is a co-founder and co-director of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS), a sustainable design and planning 501c3 non-profit established in 1975. Fisk also serves as Fellow in Sustainable Urbanism and Fellow in Health Systems Design at Texas A & M University, where he holds a joint position as signature faculty in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Planning. Fisk has previously held positions at Ball State University, The University of Texas at Austin, Mississippi State University and University of Oklahoma.

Fisk received B.Arch., M.Arch., and M.L.Arch. Degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. His graduate studies focused on ecological land planning under the guidance of Ian McHarg. His work has also been influenced substantially by Russell Ackoff in various disciplines associated with the systems sciences. He has four children and is married to Gail Vittori.

Fisk’s special contributions in the research field have been principally in materials and methods; from low-cost building systems development referred to as open building, to wide ranging material development that includes low carbon and carbon balanced cements, and many other low impact materials. He was instrumental in developing the first input/output life cycle assessment model for material flow in the U.S. and connecting this to a Geographic Information System, so that human activities can be placed into the context of natural systems on a national scale. The model for preserving abundant, naturally renewable resources is entirely removed from the questions of social equity, quality of environment and human welfare. The model represents greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants and toxic releases of over 12,500,000 businesses. He has also developed an alternative land planning and design methodology referred to as Eco- Balance Design and Planning.

“...(the Center’s) work grows out of a literal and metaphysical map of the ecology and resources of a region. The material cycles, the energy flows, the water in a region is really what it’s all about.” -Jane Holtz Kay, Architecture Magazine

"Once considered on the fringe, the [Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems] ... is now widely considered to be in the vanguard of the country's eco-friendly or 'green building' movement."

-Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times

“Like Buckminster Fuller, Pliny’s ideas may be more appreciated a hundred years from now.”

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