A Manifesto for Sustainable Design Essay Example for Free

A Manifesto for Sustainable instauration EssayThis manifesto proposes an glide path to sustainable physique that I am arouse in exploring during my condemnation studying computer architecture. The idea of sustainability is a complex whiz, non without apparent contradictions. This makes it rough to define in a wholly satisfactory means. For the purposes of this manifesto I will advert to the definition proposed by Jason McLennan who asserts that sustainable fig bring downks to maximize the quality of the built environment, plot minimizing or eliminating negative impact to the natural environment. I engender this definition particularly purposeful in the emphasis which it places on quality. By quality, in this context, I consider an cuddle to create which emphasises non only thoughtful image but also the careful use of materials these considerations are crucial to achieve sustainable development.Quality as the architect doubting Thomas Sandell says is always su stainable this h hoars particularly true if we return to the most canonical meaning of that adjective long lasting. My manifesto would take in seven basic considerations a structure should be layered, freehanded, contextual, connected to personality, mod, stimulating and idealistic. I propose to stress each of these points in turn, aware that they scum bag be generally grouped under(a) the heading of sensitivity. As I see it, a sensitive approach to architecture is unmatched that fundamentally responds to the issues of grade, user and impact, while non excluding other concerns and all this in a way that is considered, thoughtful and restrained. These, then, are the fundamentals of my approach to design.1. LayeredAccording to T.S Eliot, Genuine poetry communicates before it is mute I believe the same h overages true for genuine architecture. It affects us at a pre-conscious level and its impact transcends the immediate, sensory, effects of the make. As I see it, archi tecture is not a matter of superficial effects. Its must transcend that which is little to a greater extent than attention-getting gimmickry. A good example of what I would consider a layered design is Erik Gunnar Asplunds lumber chapel built in 1922 (Fig. 1).Located on the grounds of the Woodland Crematorium in Enskede removed Stockholm, it was built to accommodate the funerals of children. At first, the chapel awaits unremarkable in its elemental simplicity as Simon Unwin puts it without pretentions to universe anything to a greater extent than a rudimentary hut in the woods. However, in quiet and richly suggestive ways, Asplund imbues this plain uncomplicated create with a poetic sense of an ancient and timeless place for burial. As J.R Curtis puts it, this patently simple chapel was guided by vestigial mythical themes to do with the transition from life to death, the patterned advance of burial and redemption and the transubstantiation of natural elements such as water and dismay. There were echoes too of Nordic burial mounds and of Christs route to Calvary.Fig. 1 Erik Gunnar Asplund, Woodland Chapel, 1922One striking aspect asshole be found in Asplunds sensitive treatment of the theme of resurrection. The idea is usually make explicit by means of the use of iconography Asplund, however, evokes the notion of rebirth through his use of subtle association. The Chapel, for example, has only one source of light, which comes from above. The eye is therefore drawn upwards, to the heavens. This effect is accentuated by the pervasive darkness of the building.Like Robert Venturi, Asplund opts for affluence of meaning rather than clarity of meaning. As a result, his Woodland Chapel has an uplifting rather than a depressing effect. His Chapel becomes an affirmation of life rather than an acceptance of defeat, and this appeals to me very much. It is no surprise to kick downstairs that Asplund himself in a 1940 article on his crematorium building in Byg gmstaren referred to the Woodland Cemetery, in which the Chapel lies, as a biblical landscape. Whatever else it is, the Bible is a book of hope.2. Generous figure is people Jane JacobsJane Jacobss fundamental commitment to ordinary human beings is something I admire. Generous architecture offers an approach which puts everyday people at the forefront of the design. This is an inclusive architecture which does not limit itself only to the client and/or private users of the building.Nobody is excluded. An example of this kind of what might be described as generous architecture can be found in Norwegian firm Snhettas capital of Norway Opera House on the waters of the capital of Norway Fjord, completed in 2007 (Fig. 2).Fig. 2 Snhetta, Oslo Opera House, 2007Snhetta are concerned with the social dimension of architecture and this design imaginatively reinterprets the tralatitious opera houses that conventionally limit their public spaces to exterior plazas or grand lobbies, ofttimes on ly affectionate during opening hours. What is striking here is that their Opera House succeeds in giving back to the city a public space. The sloping rooftop becomes a new public area a recreation space and display platform that you can walk on, sit on, sunbathe on, even snowboard on. As a result anyone, whether interested in Opera or not, can enjoy the space. The building has been called a social democratic monument by founding partner of Snhetta, Craig Dykers and one can see why.In a late television interview, Dykers went on to remark There is a sense of being able to place your feet onto the building that gives you a sense of ownership. At a certain point you no longer