Category Archives: Uncategorized

“There are two cities within one..(one) part has all the benefits of urban living, and the other  part, the slums and squatter settlements, where the poor often live under worse conditions than their rural relatives.” Anna Tibaijuka

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The Qanat network, an amazing economic infrastructure under the lands of Tehran

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The concept of sustainability have been defined in our context as architects and designers as far more complex as the simple meaning of the word as the ability to be sustained, supported, or confirmed but the development that satisfy the needs of the present, without compromising for the next generations the capacity to satisfy their own needs in the future, taking in account the social, economic and environmental focus. Sustainable development, more than something trendy, has become a need for our environment; it is defined by three main reasons: social, economic and environmental. Each one of these reasons must be equally balanced, creating the idea of a model of development having present the incorporation of new variables and dimensions of the idea of development.

It is important to implement sustainability starting from the design process, planning and construction, optimizing the construction technology and natural resources, which will reduce the impact on the environment, the economy and the health of the people. Taking in account that the previous analysis of our context is primordial before even starting to design the project. Solar path, water flows, geographical conditions, wind, natural resources and social environment. All of these are characteristics affects the design of the projects and analyzing things will help us to have a better understanding on site and to make the best proposal.

But to understand better sustainability we need the make an analysis of place. Understanding the culture and the region has a lot of impact on the development of a project. Sustainability is not all about architecture and making a building with high costs but to create an impact to the socio-economic community. It is impossible to think that a sustainable project built in a city will have the same impact in another city. A self-sufficient building should not stay in the boundaries of the building; it should make a difference in the community contributing to the economical and social issues of the cities. Efficient urban planning and sustainable architecture design has to merge with the socio-economic variations of the city to make a permanent change. Not every city in the world is the same and because of that the people will behave differently depending on the region and culture they are living in, this will always affect in the decision making and the planning because you can not put the same project in two different cities and expect the people living in each city will react the same way.

Building public spaces with an economic basis to contribute the lower class society will help their self-esteem, feel more secure and will create a better image by making these places like their own. Engaging the community with high impact projects will help make their lives better. So is the case of the city of Medellin, Colombia, where the city was having a demand of public spaces for coexistence, decent housing and a safe environment that triggered a series of projects that made Medellin a safer place and become an example of urban planning mitigating social inequality. An integrated system of massive public transportation, parks, libraries and infrastructure for good quality public education made a whole turn to the society creating a mechanism of social change. A physical change: dignifying the public spaces and the urban environment; social transformation: developing the social ability for peace, participation and social coexistence, through actions of social and human development; and security: Preventing violence and crime by the inhibition of criminal behavior.

However, going to the scale of a construction project we have to analyze from the beginning of the design, planning and edification. Without an efficient process of planning, even the most expensive building will become most likely a waste of money. The process of sustainable design and edification is a process of creation where you have to reduce the expenses of the resources, reduce the contamination of the soil, water and air, improving the interior and external comfort of the building, economical and financial saving in the construction process, reducing the waste produced in the life cycle of the building and improving the technology that give services to the buildings.

The life cycle of the buildings is the time it takes from the beginning when the building is conceived and imagined from the pre-design stage and design, to the stage of construction, occupation, operation and maintenance, until the end of it’s useful life as reuse, recycling, deconstructing or demolishing the building. Analyzing the life cycle of the building or any other kind of project, allows us to determine the phases in which will develop; such as, how much time will it take to build or fabricate and it’s costs; it allows you to determine the quantity of materials, financial, technical and human resources that will need for the development of the project.

To make a design strategy we have to start with passive design strategies: Orientation, allows to have more solar radiation when we need heating and control it more easily when protection is needed; Ventilation to refresh and renew air through circulation; Insulation to reduce climate and energy losses or gain it through the environment; and the efficient use of natural resources like solar panels to create energy with the adequate protection to avoid overheating. The active design strategies tries to generate more of what the building consumes through the use of solar energy with mechanic system and/or electric, the use of renewable energies, HVAC systems and water treatment.

This analysis becomes very useful for architects because with that it is possible to know how the investment will be reflected in the energy saving, low costs maintenance and how much will this impact our environment, the natural resources used during the process of production and what can we do to resolve and mitigate the consequences of this impact, the financial and the natural resources consumption.

Many enterprises see the ‘green buildings’ as a luxury of very high costs materials, installations, technologies and even the design to satisfy the standards of a sustainable building. It is true that these costs are real, but what happens with the economical benefits that these buildings produce? The value of the building increases because it has more demand, these are buildings of much greater quality and there are few of them. For example, the owners of a building with LEED certification, the corporate profits will come mainly with higher rents, with better occupancy fees and will give a public image of a ‘green corporation’, having minor costs of operation and maintenance, more productivity and with a lower risk. The cost savings of a building that works with less energy, and needs less maintenance, will serve to amortize the cost of making sustainable a building. Additional economic payback may come in the form of employee productivity gains incurred as a result of working on a healthier environment.

Sustainability is a long run, a social-economic concept. The issue of sustainability is to think if our society is sustainable, is human life on earth sustainable and is the earth sustainable? The answer is no. We are on a road that can lead only to an ultimate destruction of the human species. The goal is to ensure the opportunity for a desirable quality of life for those of the current generation and for the next generations. Quality of life has three dimensions that are inseparable, ecological, social and economical. Over this long-run concept, if buildings and cities can not be ecologically viable unless they are also economically and social responsible. They can not be social responsible unless they are ecologically and economically sound. And they can not be economical sound unless they are also social and ecologically responsible. So if there is one of these dimensions missing, the buildings and/or the cities will not be sustainable.

On the other hand, in the society where we live actually considers the development as the holy grail, which logic is grow to satisfy the needs of consumption of the inhabitants on whatever region, with a production without limits, allowing the capital to expand and grow under economic science orientations. On this scenario appear many repercussions even on the existence themselves of the human being, which is progressive and it is our responsibility as human beings to take care of our environment. The capacity of growth of the population is a lot greater than the capacity of the soil to produce enough food for men.

Living in the city means having limited space and without a green environment. The gradual damage of the environment have caused problems like contamination and the indiscriminate use of the natural resources, which effects affect the quality of life of the human being, which at the same time they have the necessity to implement new forms to regulate the human behavior that affect the relationship between man and nature. Who would not love to take up gardening to satisfy the botanical needs in a urban environment. Urban greenhouses and agricultural production in the cities have become very important in the meanings of environmental education, social relations, social transformations and urban regeneration. Planning and creating new public spaces for exchanging experiences and the development of ecological activities. This way, the production of food will happen not only in a rural environment but also in the city.

Every country wants to grow, and sometimes, without paying attention to the problems that can produce in the future, they are more interested in creating a system that provides well being and can support the natural capital services where they get the products that consume. We can not protect the environment by stopping the transit of goods and services, we would have to find a way to combine the growth and the economic development with the environmental issue: sustainability.

To conclude, sustainability is an aspect of great interest and importance for every range on knowledge, studies and for the diverse human activities that forms part of the development of every country or region. Creating consciousness for the human being in relation with the environment and nature is primordial for the ecology, economy and social activities. In architecture, such as in the way of teaching and the application everyday of an architect, the ecological standards and the sustainable design are not any more a tendency but a necessity that we need to apply and implement on the different models to work systematically which makes it more functional and more flexible en every aspect such as the process of teaching and the daily work of the architect.