SUSTAINABILITY: How do we do it?
During the last few decades the World has witnessed many changes in public attitudes towards the ecology of the planet. There have been great leaps in methods of reduction of energy consumption and the elimination of carbon rich processes while the understanding and acceptance of sustainability, a much wider subject, as a driver has increased greatly. This has provided a new impetus and direction to how designers and investor / clients think about designing buildings. Much of this thinking is now gaining wider acceptance and interest in Turkey also.
Increasingly we are beginning to realise that sustainability needs to become the foundation stone of all our thinking, whether it is to do with the construction industry or any other sector. However since construction and by default, the actions of architects and engineers contribute to approximately 50% of the CO2 emissions in the world today, it is axiomatic that we as a profession need to take action. Yesterday the definition of sustainability hardly extended beyond that of simple survival. Today, it is a totally different word.
The most well established definition of sustainability is that of the Brundtland Commissionat the United Nationson March 20, 1987:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
THE 3 E’S
As a practice we establish the performance of sustainable actions on three basic foundations during all of our thinking processes. These we have come to define as the principles of the 3 E’s, which focus us towards achieving a sustainable result. That is: Ethics, Ecology and Economics.
Ethics defines our actions in terms of how we behave towards society, and our relation to people, different cultures, and ways of living, ethical consumerism, and our relationship to community. This is our response to the “Genius Loci”, or the characteristics of “Place”. By this definition each of our actions need to be ethical, or responsive to the society, culture, and location that we act upon.
Ecologyis about the planet that we live in, the organism that supports us, and the need to support that organism with every action that we take so that it continues to support us. The symbiotic relationship that we have with our planet needs to be encouraged and enhanced with every action that we take. There fore the use of our planet’s resources, what we throw in to it, what we do to its nature, are all critical to this factor. When we design, our objective should be to minimise our negative impact.
Economyis about the equitability, and viability of our actions when we build in the environment, or when we invest. If we do not act with a win-win mentality and believe that some one must loose for another to win, there will always be damage, and this damage, by its own nature will come back to hurt all of us, since we all live in the same closed system. Our actions need to last, we need to make investments, which have longevity so that these investments go on and on and continue to support the generations that come after us.
We are all unique as people in every possible way. Every building placed in a different location, geographically, climatically, or culturally diverse is also by definition different, and needs to be responsive to those characteristics. The application of the principles of the 3 E’s ensures that these differences continue to be respected.
The key eco-sustainability issues within building design we initially identify would include the following and would be used as an initial agenda in any project:
• Establish low CO2 emission targets
• Adopt low carbon energy sources
• Collect and generate energy on site
• Design for minimum energy consumption
• Avoid the use of air conditioning
• Design for minimum electrical consumption
• Maximise natural daylighting
• Recycle heat generated within the building
• Re-use and recycle demolition materials or other materials in the new buildings.
• Avoid the use of unrecyclable materials.
• Use materials from sustainable sources
• Prefer to use natural materials to synthetics
• Minimise wastage in the building process
• Avoid the use of CFCs and HCFCs and ozone depleting materials
• Avoid the use of solvent based treatment systems
• Maintain an awareness of the environmental pollution resulting from manufacture or disposal of building materials.
The above principles are design-drivers that may not be possible to achieve in all projects all of the time because each project is different, but these set up the starting principles of eco-sensitive design.
What needs to change to achieve this faster?
For the successful creation of sustainable buildings an integrated and interdisciplinary design process needs to be pursued from the start of the design process, because the issues surrounding sustainability are complex and not within the expertise of just one profession. The choice and selection of the engineering team is crucial to this success. Architects normally lead and orchestrate this process of design. In that sense an architect is very much like the director of an orchestra conducting numerous complex instruments to come together to form a beautiful harmonious whole.
However to achieve a highly sustainable building design an interdisciplinary integrated collaborative model is needed, simply because one professional, cannot hold all this information in his head. Certainly the architect alone cannot do it. This model requires many more iterations and deliberations, and review processes which involve not only the mental engagement of the engineering team early on in the creation process but also the inputs of specialists, manufacturers, suppliers and contractors as well as the client.
Also the process of design development needs to allow sufficient time for the design team to interact with one another to allow for a period of Research and Development to encourage innovation and push boundaries. Most non Anglo-Saxon countries’ system of design development and construction does not allow this to happen. Neither do the attitudes of many clients, who more often than not demand that an idea should have been executed and proven elsewhere before it is brought to the table. In other words risk taking is often discouraged.
What separates the European or Anglo American sector is the ability to make innovative discoveries. Without taking calculated risks and innovation the development of new technologies and methods cannot take place. Such innovation can only happen if the client supports the idea of invention and discovery. There is a well known adage:
“Good Clients produce Good Buildings”
To minimize the actual risk to such decisions we need to utilize technology and software to simulate ideas of this nature – especially those that involve out-of-the-box thinking, which goes against the norms of practice. Computer analysis shows often with minimal risk that an idea can work. In this way the client can feel empowered to take decisions to move forward. The design team “models” or simulates the ideas in the digital environment and proves that they will work before implementing them. This is the wonder of computer aided design that allows us to minimize risk and take bigger leaps forward in our thinking and application of sustainability principles.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go”
- T. S. Eliot
Selcuk Avci, Founder Avci Architects, 25 October 2011
