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Design Sustainable Architecture with the contribution of Art
A research proposal submitted to the Urban Studies and Planning Program
University of California at San Diego
Au, Ho Chung (Howard)
USP 186 Section A02 hcau@ucsd.edu
November 2 nd , 2010
Abstract
Recent studies suggest the importance of sustainability when designing buildings and architecture. Unlike emphasizing artistic design in the past, architects are now more concerned about the sustainable technology. This proposal examines the ideal buildings for the near future and finds the balance between art and green technology, and more important, to examine how art design contributes to sustainable building. The concentration of the proposal is based on the motivating question: What is the role of Art in a green building and how can artistic design contribute to sustainable architecture? The study is conducted with a focus on scholarly journals and successful cases of architecture designs all over the world recently and the research strategy will be examining their design methods and approaches used in the buildings. The study will contribute to the literature on sustainable design methods in the Urban Planning and Architecture Field. The results will also be shared to the public in the hope that the findings will help designing ideal buildings.
Key terms: Architectural Design, Artistic, Green Buildings, Green Technology,
Sustainability
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Introduction
What is an ideal building? There is no certain answer, or there are too many answers to interpret. In different eras, architects have different opinions about buildings and architecture.
Some famous architects such as Frank Gehry focus on the artistic form of the structures while some architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe think the functions of architecture is most important. Nowadays, sustainability is a hot topic in architecture. Environmental issues like global warming and pollution problems are occurring in many places especially in cities, people find solutions to deal against the harm on the Earth. Therefore, sustainability is told to be one possible solution to the current issues.
Recent studies show us that living in a sustainable way let human beings on the Earth last much longer, and basically, many newly constructed architectural designs are sustainable. “Green
Buildings have become integrated into architecture and development professions and are a dominant focus of research and practice in those fields” (Retzlaff 2009). So, sustainability is an essential requirement for decent building designs. In addition, an ingenious architect would not satisfy with buildings only focusing on sustainability but neglect the artistic factors of the architecture. In a result, designing contemporary architecture requires the skills of integrating art and sustainable techniques in order to fulfill architects’ aggression, which is to construct perfect architecture.
This research project is about the relationship between art and sustainable architecture.
The research question of the project is: What is the role of Art in a green building and how can artistic design contribute to sustainable architecture? To answer the question, the research is going to explore four sustainable case studies all over the world, including Casa Mila (better known as La Pedrera) by Antonio Gaudi, a famous housing project in Barcelona in the early 20 th century, The Hong Kong International Airport, built in the late 1990s, and the Millennium Tower
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in Tokyo, the ideal hugest structure on Earth ever, which both are designed by Sir Norman
Foster. The fourth one is a well-known environmental friendly skyscraper, completed in 2010, that is The Bank of America Tower in Manhattan, New York City (designed by Cook and Fox
Architects). These four cases apply the skill of green technology combining very imaginative architectural design to construct sustainable architecture, and art here makes a significant role for sustainability. Through looking at these different eras and uses structures, the research is expected to find the progress of the way on designing sustainable architectures. The last part of the research is to suggest a set of guidelines on sustainable architectural design methods after analyzing the case studies and other information such as scholar’s literature and interviews.
Conceptual Framework and Literature Review
Researches about architectures, urban design and urban planning are not unfamiliar in the field. Critics explore issues about the fields and bring out different results have connections with this research. Nasser (2003) examines the preservation of heritage places and how can they change to other uses. He argues that heritage places have its value, and they can sustainable. One suggestion is to change the uses into tourist spot, as “if tourism is to contribute to sustainable development, it must be economically viable, environmentally sensitive, and culturally appropriate” (Nasser 2003, 474). He analysis gives a clear path for this study, as he proved that the art value of the architecture could be a part of sustainability.
Hill (2001) analyzes the relationship between architects and users and how do they affect each other. He argues that users of the architecture are creative and they can change the buildings when they are using it (Hill 2001). He believes there is an interaction between the users and the architects through the architecture, and he thinks even “architects have reasons to define the user as passive, some allow more generous and complex understandings of the user to affect the way
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the design” (Hill 2001, 355). Therefore, architects’ designs should fit the demands of people, in other words, the designs from the architects should be human-oriented. His research result provides the base of this research, which is architects should design human-oriented architecture, as the users of the architecture is we. Art and Sustainability are two elements we want to be included in buildings, therefore, from the result of Hill’s research, brings out the value of this study.
