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The issue of sustainabilit is a dominant theme now, and
especiall in relation to
design. But there is a moral undertone in a lot of the talk
surrounding sustainabil-
it, a protestant-like implication that life has to hurt in order
to be good. you arent
supposed to take long showers because it isnt good for the
environment; ou arent
supposed to because airplanes are bad for the environment.
Graduall one gets
the idea that sustainable life must be less fun than normal
life. On the other hand,
sustainabilit has become hip and unavoidable. you cant submit
anthing to a
competition toda without suppling information about how green
our proj-ect is. