The Bad News About Green Architecture

Interesting article. I recommend that you view the cargo container based work of DeMaria Design in southern California. These architects have appeared to create an innovative structural system that is "upcycled". While most of the container applications I have seen look exactly like rusty old metal boxes, there is far more going on with the work of this office - these containers are appealing. Like Shigeru Ban, DeMaria seems immersed in the exploration of applying new principles to the entirety of design, not just green washing! Quality at an affordable price isn't a new concept but the process by which this architect goes about achieving it is pioneering. I'm interested in relevant comments on this work.

Interesting article. I recommend that you view the cargo container based work of DeMaria Design in southern California. These architects have appeared to create an innovative structural system that is "upcycled". While most of the container applications I have seen look exactly like rusty old metal boxes, there is far more going on with the work of this office - these containers are appealing. Like Shigeru Ban, DeMaria seems immersed in the exploration of applying new principles to the entirety of design, not just green washing! Quality at an affordable price isn't a new concept but the process by which this architect goes about achieving it is pioneering. I'm interested in relevant comments on this work.

What is more important? Form or Function?

This is an age old battle between engineers and marketeers.
Engineers want it to work and marketeers want it to look good.

The recent influx of branding and "cool appearance" vs an item
that actually works has created a sense of planned obsolescence.
This accompanied by reduced cost for that "cool" look and you end
up with a worthless peice of crap that needs to be replaced often.

Another example of greed out weighing the benefit to the consumer
of a quality item. Lack of quality contributes to more waste filling our
landfills and constant expenditures to replace broken items.

This is fundamentally wrong for an evolving society that needs to be
a steward of the earth's ecology as opposed to a destroyer of it.

All true - and well put. But rather than a cute counterblast, outline for us the paradigm shift that needs to take place in order for key strands of sustainable development such as the linkage between transportation systems, food systems and the built environment to happen in a way that is truly 'green'. Then suggest how that might be marketed and turned in to something that we want to buy. No offense but you're tilting at an easy windmill.

Thanks for articulating something that's been bugging me for awhile. This typically shallow pop-culture approach that creates fads instead of a trends, is dangerous for something as significant as this. And acerbusiii, I think you're the ridiculous one and have totally missed the point. Making some splashy changes without addressing underlying issues does more harm than good. I think this is an excellent piece that highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to the issue of sustainability.

This is a very accurate article detailing the "trend" of Sustainable Architecture. Sadly, the market is quite taken with the glamour of the idea but resists the change required to adapt to a more sustainable built environment. Calling something "green" does not make it so; rather it is the result of a nifty advertising campaign. Most green buildings are like Hummer's with a solar panel on top. Yes the radio may be powered by alternative energy, but everything else is the same Hummer, with the same unnecessary consumptive qualities. Piano designs wise buildings, but he is not the first. Architecture is more than a strategy of product placement, which is all the "green" building movement gives credence for. For instance, LEED gives significant points for placing a bike rack outside, rather not if it is possible to ride a bike to the building???s location. Unfortunately, this trend continues our structures down the dreary path of real estate wonder, where by our concerns are kept to maximizing square footage. These are the places we inhabit, live, work, birth, and die. Do we want our lives to be lived only on the basis of quantity with little thought given to quality? Beyond the shiny pamphlets and cool advertising lies a building, which is either pleasant or unpleasant regardless of what products it contains. The architecture if done well will incorporate the experience, the possibilities, be thoughtful and be provocative. Well designed buildings have always been sustainable; this new trend cannot change this fact.

This article is ridiculous. You are talking out of both sides of your mouth. You say you would like sustainability to be integrated into normal design, to the point where it is commonplace. Well, unless there are tax credits, LEED, and trumpeting of green features that will never happen. The word needs to get out, people need to get excited, and it needs to stay in our conciousness.

You bring up the fact that driving or flying to these green structures is not sustainable. So should we not build them green and be even less sustainable? Those are two different issues - you are muddying the waters.

You are right that we should green up existing structures. We should also re-use materials from a structure when it is torn down and something new is built. We should also build sustainably when building new buildings. All of these things should be done, and each is as important as the other.

From my perspective GREEN should come first, and then we can learn how to design around that. Not the other way around. I'll take a healthy planet for my kids over you having better curb appeal, thank you.

This article is ridiculous. You are talking out of both sides of your mouth. You say you would like sustainability to be integrated into normal design, to the point where it is commonplace. Well, unless there are tax credits, LEED, and trumpeting of green features that will never happen. The word needs to get out, people need to get excited, and it needs to stay in our conciousness.

You bring up the fact that driving or flying to these green structures is not sustainable. So should we not build them green and be even less sustainable? Those are two different issues - you are muddying the waters.

You are right that we should green up existing structures. We should also re-use materials from a structure when it is torn down and something new is built. We should also build sustainably when building new buildings. All of these things should be done, and each is as important as the other.

