Better Buildings

There has been notions that the term 'green' can be taken as a aesthetic element where buildings simply look healthy and one with nature but are still energy consuming giants and the flip side where builds can be smart and not necessarily be covered in glass but maintain a strategic amount of passive concepts.

I investigated the idea of green roofs and facades as it has been common place in my recent designs to use the concept of roof top gardens to utilize space and views. For the future context green roofs seem a fitting concept. To visually inspire others and create the idea that green living is health and not abnormal while gaining the benefits of smart design.

By utilizing the living foliage buildings are able to moderate building temperatures; at 10cm of vegetation growth buildings start receiving a 25% reduction in summer cooling needs. By strategically placing these green walls/roofs heat gains and heat losses can be reduced while absorbing and cooling the solar rays instead of reflecting them.

Green walls and green facades also mitigate air pollution levels by trapping particulates and capturing harmful gases. In terms of water collection Green Roofing filter captured rain decontaminating any pollutants that may have fallen during the shower. Traditional Solar Panel systems are also found among some green roofs, as the efficiency of these solar collectors drop as the temperature increases the natural connection between the two sustainable techniques work seamlessly.

Green roofs also help disrupt the Urban Heat Island, which is a result of concentrated collection of steel and stone of the city absorbing and radiating heat throughout the day and night. In our future scenario these elements while inspiring will help to counteract the increased heat of 2060. From a bird's eye view each building will seemingly meld with parklands below it, creating a pleasant city from any view. 

• The Daily Green . 2012. Green Roof Benefits - Green Roofs. Accessed 30 August 2012: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/green-roofs. 

Architectural Possibilities

Placed in charge of the Architectural Possibilities section of the project it was my job to find out how buildings would be constructed in the proposed future scenario. The concept of sustainable design has been taught to us throughout our education. But it is known that in the present world, such designs are costly and not often used. Projects such as Architecture 2030 help enlighten future designers on how they can change the future of the industry.

Proposed in Architecture 2030 are not radical but statistical data on why we must design buildings with lower carbon footprints. The building
sector is responsible 75% the energy consumption and almost half the C02 emissions compared to industrial and transportation sectors. If radical changes are to be made for the environment, not just car emissions must be considered but the entire building sector will have to change. 

Although the Archi2030 challenge is aimed at preventing the future scenario we are proposing, if the world was too late to change these design concepts would be even more important. In a world where sloppy design will lead u to higher electrical bills and the loss of government incentives, smart green buildings will become the norm. If the ozone is thinner then it is now, laws will pass to ensure that little to no more damage can be done to the ozone. Creating carbon neutral buildings with low carbon footprints is how this will be achieved.

• YouTube . 2012. Edward Mazria - YouTube . Accessed 30 August 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmpAVpJsmcM&feature=player_embedded.
  
• Architecture 2030. 2012. The Building Sector. Accessed 20 August 2012: http://architecture2030.org/. 

People and Lifestyles

Expanding on the previous meeting we began talk of how this future scenario would function. If the world did started to change, how would it effect:

•  resources/economy
•  the environment
•  people
•  politics.

If fossil fuels have been cut the mining industry of Australia will crash, as the country adapts to renewable energy resources. Solar collectors will harvest power for cars and buildings. Concepts of how the environment would change lead us to the idea that the Brisbane river may flood more, beaches will also be effected and possibly the marine life within the waters.

If the ozone did thin more how will it affect the people living in that time? Existing buildings would be forced to change. Sustainable green design would become the norm passive designs are common place now. As UV rays are harsher, Skin cancer will be on the rise. All glass is now UV filtered and populated outdoor areas have more structural shading which adapt to allow safe light at different times of the day.

As for the government, laws restricting the use of fossil fuels, combined with government incentives to use and gather renewable energy has allowed 2060 Brisbane to become a eco-friendly city. 

A Sustainable Future

"Sustainability is the capacity to endure."

 As covered in the lecture as humans sustainability to us concerns to other elements such as environmental, economic, and social dimensions. If the future context were to change how would we remain sustainable? 

Sustainability can be interpreted in many ways, in S.Brand’s Shearing Layers the article speaks of buildings and their layers. How buildings change over time and how significant layers remain as buildings change and adapt to service new technologies that are required in each age.

The longevity of buildings is often determined by how well they can absorb new services technology.

 Above is the New York High Line project, which uses the old shut down freight rail line, which run over the streets of West Manhattan. This unused space has been envisioned as a public park. Preserving the structural “layer” whilst updating the historic site to a modern day function. 

In the of the Future Scenario Project our team will use the new context in order to shape buildings which will be sustainable in that time period. Utilizing old and new technologies to ensure the growth and expansion of the Brisbane CBD. 

The longevity of buildings is often determined by how well they can absorb new services technology.

•  Brand, S., 1997. Shearing Layers, in How buildings learn : what happens after they’re built, London: Phoenix Illustrated. pp12-23Download PDF (1.7Mb): Shearing Layers
• The High Line. 2012. The High Line. Accessed 30 August 2012: http://www.thehighline.org.

