Thoughts on Sustainability

10 years ago, Andi and I walked across the border from Oregon to Washington. The border is defined by the Colombia River and you have to walk across a vehicle bridge to make the transition. We were almost 4 months into our thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail and crossing into the last state of the journey. Every day during those 4 months we walked 20 miles, watched the sun rise and set, ate lunch while sitting in the dirt, and cowboy camped under the stars on the ground. A few weeks later, we stepped into Canada and completed our 5-month journey from Mexico.

Looking back, I remember every single day with incredible detail. Walking for 5 months that summer seems like it lasted for 5 years. Now, 5 months of normal life evaporates without even remembering what I ate for lunch on Tuesday. Being fully present in nature has a way of slowing down time. It sharpens your focus, and you become aware of the smallest details.

After the hiatus, returning to our lives as architects, we had long conversations about our relationship with the natural environment. We recognized that most people can’t (or don’t want to) leave their normal lives for 5 months to walk through the woods, but now we had insight into why immersion in the natural world for extended periods of time was so beneficial. We developed an emotional connection to the places we traversed, and it has informed our behavior since. 

Sustainability is defined as the ability to continue over a long period of time. Global warming is a threat to our ability to sustain on this planet. All architects understand that ~50% of global emissions come from our buildings either being built or operating, putting architects on the front lines of the battle against global warming. I believe the most important aspect of sustainability is to create buildings that instill an emotional connection to the natural environment.  When people develop a personal connection with the natural environment, they will be more inspired to protect it.

The outdoor industry has been a front runner in the fight against global warming for the past decade. It seems every week I get an email from Patagonia about a different corner of the earth that is under threat and needs our attention. This is for good reason. The people that make up the outdoor industry have made a life in the outdoors. They understand the importance of these places and have developed a personal connection to them. They’re invested in the protection of these places because they love them.

Architecture has the unique ability to alter a person’s relationship with the environment. An architect can position spaces that capture an afternoon breeze, make openings that glow with morning light, block sounds from nearby roads, and accentuate the smell of a pine forest. The architecture facilitates an experience of the natural environment, choreographing your daily rituals with snippets of natural phenomenon that are always happening around us, but often go unnoticed. It doesn’t matter if you live on the side of a mountain or jammed between two low-rise apartment buildings, nature is always just outside your window.

To make our buildings more sustainable, the conversation has largely been focused on making our buildings more efficient. Higher R-values, less thermal bridging, air tightness, mechanical ventilation, fewer windows, and renewable energy sources are all responsible for making our building more energy efficient. In fact, you can’t even build a new building without adopting these measures, because they’re required by modern building codes. Yes, energy efficient building is necessary, but unfortunately, to make our building more efficient, we’re further creating a barrier to experiencing the outside world. Instead of simply working with the environment to harness its natural heating and cooling, ventilation, and light modern energy measures are focused on creating a separate environment cut off from the outside world.

While energy efficiency is undeniably important, we’re often missing an inherently sustainable foundation to apply these technical principles of building efficiency to. We’ve all seen 8,000sf homes on the outskirts of towns touted as energy efficient, sustainable homes. They’re built of cheap materials, have no architectural value, and don’t respond to the environment, most often turning their back on views, oriented away from the sun, and with outdoor spaces on an uncomfortable side of the home. I don’t care what their walls’ R-value is or how airtight the envelope is, it’s not sustainable if they ignore the environment around them. These buildings won’t be cherished. Their cheap materials will deteriorate and someday in the too near future they’ll be wastefully gutted (or even demolished) by someone hoping to improve the quality of spaces inside.

When designing buildings that celebrate the natural environment, we allow people to gain an understanding of the outside world. They’re forced to take notice. They’re living within the environment, not separated from it. Each day, as they go about their normal lives, they can pause and notice the subtleties that make a specific place special. They develop a relationship. A relationship they’re invested in and want to preserve. They fall in love with the place they live in.

10 Years later, instead of sitting in the dirt eating lunch, I’m sitting at my cush desk chair. Fortunately, from here I can see the Indian Peaks in the distance. Because of my time spent wandering around the mountains, I have a deeper respect for protecting them. I just hope the buildings we design can instill the same respect for the people living in them.

‘till next time,

Colin