Our world is underrated and under observed. As we have continuously depleted it century after century, Earth cannot continue to replenish itself alone. That is where the importance of design comes into play. Environmental Design is a plan for our survival as well as the worlds. The state of the environment and how the generations to come will live is in the hands of our designers now.
Humans have evolved into a being more dominate and intelligent than anything seen before on Earth. And because of this, we have evolved too quickly relative to that of our world. Environmental design could be our way to reverse this. Not necessarily to reverse how far we have come as a species, but to put us back on track. As the technological boom hit a few centuries ago, we evolved and reproduced at a rapid pace. One hundred years ago we had less than half of the amount of people we have now on our planet. The world cannot replenish itself as fast as we can grow. One world is currently supporting six billion people. Its carrying capacity is about half of that. And design is our tool to get back. Before this course, I believed environmental design meant putting the environment first, and humans second. But now, I have learned that it is not necessarily about deciding which is more important than the other. More so, it is about the relationship between the two and how they interact. Environmental design is about designing to make these interactions more efficient and less harmful to both parties. My design ideas come from broad and shared experiences among many. I want people to feel relaxed and comfortable in the spaces I create and in order to achieve that they must relate to it somehow. And the best way to relate everyone is by using the natural environment. Natural lighting, air circulation, greenery, et cetera can all make a space feel like it is natural and meant to be there. Approaching design in this way allows for a space that is environmentally friendly and satisfying to the user. Previously, I wanted to design to make ‘cool’ spaces and areas where people felt awed. But after learning that our carbon footprint has become almost permanent, I realized that designing ‘cool’ doesn’t have to mean not designing green. I
“Many current discussions about sustainability focus on the ways in which human activity...can be maintained in the future without exhausting all of our current resources… there has been a close correlation between the growth of human society and environmental degradation - as communities grow, the environment often declines” (603).
The indefinite growth of the human population, has monumental impacts on the natural environment, not only in the UK, but around the globe. Architecturally, the entire process of designing and constructing a building, both domestic and not, can lead to the rapid exhaustion of natural resources across the planet. Building with environmental design strategies in mind not only combats the impact we as humans have on the natural environment, but also has considerable economic benefits, due to lower running costs of buildings and advanced occupant productivity. There are also many social benefits, such as improved air quality which resultantly leads too enhanced health of a buildings occupants.
According to the author of “Taking the Lead” Felice Silverman, “the introduction of LEED v4 represents the next step in the evolution of sustainable design, but it’s interesting to note that as we learn more about creating green spaces, new concerns continue appear”. The example she gives deals with encouraging people as designers to see products earn third-party certifications, and designers should remember to look at more than just the single-attribute benefits of products. Designers need to be able to arm themselves with the best information on sustainability there is, and continue to review process, systems and products that could potentially cause harm to the environment and the people
"Sustainable Architecture" - this phrase in recent years is mentioned a lot. The concept of "sustainable architecture" is associated, even identified with the concept of green architecture, ecological architecture, environmentally friendly, energy efficient ... to reach a stable value for the environment human life, reduce negative impacts on the environment in the present and future. However, although this interpretation is correct, but only one aspect, because that's what people are missing and need to achieve. Try to reach and understanding of sustainable architecture in general and more simple ...
Being environmentally friendly isn’t merely a trend. After thousands of years of using the earth’s resources, we have finally come to realize that we are destroying this beautiful gift we were honored with. Architects play an influential role in trying to preserve this gift by encouraging a multitude of strategies that can be more cost efficient in the long run, be more comfortable for its users, and most importantly, have a lower carbon footprint. Strategies can include drastic changes to heat and air systems, construction material selections, or even specific design details to the architecture of a building that would reduce the amount of energy it consumes.
Environmental impacts have been humanity 's constant for over trillions of decades.That is how we stay alive and alert.We are constantly innovating and adjusting to our surroundings.Even during the late centuries early civilizations have been adapting to their beautiful and majestic lives. For a prime example, the ancient mounds of the Cahokia clan and the largest earthworks in the Western.In the Mississippi River floodplain, where the water table was always high and where the could thrive,the Mississippi valley had been the first and only one to be so carefully engineered. Over the next century or two the Cahokia clan made the bedside of the Mississippi more than a pile of dirt, the city surrounding it was more than an agglomeration of
• Environmental design (C1, Section 3) examines the built environment working in conjunction with natural world. For example, the kitchen and main living space is primarily south facing with a glass wall to take maximum advantage of the available natural light. In addition, the protruding canopy above acts to mitigate excessive levels of solar gain.
