Architectural Sustainability
by Mike Lowell
Architecture has come a long way in the past thirty to forty years, building on established ideas of space, form, function, and use in order to reflect upon and adapt to the ever changing values of contemporary society. As a result of these reflections many established concepts and previously uncontested "truths" of architecture are also being brought under an increasing amount of scrutiny as our understanding of the systems within which we exist become more complex.
Rather than being static forms dislocated from their surrounding environments buildings are becoming more and more integrated with their environments in a multitude of ways that range from social concerns for local community and users to environmental responsiveness. Examples of this can be seen in firms such as Morphosis who include a buildings intended users and their surrounding community as an integral part of the design process, and Thomas Herzog of Herzog + Partner, who has been exploring and developing ways for buildings to become environmentally responsive and energy independent since the seventies. Other groups like MVRDV, with their Mirador project in Spain and their New Orleans L9W Project, have been rethinking the way that affordable family housing is organized and formed within an urban context . When compared to more iconographic notions of architecture, such as those presented by Frank Lloyd Wright, or Frank Gehry, it becomes very evident that this new way of thinking is not just about the future of architecture but about the future of humanity itself and how we will continue to live and exist as a self conscious social entity that is aware of and responsive to our surroundings.
With this in mind it is my contention that architecture will continue to concern itself with matters that go beyond the design of individual buildings as it dives into matters of overall community and urban development by working hand in hand with city planners, emerging technology, local ecology, and community residents every step of the way. The architecture that emerges as a result of this kind of holistic approach to design is an architecture that is beautiful not because it stands defiantly apart from the world, but because it has chosen to integrate itself with the world. It exists as a design practice that is irrevocably tied to its environment, fostering a deep sense of stewardship and connection for that environment by furthering our practical understanding of local ecology.
Through this integrated approach of architecture and city planning and environmental stewardship we can and will begin to see municipalities who value efficient public transit, and a sense of proximity that is conducive to cycling and walking, as well as the growing desire for cities to become more energy self sufficient. As a result I predict that the future will hold substantially less unorganized urban sprawl, less dependency on private automobiles (which are inefficient and extremely expensive), a greater understanding of urban ecology and more focus on what we are capable of doing for the future rather than on what the past has done for us.
Today
there are a multitude of incredibly far reaching and exciting projects
under way. The most ambitious of them being the Office of Metropolitan
Architecture's to build a 1.5 million person community in the United
Arab Emirates, called Waterfront City. The proposed city will be situated
in between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, an area of the UAE well known for its
ceaseless urban development in spite of limited environmental resources.
Most of the funding for these desert mega cities comes from the elevated
prices of oil, but how will these cities continue to fund themselves
and grow in the future if they are not able to rely on their oil reserves?
How does it justify the environmental impact and disruption of offshore
ecology that results from the creation of massive man made harbors and
islands? And most importantly how do these cities intend to responsibly
and independently sustain themselves in the future? These are just some
of the questions that I would have loved to asked the Office of Metropolitan
Architecture while writing this, unfortunately they remain unavailable
for an interview. As disappointing as this may be, it does not make
these questions any less important and it certainly does not stop us
from asking them, so please join me in asking not only our city councils,
and designers, but also each other; how we intend to secure an environmentally
responsible future.
Links
Herzog + Partner Architects:
2008 < http://www.herzog-und-partner
Office of Metropolitan Architecture: "Waterfront City" 2008
< http://oma.eu/index.php?option
MVRDV: "Mirador" 2004
< http://www.mvrdv.nl/_v2
MVRDV: "New Orleans L9W" 2007
< http://www.mvrdv.nl/_v2