How sustainability is (or should be) on every architect's mind

One would like to think that all good design is also a sustainable design. At the centre of both architecture and sustainability are people’s needs and many of the core values of sustainability are also intrinsic to architecture.  

At the heart of what we do, is the aim to create healthy, secure environments, where communities have the opportunity to thrive and feel good; great places to live and work, to engage with and transform to suit our needs. When successful, the long-term value of buildings and sites is much higher and there are many social and environmental benefits. These ambitions only make sense though, if we ensure that we are not compromising future generations' opportunity to also meet their own needs, and that can only be done if we protect the most important common asset to us all - a healthy planet. 

Obviously, throughout history, living standards change, and so does the social, economic, and technological “framework” in which everything happens. In a time where there is a collective awareness of the environmental crisis and where technology resources are broadly available, we have fewer excuses not to be part of the environmental revolution. We need environmentally responsible and ambitious architecture that is also realistic and viable. 

Early-stage decisions, like massing, form factor, orientation, glazing ratios, efficiency, and land-use, aim to maximize the potential of sites, and that, in itself, is the first step towards a sustainable approach in architecture. These strategies may be common sense to architects, but it is only when these are part of a well-defined integrated strategy for sustainability that effective and measurable results can be achieved. And to do that, there is a lot of technical knowledge involved, and only a multi-disciplinary approach can be successful. 

At astudio, we have found that encouraging a sustainability path is leading to great innovation and unlocking many possibilities for the future of construction. Also, we are finding that many others think like us, and through collaboration, we are growing our knowledge and finding new opportunities to make our sustainability approach more effective. As of now, we see buildings eating up natural resources: turning natural materials into waste, energy into heat loss, wasting clean water and turning it into sewage; and the only thing we can aim for is to mitigate the impact. How great would it be to subvert the cycle and think buildings as self-sufficient regenerative assets to our cities and communities? As one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis, the construction industry has the responsibility to not only minimise the problem but also take a step further and aim to be part of the solution. 

The design is only the start of a building lifecycle. There’s construction, use/operation, retrofit and eventually demolition.  Thinking about all these stages during design is critical to ensure the building’s resilience over time and minimise its impact on the environment in the long term. If we look at city centres across Europe, many buildings are centuries old. Due to the historical relevance of many of these buildings, conservation and retrofit are often consensual approaches. That is not necessarily true for recent buildings, which are often prematurely demolished. As design leaders we are responsible to understand the potential of sites and advocate for the best interest of both communities and the environment, and more and more that means reuse, repair and repurpose. Likewise, we have the duty to prepare the buildings we build today to be retrofitted in the future, upgraded to suit occupants needs over time, possibly dismantled, and used as a source of reusable building materials.

70 Wilson - a brilliant example of low carbon workspace

Image: Will Pryce

That means that when designing we can make decisions that affect both the short term and long-term impact of our designs on the environment. Immediate positive effects can be achieved with: a responsible specification, understanding material sources and embodied carbon as well as minimizing the use of virgin materials; reduced overheating and improved fabric efficiency, which reduces energy consumption; better energy sources and efficient heating systems that minimize losses; standardised and modular construction with off-site manufacturing, which reduces the on-site waste and optimizes resources; and technology, used to make clever buildings that can adapt to climate conditions. 

In the long term, we can also make a difference by: designing for carbon neutrality as the electricity grid decarbonises; proposing flexible and adaptable designs for future adaptation; encouraging construction systems that can be disassembled and reused; and explore technology, namely new building design methods, to create reliable databases of all building components that can empower future architects and developers to make sustainable and informed decisions.  

It is now obvious that sustainability is a long-term commitment. Economics, on the other hand, are fast paced and work on a completely different timescale. It is encouraging to see that many developers start to understand the financial advantage of sustainable design as operational costs are lower, healthier environments lead to more productivity, there is maximum efficiency, minimal waste, and future-proof habitats. However, many times the ones financing developments are not the ones running them after construction, so the advantages of the up-front investment are not necessarily obvious. Building regulations revisions and sustainability certifications are helping with the implementation of sustainable strategies when this happens, but there is also the need for comprehensive data on the effective benefits of sustainable design, both on a financial and performance level. More importantly, at astudio we have found that a strong drive from architects, and others within the industry, can really make a difference because although the decision-making is many times not within our power, it is always within our influence.