BELFAST — OPAL Architecture Research Design and GO Lab said Oct. 29 that founder and executive partner Matt O’Malia received a 2019 Alnoba Environmental Leadership Award.

The executive partner and founder of OPAL Architecture Research Design, Matthew O’Malia is an architect with a nationwide reputation for innovation and expertise in the design of high-performance buildings, according to GO Labs, in a news release.

A leader in Passive House design in North America and named to Architect magazine’s Architect 50 list in 2018, he is a frequent speaker at sustainable design conferences in the U.S. and abroad.

Alnoba is an environmental leadership training organization, founded by the Boston-based Lewis Family Foundation, whose mission is “developing courageous leadership and sustainability models to help change people’s lives, create stronger communities, and save the earth we share.”

Its annual award program recognizes environmental leadership in four categories: Moral Courage in Leadership, International Indigenous Leadership, Emerging Environmental Entrepreneur, and CEO Environmental Leadership.

O’Malia was honored with the CEO Environmental Leadership Award, which Alnoba established “to support, inspire and recognize business leaders who help save the earth we share.”

A statement from Alnoba lauded O’Malia for defining a practical, cost-effective approach to sustainable architecture and construction and for founding multiple companies to translate that approach into marketable services and products, calling him a leader who “blazed the trail in New England for Passive House design and who is now redefining the sustainable design industry.”

In a ceremony held on October 16 at Alnoba’s groundbreaking Passive House certified event facility in Kensington, NH, which OPAL designed, O’Malia shared the podium with three other inspiring environmental leaders:

 The Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition was honored with the Moral Courage in Leadership Award, in part for its successful effort to protect 1.35 million acres of ancestral Native American homelands.

 Francinar Soares Martins Baré, of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations from the Brazilian Amazon, received the International Indigenous Leadership Award for her advocacy for the rights of indigenous people, and for her work to enlist more women in that effort.

 Steph Spiers, a cofounder of Solstice, a company that promotes access to community-shared solar energy facilities “to put affordable clean energy within reach of every American,” was presented with the Emerging Social Entrepreneur Award.

Each Alnoba Environmental Leadership Award was accompanied by a generous cash contribution to a charity of the recipient’s choice. Matt has directed that his be donated to Waterfall Arts, a Belfast, Maine-based nonprofit community arts organization.

Matthew O’Malia
The executive partner and founder of OPAL Architecture Research Design, Matthew O’Malia is an architect with a nationwide reputation for innovation and expertise in the design of high-performance buildings. A leader in Passive House design in North America and named to Architect magazine’s Architect 50 list in 2018, he is a frequent speaker at sustainable design conferences in the U.S. and abroad.

In a field with outsized impact on the environment, Matthew embraces the challenge to generate positive environmental change. Combining the highest levels of energy performance with sustainable materials, his buildings embody a timeless simplicity, functionality and delight. Matthew is also a partner in GO Lab, an innovative research and development sister company to OPAL, creating the next generation of renewable, recyclable and non-toxic building materials.

OPAL
Based in Belfast, Maine, OPAL Architecture Research Design maintains a focus on design while continually striving to elevate the attainable standards of sustainability, energy efficiency, and occupant health, according to OPAL, in a news release.

Founded in 2008 as the architecture arm of the influential environmentally focused design/build firm GO Logic, OPAL is committed to aligning clients’ programmatic, aesthetic, and environmental priorities.

“Our standard is a building that is not only sustainable in operation, but also “pays back” over its lifetime the environmental costs of its construction, achieving a positive, regenerative outcome for people and the planet,” said OPAL

GO Lab
GO Lab, Inc., is a privately held, Maine-based building products corporation founded in 2017 to develop and manufacture innovative, environmentally responsible wood fiber insulation for the residential and light commercial construction market.

GO Lab is a spin-off of OPAL Architecture Research Design, an architecture firm that has been instrumental in bringing ultra-energy efficient Passive House architecture and construction to the U.S.