For Zvenyach, sustainability simply a way of being

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For Lev Zvenyach, sustainability is not merely a design goal — it’s a way of life.

Zvenyach is the leader and principal-in-charge of IBC Engineering, a company he founded 30 years ago along with his wife, Fieena, after escaping from Belarus in the former Soviet Union. Since then, he has championed green building as a way not only to save energy and protect the environment but also to come up with better buildings that benefit clients and the world around them.

“My journey to the times of sustainable design is really a crunching of the numbers,” Zvenyach said.

This approach dates to his university years, when one of his engineering professors in Belarus asked him if he knew the difference between a good engineer and a great engineer. The answer that came back stuck with him.

“Any good engineer could take anything with the best, the largest engine and shoot it to the moon,” he said. “An excellent engineer would ask, ‘What would be the smallest engine necessary to take the same payload?’

From there it was only a small step to embracing design and technology to increase efficiency and save energy, water and money

“Status quo is the easy path,” he said. “My point is to minimize waste to get the same output. You might require more effort but if it minimizes the waste?”

In addition to his work on the renovation of the Chicago Center for Green Technology, Zvenyach helped with the engineering of the Fiserv Forum, as well as Discovery World.

“Lev has been doing it for 40 years now,” said Amber Burke, director of marketing and business development for IBC Engineering. “What struck me when I first started here was we would have companies come to us, and they still do, they would want us to work on sustainable houses, mansions, projects all over the world. It struck me as odd; why are they coming to Waukesha for sustainable features?”

“He’s been in the industry a long time,” Burke added. “But he’s very humble and he deserves to be recognized. He’s really changed the landscape in Wisconsin.”