From my perspective GREEN should come first, and then we can learn how to design around that. Not the other way around. I'll take a healthy planet for my kids over you having better curb appeal, thank you.

Seriously??? Take a look a the evolution of the automobile. Can you imagine somebody actually liking the design aesthetic of a 2008 vehicle back in 1957? I don't think so. They'd want to know why it looked like an airplane. With that being said, even today you probably wonder why electric cars, and the like, looks so funny with their small compact size and their low rear wheel wells. What it comes down to is a new notion designers have today about what they do, and it is called deep design. Usability, efficiency, practicability, and much more are now taken into account. That is why the look of design is evolving. Let me guess, you don't have an appreciation for your children's music either?

Seriously??? Take a look a the evolution of the automobile. Can you imagine somebody actually liking the design aesthetic of a 2008 vehicle back in 1957? I don't think so. They'd want to know why it looked like an airplane. With that being said, even today you probably wonder why electric cars, and the like, looks so funny with their small compact size and their low rear wheel wells. What it comes down to is a new notion designers have today about what they do, and it is called deep design. Usability, efficiency, practicability, and much more are now taken into account. That is why the look of design is evolving. Let me guess, you don't have an appreciation for your children's music either?

This is America, people are accustomed to comfort in their temperature controlled cars, very little ride bicycles. You would have to change the mentality of an entire population, I personally think that sustainable design not green design (that the commercial term) is a good way to start.

It's funny to me that the things that really make buildings both livable and green-- like tankless water-heaters that double as radiant floor heating systems, and basic insulation and weather-proofing in the rented homes of America-- are so absent from the "green architecture" craze. OK- windows that open are a good start, but as McGuigan points out, driving 40 miles to work from a climate controlled McMansion (or flying to Vegas from same) makes a mockery of the green craze. Real green progress will be more mundane than glitzy, more bicycle than prius, and more kazoo than Piano. Building monuments to green missses the point.

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What surprisingly wasn't mentioned in this article is that the Palazzo in Las Vegas qualified as LEED certified while still allowing smoking indoors. This has set an unfortunate precedent in the city as many other casinos are following suit- becoming green certified, allowing smoking, and collecting tens in millions of dollars in tax rebates from the counties and state of Nevada. The US Green Building Council should end this disingenous practice of allowing smoking, when clean indoor air is supposed to be a requirement for certification, and calling a building green. If casinos really want to qualify, they need to fully commit and end smoking indoors. Until then, let's not pretend that these buildings are actually environmentally clean and healthy.

The amazing thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the Palazzo in Las Vegas still allows smoking indoors, even though they qualified as a LEED certified building. This has set an unfortunate precedent in Las Vegas, as other casinos are set to follow suit, while collecting tens of millions of dollars in tax rebates from the state of Nevada. The US Green Building Council needs to put an end to the disingenous practice of allowing buildings to qualify as green despite not meeting one of the mandatory requirements. Surely we all agree that a green building cannot be smoke-filled.

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. I am in awe at how many resources architects are willing to burn to build a "green" building when there are less intensive alternatives (which don't receive a tax credit). What people don't seem to get is that how much energy a house or car uses in only half the equation; the other half is how much energy and and how many resources are used to build it. In that regard, if you want to have a truly "green" impact, then don't buy a brand new house or car. Buy one that is a couple of years old, but in "new" condition more or less. Your purchase of a used Ford Focus is a greener alternative than purchasing a brand new Prius.

I have taught over 3500 architects and interior designers for CE about the basics of "green architecture" for the past 8 years and what you expressed in your article is what I have screamed and yelled and told those people from the beginning. Everybody and his/hers grandmother is into "green". Just add a bamboo floor and a toilet with dual flush and you are on your way to get LEED certified. Don't worry about using vynil and PVC, because
the USGBC consider them as safe products although all the studies not controlled by the industry seems to prove otherwise. So anyone can put a green loogo on anything and everyone can feel good.
Trying to keep it simple doesn't seem to be what people want, trying to look at ancient solutions and adapting to our ways of life sounds to complicated for most and so we continue wasting energy, not knowing anyway how it is made and believing our soon to be out VP, telling on TV that we are going to need between 1300 and 1900 new power plants in the next 20 years which means that we will need to build a new one every week. (Is the guy nutty or what?) and the may be next prez who also want about the same amount. (What kind of maniacs are they?) And we waste water because we are certain there is plenty of it and anyway (as I have heard it so many times) we can alwayas install a desalination plant. Not too many people want to hear that nuclear power plants evaporat several billions of gallons of water everyday. My local paper (Sarasota Herald Tribune) published one of my letters omitting the mention about water for fear of upsetting the power company. So things need to be brought out to the people at large so they will pay attention to the promotiopns and start asking real questions about "how green is this building." So continue your kind of rants, you may wake up so people who look like they have their heads in a very dark place, terribly poluted.