EDITT Tower under construction, Singapore
Usable energy is a scarce resource, even if we have not passed Peak Oil then we are still faced with a worldwide competition among nations for a limited resource . Ultimately the price trend is up whether that energy source is petroleum, synfuel or biodiesel.
In the built environment. Even the green(er) built environment the tendency is to use lots of technology to create a high performance building. LEED structures are creations that incorporate a tremendous number of labour and energy saving devices. They use the latest technologies to provide natural light, clean circulating air, conserve water and energy. Computer controlled shades that move up and down with the sun and energy conserving lighting systems.
IBM Menara Mesinaga Building, Kuala Lumpur
All of which had to designed, manufactured, shipped and installed usually over long distances. While saving money for the building over the long-term it initially 'load shifts' compliance down the manufacturing and supply chain to others. In the gospel according to Coase this means that potentially the CO2 footprint is just relocated from one place to another. I expect this will change for the better as CO2 controls and offsets extend further down the manufacturing, supply and transport chain it can also be a shell game.
Tokyo Nara Tower
Obviously some structures such as skyscrapers are 'unnatural' constructions, often in 'unnatural' environments. Their raison d'etre is a result of land costs, building economics and desire for status, individual and corporate.
Look at trees, nature's skyscrapers which incorporate many active and passive elements together. Aggregated in a forest you get economies of scale as well as a large potential habitat. You might even call it 'green infrastructure' so why not incorporate some of these elements directly into the design of the building weather conditions permitting.
An Out-there bioclimatic-type proposal for Seoul
It is possible to build a high performance building, especially a skyscraper, without as much gadgetry, without load shifting and within modern building envelopes? Ken Yeang thinks he can. His pioneering work, much of it in Southeast Asia, has created a new genre of buildings know as bioclimatic skyscrapers.
His designs incorporate living plants into the ventilation and cooling systems of the building creating a different kind of built environment, one that actually treats plants as utilities or green infrastructure.
Also they make beneficial use of wind and rain and the use of a 'lifecycle approach' to building design, materials and equipment. This 'bio-climatic' approach results in savings from less electricity consumption and from using materials with better passive quailities and from using living organisms that provide unique services (air filtration, evaporative cooling, CO2 removal) and are capable of self-renewal with minimal intervention.
You can install 40 floors of computer controlled blinds or 40 floors of vines that change with the season. The aesthetic for those coming from the world of glass and steel might take some getting used too but makes sense in a world where resource competition grows ever more fierce.
In essence Bio-Climatic design make use of a lot of simple things we knew and forgot as we made them more complicated.
Ken Yeang will be speaking a the
New York Academy of Sciences, April 5th, 7 World Trade Center, New York.
Books & Reference
