A relatively recent movement in architecture has been to change the way buildings are designed to adapt to and maximize use of natural energy flows. Integrating natural and renewable materials and designs have becoming increasingly significant as architects strive to meet the modernity of today's movements in "green" and sustainable design (a subject that requires a different post, but for the sake of the current subject at hand, "green" and sustainable design can be quickly referred to as an environmentally friendly approach to design). At any rate, sustainability has been referred to as "the future of architecture". Well, the future is now. Architects are heavily adapting methods of sustainability into the designs of their infrastructure. For example, the book Sustainable Homes, written by Jacobo Krauel, synthesizes the reduce, reuse, recycle objectives into several thought-provoking ideas. The emphasis is on innovative ideas, new technologies, and more efficient energy systems. By adapting to modern advancements in science, design does not only have to be a topic of aesthetics but also of meeting the needs of people and the environment in which we live in.
Below are examples from the book Sustainable Homes. The top picture is of a cabin designed in the underbrush, perched on a low bank at the waters edge near Deception Pass on the Swinomish Indian reservation. Its structure is built around eight concrete disks that narrowly avoid the 100 ft tall fir trees and their roots while isolating the impact of the house on the complex top soil layer to ensure continued tree health. Large monitors poke out of the roof and draw light from about through the fir canopy, providing strong passive ventilation that is augmented by a giant industrial ceiling fan, which can be used to either slowly adjust heat or quickly make an air change. Environmentally conscious and an aesthetically pleasing, one can live beautifully in the wild while feeling good about not destroying the natural habitat. The future of architecture is our present.
-courtesy of Sustainable Homes, Jacobo Krauel
No comments:
Post a Comment