The Future Envelope is not conceivable without a direct and strong contribution to the climate concept of the entire building and the building environment. Climate design is one of the younger disciplines that relate to façade construction. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Matthias Schuler is professor at Harvard, Graduated School of Design, Dep. of Architecture, and principle of his company Transsolar, has been involved in this subject matter for over 15 years. His projects are astonishing examples of how the performance of facades can be tailored to the requirements for energy consumption and comfort. If façade design is the micro level, urban planning is macro. In this paper Matthias Schuler explains why a successful sustainable build environment will have to start here.