From sustainable to transformable
From sustainable to transformable
Paradoxically, change can be one of the more stable aspects of our lives. We know with reasonable certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow and that summer will turn to autumn, yet we also know that tomorrow we might reveal things we do not know today. Change is always with us: it is its pace that is crucial. Cultural transmutation and technological development drive change. As they speed up and become increasingly erratic, change may get out of control.
The concept of sustainability has been developed by the environmental movements since the seventies, when the Worldwatch Institute sounded the alarm against an ecological disaster arising from ignorant use of destructive chemicals and over-exploitation of limited resources. More recently, however, the concept has been appropriated, banded about and misapplied by so many vested interests that it has all but lost its currency. Nevertheless its three underpinning tenets - economic benefit, social well-being and environmental protection - form the basis for any move to improve the conditions on earth.
These three precepts exactly mirror our current watershed. We are faced with an unprecedented economic meltdown, worldwide sectarian violence and catastrophic climate change. Brundtland?s seminal 1988 definition refers to sustainability as ?development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs?. It is the next generation that architects around the world should face while designing new buildings.
In this context, it is worth noting that the UK government has set up a programme for rebuilding, refurbishing and re-equipping the entire stock of primary and secondary schools. This is the biggest public investment program ever seen, amounting to approximately ?90 billion over 15 years. Although the manner in which this is being achieved is far from perfect, there is a concerted attempt to transform pedagogy as well as the physical setting. Another aim of this initiative is ensuring design excellence through the use of sustainable measures - that is, design that uses precious resources economically and effectively, avoiding environmental degradation.
With the ubiquitous rise of International Style since the beginning of the last century, architects and engineers have increasingly disregarded the historic meaning of locality. One of the targets of sustainable design is to retrieve this meaning. However, while our goal must be to ensure that all designers reach an understanding of the measures required for countering detrimental impact, we should reach a point where we no longer think of a sustainable design as being different from any other. After all, sustainable design - albeit with a particular focus - does deploy the same tenets - cultural, technical and climatic - as all good design.
Considering the design of new schools, the instilling of a transformational approach to sustainability goes hand in glove with the newly conceived transformational approach to pedagogy. Teachers, at least in the UK, complain that the government is constantly tinkering with teaching standards, learning assessment and the curriculum. Although still stuck with an exam-based achievement culture - learning technologies and social upheaval are forcing radical changes to school design.
The school is no longer the central locale of learning and acquiring useful skills. Cybernetics has changed all that. Children now learn as much away from the classroom as in it. In addition to structured learning and training, children (and adults) must learn today how to respond to the pace of change.
Accordingly, a new school must be able to accommodate a range of teaching styles from the teacher-led to individual investigation. It needs to encompass high standard facilities for all ages, ethnic backgrounds and abilities - all taking place in a safe, stimulating and responsive setting.
Furthermore, it is a significant learning opportunity in itself to go from a regular school or school extension, to one based on a sustainable and educationally transformational brief. With the right structure and active support of the community and school, the processes of design, construction and building management can become curricular processes, providing valuable learning experiences.
Engagement of parents, staff and students in aspects of design and implementation inevitably draws them into the workings of their future school, allowing them to influence the result, so when the school is finally accomplished, they know it belongs to them and it feels like home.
The economic downturn has an upside. It forces people to question their role in preventing environmental disaster, while switching funds from improvident development to investment in sustainably beneficial initiatives.
The intention is not only to make proper use of natural light, ventilation, shading and insulation - which have always been integral to architecture, but also to recruit advanced technologies - which may have caused this crisis in the first place - in order to repair the environmental damage.
Within this frame, it is possible to advance the issue of sustainability into a new phase of transformability. The head office complex that resides in a converted building originally designed for raising chickens (to provide eggs for the Ovaltine malt drink) is a fine example of conventional sustainability. Features of the building and its location within its surroundings are used to benefit its new purpose. The Beaufort Court Zero Emissions Building is the first commercially developed building to be carbon neutral and energy self-sufficient. Serving as head office for Renewable Energy Systems, the building also contains a visitor center demonstrating state-of-the-art technologies for sustainable building design.
The Classroom of the Future is an example of advancing the issue of sustainability into a new phase whereby the building is adjustable to its changing uses according to new pedagogical needs. This is one of 20 similar projects funded by the UK Department of Children, Schools and Families. Spread throughout the country, the projects aim at challenging conventional school design while fulfilling the current Building Schools for the Future program - allowing a better fit to the needs of the new era.
Giving the concept of sustainability a new meaning, the Classroom of the Future is a versatile structure that includes an observatory, wire-free ICT network, and an enclosed tropical garden. It is worth noting, however, that such projects are not meant to replace the renovated school, but rather to work with it. While the renovated structure reinforces traditional values, the contemporary extension explores future trajectories.
The Classroom of the Future and Beaufort Court Zero Emissions Building are only two of the many projects planned and built by Studio E Architects, which has specialized in issues of sustainability.
David Lloyd Jones is the founding director of Studio E Architects.
