"Hi, I'll take a sustainable building, but hold the green"

I’d have to say I’m not a huge fan of the staple sustainable aesthetic we’ve seen come out of buildings the last decade or so. Of course, there are some really great projects, but for the most part, I feel as though they mostly look the same and they were just focused on checking off items on a list that deem it “sustainable.” Technology is so ingrained in our lives, we now feel like our buildings have to be just as tech-savvy and designers must sacrifice the identity of the building to fit the sustainable mold. That’s something I really appreciate about Lacaton and Vassal’s work. They maintain their architectural identity while still taking a simple, sustainable approach. In fact, that actually is their identity. It’s not littered with bells and whistles to try and wow the users but rather stripped down to the necessities. The idea of “addition sustainability” vs “subtraction sustainability” is such an interesting concept because for so long I had seen sustainable design as something that should be caught up with the newest greatest technologies or applying green anywhere it’ll stick, but it can also be achieved by stripping away the unnecessary.