“Houses are machines for living in,” as Le Corbusier once said. One could say that a building is one of the largest and most used machine in existence today. So why is it that this particular type of machine is so inefficient? A new precedent for design inspiration is needed to mitigate the impact that buildings have on the environment. A machine can be defined as a device that uses energy to perform an activity. Nature, which uses solar energy, can therefore be said to be the most sustainable machine. So why not use this as a model to base building design and construction off of? Biomimicry, or the study of nature’s models which are then imitated or used for inspiration, is a process to solve design problems. In architecture, the “hip” thing today as Bjarke Ingels puts it, is sustainability. The most popular definition of sustainability was defined at a 1987 UN conference. It defined sustainable developments as those that "meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." While this definition is the most popular for sustainability it does not define any measurable parameters for modeling and measuring sustainable developments. One definition put forth by Vieria in, “A Check List for Sustainable Developments”, sustainability "identifies a concept and attitude in development that looks at a site's natural land, water, and energy resources as integral aspects of the development." Biomimicry uses a site’s natural environment to influence the design. Different environmental aspects play an integral part in the design of the form and function of a building. Early further promotes the idea of biomimicry by stating that, “Sustainability integrates natural systems with human patter... ... middle of paper ... ...l>. Biomimicry Institute. "Biomimicry Institute - Architecture." Biomimicry Institute - Home. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. . Early, D. "What is Sustainable Design," The Urban Ecologist, Society of Urban Ecology, Berkeley, Spring. 1993. Kellert, Stephen R., Judith Heerwagen, and Martin Mador. Biophilic Design: the Theory, Science, and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008. 30-41. Print. "Sustainable Design Update » Blog Archive » Biomimicry – Green Building Highrise." Sustainable Design Update. 17 May 2008. Web. 02 May 2011. . Vieria, 1993. "A Checklist for Sustainable Developments" in a resource guide for "Building Connections: Livable, Sustainable Communities," American Institute of Architects, Washington, DC.
Sapayan, Salud. "Ways in Preserving the Environment." Ezine Articles. 1 May 2009. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. http://ezinearticles.com/?Ways-in-Preserving-the-Environment&id=2463133
Rhetorical Analysis In the article Biomimetic Approaches to Architectural Design for Increased Sustainability, the topic of innovation regarding the field of architecture is discussed thoroughly. From this text, I gathered numerous perspectives on the matter of biomimicry, defined as the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes. Author Zari makes a convincing argument that biomimicry is an extremely effective and innovative step for architectural design, but its potential has gone unrecognized since it is not a heavily studied topic.
Environment has become an important subject in the 21st century; scientists have found that human activity has a big influence on all of the ecosystems contained on Earth. Our lifestyle damages the Earth, and we know that some of the harm done is irreversible. We started questioning our lifestyle and our behavior: were we taking the proper decisions when it comes to environment or the inhabitants of Earth? Did the humans take good decisions in the past, or should they try different methods? Even though one question always brings another, this essay will focus on a specific one: Should we, humans, act with a biocentric point of view or an anthropocentric point of view when it comes to huge environmental problems? This essay will defend the point of view that we should adopt a biocentric ethical view in today’s context by arguing that we have a moral duty towards the environment and all its inhabitants, also, nature and all its inhabitants have intrinsic value, and Bender's reasoning will be discussed.
The sustainable interior design has a different main guideline; before esthetics, there is ethics. It has as main objective the healthy, the beneficial or harmful for the health of the people who live in the homes and to preserve the natural environment that surrounds it.
Hysterically, the field of architecture has been lead by two opposing height. On one side a leading-edge of wild ideas, often so disconnected from reality that they fail to become something other than eccentric curiosities. On the other side there are skillful corporate experts that build expected and boring boxes of high standard. Architecture seems rooted between two equally unfertile fronts: either credulously utopian or petrifyingly pragmatic. Rather than choosing one over the other, BIG decide to operate in the fertile overlay between the two opposites. A pragmatic utopian architecture that takes on the environmentally perfect places as a practical aim.
