Sustainable Architecture

Today, environmental issues take

centre stage at international forums
and conferences, with groups forcing
leaders to look at the ever
concerning issue.

Since the 1970s, the world of design

and architecture has been echoing
these concerns to some degree.

However, today, due to the rising

environmental pressures and our
fervent need to reduce global CO2
emissions, sustainability has become
an integral part of modern
architecture and building
construction.
About two hours west of Mexico City, a
recently completed home for an architect
and his family is giving a new face to
water conservation. Comprised of three
small structures that include a main
residence, an art studio and a bath house,
the Rain Harvest Home integrates
rainwater-harvest architecture – an
uncommon practice despite the region
having abundant rainfall. The house boasts
to be fully water self-sufficient.

What does this

mean?
The Arc, part of Green School in Bali, has
recently been completed offering a fresh
visual shorthand for education architecture
and the school’s green identity through its
pioneering, green bamboo roof. The project
was designed to host a wellness space and
gymnasium for the school campus.
Whimsical but sturdy, beautifully
undulating as well as light and dynamic –
almost like the bamboo version of a boat’s
billowing sails in the wind – the roof is thin
and balanced, and feels organic and close
to nature. The trick was marrying
traditional, age-old techniques for building
with bamboo, and new technologies,
Hardy, explains. 

Can you find and

define the adjectives?
 In just 18 months, Vestre has completed
the world's most environmentally
friendly furniture factory, The Plus. The
building's energy consumption is 60
percent lower than for similar
conventional factories, while emitting 55
percent lower greenhouse gas emissions
than a comparable factory. On the green
rooftop, there are about 900 solar panels
that will generate approximately 250,000
kWh of renewable energy per year.
Furthermore, the factory will reuse 90-
95 percent of the water used in the
production.
Architecture and the built environment
have received scant attention in the
coverage of COP26, the UN Climate
Change Conference. It’s an obvious blind
spot given that the building sector
currently generates 40 per cent of all
global carbon emissions and that massive
population growth and increased
urbanisation mean there’s a lot more
building to be done. It is predicted that
another 230 billion square metres of new
building space will be needed by 2060. Of
course, many architects have developed
innovative ways to reduce that carbon
debt, both in construction and during a
building’s lifetime, through sustainable
architecture. Now one of the industry’s
giants, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
(SOM), is unveiling a model for carbon-
negative architecture – meet the ‘Urban Would you live here?
Sequoia’
Discussion Time
• What are the key drivers and influences behind sustainable
architecture?

• How do you feel about sustainable architecture?

• What would be your priority when considering architecture in the

future?
Written Task
Write a small paragraph to describe your ideal sustainable building that will
be built in the future.

Brief:
• Describe how the building may look.
• Give key features that your building will have and how will help the
environment.

Reach for the stars: What advice would you give someone who is trying to
build ‘green’? Consider what aspects of the environment need to be cared for.