Title: Greening Modernism by Carl Stein (affiliate link)

URL: Greening Modernism by Carl Stein (affiliate link)

Purpose: Greening Modernism’s author, Carl Stein, makes a case for a more unified and holistic architecture that reaches a sustainable synergy through building reuse, with particular attention to the balance between the qualitative aspects of science and the more effect-driven aspects of utility and human experience.

Merging the Finite with the Wisdom of Occupant Experience

This beautiful book, Greening Modernism (affiliate link), encourages readers to take on the finite nature of natural resources, as they may serve as impetus to design buildings which offer occupants more meaningful human experiences. In his discussion, the author Carl Stein, highlights the relationship between occupant and building — where “limitation” can be used to re-frame design problems, and thus, lead to more holistic and cooperative design solutions that invite occupants to connect with their environment in ways that meet today’s environmental challenges while still offering, what Stein calls, the “authentic human experience”.

Often emphasized in this book is the notion of how the authenticity of experience is frequently missed due to our lack of awareness regarding the finite nature of that which surrounds us: the environment, its resources, and the energies which buildings utilize (for their demolition, construction and operation). I agree with Stein as he eludes to the notion that authentic experiences are hard to come by these days, as there is an epidemic of “devalued experience”, which may be a by-product of the lack of awareness that our resources are, in fact, limited.

As you may surmise, Greening Modernism offers a narrative that will lead you through the strategies, relationships and consequences of how to “build” sustainably for our time, complete with color images that often serve to reinforce the links between what we need to do, and what has been done.

Energy, Restraint and Smart Reuse: Beyond ‘Buildings as Objects’

As one delves deeper within Greening Modernism (affiliate link), Carl Stein invites his reader to look beyond ‘given’ systems of analysis — to question what already exists, to decipher what will be required to meet human need, and to weigh architectural design strategies to find new and smarter ways to both preserve and reuse resources.

Astutely, Carl Stein investigates the interrelationships between Read more

image: phoosh | Flickr

As new emerging technologies surface, the idea of “transition” will take on entirely new form. Not only will “transition” continue to exist between building materials (like you see in buildings today), but “transition” will also be present within a material’s properties — changing the very nature of how a particular material behaves at any given time.

For instance, smart materials will be able to change in real time as certain variables like temperature, light or stress trigger them. Similarly, new sensing technologies will come together to yield smart environments where ubiquitous computing is tuned to give occupants a more personalized experience.

Furthermore, as nanotechnology and biomimetic systems rise into the forefront, you as an architect will need to consistently rethink how building materials typically function — by building for them from the bottom up.

The “rules” behind designing for material behavior are changing and new smart material systems will give you a new kind of flexibility which you can optimize by taking both function and form to entirely new levels.

A key to doing this is to rethink your notion of Read more