Buildings and the Environment

The way we design, create structures and use architecture significantly shapes our identity. There are many famous buildings worldwide that are known to express different standpoints of identity. Some of these include: Eiffel Tower (Paris, France;), The Colosseum (Rome, Italy), The Giza Pyramids (El Giza, Egypt), The Capitol (Washington DC), Big Ben (Westminster, London), Taj Mahal (Uttar Pradesh, India), The Louvre (Paris, France), Sydney Opera House (Sydney NSW, Australia), Empire State Building (New York), and The Burj Al Arab (Dubai); among others (Perry 2010). These iconic buildings are known all over the world and clearly demonstrate how architecture shapes local identity. Architectural works are generally seen as works of art and cultural symbols. Therefore architecture is used to express cultural, social, economic and environmental identity in many parts of the world (Mahgoub 2007).

Buildings have a huge impact on the environment because they change and uses (Whole Building Design Guide 2017). The amount of resources consumed by buildings in their entire lifecycle are large and have continued to increase over the years. In the U.S., it is estimated that buildings contribute 40% of carbon emissions. Globally, buildings are the biggest consumers of energy and emitters of greenhouse gases. These buildings contribute significantly to climate change, which has become a life-threatening problem. Thus there is urgent need to develop and implement strategies that will reduce energy consumption, minimize emissions and increase resource efficiency of buildings. Some of these strategies include recycling of buildings and use of renewable resources (Sagheb, Vafaeihosseini and Ramanchrla 2011). This essay discusses architecture and the culture of sustainability. It focusses on the recycling of buildings.

Architecture in general has greatly revolutionized over the years. Many years ago, most architects were only concerned about the general appearance and uniqueness of buildings. They wanted to design the most spectacular buildings without putting much emphasis on the impact of these buildings to the occupants and environment. However, the continuing lifestyle changes, global population growth and depletion of natural resources have prompted architects to start considering environmental impacts of building designs and architectural styles they apply. This has led to development of numerous sustainable design principles that guide architects on how to design buildings with minimal environmental impacts. That is why today’s architects are always looking for ways to increase resource efficiency of buildings without compromising indoor requirements of occupants.

The concept of sustainability has become very important in the recent years for various reasons. One of these reasons is the rapidly increasing global population, which has resulted to increased exploitation of natural resources. In the context of this essay, the high global population has led to increased demand for buildings. This means that more natural resources have to be extracted and processed for use in the construction of more buildings. As a result of this, the resources become depleted and the processes of extraction, processing, transportation and use cause a lot of negative impacts on the environment. It is for this reason that the culture of sustainability is very important in architecture as it helps in ensuring that buildings are resource efficient and environmentally sound.

Architecture and the Culture of Sustainability

The best way to promote the culture of sustainability is to design buildings with an aim of reducing the amount of resources they consume during construction, operation and maintenance stages. But it does not end at that point – it extends to demolition stage where the buildings can be reused or recycled. In general, sustainable architecture entails seeking ways of minimizing negative environmental impacts caused by buildings throughout their lifecycle. This basically requires architects to design environmentally friendly buildings i.e. energy- and water-efficient buildings that have low impact on the environment and human health. The processes of designing, constructing, operating and maintaining buildings use a wide range of materials including water and energy (Ragheb, El-Shimy and Ragheb 2016). The vast materials also translate into large amounts of waste, emissions and pollution.      

There are different ways in which architecture is used to promote the culture of sustainability. One of them is ensuring efficient use of resources, including energy and water, throughout the lifecycle of buildings (KMB Design Group 2015). Architects can achieve this by ensuring proper building envelope (to regulate flow of heat, wind, industrial pollution, vapor pressure, solar radiation to and from the building during different seasons of the year) (Iwaro and Mwasha 2013), appropriate orientation and layout of rooms (to capitalize on natural ventilation, daylighting and natural air conditioning), suitable construction materials, air-tightness (Chen, Yang and Lu 2015), efficient construction methods that use less resources, incorporation of automation systems (to ensure that resources are consumed appropriately and only when needed), use of recycled and recyclable construction materials and constant monitoring of the impacts of sustainable strategies applied. If a building is oriented properly, it will capitalize on daylighting. This means that the building will consume zero energy for lighting during the day – which reduces the total amount of energy consumed by the building. Other design features such as large operable windows and wind catchers will also reduce a building’s energy consumption because they use natural ventilation and air conditioning (Fu, Gong and Yu 2013). All these strategies are known as passive design techniques because they use zero or very minimal energy, compared to active design approaches. Majority of these passive design features were the ones used during the ancient days and their efficiency has been improved using modern technology, making modern buildings more energy and water efficient (Srivastav and Jones 2009).

An example of a building with passive design features is Rockcote Design Center located in Carrara, Queensland, Australia. Some of the passive design features of this building include: large spaces with colored walls, functional layouts, large windows, building orientation, sustainable building materials, etc. The building has been designed to minimize environmental impact and still offer a comfortable indoor environment for its purpose. Other sustainable features of the building are rainwater harvesting and supply system, wastewater treatment plant, recycling center, ecological garden, energy monitoring and control systems and renewable energy systems (Shao 2013).  

Sustainable Design Principles

Another way in which architecture promotes the culture of sustainability is through reduction of pollution, waste generation and environmental degradation, among others. There are several ways of reducing pollution, waste and environmental degradation of buildings. some of these strategies include: use of locally available building materials to reduce pollution related to transportation of these materials, use of environmentally friendly building materials, use of recyclable building materials so that they can be converted into other useful products when the building gets demolished, use of recycled materials to reduce exploitation and extraction of new materials, designing and constructing buildings that generate their own energy (renewable energy), and ensuring that the buildings use less energy. Another strategy is to incorporate water harvesting, storage and treatment systems. These systems ensures that the building collects rainwater, stores it and supplies it for various uses when needed. Water recycling and reuse are other effective strategies of reducing water wastage by buildings. This can be achieved by strategies such as using waste water from the kitchen for watering outdoor gardens or flushing toilets.

