Customer Reviews

Sustainable Construction

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Although there is a compelling need for designing and building sustainable, urban developments, what passes for sustainable--or "green"--building these days often comes up short. As an architect, I snicker at the green claims that have exploded in the building products industry. The mere attribute of recycled content, for instance, can now make a conventional product suddenly "green." But you don't have to dig too far into the research literature to learn that little or nothing we are doing is sustainable. Hence, many of my fellow professionals have become cynical, claiming that the "fad" of sustainable design is a shallow exercise.

But after reading Thomas Fisher's book "Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival," I knew that it was not only a substantive goal, but absolutely necessary if we are going to leave a stable world for future generations--starting with the the very next one. So, the logical step for me was to discover the overarching issues that comprise real sustainability. Perhaps if I did this, I could return to the kind of ethical practice for which Fisher so passionately argues.

That is when I sought out Professor Sandy Halliday, an expert in sustainable building technology in the UK for many years. She outlines the essential criteria by which buildings must now be judged. They must: Enhance biodiversity, support communities, use resources effectively, minimize pollution, create healthy (interior and exterior) environments, and manage the stewardship of the design and construction process itself. These criteria points establish the organization for the book.

What struck me in particular is how far-reaching these requirements are. It isn't enough to minimize your impact on the land, but to actually improve its habitat. That buildings must not just satisfy the needs of its owner, or its occupants, or the developer, but contribute to the aspirations of the community in which it stands, places a significant but necessary burden on designers their developer-clients that they never before have born. Ms. Halliday, who has worked in appropriate building technology research since the middle 80s, knows the pitfalls and easy answers that befall popular movements. For instance, she is thoroughly versed in the various methods and tools available to assess the performance of what we finally build, but warns that many of the tools "rely on numbers," and "in the hands of the inexperienced they can give undue emphasis to what is readily measurable at the expense of broader concerns or discrete interactions." Instead, she admonishes designers and their clients to "understand the breadth and comparative value of different techniques in order to best assess their real contribution to a sustainable future."

The book is replete with examples of actual projects built all over northern Europe that supports the text immeasurably. There is also a good section which sheds light on the backstory of sustainable development including policy, legislation, and the international, environmental conferences that are the drivers of the current movement.

In the final analysis, what is sustainable is not necessarily limiting "the number of babies, cars, or refrigerators that put stress on an environment," but rather the efficient use of resources while minimizing pollution and net waste that arise in their manufacture and consumption. Our current green building boom is a move in the right direction.