Sustainable or Stylish?
When most people think of sustainable or green building, the idea of these buildings being stylish rarely comes into play. In architecture the “tried and true” designs are the most prevalent. Its rare that a building is unique or has something that really makes it stand out. If you were to ask someone to give you an example of a modern structure that is truly unique, many would be hard pressed to name one. They would be even more hard pressed to name a structure that is considered green or sustainable in that category. But as I showed in previous blogs, sustainability and aesthetic beauty can walk hand in hand just fine.
Infused with new techniques and ideas for sustainability are ideas to express beauty while still staying green. As i mentioned in my first blog, Gleen Murcutt has taken this approach and run with it. This idea of stylish sustainability was also recently mention in an issue of the Christian Science Monitor.
This article talks in more detail about the very things I am expounding upon in my blogs. How sustainable/green architecture is becoming more and more prevalent in our modern society. But as the idea of sustainable living and sustainable architecture is growing in the public eye, so is the view that sustainable doesn’t have to be ugly.
An article published on in the AlternativeConsumer talks about the Toronto-based Altius Architecture and Sustain Design Studio have created the miniHome: small eco-friendly pre-fabricated constructions. These companies provide a sustainable housing option for couples and individuals. Their biggest model yet, the 12 wide, is set to roll-out later this year. This model will be both sustainable and stylish.
‘Little House on a Small Planet’, by Shay Solomon, is a guidebook and to the small house movement. Which is another approach in the ever expanding world of sustainable housing. The author and the photographer spent over eight years collecting floor plans, photographs, advice, essays and anecdotes about North American small dwellings and the people who live in them.
I can only hope that this trend will continue and that as more and more sustainable buildings are constructed, that these new constructions will be undertaken not only to be sustainable but also aesthetically beautiful. That different companies all over the globe are trying to create sustainable and stylish comes speaks to a growing global trend.
Sanyo’s 1,033-foot- wide solar-powered museum in central Japan is composed of thousands of factory-recalled solar cells recycled from the company’s junk piles – a rare fusion of budgetary restraint, ecological awareness, and aesthetic design. (Courtesy of Sanyo Energy Corp.)
To respond to your article I began to think of the different measures college universities have taken to construct sustainable and environmentally friendly buildings. Even Furman University has built Cliffs Cottage, a building designed along LEED guidelines. However, when many universities think sustainable, they also think ugly and EXPENSIVE. However, when we look abroad we see this is not the case. Take Cornell University, for example. They have built a campus abroad in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar. They constructed a medical college that not only employs state of the art technology, but eco-architecture principles. To adjust to the climate,
energy efficiency was a major factor influencing the design. A double wall protects the building from the extreme heat. The outer walls, made of glass fiber reinforced concrete panels, are designed to absorb heat. A three-foot gap separates this outer wall from the inner insulated wall. In the courtyards, three 80 foot tall wind towers, also called badgirs, are used to direct cool breezes inside the building. These structures were a traditional means of cooling houses in the Gulf. Beyond that, the campus is beautiful, and still retains much of the design concepts associated with middle eastern architecture. Through the means of intelligent design, eco-friendly production, and globalization, architecture has proven to be both visually and economically valuable.
http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/greenbuildings/weillmedicalcollege.cfm
cgarber said this on April 14, 2009 at 9:58 pm