edited by G. Broadbent & C.A. Brebbia
Contents
Section 1: Ecological and culture sensitivity
This section starts with N. Baker’s ‘Cultural responses to primitive needs,’ where he advocate our primitive survival as a response to the environment, such as thermal or visual comforts. There are different models of measuring comfort. Thermal comfort, for example, can be achieved “within a range of thermal sensations, provided adaptive behaviour is possible,” which involves psychological as well as physical aspect. In an ourdoor environment, people can reach actual satisfaction with thermal comfor with a non-neutral temperature far beyond prediction. The exposure to nature is also true for lighting phenomenon, people would be more satisfied with natural lighting from windows, for example, even if they need to deal the glare, rather than a “perfect” and steady condition of artificial lighting. The author asked the question “should eco-architecture promote or respond?” while mentioning the concept of biophilia, and question us if we would promote nature from its “natural state” down to our indoor components, arguing that they are not the representation of nature, but nature itself, and which he calls “adaptive opportunity.” He also distinguished mimicry from “real nature,” stating that modern architectural mimicry is purely symbolic but not functional. The author concludes with a key factor for design: ambience. Rather than provide a definite opinion, he provokes the dual case of natural ambience and the artificial or synthetic ambience. It seems that the author is fascinated with up-to-date technologies in creating synthetic ambience (and with that follow the advatange of “unlimited density”) but at the same time cautious about the detachment from natural ambience, or nature. He calls for an interdisciplinary study that bring together physics, biology, and psychology, sociology into architecture.
In ‘Ecological propriety and architecture,” V. A. Metallinou recognizes the threefold issue of bioclimatic buildings: ” energy, health and wellbeing, and sustainability.” He states that ” eco architecture is not only a matter of specific design choices that lead (most of the time) to specific high tech building products, but the appropriate mentality that emancipates a specific attitude of dealing with building within nature.” The author particularly emphasizes the role of planning, in maximizing local ambient energy and increasing urban density, not (only) for the benefit of density itself, bur rather to protect surrounding nature, or in his word “restitutes” (or restitution). This notion, he argues, should be added to the threefold criteria of Vitruvius: Firmitas, Utilita, and Venustas. The author traces a line of history in environmental design and thinking, from the Arts and Crafts Movement (with figures like Nikolaus Pevsner, William Morris) in which nature is design alongside with the orientation of buildings and rooms on site, to the scientific approaches of the Modern movement in dealing with ecological principles (with the influences from thinkers like Karl Popper or Thomas Kuhn). Enviromental researches such as Imre Lakatos’ Architectural Research Programmes are highly beneficial for architectural design. With sustainabilty, architecture attains a new parameter: energy, in his own words: ” the concern to explore the relationship between the form and materiality of buildings and their energy consumption.” In this new “equation,” bioclimatic architecture emerges as a “reaction to the predicament of environmental depredation.” Quoting Louis Kahn from his essay “….,” the author argues for a balance between the inspirational and the anaytical in architectural design. Finally, the author comes to his own interpretation of sustainability:
• As a means of integration between society and the profession
• As a means of surviving the cultural values and tradition
• To make the user an effective part of the design process
• To improve the communication among different disciplines and
scientific fields
The ultimate goal of architecture for the author, perhaps, is an indirect change of society, or rather its mode of production, by changing architecture itself.
F. J. Soria Lopez approaches architecture from a humanist point of view with his essay ‘ Architecture and nature at the end of the 20th century: towards a dialogical approach for sustainable design in architecture.’ ….
A. van Hal, on the other hand, looks into the personal characteristics of an architect rather than his or her style in his essay ‘ The keyword is quality not ecology.’
In-between architecture and landscape, from theory to practice by B. Ott
Ecological, modular and affordable housing by J. Quale
Flexi-Living: adaptable property, adaptable housing, transforming lives by I. MacBurnie
The study of restoring an eco-habitat of the traditional Paiwan tribe
in Taiwan by C.-J. Chen
Urban planning and the quality of life in Putrajaya, Malaysia by D. Bt Omar
Section 2: Historical and philosophical aspects
Evaluating the sophistication of vernacular architecture to adjust to
the climate
E. Tsianaka
Examining line as a heuristic device in the design ethos of Alvar Aalto
P. Harwood
Historical influences of wind and water in selecting settlement sites
P. Kilby
Unity, simplicity and balance: sustainable management of
cultural historic environments of mountain summer farming
G. Swensen
A tale of two city halls: icons for sustainability in London and Seattle
D. Armpriest & B. Haglund .
Poetic water images in architecture
U. Kirschner
Section 3: Design with nature
The 2005 Solar D house
M. Garrison
Fractal geometry and architecture: some interesting connections
N. Sala
Symbols, metaphors, analogues: seeding, modelling and achieving
sustainable design
R. J. Koester
A methodology for sustainable design analysis of large scale buildings
R. Richarde & R. Ibrahim
Developing designs in balance with nature
A. J. Anselm
Outdoor residential landscape design in an arid natural conservation area:
Bahía de Los Ángeles, México
R. Rojas-Caldelas, G. Bojórquez-Morales, A. Luna-León,
E. Corona-Zambrano & J. Ochoa-Corrales
The house by the lake
C. A. Brebbia & J. Gorst
Indicators for the ecological planning of buildings
C. Seyler, C. Stoy, I. Lützelschwab & S. Kytzia
Sustainable building design in Australia
C. McCabe
Design and construction: changing the role
P. Rossi
Section 4: Asessment and selection of materials
Natural materiality – the people’s choice
F. Stevenson
Environmental impact of materials used in technical equipments:
an overview on different methods
L. Marletta, G. Evola & F. Sicurella
Designing for longevity
V. Straka
Natural building systems: experiments in urban ecology
K. Connors
Promoting sustainability of earth constructed private and
public buildings in South Africa
G. Bosman.
Section 5: Natural technologies
Heteronomy and (un)sustainability of essential technical infrastructures
A. van Timmeren
Eco-design of technological systems in buildings
L. Marletta, G. Evola & F. Sicurella
Section 6: Design by passive systems
Sound barriers to enable open windows and integration in landscape
G. Rosenhouse
Practicing what we preach
M. Lawton
Guidelines for sizing roof windows
S. Robertson & M. Thompson
Section 7: Building operation and maintenance
Building defects: survey and impact over sustainability
E. Costanzo
Cob seismic rehabilitation
G. Scudo & A. Drei
Section 8: Water conservation
Rainwater harvesting in Brazil: investigating the viability of
rainwater harvesting for a household in Brasília
D. Sant’Ana
Reliability of rainwater harvesting
J. W. Male & M. S. Kennedy
User experiences with decentralised water systems in an
ecological residential area
A. A. E. Luising
