Matthew Bialecki became interested in architecture at an early age while growing up in California. After traveling and studying architecture abroad, Bialecki settled in New York and began using the examples of old architecture that he had seen in Europe as his inspiration for building here. “On a sustainable level, those buildings are 400, 600 or 1,000 years old and they’re still doing great.” Bialecki was inspired by the fact that the buildings are augmented, renovated, or altered but “the core of the structures” is enduring. Bialecki feels that dense urban environments such as apartment buildings and buildings in inner cities help reduce the carbon footprint. “When you’re in a dense urban environment, you’re insulated by your neighbor beside you, you’re insulated by your neighbor above you and energy costs are much lower.” Bialecki is most proud that for the last 10 years he has contributed to educating people about the fundamentals of sustainable green architecture. Bialecki believes in integrating a building into a site so as to minimize the impact on the surrounding environment. Bialecki feels that the most important thing people should remember with regard to green architecture is to build simpler and build smaller. “It’s not green to have a 5,000 square foot house filled with energy-efficient systems and solar panels. That’s a Hummer. Nobody will ever be able to tell me that’s green.”