Developing and promoting the culture of sustainability through architecture should also protect people’s health and improve their productivity. It is important to note that developing a culture of sustainability does not mean compromising the quality of indoor comfort or air quality. The opposite of this notion must prevail. In other words, architects should ensure that sustainable buildings they design are able to provide high indoor air quality and comfort for occupants. This can be achieved through natural ventilation, air conditioning and daylighting, which uses minimal energy compared to mechanically and electrically powered systems. With good indoor air quality and comfort, occupants’ productivity also increases because they will be in conducive work environments. Architects know what has to be done so as to improve indoor air quality and therefore they should play their role (Haines 2010).     

Recycling of buildings is one of the most effective strategies of promoting the culture of sustainability in building sector. Buildings are made of a wide range of materials, including glass, metal, ceramics, bricks, concrete, etc. When a building is demolished, these materials are usually disposed in landfills or burnt as wastes. Either of the two has negative impacts on the environment. However, building materials can be recycled (converted into materials that may be used for the alternative or same purpose) thus reducing the levels of extracting natural resources, energy consumption, carbon generation, pollution and landfill (Blengini and Di Carlo 2010). SOS Community Center in Chicago, IL, USA, is one of the examples of how buildings can be constructed using recycled materials. The building was constructed using concrete aggregate wastes that were collected from construction sites in adjacent Chicago area. The different types of aggregates were artistically expressed to show when and how the concrete was poured when the building was being constructed (Metcalf 2011).

Strategies for Promoting the Culture of Sustainability through Architecture

Recycling is a very important component of all aspects of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. Through recycling, the volume of wastes reduces thus protecting the environment and preventing depletion of natural resources (Izvercian and Ivascu 2015). This approach of achieving sustainability has become more important considering the rapidly growing global population, which has made resources limited and scarce. Today, the amount of resources being consumed require more than one planet to sustain. This makes recycling a good approach of promoting sustainability (Chavan 2014).

Recycling of buildings has numerous benefits. It conserves raw materials, conserves energy, reduces pollution, reduces landfill and saves money (Saghafi and Teshnizi 2011). When a building is recycled, the need for extraction of natural resources reduces. This helps in reducing the amount of energy that would be used to extract, process and transport these materials (Ng and Chau 2015). The pollution and all costs associated with these processes are also avoided. In addition, recycling ensures that no wastes will be disposed in landfills thus reducing the negative environmental impacts associated with landfilling. Generally, recycling of buildings has minimal environmental impacts and saves more money than disposal of building material waste in landfills or incineration (Tyskeng and Finnveden 2010). For this reason, recycling is the best way to go for the purposes of promoting the culture of sustainability.    

Another crucial strategy in which architecture can promote the culture of sustainability is by using renewable resources. These resources can be replaced naturally and used repeatedly. They include wood, leather, paper, low organic volatile compounds (VOC) paint, ecological concrete, wool carpeting, bamboo flooring, paper insulation boards, etc. Buildings made of renewable resources are usually adaptive to the local environment and are easy to maintain. This reduces the amount of energy they consume and the cost of maintenance. If architects can incorporate renewable materials when designing buildings, depletion of natural resources will reduce thus protecting the environment.  

Buildings are among the major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, which are worsening the global problem of climate change. These gases are emitted during different stages of a building’s lifecycle: construction, operation, maintenance, demolition and disposal. Architects have a big role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions during each of these stages. If the buildings are designed properly, their resource efficiency will be very high. It means that they will consume less resources and generate minimal waste at each stage of their lifecycle. This is what sustainable development or building is all about – consuming less resources without compromising the quality, functionality, safety and durability of the building.

Recycling of Buildings

Developing the culture of sustainability in architecture has been driven by the need to protect the environment for the benefit of present and future generations. The increasing global population and lifestyle changes have led to very high demand of resources, particularly energy and water, in buildings. If this trend continues, future generations may not have an opportunity to enjoy the quality of life some of us are enjoying. The reasons for this are high levels of pollution, waste generation and depletion of natural resources. Architects can reduce environmental impacts of buildings by designing buildings that consume less resources throughout their lifecycle. For this to be achieved, it requires relevant stakeholders (architects, designers, engineers, government authorities, contractors and occupants) to develop the culture of sustainability. By so doing, everybody will ensure that minimal resources are used at the building’s lifecycle where they are concerned.       

One of the most effective approaches of building the culture of sustainability is recycling. Through recycling, used materials are renewed and reused thus reducing or eliminating the need to extract new materials. This is very useful in protecting the environment and improving people’s health and quality of life. For the potential benefits of recycling to be fully realized, architects should design buildings that can be constructed, operated and maintained with recycled, recyclable and renewable materials and resources.

However, promoting the culture the sustainability is still challenging in the building sector and it requires participation and cooperation of all relevant stakeholders, including architects, designers, engineers, contractors, developers, government authorities and the general public. Some of the challenges include the high initial cost of implementing sustainability strategies and the attitude or belief of unsustainable systems or approaches. Nevertheless, the government should formulate policies and a regulatory framework that promote sustainable building.

It is also worth noting that a well-designed building improves indoor air quality and thermal comfort thus enhancing the health and comfort of occupants. Therefore passive design systems and other approaches such as recycling do not compromise the quality of indoor environment or the functionality, safety and durability of the building. Instead, these approaches promote sustainability thus protecting the environment. Therefore as we shape our identity through design, production and use of architecture, we should also aim at building the culture of sustainability so as to protect the environment for ourselves and the future generations. 

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