The Architecture of Good Intentions
Our generation of architecture students and young professionals swear by “sustainability.” It is engrained in us these days, they say, without any needed specific attention or devoted study. Even the practice of architecture confirms this notion by denouncing the necessity of specialties like LEED accreditation. Every building we design should meet these standards, so why spend the time to celebrate them?
Architecture, in general, is a profession founded on good intentions. We are one of the most revered professions because of our innate concern for the health of the built environment, which establishes society’s trust in us. At the same time, we are also revered for the foreign nature of our work, and I am beginning to think that the meaning of our role, especially through the lens of sustainability, is becoming more and more foreign, and mostly to ourselves. Just as the user is to the architect, the architect is to sustainability.
As discussed lately with many of my other Solar Decathlon team members, we feel more responsible for using sustainable solutions, like solar energy, in our own homes in the future. I don’t know about you, but I never saw myself prioritizing a future home powered by solar energy. However, after the experience of actually installing the system, running it, and physically reading its positive results, I would feel guilty not to use such a system on my own home one day. However, I still feel very ignorant when it comes to say, a water collection system, so I would be much less likely to use that system later on for myself.
In studio, we throw around these “green” systems in our projects, never fully understanding anything about them other than that they are “sustainable.” These decisions of course come from a place of good intentions, but in the absence of this knowledge or guilt, can we ever truly use them in a meaningful way? Even if we use them functionally, would we ever be able to take them one step further as a design tool?
Without a critical examination of our knowledge and intentions concerning "sustainable" topics, I believe the profession is at a standstill concerning Mostafavi’s ideas for large-scale sustainability, and a broad Ecological Urbanism.
Architecture, in general, is a profession founded on good intentions. We are one of the most revered professions because of our innate concern for the health of the built environment, which establishes society’s trust in us. At the same time, we are also revered for the foreign nature of our work, and I am beginning to think that the meaning of our role, especially through the lens of sustainability, is becoming more and more foreign, and mostly to ourselves. Just as the user is to the architect, the architect is to sustainability.
As discussed lately with many of my other Solar Decathlon team members, we feel more responsible for using sustainable solutions, like solar energy, in our own homes in the future. I don’t know about you, but I never saw myself prioritizing a future home powered by solar energy. However, after the experience of actually installing the system, running it, and physically reading its positive results, I would feel guilty not to use such a system on my own home one day. However, I still feel very ignorant when it comes to say, a water collection system, so I would be much less likely to use that system later on for myself.
In studio, we throw around these “green” systems in our projects, never fully understanding anything about them other than that they are “sustainable.” These decisions of course come from a place of good intentions, but in the absence of this knowledge or guilt, can we ever truly use them in a meaningful way? Even if we use them functionally, would we ever be able to take them one step further as a design tool?
Without a critical examination of our knowledge and intentions concerning "sustainable" topics, I believe the profession is at a standstill concerning Mostafavi’s ideas for large-scale sustainability, and a broad Ecological Urbanism.
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