My aim is to design sustainable buildings which touch the earth lightly with as little disruption to nature as possible. ‘Sustainability’ is ‘the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level’ which can be affected by climate change, loss of energy, design faults and waste. As a student, it is important that I contribute into creating a healthy environment for the future due to fossil fuels being a damaging contribution to the earth. By designing buildings with a mindset of building a sustainable future, it influences other designers to be more ecological in order to be more energy efficient. It is important to focus on these aspects because of the large amount of pollution from wasting resources and energy whilst destroying nature in our paths, leaving nothing for the future.
ARCHITECTURAL MINDSET
To begin designing and developing a sustainable future, it is important for architects and the public to have the correct mindset for a healthy future. There can be four different ways on how people act resulting in there contribute the environment:
*Consequentialist: intergenerational equality as a framework
*Shallow environment: resource use for humanity – precautionary principle
*Intermediate environment: intrinsic value of environment and resource for humanity
*Deep environmentalism: individuals who care more about the environment
It is vital to push and influence people’s mindset towards creating an ecological future by encouraging people towards the environmentalism route which will increase environmental thinking. Designers should start to think more of the consequences of the production or use of raw materials rather than choosing them for just quantity, quality or cost. What factors will contribute climate change? Percentage of harmful gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide? Does the building exceed client needs resulting in waste of material and space? Was the destruction of nature necessary? Most people focus on present needs rather than focusing on how we can begin to change the present into forming a healthy future for new generations. As a solution, universities, colleges and companies should encourage creativity and innovation thinking at a young age in order to sway away from traditional methods. Bauhaus is an example of creative influence, by the architect Le Corbusier. It was opened with Weiner as head in 1919 but taken over by Walter Gropius. The idea around Bauhaus was the rethink the concept of design and change tradition. The challenge was ‘to change grand ideas for the future into an educational programme’. Gropius produced a 4-page manifesto stating ‘Architects, painters and sculptors must recognize anew and learn to grasp the composite character of a building both as an entity and in its separate parts.’ Bauhaus only existed for 14 years, however, when first opened, strived to be an experimental and an imaginative school. One of the teachers – Johannes Itten- had an architectural and craft vision. He taught preliminary ideas and experimentation involving colour theory and the colour star. Itten wanted to influence students to be more innovative and experiment with different techniques and colours in order to create more inventive designs. However, not everyone agreed with Itten, so he shortly left after new ideas were put in place leading to Paul Klee moving onto experimentation classes. It is vital to have professors and teachers who are innovative thinkers, in order to influence young students to be more innovative and consider the future in their design work.
DESIGNING FROM INTERIOR TO EXTERIOR
The Scottish architect and designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, had a big impact in the 20th century. His style varied but he often designed depending on the context, temperature and location which was inspired by the Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement. His designs such as ‘The House for an Art Lover’ located in Glasgow were designed from the functions and works from interior to exterior to create a space around the client’s needs. Architects are encouraged to design this way to prevent loss and waste of materials and space which all add to C02 emissions, increasing climate change. However, by encouraging architects to design this way, it also helps to make sure you’ve included all the clients re
HUMAN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Buildings are able to encourage human’s physical activity. One way of doing this is by installing built in storage. By doing this, it provides people with space to store tools and equipment meaning they can fix their own repairs and do regular gardening to reduce energy, time and money. If architects begin to design storage into buildings, it could increase home grown foods and harvesting reducing plastic packaging waste. Sustainable can also be increased if we build in bike racks, or location of a building near a public transport system. Storage space with purpose will provide people with goals and a positive attitude towards a new future.