see the building as an architects building but as your own building This is the kind of architecture which interests me. The fact that this building is spotd in the middle of a highly populated area shows what can be done to help people lie in a fuller life including those who have no think interest in the Arts. This approach seems particularly relevant as more and more people live in cities and comes as a reminder that a city need not be a soulless, inhuman place.3. ContextualAlways design a thing by considering it in its next big context a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan. Eliel Saarinencomputer architecture is inextricably rooted to place. An knowingness of context then, would seem to be a sine qua non but unfortunately this is not always the case. An sympathy of the social, historical, environmental, cultural and human qualities of a place is vital to building to best effect. Bycontextual, then, I mean an architecture that is sensitive to the history and memory of the settle. This would by no means exclude an knowingness of the buildings that surround it. I admire Alvar Aalto for his understanding of the importance of relating design to the most significant features of the local site the kind of features that are, as Michael Trencher puts it, either physiologicly self-evident or historically and culturally relevant. Aaltos design for the Enso-Gutzeit Headquarters in Helsinki, (1959-62), affords a good example of this approach (Fig. 3).Fig. 3 Alvar Aalto, Enso-Gutzeit Headquarters in Helsinki, 1959-62 The site for this building was in the old, Neo-Classical centre of the city and Aalto sought to respond to Engels buildings on the harbour and to the church building on a nearby hill. Arising out of his respect for the site, the scale of Aaltos office building derives some(prenominal) its horizontal and vertical character from the nearby historical buildings, hence its symmetrical, formal faade.A more late example of contextually sensitive design is afforded by Grafton Architects proposal for the new might of Economics for the University of Toulouse, muted under construction. small-arm envisaging their project, the architects walked from one side of the city to the other, gauging the characte r of the brick facades, the polygonal towers, the transitions from streets to courts and the underlying spatial patterns. The resulting design offers a sensitive response to the layered history and unique geography of the site. As founding partner Shelley McNamara has put it, the building weaves into the mesh of the city.4. Connected to NatureStudy nature, love nature, support close to nature. It will never fail you. inconsiderate Lloyd Wright By nature I mean a world predominantly uninterfered with by man. Building in a way that is sensitive to what is natural, its resources and habitats is a winder issue in current debates about sustainable design. That said, it is nearly one hundred years since red hot Lloyd Wright offered architectural proposals showing how to live in harmony with the environment. He called this an organic architectureof nature, for nature.Lloyd Wright also understood the connection between nature andwell-being the closer man associated himself with nature, the greater his personal, spiritual and even physical well-being grew and expanded as a direct result of that association. It is hard not to agree wholeheartedly with Lloyd Wrights philosophy. As I see it, Architecture must connect to the natural worldnot just in terms of the use of resources or in merely avoiding the negative impact of building on the environmentbut also, as importantly, in terms of what a connection to nature can offer. His design for the Kaufmann Residence at Falling Water rears an obvious example of Lloyd Wrights respect for nature and the natural world (Fig. 4).Fig. 4 bluff Lloyd Wright, Falling Water, 1935At Falling Water, as Neil Levine remarks you do not ask where the house ends and the natural environment begins. This sensitivity is present throughout his oeuvre, so that his buildings often seem to grow out of the environment and never appear at odds with it.5. InnovativeThere is often an assumption that to be truly innovative is to break away from all th at went before, to create something totally new. I do not agree. As I see it, the most interesting avant-garde architecture has always been steeped in an understanding of the past. As T.S Eliot said To be totally original is to be totally bad. unspoilt as every human being comes from parents, so every new idea owes something to what has gone before. While not rejecting the achievements of the past, Le Corbusier understood that new challenges require innovative thinking. He proposed radical ideas to enrich late living, from private villas to large scale social housing to utopian urban plans.Yet his inexhaustible inventiveness, that dissenting(a) habit, driving-force of all his delicious desires was always rooted in an understanding of what had gone before. His 1955 design for the Chapel of Notre annulus du Haut, in Ronchamp, (Fig. 5) provides a good example, though it marked a profound change in solicitude from his earlier works and a move away from standardization and the mach ine aesthetic adverted to in Towards a modernistic Architecture. J.R Curtis even suggests that a nostalgia for the giant ruins of antiquity began increasingly to show itself in Le Corbusiersimaginatively forward thinking work.Fig. 5 Le Corbusier, Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, 1955In a manner similar to the approach of Asplund for his Woodland Chapel, Le Corbusier sought to evoke religious emotions through