Sustainability in Architecture
Happy Earth Day! As an Architecture and Environmental Design student, it seemed fitting to talk about sustainability in the context of architecture and touch on environmental design principles, and ways in which we as architecture students can incorporate these ideas in our studio projects.
With the dangers of the climate crisis being more prominent than ever, the term sustainability is popping up in all sorts of areas of our lives: from food, to fashion, and of course, architecture. But despite the increasing exposure to the term, not everyone has a deeper understanding of what it truly means to be sustainable; and of those that do, few really implement the principles into their lives.
The building construction industry is the biggest producer of carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to 40% compared to other industries. And yet, it’s not transforming fast enough to keep up with the climate change targets set out by local, national and international organisations. Architects have a huge responsibility to make sure they are implementing sustainability at the heart of their designs, yet there are still too many designers that either don’t value this as a priority in their work, are unable to pitch sustainable designs against client demands, or simply aren’t equipped with even the simplest knowledge and tools to do so. We’re reaching a point where we will no longer be able to afford to design structures that ignore their impact on the environment completely through stricter guidelines and building standards that evolve with climate crisis targets. Traditional architecture education needs to evolve to keep up with these issues at hand, as designers need to be equipped with at least the basic knowledge of environmental design to take forward with them in the architecture industry.
The term sustainability at its most basic level refers to maintaining something at a certain level or rate - in the context of climate crisis, this means using resources responsibly to maintain our ecological system without compromising the state of our natural environment. As architects, we need a more specific definition and comprehension of sustainability to break down how exactly we can design our structures in relation to the climate crisis. The RIBA have published a document stating some of the goals and guidelines set out to achieve sustainability targets in the architecture industry. These tackle things like energy consumption and monitoring, and establish performance targets for different building typologies. However, a lot of buildings have fallen into the trap of being greenwashed through the amplification of performative additions, such as increasing greenery, offsetting emissions or relying on solar panels to carry the image of a sustainable building. Whilst these strategies do have a positive impact on building sustainability, they need to be implemented effectively and most of the time they don’t make up for the other environmentally detrimental stages of the design and construction process of a building. This is where the principles of environmental design come in.
In today’s post, I’ll be breaking down a list of areas you can consider in your student projects to become more environmentally conscious in your work.
Know your site
Responding to your site’s context takes a whole new meaning in environmental architecture. A lot of students simply draw a basic sun path and wind arrow on a site analysis map to suggest some understanding of the environment without knowing the deeper implications of such climate analysis. Take some time to look into the macro and microclimate of your project’s site, and how the environmental conditions change throughout the course of the year. This will inform how long certain environmental design strategies will be effective over the course of your building’s life span. For example, a rainwater harvesting system may not be appropriate for a dry climate, whilst investing in solar panels where it is constantly overcast may not be an efficient use of budget. This will also allow you to assess opportunities for generating renewable energy on-site which can contribute to reducing consumption of and reliance on fossil fuels.
Use alternative materials and construction methods
There are many sustainable alternatives to traditional construction materials from timber to bamboo and rammed earth. However, it’s also worth noting the logistics of obtaining and supplying certain materials, even those that have a reputation for having low embodied carbon. If the importation of a certain material that isn’t locally sourced is going to cost more financially and environmentally and outweigh its benefits, it might not be the best option to use in your building. Using locally sourced materials reduces logistical and transportation costs, and local construction methods may reduce the amount of energy that goes into operating expensive and disruptive machinery. Learn from relevant vernacular architecture precedents to your site that may be able to inform alternative construction methods and fabrication processes that are less costly. On the other hand, looking into new developing research and technologies can also offer more sustainable materiality options and construction methods that contribute to a more sustainable building process e.g. additive manufacturing, robotics, biomaterials and biomimetics etc. just to name a few.
Passive Design
Passive design methods should always be considered before looking into active design strategies, and this comes from understanding your site well. Building performance plays a key part in determining how sustainable a building truly is, and simulating certain performance aspects indicate where you could implement more effective environmental design strategies. For example, understanding wind patterns to maximise natural ventilation in buildings reduces the amount of mechanical ventilation needed in structures, but it comes from more than just identifying the prevailing wind direction on site – wind speed and wind patterns according to surrounding building height are a couple of factors that you should take into consideration when designing with natural ventilation strategies. Likewise, use solar analysis and sun path data to identify for how long your building can operate without artificial lighting, and where you might need to mitigate glare to optimise human comfort for certain activities. Look into NZEB buildings and Passivhaus designs to see how existing buildings have achieved successful building performance levels.
Promote sustainable lifestyles through your design
Some may say that inhabitation is more powerful than architecture itself. The walls of a building will always stand, but what happens inside of them will change as the habits of the users evolve in a space. With the freedom you have over your studio projects in architecture school, see if you can implement sustainable habits in the programme and design of your building. For example, a well-designed communal urban farming system where users can grow their own crops and compost food waste products can positively impact air quality on site whilst also responding to circular economy principles. Kinetic, deployable and modular structures also set up a useful framework for a flexible built environment that can be manipulated to serve a variety of user needs without needing extra construction or separate buildings to accommodate different activities.
Whilst environmental design may seem like an overly technical, niche part of architecture, it’s important not to lose sight of the other result of successful building performance which is human comfort. Designing responsibly for the environment isn’t just a tick-box exercise, it’s something that positively impacts the way users experience the spaces they interact with in their daily lives. Sustainable architecture is something all individuals in the industry should strive for to improve people’s lives as well as responsibly interact with the environment.
That’s it for today’s post. Hopefully, this informed you on the implications of sustainability in architecture and gave you some practical ways in which you can incorporate environmentally-conscious features into your designs.
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See you next Friday with another blog post.
