Rune Kongshaug, Global Citizen

Rune Kongshaug (M. Arch) is a designer-builder and entrepreneur who has since 2002 dedicated his professional life to solving the problem of sustainable housing design, transformation and new construction.

In 2008, he formed Produktif (www.produktif.com) a design studio dedicated to raising the bar of sustainable design to the most forward-looking clients. In 2005, he founded Ensemble Terre-Ciel (www.ensembleterreciel.com), a construction company dedicated to healing the planet through the design and construction of “creative living spaces”, in other words: the transformation or construction of sustainable housing that does not compromise on the pleasures and beauties that a well-designed space has to offer. The first project, called Maison Productive House (www.productivehouse.com) is an 12000 square feet, affordable, 8-unit mixed-use development that seeks LEED platinum and Zero emission development certifications, and will achieve a 60-80% reduction in individual energy costs. This demonstration project introduces urban agriculture and car-sharing features and will be completed during Spring 2009.

From 2004 to 2006, while pursuing his Masters degree, Rune was the Project Manager, and grant co-author for Making the Edible Landscape, a global initiative sponsored by McGill University Minimum Cost Housing Group (MCHG), ETC of the Netherlands, and the International Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC). The project pioneered using urban agriculture as a catalyst for urban upgrading in Rosario (Argentina), Montreal (Canada), Kampala (Uganda), and Colombo (Sri-Lanka). The project results were showcased at the the Union International des Architectes in Istanbul in 2005, and at the World Urban Forum in Vancouver in 2006.

From 1996 until 2003, Rune successfully transformed industrial real estate into housing units in New York City, and also ran an alternative restaurant called Ozone. Prior to working in design and construction, Rune was employed as an Executive Search Consultant with Gundersen Partners LLC (New York,1998-2000), and as a Research Analyst with AT Kearney Financial Services Practice, which spun off to become Mitchell Madison Group, providing strategic consulting services to telecom and financial institutions (New York, Mexico City, Paris, and Stockholm,1994-1997).

Rune is a published writer and lecturer on sustainable housing and food security and holds a Master degree in Architecture from McGill University (Montreal, 2006), a double bachelor degree in International Relations and Quantitative Economics from Tufts University (Medford, Mass., 1994), and a French Baccalaureate in science (Monaco, 1990). Born in Norway (1971), Rune has worked internationally, has managed multi-disciplinary teams and community-based design projects, and is fluent in Norwegian, English, French and Spanish. He currently lives between New York City and Montreal and is married to Kareen Smith-Kongshaug, a fashion designer, with one young daughter, Delphine.

Rune Kongshaug
Ensemble Terre-Ciel, President

Work: +1-514-989-7098 poste / ext. 21
Work fax +1-514-221-2025
Home +1-212-614-2663
Cell: +1-917-499-1231

E-mail: rune.kongshaug@ensembleterreciel.com
URL: www.ensembleterreciel.com