the play of space, light and form rather than relying on traditional iconography. In my opinion, what particularly makes the building exciting is its mixture of old and new, its daringly original design linking with an organic awareness of past forms. Curtis suggests a synthesis of influences from Hadrians Villa to the bungle buildings from the Mzab in Algeria, to Dolmens and Cycladic buildings, to the Parthenon itself. Out of an awareness of these sources, Le Corbusier manages to invent a new vocabulary. Other examples of this syncretism mixed with an innovative approach can be found in his designs for the Villa Madrot in Le Prdet, the Pavillon Suisse in Paris and the Duval Facory in Saint Die.The result has been described as a wholly new formal idiom and one which owes its impact to the combination of the past and the wholly modern. An interesting contemporary comparison is The Sea Organ, in Zadar Croatia by Nikola Baic, built in 2005. The architect consulted master organ makers and Dalmatian stone carvers in his heed to create an experimental installation on the quayside to create a natural musical organ powered by the waves of the sea. Underneath its elegant white stone steps are 35 musically tuned tubes, through which the waves create random harmonic sounds. This kind of architecture excites me strikingly innovative, yet sensitively grounded to the history of the site and traditions of the local people.6. StimulativeStimulative architecture, I would define as that which lifts the spirit, making us feel more alive. It surprises and challenges us even as it makes us appreciate more the needs it fulfils. Charles Rennie Mackintoshs design for the Glasgow School of Art affords a good example (Fig. 6). Built in two phases from 1897-1899 and 1907-1909, the School still excites not least by its subtle playfulness. Around every corner the visitor is struck by something unexpected.Fig. 6, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art, 1899 On a closer look, a fusion of opposites emerges. Materials range widely and include guide stained glass, exposed concrete and painted softwood. Their interplay is matched by an unexpected synthesis of light and dark, mass and plane, the old and the new, the solid and the void. As a result, the building imparts what Denys Lasdun calls the brooding air of frozen excitement. The fundamental stress lies in its manipulation of space. It seems to provide an example of what David Brett describes as a kind of poetic workmanship where structure, features, interiors and furnishings become field to a unifyin g system of forms, metaphors and unconscious associations.7. IdealisticThis concept ranges widely and includes respect for people linked with a hope to advance and uplift. It is the opposite of cynical or purely utilitarian. A building at last is more than something purely functional. It should have a spirit and not turn its back on artistic considerations. I would argue that idealism is the underlying principle to all the approaches of the architects above. Even if idealism is a difficult idea to define, it still has a reality and nowhere is it, and conversely the cynical, more obvious than in architecture. The crowning(prenominal) goal of architecture, said Aalto in 1957,is to create a paradise every house, every crossingof architectureshould be a fruit of our endeavour tobuild an earthly paradise for people. This idea appeals greatly to me and would be one of the basic impulses behind my approach to architecture.ConclusionIn conclusion, the seven points of this manifesto prov ide an overview of some approaches to sustainable design that I am interested in exploring during my time studying architecture. These basic considerations propose a design that is layered, generous, contextual, connected to nature, innovative, stimulating and idealistic. These approaches can be loosely grouped under the idea of sensitivity, that is a respect for people, nature, site andprecedent.Examples of these considerations can be found in the work of architects, two past and present from the timeless profundity of Asplunds Woodland Chapel to the striking innovations of Le Corbusier and more recent examples from Grafton Architects Toulouse Economics Department and Snhettas Oslo Opera House. This is a manifesto for a lasting architecture. The bottom line is that sustainability is not a design aesthetic, as Robert Stern points out it is an ethic, a basic consideration that we have to have as architects designing buildings in 10 years were not going to talk about sustainability a nymore, because its going to be built into the core processes of architecture.List of IllustrationsFig. 1 Erik Gunnar Asplund, Woodland Chapel, 1922 (Source http//www.fubiz.net accessed January 12, 2012) Fig. 2 Snhetta, Oslo Opera House, 2007 (Source http//www.mimoa.eu accessed January 12, 2012) Fig. 3 Alvar Aalto, Enso-Gutzeit Headquarters in Helsinki, 1959-62 (Source http//www.fubiz.net accessed January 14, 2012) Fig. 4 Frank Lloyd Wright, Falling Water, 1935 (Source http//www.mimoa.eu accessed January 12, 2012) Fig. 5 Le Corbusier, Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, 1955 (http//farm4.static.flickr.com accessed January 20, 2012)Fig. 6 Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art, 1899 (Source http//www.glasgowarchitecture.co.uk accessed January 12, 2012)BibliographyAllen, Brooks H. 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Middleton, Haydn, Frank Lloyd Wright, New York Heinemann, 2001 22 . Brooks, Bruce, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867-1959 Building for Democracy, Hong Kong Taschen, 2006 p. 12 23 . Ibid. p.