As this research seeks to examine the design methods and strategies on constructing sustainable buildings when integrating art and green technology, this research will be important to the field of architecture and urban planning since many architectural building are sustainable now. Green buildings can be found in many places as new buildings usually claim themselves sustainable, and these green buildings can increase the sustainability of the building itself and the city development, also decrease negative impacts on the human life (Retzlaff 2009). Retzlaff
(2009) examines the relationship between planning and green buildings with concepts about building assessment system. Buildings have their own life cycle, and through the cycle they use energy and resource to be created and for their maintenance (Retzlaff 2009). Therefore, green buildings become a trend since it can save money by their lower cost of constructing and longer lifetime. Moreover, from the research done by U.S. Green Building Council, it discusses about the importance of green building as well. Green Buildings create a better environment for people to do their daily activities such as work and play (Pyke 2010, 5). Green buildings also benefit humans’ health. According to Retzlaff, “many people who are concerned about the public health impacts of conventional development are turning to green buildings because of their benefits for human health through improved indoor air quality and decreased energy use,” (Retzlaff 2009, 4), so these are the reasons why green buildings and sustainable architectural designs is a hot topic.
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Furthermore, Retzlaff suggests plans for Green Buildings and the building assessment system, which is to rate on buildings to by examining their performance and the sustainability (Retzlaff
2009).
In another Retzlaff’s research, she discusses about the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED). The research looks at the policies used in the LEED system and the impacts on building Green Buildings, which are sustainable architecture meet the measurement of sustainability, and they would be a solution to environmental problems such as air pollution, energy and water usage (Retzlaff, 2009). Because now green buildings are so important, LEED establishes policies about green buildings. However, planners and architects decide to use the LEED system is not because of the content, it is because LEED is convenient and there is lack of knowledge of other resources, and there are too much to learn from other systems. Consequently, she suggests, “planners have an important role in administering green building polices because they address issues beyond building design and construction and require a holistic and integrative perspective” (Retzlaff, 2009). This research is highly related to my research project, as the LEED system can be an important reference to know more about the possibilities of the role of art about green buildings. In addition, there are many different building assessment systems that my research project can follow in order to figure out a set of building guideline.
On the other hand, Langdon (2007) states that buildings that go to be sustainable have more value, and “non Green buildings will decrease in value” (Langdon 2007). His research is about defining good green buildings and what is driving green strategies; indicates the initial impacts on construction costs and the cost of buildings that is “not going green” (Langdon 2007).
He also sets up a system on rating green buildings with four, five and six stars.
These rating
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systems indicate the green level of the buildings, which not only benefits the dwellers or the users of the buildings, but also guides architects and engineers to construct a more sustainable architecture indirectly. Relating to my research on architectural design skills on integrating art and technology, the rating systems they have developed becomes a very useful reference on my research as well. Langdon has also another work at the same year, focusing on the cost of
Sustainable Design of architectural projects. He found out that there is actually no significant difference for the average cost of constructing green buildings and non-green buildings (Langdon
2007). Langdon analyzes the data from LEED, and the result of the research is both green buildings and non-green buildings can have a high cost or low cost, in other words, the cost of a building is not related to if the building is green or non-green. Therefore, he strongly encourages architects and planners to construct green buildings, by meeting the requirements of the LEED points.
Duerk (1993) discussed about the concept of an architectural design. She states, “a concept is a statement of an ideal set of relationship among several of the elements under an architect’s control such as form (dimension, direction), material, texture, color (hue, value, intensity), and adjacency” (Duerk 1993, 60). Within the concept, the architect can use his creativity to design different amazing architecture. Concepts can always be diagrammed and there are different kinds of concepts, mainly in Through Circulation, Radial Circulation and “H”
Circulation (Duerk 1993). Her studies on the concepts of architectural designs is a very good set of knowledge in order to use in my research project on planning sustainable designs.
Marcus and Sakissian (1986) listed 254 site design guidelines for medium-density family housing, which all of them are very meaningful for not only housing site planning, but also normal urban planning are architectural design. For instance, design guideline number 69 is the
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sidewalk activities: design sidewalks as part of community space, which is about to balance the street’s vehicles and people and increase the walkability of the place; number 33 is component replacement, which states the doors, windows and balconies should be in standard-size so that if there is any damage, it is easier to get repaired and fixed, which in fact benefits the sustainability of the housing units (Marcus and Sakissian 1986). Therefore, these design guidelines are highly related to the research project and can be a greatly reliable reference when designing sustainable architecture.
