Lennart Graff joins Shift's advisory board to help develop the 8th world wonder that will serve as beacon of hope for the age marked by sustainability.
Graff is an experienced designer and developer of unusual and nature-centric architecture, most notably the Dutch Windwheel (regrettably never realised) and Dutch Mountains, currently being in built in the Eindhoven's railway zone. When finished, it will be the largest wooden building in the world.
The Dutch Mountains will be multidimensional space where people meet, work, life and get inspired in their journey to live more sustainably. The building is being built using bio-based materials and its skeleton made from solid wood ensures that it will fix large quantities of CO2 for a long time. Dutch Mountains also include solar panels and visible irrigation system that connect directly with the Dommel river.
Apart from joining Shift as an advisor, Lennart Graff is leading a team of 300 people at the Gemeente Zaanstad as a "concerndirecteur," working on wide variety of sustainable solutions within the municipality. In 2014, he founded Bloc, a development company working on solutions for the next generation of cities. Among others, the company has a leading role in developing Berlijnplein, a new cultural hearth of Utrecht.
Don Rizen, Founder and CEO of Shift:
Lennart shared many useful tips that both reinforced my initial beliefs about how to build the Shift landmark, but also shared surprising advice about the ins and outs of how to get an ambitious project like this off the ground, step by step. He learned a lot of valuable lessons from Dutch Windwheel, that they successfully applied at Dutch Mountains. The positive news is that Lennart loves Shift's mission and vision and has agreed to come onboard as an advisor.
About Shift
Shift is a social, steward-owned enterprise founded by entrepreneur Don Ritzen. Ritzen believes that behavioural change is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to climate change and that it is overlooked because of the controversy. That is why he set out to find an approach that could inspire millions.
Shift is one of only 80 Dutch companies to have passed the accreditation process of the Social Enterprise Code, which means impact comes first.
Before starting Shift, Ritzen co-founded Amsterdam-based accelerator Rockstart, which has offices in Bogota, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Since its founding in 2010, Rockstart has invested in more than 350 early-stage startups, including many impact-oriented companies such as Peerby, Sympower and Hubs. Today, the Rockstart companies combined are worth EUR 1.7 billion.