words and images

I will be moderating a panel session at the 2008 ACADIA Conference in Minneapolis, early October.  The session is titled: Approaches to Environmental Performance and Analysis (http://www.acadia.org/acadia2008/?page_id=101)

Below is the text introduction for the session, to be included in the printed conference proceedings…

Over the past few years there has been an increased interest in environmental performance in the building industry.  This welcome shift has the potential to significantly alter and improve the way we conceive of and design the built environment.  It begins to direct architects towards an integrated design process in which early analysis work (usually left to engineers after the design is “complete”) has a greater influence on the design of the architectural project.  Performance analysis can affect building energy usage, spatial experience, and even aesthetic decisions.

No doubt one of the largest drivers for improving building performance is the need to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.  Virtually every decision in the design and construction process can be expressed as an energy/carbon quantity.  The built environment accounts for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption in the US; the figure is even higher globally.  Whether for new construction or the retrofitting of existing building stock, explorations into energy efficiency and conservation have the potential for immense impact on global energy usage.

Environmental impacts on architectural design may transcend simple calculations of efficiency and also affect the human experience of space.  Control of energy forces is not simply a monetary and fuel saver but also has experiential benefits for the inhabitant of the building. Access to natural sunlight while controlling glare and heat gain, fresh-air intake and temperature control by natural forces, all contribute to improving user comfort and productivity while simultaneously reducing energy consumption.  We should aim for a state of equilibrium: a building that operates in harmony with its environment and social context.

Lastly, an increase in computational power, embracement and occasional acquisition of analysis software by major AEC vendors, and the wealth of environmental and material data sets available to designers have made the journey towards integrated design easier.  Using computational tools to embed not just aesthetic but physical criteria into the design model enables a compelling iterative design process leading towards greater environmental performance.

The papers included in this section focus on the integration of such tools into the design process.  Ranging from student installations, studies in expressive and naturally occurring structural forms and biological systems, to integrated design with live energy calculations, and sociological experiments in environmental impact and interpretation, each seeks to position environmental performance as a primary influence in architectural design and production.  Building performance is no longer an afterthought left to engineers to resolve with mechanical systems, inefficient structures, or last-minute architectural decisions involving high U-value material selection.  Instead, architects are recognizing that every decision has an environmental impact, including large scale formal gestures.  As evidenced here and in my own work with Grimshaw Architects, environmental performance can be a strong creative force, helping to generate a wide array of efficient, adaptive, and dynamic solutions through compelling form and componentry.

What is the ultimate goal of this work?  Is it simply a set of measures aimed to meet government approvals for reduced building energy consumption?  An effort to shepherd the client through the usage of the Integrated Project Delivery model?  An interest in material economy to decrease cost and carbon footprint?  A method of implementing a truly sustainable building industry?  Each of these point towards usage of an architectural digital prototype in an analytical fashion to react to and mitigate known physical situations.  However, for environmental performance and analysis to have a true impact on architectural production, it must also be a catalyst for creativity.  This could manifest in the development and optimization of form, space, and componentry based on an integrated analytic process, or even an exploration into the aesthetic expression of natural systems and their relation to the human experience.