Rethinking Sustainability

“Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature. The goals of sustainable development cannot be achieved when there is a high prevalence of debilitating illnesses, and population health cannot be maintained without ecologically sustainable development.”

—  Principle 1 of the “Rio Declaration on Environment and Development”

Several decades ago, “sustainability” and “Green” building transformed how architects envisioned the Human/Nature relationship to better accommodate the environment.  In much the same way, the concepts of health and well-being are attaining a similar influence over how we construct the built environment today. These emergent trends are broad-ranging and seek to address connective issues that cross multiple boundaries to affect many disciplines simultaneously.  This studio directly explores the issues touched upon when one considers the role of design, health, and sustainability within architecture in ways that more forcefully engage the built environment to transform “how we build”. Health, design, sustainability, and resilience serve as the foundation for an architectural exploration into how our “well-being” can more directly affect the conventions of architecture and design. In this H/D studio several questions are fundamental to exploring the importance of a broad-ranging health “lens” influencing design:

1) What is “human sustainability” and how can it more directly influence how we design and construct the built environment?

2) What are the ethical implications of a referential frame viewing health and well-being as integral to architecture?

3) How can disciplines allied with architecture and design be encouraged to “pool” expertise to tackle larger the issues we confront to address the larger environmental impacts of health as well?

• Studio Description
• Student Project 1
• Student Project 2
• Student Project 3
• Student Project 4