Global Influences VS Local Architectures: Two Aspects of a Sustainable Approach
Alexandru Calin, Ph.D.
Design Basis Department, Faculty of Architecture, “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest, Romania
Abstract
Sustainability, energy efficiency, low resource consumption, responsible building and design are real actual issues of contemporary architecture and which the current practice can not ignore. Globalization, industrialization, technological progress coupled with population growth and environmental concerns urge us to find sustainable alternatives for the conservation of planet resources on the one hand and a rethinking of the final architectural product that has both a low impact on the environment and that is durable during use.
The article investigates two different hypostasis of the contemporary architecture illustrated by the recent concerns that I have both in the practice of architecture and as a teacher, responsible for the formation of new generations of architects: In the first case, an office building built in Bucharest illustrates studies and thoughts regarding the use of technology and resources offered by new materials in order to obtain energy performance, minimal consumption of resources and low impact on the environment producing meaningful and strong architecture in the same time.
The second one, theoretically investigates how to build sustainable, with local resources, based on the lessons that tradition, the vernacular, the call to local materials and techniques can provide a model of architecture that can withstand in time and offer the respect to the environment and to the framework in which it is located.
The occasion is given by the individual research work that I was assigned during my stay at KKU under the guidance and advice of Prof. Dr. Chumnan Boonyaputthipong and it refers to the proposal for the new building for the University’s Textile Workshop.
Keywords: SUSTAINABILITY, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, CONTEXT, TRADITION
References
[1] Linsday Asquith, and Marcel Velinga, Vernacular architecture in the Twenty – First century. Theory,education and practice, edited by Linsday Asquith and Marcel Velinga, (London: Taylor & Francis, 2006)
[2] Roderick J. Lawerence, ”Baisic principles for sustaining human habitats”, Vernacular architecture in the Twenty – First century. Theory, education and practice, (London:2006, 110 -127).