Sustainability in Architecture and Biotecture
Sustainability can mean different things to different people. Depends on an individual’s perspective, approach, and subject matter. At BONSAI, because we are Architects, we will hone in on the sustainability issue from an Architects perspective. If we were to try and define what Sustainable Architecture means in as concise a phrase as possible, we would say something like, “a structure designed for human habitation whose construction utilizes limited virgin resources, harmonizes with its contextual environment, requires negligible energy inputs to operate, and can sustain life.” That’s a mouthful!
Modern day Architecture is pretty good at meeting one, or two of these objectives, but not rarely more. There are many factors that play into why this is, and this is best reserved for a follow up conversation. In a perfect world, all our buildings would meet this ultimate definition of Sustainable Architecture. At BONSAI, we approach our Architecture with a sense of ingenuity, and continuously explore building science techniques that push the envelope. No pun intended.
Two high performance building science techniques that have made a splash on the scene recently are Passive House and Earthship Biotecture.
The former is a regimented, very mathematical, and precise building system that does a really good job at meeting the last two objectives of our Sustainable Architecture definition but ignores the first two objectives. The Passive House standard was developed in Europe and standardized in Germany through the Passive House Institute (PHI) and latter brought to America by the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS). In a nutshell this standard hones in on 4 or 5 building science principles that make for a radically efficient building. Weve blogged about this in the past and at BONSAI, we are a certified Passive House Designer through the PHI.
Earthship Biotecture is a trademarked building typology developed by famed Architect Michael Reynolds out of Taos, New Mexico. Trademarked Earthships tend to have a certain style that doesn’t necessarily appeal to all people or to modern/contemporary design. They do a fantastic job at meeting basically all our Sustainable Architecture objectives, but as mentioned, they are not for everyone. These buildings utilize a handful of building principles that when successfully applied make for great, as the name implies, “earth-ships!”
At BONSAI we recognize the success and limitations of each building typology and are working on developing unique building designs that meet our definition of Sustainable Architecture, capitalize on the best of both the Passive House and Earthship building science principles, yet are designed with the modern day human in mind.
