Sustainable Systems Stefan M Fall 19

1) Over the next thirty years, the main driving force of architecture will be sustainable design. There is an increasing awareness to the detrimental effects of building which concrete and steel, which combined equate for 8% of annual global green house gas emissions. Investigating nature and harnessing its ability to regenerate, decrease our carbon footprint and create structurally sound edifices will increase our ability to build sustainably. The answers are in front of us in the form of trees, leaves, vines, etc. and its just a matter of studying these components and devising ways to incorporate them into the built environment. For example. Mitchell Joachim, in his piece for TED Talks, speaks of grafting trees together in order to create living, breathing structures that do not negatively impact the earth but in fact help absorb carbon. Similarly, Michael Green touches upon the idea of harnessing advances in wood construction to build new sky scrapers that are structurally sa...

1) Mixed use developments contribute to more sustainable communities through providing amenities and resources within relatively close proximity. Mixed use promotes resource sharing, diversity of income, people, and businesses. When this happens it creates a backdrop that allows for social mobility within a community and also allows people to obtain what they need from within a close range as opposed to traveling greater distances in a car. Jane Jacobs, in her book "The Life and Death of Great American Cities" extolls the positives of mixed use and its role contributing to the health and vitality of a neighborhood. She points out her own neighborhood in Greenwich Village and also the North End in Boston as examples of mixed use that has created vibrant communities. In those areas, residents and business owners are able to obtain most everything they need through the vast array of stores and people. How is quality of life improved by sustainable urbanism? 2) According to...

For this project, I elected a site in the Navy Yard in Charlestown. The pier was originally constructed in the early 1900's and then amplified to its current size of 81,250 square feet during the war effort in WWII. When the Navy Yard stopped operating as an active ship building base in 1974, it opened up for development and now is a combination of residential and commercial buildings with one section remaining the home of the USS Constitution and a Naval museum. Since that time, the wharf has fallen into a state of disrepair and has been fenced off due to structural deficiencies. After looking into the demographics of the area, public amenities, and what a potentially sustainable site would look like, I proposed a recreation/athletic facility for the pier. It would not obstruct the views of the buildings behind and would be a sorely needed amenity as there are a lack of athletic facilities (basketball and tennis courts specifically) in the area. The b...

1) Building occupant satisfaction and sustainability are two related areas of design that can often find themselves in direct coordination or conflict. Occupancy satisfaction is often linked to comfort and amenities and these can be shared with sustainability. For example, natural light is considered a positive for occupant satisfaction as it has been proven that natural light can contribute to human happiness. Natural light is also a positive in the building field, as it can help aid in passively heating a building. Water usage comes to mind on the opposite end of the spectrum. For example, low flow fixtures, such as shower heads are great for water conservation. However, I think you would be hard pressed to find a large percentage of people that would prefer a low flow/low pressure head over a standard shower head. Another loosely related example would be that of air conditioning in cars. On a 70 degree day, the vast majority of drivers I would conjecture still rely on air conditio...

1. Designing for improved indoor environmental quality can achieve energy savings in a variety of ways. According to the article by Kathleen McKay which cites research being performed at the University of California, Berkeley, commercial energy consumption can be cut by as much as a third, while also giving office workers more control of their own comfort. What the researchers are proposing is a "Personal Comfort System" (PCS) that allows office workers within the building to control the immediate environment around them and thus not waste energy heating or cooling unoccupied areas. One of the ways they believe this can be done is through low-wattage heating/cooling devices placed in chairs, foot rests, fans, etc.. In total, the researchers believe this can lead to a 39% reduction in natural gas and 30% reduction in electricity used for heating/cooling. 2. Some of the issues that can lead to poor indoor air quality include: moisture trapped in the building assembly,  moi...

1) The industry is moving from "cherry picking style labeling" to material ingredient disclosure in order to standardize how material ingredients are presented. Often times, through cherry picking ingredients, manufacturers are able to disclose the information that they want the public to see while hiding other aspects, such as harmful chemicals that may be part of their product. Through creating this standard list, the Health Product Declaration will more transparently show what is going in to each and every product and it will create a means to more clearly compare products (apples to apples). 2) Embodied energy is a part of everything we use in our day-to-day lives and in the United States, 6% of all energy consumed is used to manufacture and transport building materials. As architects and engineers continue to find and explore new materials that drive down the total energy used in buildings (building operations), embodied energy from the construction stage will become a...