Globally, green buildings are being recognised and accredited, leading to the introduction of various tools and indices with one common objective that is to evaluate, measure, distinguish and sets apart this uniquely designed buildings from the rest. The Diamond Building carries a Green Building Index (GBI) accreditation, a first in Malaysia. Among the achievement of the ST Diamond Building are:
Sustainability is becoming a much more common approach to many parts of society, a major one being urban planning. This technical and political process is concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment. Transportation networks, housing, and preservation and conservation of natural systems are all considered in urban planning. Though many ideas about sustainable living communities and urban planning have been proposed, most people are still hesitant to build a working model due to the expenses, change, and lack of interest in environmental health. This relatively new idea is still being developed and has much controversy around it, but there are ethical and biological theories that propose we should proceed in this direction of life. Holism suggests the idea of caring for nature as a whole, and it agrees with the ideas of biophilia and sustainability. Holism supports the idea that humans have an obvious biofilic nature, confirms the need for sustainability, and proves that environmental theories should be considered in urban planning and other development.
Sustainable design has steadily become the architecture catch phrase of the day, being thrown around to make us aware that everything we “design” has an environmental burden. Many designers, architects and builders have installed the “idea of green” into their buildings to demonstrate a potential to improve performance and reduce costs through sustainable strategies. One of the main methods of creating sustainability in buildings is with passive design. It has been applied by architects and engineers to achieve highly thermally insulated structures with low energy use. With rising prices and political pressures energy economy has become a key feature in a lot of contemporary buildings. Green star is Australia’s primary “green” large building rating system, evaluating many different aspects of a building and its construction. It sets out to judge a building on its environmental merits and to see if it performs to world class standards of passive design, giving them a number to reflect its viability to be called green, with 6 being the top number. It is important for our learning environments to help us push contemporary ideas and expose its students to relevant topics, so the University of Adelaide set about to take these principles of passive and sustainable design and create Australia's first 6 star, Green star rated education building, Innova21.
Kellert, S. R., 2005. Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. 1st ed. Washington, DC: Island Press. .
... architectures would led to a more organic organization beneficial to the people that choose to make their lives in this city. Although this model of a sustainable city is not a perfectly closed loop, it lays the foundation for one that is. Over time, with constantly evolving and improving technology and new methods of design from the scale of products to buildings, the gaps in the loop could be closed, and a “true” sustainable city could be fully realized.
Moore said that we can understand sustainability as “a storyline, a narrative thread that people use to understand how the past, present, and future can be connected in different ways” (Moore 2007). Since the understanding of sustainability has been changing, we can neither predict what will happen in the future nor establish a set of rules for the future generation to follow. As Norton argued, sustainable activities can be conducted in the present “without negatively impacting the range of important choices that should be left open to the next generation” (Norton 2005:432). Therefore, it’s crucial to apprehend the nature of sustainable cities in order to set up the framework while never kill
However, architecture is not just the future, after all, buildings are intended to be viewed, traversed and lived by us, people. Despite this, many architects today rarely think deeply about human nature, disregarding their main subject matter in favour for efficiency and an architecture of spectacle. In this there seems to be a misconception that underlies much of architecture, that is, human’s relationship with the city, the building and nature. In much of today’s architecture, people are treated with as much concern much as we treat cars, purely mechanically. The post-modern search for the ‘new’ and ‘novel’ has come to disregard the profound affect design has on our lives, impacting our senses, shaping our psyche and disposition.
The notion of sustainable city has mounted a paramount place in the contemporary urban planning. In the world Conservation strategies in1980, the concept of sustainable development was firstly introduced.
Nature in architecture is critical. Laugier made this clear in the 1700s with his basic, but insightful, claims in “An Essay on Architecture.” Modern architects have taken his beliefs further than he probably ever imagined with technology and the cutting-edge idea of biomimicry. After studying natures’ artistic design, architectural stature, and overall success rate on this earth, I believe that the incorporation of nature is vital to architectural design.
A vast number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have emerged in the market for homes and commercial space, catering to all parts of the supply chain. It is clear that these firms do not source materials, design or build with environmental standards in mind. These firms have little incentive to invest in or supply green designs or materials. We need to change this, by demonstrating how green designs and materials can be supplied at low cost, while generating demand and improving the policy and regulatory