A Quantifiable Sustainability.

Sustainability : Performance vs Process

We discussed a great deal during the past week about sustainability, what it means, and how it is measured. Of course we all have our own ideas of what it means to 'be sustainable' or to 'practice sustainability', but do we really know what sustainability is? Can we put a definition on it? Quantify it? Or has it become such an encompassing, general term which accepts any number of actions? 

One thing we do know [I believe] is that there are two main sides, practices [if you will] of sustainability: PERFORMANCE and PROCESS. Performance, in the simplest sense, is a measure of how well a building accomplishes the design intent upon its completion. Process, on the other hand, is the series of actions taken in order to achieve the design intent. 

Although it is easy for someone in my position to criticize those who are above me in the professional world, mainly because of lack of experience with respect to those individuals, but I can't help but to think that too many of today's architects are skewing the idea of what it means to 'be sustainable'. I say this because so many projects [many from well known architects] are PERFORMANCE based, focused on the end result with little attention paid to the front end. 

If we consider the performance-based approached to be quantifiable, we are essentially saying that it is the mechanics of a building that make it sustainable; for what else can be quantified that is not somehow related to building technologies? What we may not realize is that by focusing highly on the basic form+structure, and passive systems of the building which do not require additional energy or mechanics to operate, we have the potential of reducing the total energy consumption by up to 80%. 

So for those of us seeking to achieve sustainability in our practice, I believe we ought to shift our focus [if not already there] to the front-end of the design process, allowing the back end to 'quantifiably' fall into place.