In June 2023, the planet experienced its hottest month on record. In Iran, the heat index reached a staggering 66.7 degrees Celsius, pushing the boundaries of human endurance. This alarming trend is not an anomaly. It is a stark reminder that temperatures will continue to rise as climate change intensifies.
Scientists are linking the rise to human-induced climate change and the El Niño phenomenon. Additionally, the natural warming of Pacific Ocean waters is being further intensified by global warming.
The relationship between architecture and the environment is multifaceted. It involves a dynamic interaction between built spaces and the surrounding natural context. It shapes how buildings and cities function, impacts ecosystems, and influences the well-being of inhabitants.
Many factors link architecture and the environment. They span from practical considerations such as natural materials and renewable energy sources to broader aspects like integrating and appreciating local culture. Within this wide range of possibilities, we have selected five interviews that showcase different approaches to this theme. These interviews stimulate essential reflections on the contemporary architectural context.
Marina Gardens, Singapore. Image by Nick Fewings Unsplash
For a long time, sustainability in the architectural field was synonymous with technology. Efficiency was directly linked to innovative technological devices that adorned buildings with gadgets. Nowadays, however, sustainability increasingly encompasses different strategies that also involve acknowledging vernacular techniques and local materials as crucial for creating sustainable and carbon-neutral buildings.
Nevertheless, regardless of the technique or materials employed, the common denominator is the pursuit of reducing the carbon footprint of our architecture, which demands changes in how buildings are conceived, constructed, and operated. In other words, whether returning to vernacular methods or utilizing cutting-edge applications, these strategies aim to reach the same destination and, therefore, are equally valid despite being vastly different.
A few days before the end of November, Gramado, a city known as one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in southern Brazil, grabbed the attention of national and international media. Unfortunately, it wasn't due to its film festival or the traditional lavish Christmas festivities. The city, already suffering from weeks of persistent rain, witnessed the emergence of massive geological rifts tearing through its streets, creating a post-apocalyptic movie-like scenario.
The imminent danger of ground movement alerted the population and the authorities, who promptly evacuated the buildings on the hills of the condemned neighborhood. This course of action proved entirely effective and responsible, as one of the buildings within the designated area did indeed collapse three days after the evacuation. However, it is worth noting a detail: the affected neighborhood consisted of upscale residences and luxury hotels and inns, which raises a question: would the efforts have been the same if the situation occurred in lower-income peripheral neighborhoods?
We are on the brink of concluding the hottest year in the past 125,000 years. Recently, elevated temperatures have adversely impacted the daily routines of a significant portion of the population, particularly those who spend most of their day outdoors without access to air-conditioned environments. Excessive heat stems from various sources, both natural and human-induced. Given the grim outlook on this matter, it becomes imperative to explore structural measures to address and mitigate the potential deterioration of public health caused by escalating temperatures.
In a moment in history when some seek alternatives on other planets and others find refuge in virtual worlds, paradoxically, the future seems to be Earth. This may be one of the significant lessons that 2023 has taught architecture. Understanding this also implies becoming aware that our planet is depleting before our eyes—and a generous portion of this responsibility belongs to the production chains involved in architecture and construction.
If there is still something that can be done to mitigate the climate and environmental crisis in which we find ourselves, it will necessarily involve a revision of all the paradigms that define the industry. It is necessary to change focus and seek other narratives on which to sustain the ways of making architecture on a planetary scale. These ideas resonated in many voices this year, and, at the same time as the possibility of a future for the planet was debated, equal attention was given to the scale, values, and local cultures. The selected interviews here tell stories about the community, environment, cities, practices, and new narratives for architecture in 2023 and beyond.
Amid our ongoing battle against climate change, the need for authentic decarbonization strategies has never been more urgent. Professions, companies, and organizations worldwide face mounting pressure to integrate sustainable practices into their operations, particularly in response to recent climate challenges. The realm of architecture and urban planning is no exception. Phrases such as "sustainable architecture" and "green architecture" have gained widespread popularity, accompanied by various certifications, products, and advertising, all promising transformative advancements in the field that should align with our global aspirations for a sustainable future.
However, amidst this growing environmental awareness, another phenomenon has emerged: greenwashing. It refers to practices adopted by various sectors, especially those related to marketing strategies that present initiatives that convey a false impression or provide misleading information about how a company's products or projects are more environmentally friendly than they are when analyzed from a more critical and careful perspective.
Design of the ventilation system at the Sarah hospital / João Filgueiras Lima (Lelé). Image via Concrete
Architecture is a transdisciplinary field. It incorporates principles and knowledge from several other disciplines to ensure a built structure functions as intended. This fundamentally involves considering the context in which a building is placed, including its immediate surroundings, such as neighboring structures, local biodiversity, and climate. Essentially, architecture only exists within a particular context. When we expand this context to a broader scale, it becomes what we commonly refer to as the "environment."