ENERGY WASTEAGE
Buildings consume at least 40% of global energy, a lot of which is wasted energy. Architects should focus on ways to generate and encourage renewable energy from different sources. The sun is a vast provider of energy, so it is vital to use this ‘free’ energy to have more renewable buildings. In New York City, the new Reuters Building on Seventh Avenue and 42nd street has been developed with solar photo voltaic panels in the glass walls to reduce the amount of heat allowing optimal daylight. This high-rise building has absorption chillers to create air conditioning and sensors in maintenance rooms and stair ways. PV (photovoltaic) use the suns energy to capture cells. PV cells are made from semi-conducting materials which create electric field – the more the sun is shining, the more electricity which is produced, however, energy is still produced on cloudy days. By using solar photovoltaic, it reduces harmful air pollution such as carbon dioxide and methane emissions from traditional energy sources – fossil fuels. It can also be used to insulate buildings against extreme moisture and weather conditions. The company Fox & Fowle Architects added other aspects to the building to benefit the environment, such as monitored air quality, conservation and reuse of water, recycling programs, renewable, local and regional materials, modular construction techniques, public transport and site reuse. A new 150 story building, is being designed to use a vast variety of wind power and solar power systems. Louvered solar panels surround wind turbines which generate power to make the whole building run on renewable energy and reducing rippling shadows. This building only releases 10% of its water waste to sewages due to recycling rain water, water reclamation systems and catchments. This energy efficient building designed by Kiss and Cathcart Architects, has many other ideas which could influence more architects and designers to modify the way they design a building. Some of the ways they designed the building to benefit the environment were: energy exporting, daylight illumination, natural ventilation systems, interior gardens, water conservation systems, modular construction techniques, environmental planning, public transport and mixed-purpose building. If more buildings where built with these specifications, less harmful emissions would be given off and architects, designers and people could work towards a more sustainable future.
DESTRUCTION OF NATURE
‘Touching the earth lightly’ is term used by sustainable architects who avoid the removal or destruction of nature and habitats in the construction of a building. One of my aims is to design buildings which not only avoids the disruption of nature but includes the regrowth of plants and understands the contributions that nature has to the planet. Nature can be used to benefit our surroundings in a variety of ways. Not only does it make the exterior – sometimes the interior- look astonishing, it benefits our wellbeing, nature captures Co2 emissions and improves the quality of air surrounding us. Buildings should take advantage of clean air and use it as a natural ventilation by controlling the flow of air through the building. A solution for the future could be green roofs, meaning ‘A vegetated landscape built up from a series of layers that are installed on a roof surface’. Green roofs contribute to pollutant filtration, thermal insulation, providing habitat or localised cooling, however, it must be maintained properly in order to be sustainable to therefore has to be carefully thought out within the design work and maintenance. The process is usually referred to as ‘life-cycle analysis’, involving the use of recycled water and materials, locally sourced materials and no fertiliser is leaks onto other sites contributing to pollution.
LIGHT, SPACE AND MATERIAL
The use of materials is important when creating space due to the use of natural light and durability. The Maison de Verde was part of the modern movement in 1928-1932. The architect involved in the design was Pierre Chareau whom was assisted by Bernard Bijvoet and Louis Dalbet. The building was originally a eighteenth century hotel particulier (a house for the upper class) however changed into a private practice. The interior programme was to house a Gynaecologist surgery which was hidden by a dark hallway and large courtyard which was ideal for a private space. In the 20th century there was an obsession with the use of glass on buildings, Chareau used a lot of glass to create a series of layers of a variety of materials which created openness, purity, cleanliness and hygiene. Due to the hidden surgery, the entrance was made from glass which created many reflections, glazed corridor making a fluid and strange interior making it more difficult to enter. Like Chareau, Le Corbusier used a lot of glass but in a different way, he uses it for space and light such as his Maison Clarte, Genere 1930 -193. Whereas, Chareau used thick, translucent glass to create ambiguity.
USING WATER
Water is very vital for humans. However, is commonly misused and wasted. More than 40% of water taken from rivers is used for human activities. Countries with a high-density population such as the UK are very water-stressed which leads to draughts, especially in the SE of UK. Water stress needs to be reduced significantly, water can be saved by the layout and plan of a building. Designing buildings where they’re grouped together in terms of water usage, for example, kitchens and bathrooms. By doing this, it reduces wasted water from when the water is being transferred through the pipes, it also reduced the energy needed to heat up the water. Architects should be able to think about where the water comes from and how much will be lost. Water design principles are a major importance when creating a economical future. Architects, people and buildings are all results of water loss, we can easily avoid issues by balancing of use between maintenance, energy, materials, land use and aesthetics.
Throughout my manifesto, I have covered particular points which I think are important when designing a building in order to create a healthy, sustainable earth for future generations. I chose short-term and long-term solutions which will involve a vast amount of people to have a realisation that the future is in danger. From writing my own manifesto, I have learnt more about how vital looking after the earth is. The smallest things, and getting people out of certain habits can affect how the future will turn out. But it is not just human activity that needs to change, Architects need be the influencers, modifying the way a building is put together, can begin to develop healthier lifestyles,