The inaugural post should explain the header, right? Right. The overall vision is to give an insider’s look at the architectural practice through the lens of my own architectural practice (see “about” page). In doing so I hope to shed some light the the intricacies of the profession, but more specifically where I would like to see it go and the avenues for getting there. I think that broadest boulevard is paved with straw, metaphorical straw, of course. Architects are supposed to be on the front lines of innovation since we see the project first, get our hands dirty first, and typically get to control the flow and direction. However, too many contradictory interests have invaded our once prominent stronghold. All in all, we have lost our way. We are no longer the creators of innovation but the proprietors of sameness.
The reason our current economic turmoil has me on one hand excited is because it provides us with a tremendous opportunity to remake the places we inhabit. Some of these posts will examine the ways we have gone wrong and let outside interests get the better of our common, good design sense. It has been too long since innovation was applied to the environment, perhaps because too much of it was applied to HDTV and iPods. Don’t get me wrong, technology is not necessarily bad, but it, in my opinion, does not hold the keys to sustainable design. Those lessons have already been proved by our ancestors, both the First Nations of North America and throughout the world. Our best building examples are hidden in the annals of time, not the test tubes of Fermilab. Therefore, by creating sustainability purely through design it becomes more widely available to the masses, since it will not have to be purchased at the store.
I intend to introduce some solutions that I and others have utilized, experimented with, or thought about to better explain sustainability issues and help to realize a new Sustainable Habitat through alternative thought.
Don’t buy so easily into the “green” hype. Look here for a clearinghouse of the alternative.
