Sustainable architecture begins and ends with architectural delight. Because if we don't love our cities and buildings, they will not be sustainable.
In the end, we will only sustain what we love.
There is a synergy to be found between sustainability and architectural delight, if we devote our efforts to simplicity and generosity to nature.
Every project is a new opportunity to bring back nature to the planet. The added green space will absorb carbon, support biodiversity and mitigate climate change. There is no material with a lower carbon footprint than natural wood. And wood is the most tactile and pleasant material on the planet.
The future is Low tech. If you think about it, we humans have been rather sustainable for most of our existence. Except for the last couple of decades when things got a little out of hand, pretty much since the great acceleration took off in the 1950s.
What we really need to do, is less. Distillation of purpose is key.
I strive for simplicity in form and try to minimize the footprint in order to touch the earth lightly. How much can a building be reduced in scale without compromising firmness, commodity and delight?
The wicked problems in the Anthropocene require informed and decisive environmental action. The gravity of the situation calls for a paradigm shift in our thinking. From directionless relativism to future optimism, sophisticated simplicity and sensibility of context.
We live in a time of hysteric consumption of crap quality and its destroying the planet.
We need to figure out how we ended up in this trap, and how to get out.
We need to do less, but better.