Research Designs and Methods
The research question of the project is: What is the role of art in a green building and how can artistic design contribute to sustainable architecture? Before answering the question, the definitions of the terms are important for clarifying the question. There are many kind of art in different divisions, but art in here represent the visual artistic architectural design, which is the art no matter it is classical or modern, but the artistic design we can see it very nicely from the architecture. Sustainable Architecture is a type of sustainable development, which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, 43). The definition of integrating art and green technology is to make artistic design contribute into green technology in order to build sustainable architecture.To answer the question, the research design and methods is going to explore the four case studies of sustainable architectures, to see what is the role of art in these structures and how does the design contribute to sustainability. My research design and methods is to pick four common factors of sustainability, which are lightness, efficiency, transportation and materials respectively. The art of each case study contributes to each of these four factors: the lightness of Casa Mila, the efficiency of Hong Kong International Airport, the
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transportation of Millennium Tower and the material used in Bank of America Tower. Through these case studies, I will explore and analyze the four factors of sustainability and determine to find out the role and contribution of art.
Starting from the oldest architectures, Casa Mila is the first case study. This case research is about studying the construction ideas, histories and the technique Gaudi used in Casa Mila and find out the role of art in sustainable design in the past. The famous architect Antonio Gaudi designed it in the early 20 th century in Barcelona. Casa Mila is famous for its artistic elements and the lightness of the architecture itself. Lightness is important for a green residential building since dwellers can consume less energy to get adequate light, and create a more comfort living environment in the building. Gaudi noticed the importance of lightness, so he designed an extraordinary self-supporting façade, not only for the beauty of the structure, but also increase the lightness in the structure by having a façade without any support function for the building
(Regas 2010). He also designed the entrance gate as “a wrought iron framework with organic forms inspired by a turtle’s shell and hollow with glass panes. The larger panes were higher up on the doorway to obtain maximum light from outside and the smaller ones were below to provide more protection against breakage” (Regas, 185). Notice that in that era people still did not have a clear sense of sustainability, Gaudi is really a longsighted architect.
The second case study is a large project in Hong Kong by Foster + Partners, which is the
Hong Kong International Airport. Studying the airport, the research will examine how intelligent architects create architectural design to increase the efficiency and the sustainability of a structure. The Hong Kong International Airport was built in 1998 in order to replace the tiny old
Hong Kong Airport, because the old one could not afford the workload of the daily’s airplane transportation. The design of the new airport centers on the efficiency, which increases the
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sustainability of the airport. Foster was so clever as to design the terminal into a Y shape behind a horizontal main lobby buildings. It looks like an airplane when you have an aerial view of the airport, and at the same time, this Y form of design plus a people mover in the underground can easily transport passengers to their destination (e.g. from main lobby to airplane gates) conveniently. Because of this ingenious and people-centered design, Hong Kong International
Airport has been always claimed as one of the three best airports in the world (Passenger’s
Choice Award 2010).
The third case study is an ideal project also designed by Sir Norman Foster, the
Millennium Tower. It is a project in Tokyo designed in 1989, which is mixed-use structure capable of housing a community of up to 60,000 people, generating its own energy and processing its own waste (Norman Foster Website). The research will look through both the idea from Sir Norman Foster about designing this huge tower and meanwhile, the obstacles when constructing this significant project. Foster believed transportation would be a problem in the future so he figured out to build a huge structure with everything inside. The design of the tower is an innovative idea for solving the problem of mass transportation. Foster designs the tower in a conical structure with the height of 840 meters. This building looks very modern and would definitely become a landmark of the city by its height and smart-looking façade. At the same time, the height of the tower allow foster to have designs “according to the function it is to fulfill be it a hotel or large retail center” (Garreta 2004, 12). Inside the tower there is it’s own transportation system, which is a very high speed vertical metro circulating the structure. This setting is ideal for solving the transportation problem we are facing such as the heavy traffic problem in cities and increase the sustainability of cities.
