Module 7 Sustainability

Today's class started off on an interesting subject we discussed those in the industry who can at times be overly abstract. We came to the conclusion that its important to talk about architecture in an educated way but being to abstract can disconnect one to his clients or audience.  

Professor Huang dedicated the rest of class to sustainability. Throughout the year green design has been mentioned in every lecture professor Huang has embedded the idea in our minds and rightfully so. I believe we all feel that through design we can reach people and make them become aware of how wasteful our society is and through design change wasteful behavior. Architect David Arkin has developed 5 goals that lead to sustainable design.

1. Harmonize with the site- be aware of your surroundings try and blend in with the site by adapting your structure and design to the area it will exist for years to come as seen in the image below.

2. Build as little as possible- build within your means leave room on the site that can be enjoyed under the sun. Use local and readily available materials as seen in the image below.

3. Buildings should heat and cool themselves as well as generate their own electricity- buildings should be self-sufficient this is done through solar panels, windmill, some home owners are lucky enough to heat and power their homes with geothermal energy as seen in the cartoons below.

  

4. Maximize resource efficiency- this can be accomplished by using recycled material or using materials that don't consume a lot of energy when being made. Below is an image from a company named TerraMai they recycle wood from old building around the world, finish it then sell it to people in the trade.

   

 

5. Ecological design should be beautiful and lyrical- by using nature as our guide this last goal is easy to accomplish I've spent a lot of time in Santa Fe and Taos New Mexico while growing up, out there it appears the law is to blend and harmonize with the natural surrounding as seen in the Taos Pueblo below. The pueblo was constructed of the very soil it sits on and the wood beams where gathered from the surrounding forest. Its scale and placement harmonize with the mountains in the background. but more importantly its function for the time was to house and protect multiple Native American families.      

   

Built on either side of the Rio Pueblo (Pueblo River), Taos Pueblo, is the final site in a chain of Pueblo Indian dwellings in the Taos Valley dating back to the 900s. The pueblo was first visited by Europeans in 1540. In 1598 Mission San Gerónimo de Taos was founded. Rebuilt on three separate occasions, the mission was officially abandoned in 1846. Taos Pueblo was historically one of the major centers of trade between the Rio Grande pueblos and the Plains Indians. Trade fairs were held every season and were eventually institutionalized by the Spanish. The fairs also gave rise to merchant caravans, which traveled along the Chihuahua Trail from northern New Mexico to the cities of Mexico. Taos Pueblo was also a center of the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680. This regional uprising, a response to Spanish mistreatment of the Pueblo Indians, drove the Spanish out of New Mexico until 1692. The pueblo is inhabited and consists of impressive adobe two to five-story residential blocks, many still accessible only by ladder, the original defensive wall, kivas and the ruins of the mission.

work cited http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/amsw/sw47.HTM