Steve Mouzon

Steve Mouzon

Steve Mouzon has led or contributed to many advances in sustainable place-making and building design. He runs a veritable “skunk works” of sustainability, place-making, and building-making ideas and tools from his office in Miami Beach. He founded the New Urban Guild, which is a group of architects, designers, and other New Urbanists dedicated to sustainable buildings and places native to and inspired by the regions in which they are built. The Guild was instrumental in the creation of the Katrina Cottages concept. Steve’s Katrina Cottage VIII, which opened the second generation of Katrina Cottages, was awarded a Charter Award by the Congress for the New Urbanism. The Guild’s Project:SmartDwelling initiative sets out to redefine the American home much smaller, smarter, and more sustainable. Steve’s SmartDwelling I was featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Green House of the Future story alongside designs by three other notable green architects, including William McDonough.

The Guild Foundation is the non-profit educational arm of the Guild; it sponsors the Original Green initiative, plus a number of workshops, tours, and seminars that fill several of the gaps that previously existed between theory and practice.

Steve is also a principal of Mouzon Design, which produces a number of town-building tools and services. His house plans have been featured repeatedly as Home of the Month in Southern Living and Coastal Living. Steve is Town Architect at several new hamlets, villages and neighborhoods around the country, using a unique face-to-face method of design review he developed that many agree is the most effective in use today. Several of his projects are award-winners.

Steve’s book the Original Green frames sustainability in common-sense, plain-spoken terms. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. wrote the Foreword. Steve has also collaborated repeatedly with other notables, including Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of DPZ and the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, which is Prince Charles’ organization. 

Steve’s award-winning book A Living Tradition [Architecture of the Bahamas] sets the standard for a new type of pattern book that is principle-based instead of taste-based, and therefore contributes to the creation of new living traditions. Steve has authored or contributed to a number of publications and articles in recent years, and much has been written about him (see below). He is a noted photographer of great places and buildings. Steve lectures frequently across the country and abroad on a wide range of topics. He is a board member of the Guild Foundation and INTBAU-USA, and is the author of the Original Green Blog, the Useful Stuff blog, and We Do This Because… His Original Green Twitter stream is @stevemouzon. Steve has made significant contributions as a team leader or team member on a number of significant New Urbanist projects noted below, and is involved in a number of organizations devoted to the building of better and more sustainable places.