Sustainable Architecture for the 21st Century

Part II: critical resources and the built environment

JOHN E. FERNÁNDEZ, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, MIT

AMMAN, JORDAN : JUNE 2007

source: Houghton, J.T. et al. (2001) Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK: pg. 29

Sustainable Architecture is design and construction of the

1.built environment that carefully allocates appropriate levels of

2.critical resources to address the primary needs of

3.distinct regions.

1

2

3

What is the built environment?

What are critical resources?

What strategies work best?

1 What is the built environment?

Global Cities

• Half the world’s people - a majority on the coasts• By 2030, the global population = 61% urban• 50-80% CO2, 75% wood consumption, 60% H2O• Increasingly poor urban world• Asia accounts for half of the world’s urban population• United Nations estimates that between 2000 and 2010,

85% of world population growth will be in urban areas (virtually all of this growth will be in Africa, Asia and Latin America).Therefore, cities are the centers of the majority of resource consumption (and contributors to global climate change)

source: McGranahan, G. and D. Satterthwaite. 2003. Urban Centers: An Assessment of Sustainability. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 28:243-74.

2 What are critical resources?

US Energy flows 2003(Quadrillion Btu)

~40 percent of primary energy use

~60-70 percent of electricity

19% of global electricity consumption devoted to artificial lighting

source: IEA

70% total societal material throughput

20-30% municipal waste stream*

* Developed countries - source: Wagner, L. 1997., Fernández, J. 2006.

CHINA

5-8% of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

source: Low, M. (2005) MFA of concrete in the US. MSBT thesis, MIT: pg. 16 adapted from:Van Oss, Hendrik G. and Padovani, Amy C.

6 billion

3 billion

source: Living Planet Report 2006, World Resources Institute.

What strategies work best?3

Life

cycl

e en

ergy

, % o

f tot

al

Columbia University Law SchoolAmsterdam and 116 Street: New York City

Sampling of strategies

High performance exterior envelopes (aerogel/textiles)

Urban Metabolism for sustainable communities (New

s of inquiry:

1. Computer aided integrated design (mat. selection)2. Passive heating and cooling (insulation/thermal mass)3.4. Building rating system (LEED/USGBC)5.

Orleans/Los Angeles)

Scalea. materials and component (micro)b. building and building system (meso)c. community and city (macro)

Screen capture of:

Fernandez-Ashby Material Selector for Architecture and the Built Environment

www.grantadesign.com

“Labyrinth” concrete thermal mass

The Passive House Institute: http://www.passiv.de/

Lucille Ynoscencio: MArch cand.: 2007

Aerogel Exterior Envelope System

A: Exterior finish and mechanical barrierB: Air barrierC. Radiant barrierD. Insulation pocketE. InsulationF. Insulation pocketG. Vapor retarderH. Flame resistant textileI. Interior finish and mechanical barrier

Natural fiber reinforced concrete

Fernández, J. Materials for aesthetic, energy efficient and self-diagnostic buildings. Science, V315,N5820, March 30, 2007: 1807-1810.

Test

Test

Average Savings of Green Buildings

ENERGYSAVINGS

30%

CARBONSAVINGS

35%

WATERUSE

SAVINGS30-50%

WASTECOST

SAVINGS50-90%

Source:Capital E

Estimated value of new LEED for New Constructionregistered projects

The value of U.S. construction starts significantly declined by almost half from 2000 to 2003

Test

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

$792 MILLION

$3.24 BILLION

$3.81 BILLION

$5.76 BILLION

$7.73 BILLION

2006

$10 BILLION

$200 BILLIONPROJECTED

Test

LEED for new construction buildings

Distributionby geography

1-1920-4950-99100-199200+

9 4

91111

69

1252582

4028 14

8

134

186480

22

23

57

19

66

18

73

1022211

19

12079

11936

52

74

95

173

17433105

61 2712

9 (DE) 38 (DC)

23 (DE)

24 (NH)

5 (OK)

4

68AK=10HI=16PR=1

as of 07/06

Tom Weathers: MArch, 2007

ISEE STELLA

systems model

Mapping resource opportunities (renewable and downcycle)

A. Zero-energy community center and rescue shelter

B. Emergency water cistern

C. Thermal storage reservoir of phase change material slurry

D. Micro wind turbines and building integrated photovoltaics

E. Emergency power source

F. Local surge break (gambion construction)Coastal Housing: Energy efficient, hurricane resistant & resilient communities

DD E

F

natural ventilation

Energy efficient housing prototype

Fernández, J. Materials for aesthetic, energy efficient and self-diagnostic buildings. Science, V315,N5820, March 30, 2007: 1807-1810.

Fernández, John. 2006. Material Architecture, emergent materials for innovative buildings and ecological construction. (Arch. Press, Oxford).

www.grantadesign.com