The Architect as Meteorologist
Philippe Rahm’s approach to “sustainability” seems to be an obvious yet little discussed way of addressing intelligent building design. “Meteorological Architecture” as he describes it, suggests that architects should have a deep understanding of weather and climactic conditions in order to design buildings that respond to rather than ignore the specific conditions encountered on any given site. Climate control technologies have allowed us to apply the same systems universally, installing the same forced-air HVAC system in Maine as we do in southern Texas. This method can still yield a comfortable interior environment, but at great cost.
How can we expect anything less? Architects receive little to no education
about the climate conditions that they are asked to respond to. How can one have the insight to respond to
climate in a creative way without having a thorough understanding of all the
climactic variables? Innovation will
never come through design that is strictly based on precedents or rules of
thumb. What if we were as knowledgeable
about low-pressure storm systems as we are about metal stud wall systems? There is no opportunity to innovate without
an awareness of the elements that we have to work with.
I definitely agree with your comments Spencer. I certainly wish I was more knowledgeable when it comes to environmental and meteorological sciences and how they relate to architecture. However, I struggle with the feasibility of asking architects to also be scientists. Its pretty clear that adding additional years of architectural education is not a great answer. But is there some other way to combine the fields of architecture and environmental science in a practical and marketable manner?
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree, Jeff - architects should not be scientists. However, traditionally I feel we deal with the role of meteorology or environmental science with a "let someone else deal with it" attitude. We hire consultants to answer these questions we cannot - consultants who we hire over and over who answer these questions the same every time.
ReplyDeleteThe trick then, it seems, is hiring consultants who thinks like us - creatively. However, is that asking too much of the scientists, a gift we as architects are supposed to own and exploit ourselves? We need to find a way to bridge the gap between ourselves, design, and our consultants to make creative environmental solutions to projects every time, not just on special occasions.