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Going back to today, the fourth case study brings us back to the present. The Bank of
America Tower is a very new building in New York and not only the appearance of the building looks smart, but also it is a very sustainable building by using many types of new technology
(Durst). The idea of the artistic design of the building is a respond to the dense urban context and tries to restorative green spaces (Cook+Fox). There are many green features in the buildings, and one of the most significant features is the 35% of the building is recycled materials. The design of the façade is smart and sustainable. “Through the building’s exquisitely clear façade, the natural elements are experienced in an immediate and almost sensory way; from the outside, the façade changes with the sun and sky” (Cook+Fox). This becomes a win-win design for both art and sustainability as the architects create the environmental friendly in the style of contemporary architectural design with green features, which is very successful to integrate art and green technology.
The duration of the researching project starts from October 2010 to March 2011. Since this research is based on examining on four case studies, the researches strategies of the research will be mainly analyze these four buildings with those factors. Among the three existing buildings, I have been to Hong Kong International Airport many times whenever I go back to my hometown and I visited Barcelona’s Casa Mila last summer so that my experience on seeing the actual buildings helps doing the case studies part in the research project. In addition, I am planning to visit the Bank of America Tower this Christmas. Therefore, I am going to do direct observation as an evidence for my research project. I will take the notes for what did I notice and observe from the structures and make a detailed analysis from it. Moreover, the research will put a big amount of effort on finding different scholars’ journal and literature come from online database and books about sustainability, case studies, architectural design and new techniques on
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construction. These researches will be done by early January 2011. By combining my direct observation and the analysis from journals and literature, the product will be an essential tool to find out the answer of the theoretical question of the research.
Secondly, the research will be also including interviewing professionals in the architectural and urban planning field. I prepare to interview Professor Susan Peerson and
Professor Daniel Lopez-Perez. Professor Peerson from UCSD is an expert in the Urban Planning and Design field, while Professor Lopez-Perez from USD is an expert in architecture, so that their knowledge in these two areas will provide me much information and more importantly, opinions from experts on my research project. The interviews will be more specific, targeting them to answer questions about their views on the role of art, and their opinions of the impact of sustainability due by the influence of art. The interviews will be completed not later than late
January 2011.
Furthermore, I am doing surveys by sending them to architectural firms, developers and related professionals via Email. The base of the interviewees will approximately be 200 to 500 individuals, and the content of the survey will include sustainable features, art related knowledge, and direct questions about the four cases, like comparative questions among the cases. The survey will be sent out in December 2010 and hope to get response by January 2011, however, if the replies are indifferent, I will use plan B, which is a survey on random people.
Both Internet and face-to-face survey will be used for plan B. The questions from the survey will be almost the same from the original one except the targets from the survey will change from professionals to random people, including UCSD students, friends and passersby. The comments from the survey will be an evidence to prove if the statement of the research project is correct or not.
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Expected Outcomes
The result of the research project is expected to be an analysis of the role of art in sustainable architecture. As there are many architects who are currently doing sustainable architectural designs, a research about these methods will be a record for the architectural and urban planning field. From the first and the second phrases of the studies, the expected outcomes will mainly be the results after the four case studies, including the methods architects have used in the projects and the accomplishment from the structures that bring to the field, and the interviews of the field experts which has their opinions on sustainability, green buildings, sustainable technologies, architectural designs and their relationships. These results are significant for developing the third phrases in the research, which is to design sustainable architecture by integrating art and green technology. After the third phrase, the outcome of the whole study is expected to be useful and specific suggestions and guides on sustainable architectural design with the contribution of creative and interesting art. This is the aim for my research and when people look at this research, they are able to get a sense of the design skills of building beautiful sustainable architecture.
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Bibliography
Retzlaff, Rebecca C. "Green Buildings and Building Assessment Systems." SAGE Publications
24.1 (2009): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010. <http://jpl.sagepub.com/content/24/1/3>.
Nasser, Noha. "Planning for Urban Heritage Places: Reconciling Conservation, Tourism, and
Sustainable Development. " SAGE Publications (2003):n. pag. Web. 1 Dec 2010.
<http://jpl.sagepub.com/content/17/4/467>.
Hill, Jonathan. "The Use of Architects" SAGE Publications (2001):n. pag. Web. 1 Dec 2010.
<http://usj.sagepub.com/content/38/2/351>.
Retzlaff, Rebecca C. " The Use of LEED in Planning and Development Regulation." SAGE
Publications 24.1 (2009): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010.
