PAST ANSWERS

 

In Mostafavi's "Ecological Urbanism", Mostafavi makes reference to new sustainability measures taken within architecture to be the equivalent of the hybrid car. These measures are just new examples of technology that, while they do help the environment, are looked at as the best and most efficient way to build sustainability within the built environment. Often, sustainability in architecture is made to be as simple as rain water capture or placing solar panels on a roof to limit reliance on energy generation systems that cause increased harm to the environment. 

During a past final studio review, I heard a guest critic say the answer to future sustainability design is in the past and for some reason this stuck with me. As our society developed new technology, we became increasingly reliant on this technology that ultimately caused harm to our ecological systems and we continue to rely on newer technology to become "more sustainable" rather than lean into core design thinking of past building processes that today would be known as "passive design". It seems Mostafavi was making this same point as the guest critic in his own sense with his statement, "we need to view the fragility of the planet and its resources as an opportunity for speculative design innovations rather than as a form of technical legitimation for promoting conventional solutions".