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Who would deny that the planet needs green architecture? Yet, it is far from clear what green architecture is. “Green”, “sustainable” and “resilient” are words that allegedly have descriptive ecological meanings. They do not. They are used normatively to indicate an ecological need. Their ubiquitous use rarely has any clear descriptive content; it rather indicates a change of mind.
The late, much revered, Ticino architect Luigi Snozzi (1932-2020) told his students that architecture is “anti-nature”. He was right. Unlike caves and other natural shelters, the built environment is not found in nature, but designed and constructed. Materials, like concrete, used in its construction are not found in nature. One of the tasks of green architecture is to integrate manmade designs and constructions into nature. However, it is yet to be seen how this integration can be brought about.
1. Nature
With the triumphant development of the natural sciences, the original, comprehensive, cosmologically-based Aristotelian meaning of “nature” (physis) was dissected and gradually reduced to physics, chemistry, and biology, on the one hand, and the visible landscape, the environment, and climate, on the other. Like all reductions, this compartmentalization was implemented to gain the deepest possible insights and knowledge. The smallest physical elements and the largest cosmological entities were revealed as a result. As well as these positive outcomes, scientific compartmentalization was also used to control natural resources and exploit the planet. It follows therefore that if we are to integrate architecture into nature, we must reintegrate nature itself, or what is left of it.
A first step to reintegrating nature is to see what the scientific analysis of climate change tells us about ongoing environmental changes in certain parts of the planet. Floods, droughts, and heatwaves now occur more regularly in densely inhabited areas that were once rarely affected by such extremes. However, while science can explain some of the causes of climate change, it is the business of politics to draw the right conclusions. And it is the business of the economy to use all available resources with appropriate care.
Reintegrating nature is a complex business, and architecture plays more than a cameo role. The carbon footprint caused by the production of concrete is still enormous. But there are technologies available, like the one proposed by Seratech (developed by Sam Draper and Barney Shanks, material researchers at Imperial College London, and winner of the Obel Award 2022), able to eliminate the CO2 emissions from the built environment totally. These and similar technologies could be used in all of the less than 5,000 cement mills worldwide. For while architecture cannot substitute concrete in buildings globally, it can force the use of technologies that reduce the CO2 emissions involved in its production. This is an urgent obligation of green architecture.
2. Adaptation
Green architecture can offer habitats worth living in where there is a threat of excessive heat and flooding. It is a demanding technological challenge, but a feasible one. Without green architecture, human life will not be able to adapt to the conditions brought about by climate change. There is no alternative to adaptation since changing these conditions will take generations, if ever.
There are a number of remarkable examples of such adaptation in coastal areas of West Africa, China, Denmark, and the Netherlands, and some urban centers in the global south are making considerable strides towards adapting to climate change. The 2023 Venice Biennale, curated by Lesley Lokko, was posited on being a “Laboratory of the Future” and the Danish pavilion pointedly offered models of adaptation. Further examples of successful adaptation are the Larnaca seafront in Cyprus (Foster + Partners), and the maritime center in Esbjerg on the Danish coast (Snøhetta and WERK Arkitekter).
Adaptation takes on different aspects in conditions that cannot be changed and in conditions that should not be changed. When the climatic conditions cannot be changed, the environment can be changed, ignored and damaged. Adapting to the environment comes down to the use of locally available materials best suited to the local climate zone, social structures, and craftsmanship. Instead of concrete, mud and bamboo can be used in areas like Bangladesh, for example, where Anna Heringer’s two-story building Anandaloy (winner of the Obel Award 2020) not only made use of those two materials but was built by local craftsmen – they are the ones who best know how to handle them. Anandaloy is dedicated to people with disabilities, a school and a place where local women find work in the production of textiles close to where they live with their families. In this case, adaptation has integrated architecture, social needs, jobs, and education despite the religious, financial and political constraints that lurked in the background.
3. Architecture With
The role of the architect is gradually changing. Green architecture is “architecture with” not just “architecture for”. It engages architects, clients, builders, the social community, and civil society in the search for architectural solutions to urgent needs. Social disintegration, migration, and the demographic change give rise to needs that can no longer be met privately and individually as they were in the past but now call for social solutions and “architecture with” to avoid high social risks and further environmental damage.
