Indian Architecture & Construction Network

Source : http://cop15post.com/2009/12/09/news/a-call-for-action-from-architects-world-wide/

By Cathy Strongman

Architects can and should play an essential role in finding a solution to climate change was the message being driven home on Monday night at the first of a series of talks being held every night this week at the Architecture Faculty of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Copenhagen. As the chart flashed up on the large screen demonstrated, in the industrialised world the construction industry is responsible for an almighty 40 percent of total energy consumption as well as 50 percent of materials used and 60 percent of waste produced worldwide. ‘There is a real lack of knowledge about architecture’s link to sustainability,’ said the first speaker, Louise Cox. ‘It’s scary. We need to raise awareness.’

Cox, an affable Australian, who started her talk by comparing the blistering heat she had left at home with the biting Danish winds, is the president of the International Union of Architects (UIA) – a global network of architects founded in Lausanne in 1948 and now encompassing the key professional organisations of architects in 124 countries. Cox delivered an impassioned speech about how architects must implement sustainable strategies, while waving a piece of paper in her hand, which she announced was the UIA Copenhagen Declaration. The declaration, which will be formally presented at the official UIA press event on Saturday, sets out five objectives and nine strategies for achieving sustainability through design. ‘Please come to hear the talks every night,’ Cox asked the audience, a large chunk of which was made up of students from the school. ‘Especially on Saturday when I will talk more about the declaration.’

Next to take to the floor was Professor Manfred Hegger, a German architect and author specialising in sustainable design. Hegger’s talk was bolstered by a sense of optimism, with statements such as ‘there is no shortage of energy, but a shortage of ideas about how to use it,’ peppering his slide show. As Hegger pointed out, until 200 years ago all the world’s buildings ran off renewable energy, and we were shown Socrates’ design for the Megaron House and Roman towns planned around the movement of the sun as examples.

He explained how the first step in designing sustainably is to create buildings that require very little energy to run and that tap into natural resources such as the sun and wind to produce energy.  He described how it is now possible to create buildings that actually produce a net gain in energy, showing slides of entries to the Solar Decathlon, an international competition held biannually in Washington DC, to demonstrate his point. In 2007, only four of the 20 house designs entered managed to produce a net gain in energy, whereas at this year’s event 14 of the 20 houses produced more energy than they needed to run.

Hegger also addressed the need to consider the carbon emissions created through the construction of buildings and the need to improve the energy performance of existing structures, which account for 98 percent of the built environment. Amongst other examples, we were shown houses constructed from reclaimed bricks and World War II bunkers in Cologne, now converted into contemporary terraced housing. Once again he stressed the multiple possibilities that existed for sustainable design and ended with a call for positive thinking and joint action. ‘The change cannot be achieved by one of us alone,’ he said. ‘We need to form a swarm and tackle the future together.’

The final speaker, Professor Roberto Cherubini from Centro Studi Interdisciplinari sull’Architettura e sull’Ambiente (CSIAA), a research and architecture think tank in Rome, discussed the broader context of sustainable urban centres, pointing out that singular buildings cannot solve our global problems. He called for a localised approach that retained the cultural identity specific to urban areas, while also using global knowledge to encourage climatic, cultural and social sustainability. We were shown competition entries of designs for a new city on the site of Reykjavik airport and the port area of Valencia, both of which included areas for social and cultural interaction as well as solutions for tapping natural resources to help power urban centres.

With time running out, the event finished with a panel discussion chaired by the architect and author Dominique Gauzin-Muller. What seemed clear was that numerous approaches and strands of sustainability are now being researched and explored to tackle the global problem and that these representatives from different countries shared an optimism for the future. The greatest challenge now, is the scale of the problem and the speed with which change can be instigated and enforced. ‘We have moved from a period of mitigation to adaptation,’ announced Gauzin-Muller. ‘We are at a point where there is a positive attitude towards the opportunity for change.’

Open Forum, which includes films and lectures on various aspects of sustainable architecture, is taking place every day until the 13 December from 17.00 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Copenhagen Architecture Faculty. The UIA Copenhagen Declaration will be launched on Saturday at 16.00.