"Technological" Sustainability
We are currently in the era of the smart house. There seems to be a switch, an app, a device that can automate any task in the home. From the vacuuming roomba, to the app controlled oven to a simple task like switching a light on or off, there is a product for everything. These are touted as not only an easy way, but THE way to make your home more sustainable.
DJ Roomba, from Parks and Rec
In Scarcity contra Austerity, Jeremy Till speaks to sustainability when he says
"The assumption that the object should meet a standard of sustainability works to distract us from the more fundamental question of whether the object is needed in the first place; it also suggests that technical fixes are the solutions to problems that were brought about by technological progress"
It seems to ask, do we need technology to be a "sustainable" society? In regards to the architecture profession, we've created this idea that architecture can only be sustainable if we motorize the window shades, solar panel-ize the roof and create an automated HVAC system. I have to wonder if the production and installation of all these products actually outweighs passive strategies, I have to think it doesn't. The rate at which these technological solutions fail to work can also make them completely unsustainable. I hope we will look back on this era of "sustainable buildings" as trends when we have moved to more passive and practical strategies.
One Central Park, Sydney Australia - Jean Nouvel
It is a great point to consider the pros and cons of if automation of architectural elements IS sustainable. Sure, their use is controlled for "the best" or for efficiency. But like you allude to, what happens when it doesn't work? What happens when it breaks? Does the cost to fix it come into this sustainable equation or like Lee Hall does it just never work again?
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting concept to consider when we are all old and become that grandparent that says "back in my day". Each generation has something on the generation before that is mind boggling to them. I feel our generation and the generation or two before have had one of the most significant jumps in the history of civilization. This also seems to not be slowing down as the next generation could experience sustainable measures that are well out of our control. Even today we deal with the idea, like you talked about, of an automatic light from your phone, which some refer to as just plain being lazy. For us as architects its us saying we do not trust people to save energy and actually turn their lights off so we are gonna make it easier than ever before.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I think in order to practice sustainability you kind of have to be subtractive with your thinking and learn "to do more with less". A dependence on additive smart technologies may do more harm than good.
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