Future Vision

Within the tutorial group there was discussion of how far into the future we wanted to go. We were told not to go past 100 years into the future as we might get carried away with the possibilities of 100 years of advancement. In the end we settled on 50 years, enough time for dramatic change but not too far as to seem unthinkable.

In our future we assumed that the abundant use of fossil fuels and careless living had continued. The thinning of the ozone which we have been warned about has taken a toll on the earth. Increasing the temperature by a few degrees, raising the sea level by only a few millimeters. The main issue we wanted to cover was the idea that fossil fuels were now banned.

We brainstormed on how life would be affected with a harsher sun, taking it to extreme of a dome city which was shielded completely from the raw sunlight. This came with many issues as to the impracticality of building a dome over an entire city. And that if the ozone was so thin over Brisbane itself, the rest of the world would have fried already.

We decided to toning down the scenario to moderately harsh sunlight where shading over populated areas such as Queen street were necessary. It was concluded that for this idea to be plausible retailers would invest into the shading, with the investment of safe sun shading to draw in consumers back into the CBD.

Below is a mind map of our thoughts on paper. We'll elaborate on them next week.

Future Innovations

Within Koerth Baker's Innovations that will change your tomorrow we see how technology will affect all aspects of our lives. 

"What we want and what we need keep changing."

I believe this quote from the article speaks volumes, as designers we concept our designs on variables such as the surrounding context and clients. As these elements change we must adapt and change to cater to them. Utilising new and old technology in new ways which allow our designs to fit each circumstance. 

"That's what this issue is about: all the little failures, trivialities and not quite solved mysteries that make the successes possible. This is what innovation looks like. It's messy, and it's awesome." - Maggie Koerth-Baker

Above is the proposal for the new Washington Union Station by Daniel Burnham. The current 1907 station serves 100,000 passenger trips per day which is beyond the designed capacity. It is expected that  passenger trips will triple in the next 15 to 20 years.

With a redesigned floor plan that the employment of new high speed rail the new Washington Union Station will be able to cater the passengers of the future context. Along with this improvement the image of the national landmark station will change. Displaying a curved roof with visible vegetation, the design wishes to portray the inherent sense of sustainability of mass transit.

• NYTimes. 2012. 32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow. Accessed 15 August 2012: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/03/magazine/innovations-issue.html.
  
• Amtrak and HOK. 2012. New Washington Union Station. Accessed 15 August 2012: http://www.archdaily.com/264143/amtrak-and-hok-unveils-design-for-new-washington-union-station/. 

Think About The Future Context

“At this point, it’s fairly uncontroversial to say that the Earth is under siege. From us, from our resource-consuming ways, ultimately, from our thoughtlessness.” – Vanessa Quirk 

As the designers of the future we must open our minds to elements which will affect our designs. Sustainability, and Energy Efficient, Green Buildings are some of these elements. The future will undoubtedly result in an increase in technology development, and as always new expanses in design will allow for new and exciting methods of construction which will allow Architects of the future to create new and increasingly innovative designs. Below is a Video shows the modern take on sustainable solutions from a German architecture firm, Behnisch Architekten. 

Behnisch Architekten aims at improving the living quality in buildings by utilising new technologies within design. Behnisch also shows interest in retrofitting existing buildings with these principles. 

“…The most difficult stock we have to deal with, and it has to be done, if we really want to save CO2. We need to fix up about 60% of the existing buildings. The biggest challenge is not the historic buildings. The biggest challenge is 50s to 80s buildings. The mirror glass building across the street is one example. And these can be done well with new facades and technologies. The problem is less of a challenge than you think.”

http://vimeo.com/12863180#

(P.S. Blogger will not allow me to link a video which is not from youtube)

Unilever Haus by Behnisch Architekten, named “Office Building of the Year”

“Modernism, Postmodernism, Deconstructivism… We have now definitely entered Sustainabilism.” – Hank Jarz

University of the Future

Sustainable Green design will be the new mind set for designers, the first genuine International Style. Sustainabilism can be combined with any style, avant-garde, commercial, established... Designers cannot create giant towers of concrete anymore, as designers of the future we must heal the resource-consuming habits of our predecessors

• ArchDaily. 2012. "Adaptive and Dynamic Buildings". Accessed 15 July 2012: http://www.archdaily.com/71450/adaptive-and-dynamic-buildings-%E2%80%93-the-future-of-environmental-design-architecture/.
  
• O’ Mighty Green. 2012. STAR strategies + architecture. Accessed 15 July 2012: http://www.archdaily.com/144654/o%E2%80%99-mighty-green-star-strategies-architecture/.
  
• Architizer. 2012. UNIVERSITY of the Future. Accessed 20 July 2012: http://www.architizer.com/en_us/projects/view/university-of-the-future/36530/.
  
• ArchDaily. 2012. Green Design. Accessed 20 July 2012: http://www.archdaily.com/tag/green-design/.