<http://jpe.sagepub.com/content/29/1/67.refs.html>.
Pyke, Chris, Sean McMahon, and Tom Dietsche. "Green Buildings & Human Experience." U.S.
Green Building Council®
(2010): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010.
Langdon, Davis. "The cost & benefit of achieving Green buildings." Davis Langdon (2007): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010. <www.davislangdon.com>.
Langdon, Davis. "Cost of Green Revistied." Davis Langdon (2007): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010.
<www.davislangdon.com>.
Duerk, Donna P. Architectural Programming: Information Management for Design . Canada:
John Wiley & Sons. inc., 1993. Print.
World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future . Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1987. Print.
Marcus, Clare Cooper, and Wendy Sarkissian. Housing as if people mattered . Berkeley, United
States of America: University of California Press, 1986. Print.
Regas, Ricard. Visual Guide to the Complete Work of Antoni Gaudi . Barcelona, Spain: Dos de
Arte Ediciones, S.L., 2010. Print.
Garreta, Ariadna Alvarez. Skyscraper Architects . Barcelona, Spain: Atrium Group de ediciones y publicaciones, S.L., 2004. Print.
“Foster + Partner – Millennium Tower.” Foster + Partners Website.
< http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/0504/Default.aspx
> (Assessed October 16,
2010)
“Passenger’s Choice Award - World Best Airport.” Passenger’s Choice Award Website.
< http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2010/Airport2010.htm
> (Assessed
October 16, 2010)
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“Durst – One Bryant Park – Bank of America Tower.” The Durst Organization Inc. Website.
< http://durst.org/properties/one_bryant_park.php
> (Assessed October 17, 2010)
“Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park.” Cook+Fox Architects. Website.
< http://cookplusfox.com/ice_print.php?id=1018&img=2069 > (Assessed November 2,
2010)
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Appendix
Survey Questions
Name:
Sex: M/F
Age Range: 17 or below, 18-25, 26-40, 41-60, 60 or up
Occupation:
Major (Apply for Uni Students/ Alumni only):
1-10; 1= Disagree most, 10= Agree most
1.
How important is sustainability in nowadays? (1-10)
2.
How important is sustainable buildings in nowadays? (1-10)
3.
Do you agree today most buildings are sustainable? (1-10)
4.
Do you agree the house/ apartment you are living is sustainable? (1-10)
5.
From the answer of #4, why? (Short Answer)
6.
(For UCSD Students) Do you think UCSD’s buildings are sustainable?
7.
Do you like art? (1-10)
8.
What kinds of art do you like/ pay attention to? (Specific answer, e.g. drawings, photography, music, etc.)
9.
Do you agree architecture can be a type of art? (1-10)
10.
How is the importance of the artistic design of a building to you? (1-10)
11.
(For UCSD Students) Do you think UCSD’s buildings have good artistic architectural design? (1-10)
12.
Which one do you think art is more related with, social sustainability in architecture (e.g., art as a positive social force) or environmental sustainability?
13.
When comparing a sustainable building without visual artistic design and an artistic building which doesn’t benefit to sustainability, which one would you pick?
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14.
Do you think the value of the architecture would be higher if there is visual artistic architectural design? (1-10)
15.
Do you think the value of the architecture would be higher if it is sustainable? (1-10)
16.
Comparing these two structures (SD International Airport and HK International Airport, with photos and a brief info for them), which one do you like better?
17.
How importance is the sustainability for an airport to you? (1-10)
18.
How importance is the design for an airport to you? (1-10)
19.
Comparing these two buildings (Empire State Building and Bank of America Tower, with photos and a brief info for them), which one do you like better?
20.
How importance is the sustainability for a commercial building to you? (1-10)
21.
How importance is the design (especially the façade) for a commercial building to you?
(1-10)
22.
Do you like this architecture, in a perspective of its architectural design? (Showing them photos of Casa Mila) (1-10)
23.
Are you willing to live in this building? (After giving them a brief info (e.g. how sustainable is it) of Casa Mila)
24.
Do you like this architecture, in a perspective of its architectural design? (Showing them photos of Millennium Tower) (1-10)
25.
Are you willing to live in this tower? (After giving them a brief info (e.g. how sustainable is it) of Millennium Tower)
26.
Which one do you like better, Casa Mila or Millennium Tower? Why?
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