So I was reading this article this morning, and I was so inspired to create some better source of green architecture. I also thought how much you must know about ecology to be able to construct and design a building like this.
This article was an interview with William McDonough, the architect of the Ford Motor Company complex in Dearborn, Michigan which is known for it's create way to store rain water and cool and heat the space naturally.
McDonough is known for his "cradle to cradle" design. "Cradle to Cradle is a protocol I've developed with a German chemist, Michael Braungart. We characterize things as either being part of nature—biological nutrients—or being part of technology , which we call technical nutrients. We look at the world through these two lenses and we say, let the things that are designed to go back to soil, like textiles and clothing, be designed in order to be returned safely to soil, to restore it. But the cars and the computers … [should be] designed to go back into closed cycles for technology."
It's quite amazing to see a man who sees "green architecture" and takes it to the most literal state. By taking it so literal, he actually puts greenery and vegetation on his structures. The above image is a concept model of McDonough's, which shows plants growing on some sort of structure. He shows that the building doesn't need to be a negative space, but more of a "living structure".
His concept of "touching the earth lightly" reminds me very much so of the works of Glenn Murcutt, and his approach to a structure. I think that one of the major differences between the two is that Murcutt can achieve this on a smaller scale and a way more literal state. I once heard that only one of Murcutts homes has an air conditioning unit, which was put in by the home owner, and was used once: the day of installment to test the unit. Murcutt's approach isn't to replace the green on which the structure is on, but to preserve the land as if his structure were not even there.
All this to be said that it made me think about more green architecture, and how I can make a change in both architecture and the world.
Remember: buildings release more carbon emissions into the air than anything else. Let's change that.
n.tm
1 comment:
http://www.arcosanti.org/
I went to visit this in arizona. They people were very cultish, but the designer was very much a pioneer in green architecture. His conceptual designs are very inspirational to me. He has a house in Paradise Valley, Cosanti, which he doesn't like the neighborhood because he is against Urban Sprawl. Arcosanti is a community within one. Completely self sufficient. Thats where the cultish comes in. They get all their money from tours of their place and people you stay over night. They kept trying to get us to live there. It was weird. Read about it. It's interesting.
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