Before being introduced to the world of building materials and construction, it never really occurred to me to think that the process of designing and constructing a building should be any different from location to location. Well, I suppose there is a question of greater heat retention in a place like Winnipeg, or North Dakota, where winters are more severe than they would be in, say, Palm Springs. Yet, even in these cases it is assumed that we’ve got large scale HVAC systems to account for extreme temperatures and other climate conditions.
But, given the major concerns about dwindling resources, and the threat of global climate change, many designers have sought to rethink the way that they approach their jobs. The thinking when it comes to green building is about separating from the dependency on these systems in favor of looking at and building toward the prevailing environmental conditions of a site before foundations are laid. This concept has been referred to as passive design.
Passive design involves using as little technology as possible to heat and cool a building, with a reliance on building placement in relation to the sun more so than on HVAC systems.
In this article from Palm Springs CA The Desert Sun, an interview with San Francisco-based green building architect Eric Corey Freed reveals that part of the problem in recent energy inefficiency is not down to bad practices of residents so much as it is down to when Freed considers to be bad design. Here’s what he says from that article:
“We cover buildings with stucco that makes them hotter; we put on tile roofs that store up heat,” Freed said. “We build potentially hollow wooden boxes and don’t concern ourselves with how they face the sun.”
And,
If we’re not careful, in the next 10 years, we’re not going to recognize the environment. The whole thing is tied up with bad design. We’ll plunk down a big air conditioner, and we externalize the cost to everyone we can. We externalize it to the homeowner; we externalize it to the environment. We’re externalizing it to foreign countries.
In the context of this article, he’s talking about the desert climate, which has a set of conditions which do not apply in the Pacific Northwest, for instance. And where I don’t think he’s advocating the abandonment of HVAC systems, I think he is saying that greater energy efficiency and physical placement of buildings are directly tied, and that it is this which should drive design, not dependence on external systems and the outside economies it takes to run them. It is a compelling idea that convinces me that green building really is just common sense when it comes to design.
Take a look at this interview with Freed, talking about the green building approach in general, appealing to the consumer’s perspective:
In addition to his pursuits in design, Freed has founded Urban Re:Vision, which is a passive design, green building organization that seeks to find ways of greening urban areas at the city block level.
And for more information about his work, check out the Eric Corey Freed website.
Cheers,
Rob.
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Thanks, Rob for your kind words and thoughtful examination of what I said. You would not believe the resistance I have encountered in Palm Springs from trying to educate the builders there about how to be smarter in how they build. They are afraid of change, even when you show how logical those changes can be.
Keep up the great work.
Hi Eric, and welcome.
Thanks very much for your work and your comments. Judging from some of the comments on the original article in which you were interviewed, I do get the sense that bringing people around to new ways of doing their jobs is something of a hard road. But, I think that you’re on the right track, and that building with the environmental conditions in mind at the design level is just common sense. It’s a fascinating area, and one I am interested in following as paradigms begin to shift. In this sense, I think we’re living in very interesting times, when old ways are passing, somewhat begrudgingly, and making way for the new.
Thanks again!