The world is being sickened by the needs of man in today's society. People, love to live in luxury without knowing the consequences of their actions. This is because man lives at a pace set by himself, and not one that is naturally set by nature. This is shown excellently in a quote inside of the novel Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. The Quote states, “the rapidity of change and the speed with which new situations are created follow the impetuous and heedless pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature.” The Earth is experiencing such rapid and disastrous change due to the wants of man. Man demands too much from the earth and not only is this changing the Earth, but it is also depleting many non renewable resources
In 1970, Webb participated in the first ever Earth Day to show solidarity for the environment. Through the lenses of an architect he also gained further respect for the landscape. While studying architecture at UPenn, Webb was introduced to Ian McHarg. McHarg was one of the founders of ecological planning and author of “Design with Nature”. Webb really identified with McHarg’s book and explained how the book opened, “The possibilities to protecting and living within the landscape around us.” Reading “Design with Nature” helped Webb further understand how fragile nature was and how much people that live within nature depended on it. The book put further emphasis on protecting and caring for nature which is something Webb has remembered to this day and continues to act upon through his own projects and
Throughout world history, people have come up with brilliant new ideas to make life easier, and as time goes on, research, making food, and getting news, has all become instantaneous. It now only takes the push of a button to cook a thanksgiving meal or the click of a remote to find out what’s happening across the world. These things are often taken for granted, and rarely does someone stop and say: “I wonder what turning on this extra lamp does to the environment?” This statement sounds insignificant when there are people starving in other countries and people are training for the army. Yet, being concerned about the environment is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the environment should be one of the biggest concerns among people, as
It cannot be denied that, in at least some areas, the invention and progression of technology has benefitted the human race. With the growing industrialization of the world in the last centuries the lives of many people have been made easier. But, this growth of technology is not without its consequences and people are not without their concerns. While industrialization has had its benefits, the environmental cost of this progress is immense, and the impact it has on nature can be hard to swallow. It may seem like talk of the environment is something to be left to scientists or activists specializing in that particular field, but they are
What are we doing to our environment? This is a question many people have asked but never quite been able to answer in the fullest way. How do we find out the answer then you ask? By multiple sources. There’s the ‘scare’ tactic, saying what could happen in the future if we don’t change our ways. There’s the ‘inspirational’ tactic which spreads the word of all good that we can, should, or maybe even have done to our environment. And last but not least, the ‘fiction transformation’ tactic which turns something that we would read ourselves or maybe to our children to open up our eyes of what’s going on. Why is this important to even know? Many different ‘eco enthusiasts’ express their research on the environment, this general tactic is called ecocriticism. Ecocriticism is where authors analyze texts that embellish environmental concerns and study the various
One of the most heavily discussed topics, in this last decade, is the environmental decay of our planet. Diverse concepts have materialized in order to find solutions for the problem. Ecology and sustainable growth have been confirmed to be the main solutions currently. Innovations for sustainable growth include: creation of hybrid cars, recycling and minor discharge of carbon dioxide in factories among others (Christ 23). Environmental awareness was also introduced to the world of fashion, unfortunately, it wasn’t very successful; lately there has been a change of situation and that is what we are going to attempt to understand.
We are all part of an interlinking system, a system that needs balance with humanity and nature at the forefront. As Designers it is important that we take self interest out of design and instead collaborate within our physical environment and make sure that from the get go, our designs should work around a collaborative system that has a wide breadth of professional fields and influence from existing infrastructures found within our world. Victor Papernak writes “eighty percent of the environmental impact of the products,services, infastructures around us is determined at the design stage.” I have chosen to explore collaborations within the natural world, our industrial ecology and social design as examples of how important working together with other professionals and the environment we live in are for the bigger picture. In Victor Papernak’s book Design for the real world, Papernak uses an anecdote to stress the importance of collaboration for successful design.
Environmental issues have been a cause of a lot of debate in the recent past. Governments and nongovernmental organizations have been in constant consultations on how to help protect the environment. Apparently, as a result of man’s many actions, the natural environment is getting torn apart so quickly that the coming generations will not enjoy this kind of environment, unless a