Building Tomorrow: The Impact of Sustainability on Future Architecture
by Nico Kienzl
We live in a transformative time regarding climate change and the built environment. Despite the current political challenges, we will inevitably see rapid regulatory changes focusing on energy efficiency and environmental impacts, the elimination of fossil fuels in buildings, and a swift transformation of the energy grid within the next ten years. The increasing risk and disruption from more extreme weather events, extended periods of droughts, and utility service disruptions, is driving the world to adapt to climate change more rapidly than before. Organizations that can act fast and decisively to adapt will also have a significant competitive advantage.
Our industry will undergo significant changes in how we deal with energy and address transport, urban planning, health and well-being, social equity, and the very materiality of our constructed world. Soon, all buildings and districts will be fossil fuel free. They will feature fully integrated, sensor-driven, smart building management systems that will deploy heating and cooling dynamically. These systems will mitigate between occupant demands and the availability of green power on the grid. This approach will also put an ever-increasing focus on passive design strategies. Natural ventilation, optimized daylight, integration of thermal mass, and optimized building envelopes, will be instrumental in managing peak loads and allowing buildings to “coast” through times when energy management will call for reduced consumption or during a disruption caused by a climate event.
As our economy and society recognize the true potential of a post-carbon world, we will see this ripple through all aspects of our lives. Transportation and buildings will work together. Batteries, at the building and vehicle level, will become part of larger integrated power demand management and storage systems. The advent of ride-sharing services, autonomous vehicles, and a changing attitude towards car ownership will fundamentally recast the relationship between cars and other modes of transport. Smarter, more digitally augmented public transport will reduce the number of vehicles needed in the future and will fundamentally transform the space we will allocate for transportation and parking in our urban environments.
New approaches to materials will account for the true-life cycle emissions and the total environmental impacts from extraction to disposal. New models of circular economies will change attitudes towards what it means to own an asset and reimagine the definition of waste. This challenges conventional design wisdom and requires innovation throughout the entire project lifecycle– from conception through delivery and operation to disposal of any asset. These technological changes will be paralleled and overlap with a strong agenda for environmental justice and social equity as this degree of change is unsustainable if it can’t fairly address the needs of all stakeholders.
The next 20 years will be the most exciting and transformative time for buildings in human history. I am optimistic that we will witness a surge of innovation in delivering a post-carbon future that inspires and creates value for all stakeholders. The precise shape of this transformation and its timeline is impossible to predict because so many technical and political factors will influence it. The key to authentic leadership and success will be to stay on the leading edge of all these issues, have the agility to incorporate the latest developments, and take the long view of where we are headed. I am excited that the topics our team have been passionate about for so long, are now reaching the tipping point for true systemic change and look forward to continuing to tackle this unique challenge.