Why it doesn’t help us to be Green

Mac-Mansions

Happy buildings get along with their surroundings, don’t force themselves onto them. Instead of being blasted to bits to make room for a “Dream Home”, the rock slab here has a friendly chat with the buildings. [Maurer House, Naramata]

by Florian Maurer

A man who calls the relationship with his wife “sustainable” must be a very unhappy man. As long as we are obsessed with green rating systems, our architecture will be just as unhappy. The point of departure is so negative: we are sinners, should use fewer bad things, make them last a little longer, should be content with less than what we think we “deserve”, must repent. These are pious musings of a culture that sees nature’s role as serving man, man’s role as controlling nature: here man, there nature, always in conflict. The best we can achieve with this attitude is delay the end a few years, because it is a conflict Nature will always win in the end. (more…)

New rating systems will change our ways

Green roof of the Burnside Gorge community Centre controls stormwater runoff as part of a landscaping strategy that contributes points to LEED Gold certification.

We think of the landscape as green by default. In reality, it is challenging to achieve this goal in urban areas where requirements are imposed by market expectations, municipal requirements, and a range of other factors.
At the same time, green building rating systems are beginning to demonstrate their power to transform both the market and the regulatory context, and are offering opportunities for landscape architects, engineers, and other designers to apply a variety of new approaches to site development. (more…)

Vancouver’s much debated EcoDensity Charter will finally be put before city council for ratification next month. Not a policy document, but rather one that influences policy, the charter describes itself as ‘a contract between the city and its citizens, both current and future.’ (more…)