Paradoxically, change can be one of the more stable aspects of our lives. We know with reasonable certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow and that summer will turn to autumn, yet we also know that tomorrow we might reveal things we do not know today. Change is always with us: it is its pace that is crucial. Cultural transmutation and technological development drive change. As they speed up and become increasingly erratic, change may get out of control.
The concept of sustainability has been developed by the environmental movements since the seventies, when the Worldwatch Institute sounded the alarm against an ecological disaster arising from ignorant use of destructive chemicals and over-exploitation of limited resources. More recently, however, the concept has been appropriated, banded about and misapplied by so many vested interests that it has all but lost its currency. Nevertheless its three underpinning tenets - economic benefit, social well-being and environmental protection - form the basis for any move to improve the conditions on earth.
These three precepts exactly mirror our current watershed. We are faced with an unprecedented economic meltdown, worldwide sectarian violence and catastrophic climate change. Brundtland?s seminal 1988 definition refers to sustainability as ?development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs?. It is the next generation that architects around the world should face while designing new buildings.
In this context, it is worth noting that the UK government has set up a programme for rebuilding, refurbishing and re-equipping the entire stock of primary and secondary schools. This is the biggest public investment program ever seen, amounting to approximately ?90 billion over 15 years. Although the manner in which this is being achieved is far from perfect, there is a concerted attempt to transform pedagogy as well as the physical setting. Another aim of this initiative is ensuring design excellence through the use of sustainable measures - that is, design that uses precious resources economically and effectively, avoiding environmental degradation.
With the ubiquitous rise of International Style since the beginning of the last century, architects and engineers have increasingly disregarded the historic meaning of locality. One of the targets of sustainable design is to retrieve this meaning. However, while our goal must be to ensure that all designers reach an understanding of the measures required for countering detrimental impact, we should reach a point where we no longer think of a sustainable design as being different from any other. After all, sustainable design - albeit with a particular focus - does deploy the same tenets - cultural, technical and climatic - as all good design.
Considering the design of new schools, the instilling of a transformational approach to sustainability goes hand in glove with the newly conceived transformational approach to pedagogy. Teachers, at least in the UK, complain that the government is constantly tinkering with teaching standards, learning assessment and the curriculum. Although still stuck with an exam-based achievement culture - learning technologies and social upheaval are forcing radical changes to school design.
The school is no longer the central locale of learning and acquiring useful skills. Cybernetics has changed all that. Children now learn as much away from the classroom as in it. In addition to structured learning and training, children (and adults) must learn today how to respond to the pace of change.
Accordingly, a new school must be able to accommodate a range of teaching styles from the teacher-led to individual investigation. It needs to encompass high standard facilities for all ages, ethnic backgrounds and abilities - all taking place in a safe, stimulating and responsive setting.
Furthermore, it is a significant learning opportunity in itself to go from a regular school or school extension, to one based on a sustainable and educationally transformational brief. With the right structure and active support of the community and school, the processes of design, construction and building management can become curricular processes, providing valuable learning experiences.
Engagement of parents, staff and students in aspects of design and implementation inevitably draws them into the workings of their future school, allowing them to influence the result, so when the school is finally accomplished, they know it belongs to them and it feels like home.
The economic downturn has an upside. It forces people to question their role in preventing environmental disaster, while switching funds from improvident development to investment in sustainably beneficial initiatives.
The intention is not only to make proper use of natural light, ventilation, shading and insulation - which have always been integral to architecture, but also to recruit advanced technologies - which may have caused this crisis in the first place - in order to repair the environmental damage.
Within this frame, it is possible to advance the issue of sustainability into a new phase of transformability. The head office complex that resides in a converted building originally designed for raising chickens (to provide eggs for the Ovaltine malt drink) is a fine example of conventional sustainability. Features of the building and its location within its surroundings are used to benefit its new purpose. The Beaufort Court Zero Emissions Building is the first commercially developed building to be carbon neutral and energy self-sufficient. Serving as head office for Renewable Energy Systems, the building also contains a visitor center demonstrating state-of-the-art technologies for sustainable building design.
The Classroom of the Future is an example of advancing the issue of sustainability into a new phase whereby the building is adjustable to its changing uses according to new pedagogical needs. This is one of 20 similar projects funded by the UK Department of Children, Schools and Families. Spread throughout the country, the projects aim at challenging conventional school design while fulfilling the current Building Schools for the Future program - allowing a better fit to the needs of the new era.
Giving the concept of sustainability a new meaning, the Classroom of the Future is a versatile structure that includes an observatory, wire-free ICT network, and an enclosed tropical garden. It is worth noting, however, that such projects are not meant to replace the renovated school, but rather to work with it. While the renovated structure reinforces traditional values, the contemporary extension explores future trajectories.
The Classroom of the Future and Beaufort Court Zero Emissions Building are only two of the many projects planned and built by Studio E Architects, which has specialized in issues of sustainability.
David Lloyd Jones is the founding director of Studio E Architects.