In 2019, as the world was on the brink of facing one of the most significant pandemics in recent history, Ailton Krenak, a Brazilian indigenous leader, environmentalist, and philosopher, published a book titled Ideas to Postpone the End of the World. This brief booklet, comprising slightly more than 80 pages, came into circulation at a critical juncture, providing both reassurance and a cautionary message to humanity during a time when it observed the rapid evolution of history.
Imagination and policy development go hand in hand. Before we can create policies that bring about a desirable future, we must first envision what that future looks like, which is particularly significant in Architecture because we see the future as an integral part of the design process. This familiarity with envisioning the future carries a responsibility for us to create guidelines and regulations that can either support or obstruct the direction our planet takes.
In this moment of climate change, resulting from centuries of irresponsible practices, the idea of the future has been invaded by fear, an alert that would determine the survival of our existence. Architecture, along with other disciplines, has begun to channel efforts toward reexamining, reconceptualizing, and reformulating its practices toward the future we need to achieve. Beyond statistics and projections, the approach of architecture in relation to climate action brings to light numerous concepts, among them, the need for a historical review for the creation of this future.
Krenak has a unique talent for transforming his life experiences into profound concepts, which he conveys through oral and poetic language. His worldview blurs the boundaries between landscapes, human beings, animals, rivers, and mountains. He strongly advocates for a reassessment of our lifestyle, emphasizing the importance of 'breaking up the ground to allow the channeled waters to resurface.' On September 5th, he participated in a discussion in São Paulo during the Archtrends Summit 2023, organized by Portobello. During this event, he shared his insights on topics such as cities, forests, and the future of our planet.
Modernity and globalization have significantly reduced geographical distances, transformed social interactions, and accelerated the flow of information across nations, which has, in a sense, made the world more accessible to people everywhere. However, it's important to note that when we say "everyone," we refer to a vast and diverse population. Modernity and globalization had an impact on noticeable inequalities in both social and technological realms, as more advanced and privileged nations have established benchmarks and norms for leisure, culture, and consumption. As a result, certain cultures have established a dominant influence, promoting the notion that there is a "correct" way to live and build cities. This unchecked pursuit of development comes at a significant cost to the Earth's ecosystems and biomes.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable surge in the pursuit of sustainability and eco-conscious practices across diverse domains, including interior architecture projects. Bamboo has garnered significant attention among various elements thanks to its remarkable versatility. It presents a wide array of creative opportunities for crafting environmentally conscious and elegant spaces.
In the face of the environmental crisis and the need to mitigate climate change, adopting clean and renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, in architectural projects is becoming increasingly imperative. As a country with abundant sunlight incidence throughout the year, Brazil has enormous potential to take advantage of this energy source, which has become an increasingly attractive and viable option in the Brazilian scenario. There are numerous benefits solar energy can provide to both residents and the environment that make it a popular choice for residential use.
Under the titles of Optimism and Instability, this year’s global index score has returned to pre-Covid-19 days, highlighting that the world has fully recovered from the pandemic. Ranking living conditions in 173 cities based on stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, the survey suggests that nowadays, “life in cities is a bit better than at any time in the past 15 years”, although Stability scores dropped on average in 2023, due to worldwide clashes, political disruptions, social protests, inflation, and wars.
In parallel to this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, The European Cultural Centre (ECC) presented the sixth edition of its extensive architecture exhibition titled Time Space Existence. The 2023 iteration of the group show draws attention to expressions of sustainability in its numerous forms, ranging from a focus on the environment and urban landscape to the unfolding conversations on innovation, reuse, community, and inclusion. A total of 217 projects by established participants like Snøhetta or MADWORKSHOP and emerging players such as Urban Radicals or ACTA are currently on show through the 26th of November, 2023, at Venice's Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and Marinaressa Gardens.
In response to climate change, the installations on show investigate new technologies and construction methods that reduce energy consumption through circular design and develop innovative, organic, and recycled building materials. Participants also address social justice by presenting living solutions envisioned for displaced communities and minorities, while others examine the tensions between the built urban environment and the nature surrounding it to identify opportunities for coexistence.
The circular economy concept became more defined in 1990 when it appeared in the article Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, by British economists and environmentalists David W. Pearce and R. Kerry Turner. At the time, the main purpose of the research was to demonstrate that the traditional economy did not incorporate recycling. In this way, the environment assumed a secondary role, just like a simple waste reservoir. Therefore, the circular economy would gain strength as an opposition to the linear (or traditional) economy, in which the production chain motto is “extract, produce and discard”. A model deeply rooted in our economy that has become unsustainable for several reasons, like the depletion of natural resources and the contamination of the environment resulting from production and disposal.
The concept of sustainability emerged at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm in 1972 and was coined by Norwegian Gro Brundtland in the report "Our Common Future" (1987). According to this definition, the sustainable use of natural resources should "meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." However, despite the urgency of the concept and the constant evolution it has undergone over time, its application is often restricted to the controlled use of natural resources and the preservation of wildlife. In other words, it treats the situation from the perspective of "man versus nature," as a dichotomous view, with the loss of a holistic perspective.