The social integration of architecture is crucial in the process of integrating nature and architecture. Social and natural structures correlate. But although closely related, they require the care and support of politics, the economy, and civil society. The Obel Award 2024 recipient was Colectivo c733, an architectural practice in Mexico City. Local politics, cultural projects, markets, commercial needs, and landscape were integrated in their 36 projects, all of which were realized in 36 months throughout the country. The jury argued that the achievements of Colectivo c733 are a perfect example of “architecture with”, an expression first coined by this same jury.
4. Inconspicuous Integration
Integrating architecture into nature does not necessarily have to produce physically obvious or arresting buildings. Integration can be almost invisible but still immensely efficient. A striking example is the project Living Breakwaters (winner of the Obel Award 2023) by Kate Orff’s New York-based landscape architecture and urban design practice Scape, that integrated physical, ecological, and social elements to stabilize Staten Island’s South Shore. This physical and biological wave-breaker system was developed following the superstorm Sandy by a partnership between architects and local stakeholders that involved local schools and civil society. This coastline stretch is now a habitat for oysters, which help to clean the water and so encourage population by other species. The integration of architecture with nature in Living Breakwaters is exemplary and a model for similar designs.
The architectural and technological examples mentioned are, however, scattered, and so unable to provide the global momentum green architecture needs. It seems as if green architecture is following the second mode of behavior proposed by Marco Polo at the end of Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities (1972): be prepared, when already in the midst of the inferno, to seek out the options for what can be done for those areas still untouched by the flames. In Calvino’s book, the Great Khan is filled with foreboding at Polo’s description of the final city as “the infernal city” (la città infernale).
We have not yet reached that point, but that city looms before us in the distance. However, it makes no sense to adopt Marco Polo’s attitude and simply accept the impending inferno. The adaptation called for above refuses to submit to the on-coming inferno but recognizes and resists it. The inferno Italo Calvino had in mind was, of course, not primarily architectural but social and political. We have learned, however, that architecture is inseparably linked to the most urgent social and political problems. But while they almost automatically intertwine, the solutions do not. Green architecture is a demanding task in the face of the multi-faceted ecological and environmental problems. Just as the Bauhaus model was mistakenly seen as universally applicable, it must also be acknowledged that green architecture has no universal model applicable everywhere on the planet. It must be developed regionally and locally on the basis of social conditions, materials used, craftsmanship, climate, economic, political, cultural and religious conditions. If these conditions are ignored, the buildings will not be accepted by the locals, as in the case of Gibellina Nuova in Sicily. To be accepted, green architecture must take into account the vernacular conditions of the context.
5. Reconstruction
Formerly, architects prided themselves as innovators, scorning reconstructions and the adaptive reuse of older buildings. They are now changing their minds and learning how to reuse older materials and adapt empty spaces in abandoned buildings to new uses. The economic angle of reconstruction may, however, be an obstacle as it is still cheaper to demolish the old and construct new buildings. To show their support for “architecture with”, the relevant political institutions and civil society should put their weight behind investors politically and help solve the financial issues.
In terms of integrating architecture into nature, reconstructions are best practice and an indispensable element of green architecture. Reconstruction and adaptive reuse respect stakeholder wishes and habitats that reflect the local culture, while reducing emissions and the carbon footprint. The snag may be the immediate cost of reconstruction. Tax breaks and reducing the red tape involved would help persuade investors accept the higher financial risks.
Importantly, integrating architecture into nature also implies that green architecture presupposes green energy. The theory and technology behind the various types of renewable energy are far ahead of its actual implementation, however, with energy production’s carbon footprint running counter to international environmental agreements. One of the driving forces behind the undamped increase of CO2 is artificial intelligence and its immense energy requirement. The second mode of behavior proposed by Italo Calvino’s Marco Polo – to seek and see the options of what is to be done to stop the inferno encroaching even further – has taken on a new meaning beyond green architecture. Without green energy, green architecture is worthless, and la città infernale comes closer.
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