Design in green: Green Design: From Theory to Practice. Analytical essays

A collection of essays including discussion of green technologies in contemporary building and cases in sustainable architecture.

As for me, I have been interested by an essay about recycling of buildings. In 'Design for Dessambly of Buildings' by Elma Durmisevic (p. 107) there is considered a problem of building as a highly polluting industry.

Author discusses a strategy of usage thought out construction of buildings that can allow to reuse them or reinstall or adapted to new purposes, at the same time decreasing energy consumption and waste pollution that usually is the case in building methods with total deconstruction and building from scratch.

Author regards a possibility of designing of buildings consisted from independent components that can be rearranged and reused individually as wear.

So, there is added a new point for rating of sustainability of building - this is a possibility to recycle and to change. Although there can be argues is it relevant to build such a house, will it be more sustainable and economically sound than usual stable construction with long-lived functions. Another problem is perception of people who usually see a symbol of permanency and stability in houses. On the other hand, an architect can offer a type of developing building that changes with its inhabitants, it may work as a new life-style symbol founded on ideology of recycling. Also such modular construction allows to build with lower footprint and saving of local landscape of site.

At the same time this idea of changeable buildings has references in kinetic architecture, i.e. Peter Cook's 'Plug-in City' and Kenzo Tange's metabolic architecture. In majority, these experiments ended with loosing aesthetic. It seems to me that sustainable architecture could not be named 'architecture' if the idea of eco-friendly construction disturbs aesthetic of a building and replace it with high-tech engineering.

Old school 'Plug-in City' - probably it was a source of inspiration for author of the essay.