Economics of Sustainability. picture source: (http://blog.ncacpa.org/?p=490)
The great game of life; it is true that this endless war between brain and heart will continue intrigue every human in every aspect of life. This behavior is naturally inside every individual of human being. There are some rational between two that can be connect and be pursue together. And this is somewhat an example of meet-in-the-middle conclusion of the never-ending fight of reason vs intuition. Read More
A building cannot be projected without a judicious preliminary analysis of environmental, social and economical impacts the project will cause on the region it will be inserted.
Cities are complex organisms, and an architectonic project may lead to great transformations in determined areas. This must be taken into consideration.
By inserting a building into a determined region, there will be – depending on the dimensions of the project – increase on the vehicles and people flow, therefore increasing greenhouse gases emissions, noise, water consumption, waste generation, and the necessity of improving infrastructure including restaurants, parking areas, houses, and public transport.
In order to minimize the social impacts caused by an increase in people flow, the architect must consider that the building will preferably be erected in a place surrounded by residential areas. If not possible, there must be efficient public transport available for urban mobility, minimizing or eliminating use of cars and private transport.
Making an analysis of economic impacts, if the project is inserted into an urban emptiness with the intention of enriching the area, this may lead to satisfactory and profitable results for both investors and citizens, once employments are being generated in the area and the empty space is now adding value to the surrounding areas hence raising market value of the enterprise itself.
After all, taking into consideration the environmental, social and economic impacts the insertion of a building causes in an area, and making efforts for these impacts to be positive, there will be perfect equilibrium between large urban impacts, heavy investments, and sustainable growth of a city.
Why is good design important? Good-quality places must not be seen as a luxury but a necessity. Good design has the power to change and improve people’s quality of life. Well-designed streets, public gardens, homes, workplaces, schools and any other public buildings will have a positive impact on our lives and our communities. Good design can deliver sustainability, growth, stronger communities and innovation; but not only. Good design is capable of physically changing the way people feel, think, and perform for the better.
Bureau de Mesarchitecture’s “Double Happiness”, an installation for the 2009 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennial,
Happiness is a very abstract concept, and every time changes. What makes happy a person doesn’t make happy another one. I have seen thousand of architecture projects that tend to solve big deals in the world, defining strategies, which are expected to produce a certain benefic effect in people. But at the end, most of them, when they are built, doesn’t work in the way they were supposed to.
Happiness is a mixture of different things: being with people around who make us feel better, fulfill your expectations in life, have a nice job or an active life, a beloved family, friends, health… but at the end, architecture is like an anecdote in the middle of this. Following a research, made by the Prof. Ruut Veenhoven, Director of the Database and Emeritus professor of social conditions for human happiness at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, you tend to be happier if you fulfill some of the basic topics mentioned in that list. Read More
Rethinking the relationships between the city’s infrastructure, the flow and expression of people is questioning human habitat and human identity itself. Does the answer lie in buildings? It depends on how they’re defined in the 21st century. Perhaps the answer is in the concept of sustainability: if something is durable, it has no attachment (or has flexible attachments) to fixed references, like so it directly addresses needs rather than expectations.
