Outline the main goals of green architecture, describing how an architect or gro
ID: 211584 • Letter: O
Question
Outline the main goals of green architecture, describing how an architect or group of architects achieved each of those goals in a specific structure. Discuss the advantages and difficulties of green architecture in terms of meeting environmentalist objectives and the needs of those who will be living and/or working within them. Define and/or describe the appearances, materials, techniques, and reasons for the development of five of the structural systems of architecture, with reference to specific structures that are models of each system you discuss.
Explanation / Answer
Green architecture, philosophy of architecture that advocates sustainable energy sources, the conservation of energy, the reuse and safety of building materials, and the siting of a building with consideration of its impact on the environment.
In the early 21st century the building of shelter (in all its forms) consumed more than half of the world’s resources—translating into 16 percent of the Earth’s freshwater resources, 30–40 percent of all energy supplies, and 50 percent by weight of all the raw materials withdrawn from Earth’s surface. Architecture was also responsible for 40–50 percent of waste deposits in landfills and 20–30 percent of greenhouse gasemissions.
Many architects after the post-World War II building boom were content to erect emblematic civic and corporate icons that celebrated profligateconsumption and omnivorous globalization. At the turn of the 21st century, however, a building’s environmental integrity—as seen in the way it was designed and how it operated—became an important factor in how it was evaluated.
Energy efficiency can be increased in a variety of ways, for example, by orienting buildings to take full advantage of seasonal changes in the sun’s position and by the use of diversified and regionally appropriate energy sources, which may—depending on geographic location—include solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, water, or natural gas.
As community governments begin to legislate state-of-the-art green standards, they must encourage appropriate artistic responses to such regional attributes as surrounding topography, indigenous vegetation, cultural history, and territorial idiosyncrasy. For instance, communities might encourage innovative fusions of architecture with landscape—where trees and plants become as much a part of architectural design as construction materials—so that buildings and their adjacentlandscapes essentially merge. In such thinking, buildings are not interpreted as isolated objects, and the traditional barriers between inside and outside and between structure and site are challenged.
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