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Sim Van der Ryn is acknowledged as a leader in "sustainable architecture." He is also a researcher and educator. Van der Ryn's driving professional interest has been applying principles of physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design.
Van der Ryn distinguished himself among those designers and planners who have pioneered sustainable design at the community scale and the building-specific scale. He has designed everything from single-family and multi-family housing, to community facilities, retreat centers and resorts, to learning facilities, as well as office and commercial buildings.
Sim Van der Ryn's family left the Netherlands during World War II, settling in Kew Gardens, Queens, then eventually Great Neck, New York. Sim grew up with a sense of closeness with nature and a fascination with its details. He got his training in architecture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and obtained state architecture licenses and national architectural registration. He has long lived in California.
In the exploratory and energetic latter part of the 20th century, Van der Ryn and other architects and designers with similar interests were able to pioneer new technologies, systems, materials, and design solutions to create environments intended to be sensitive to place and climate, as well as responsive to human needs.
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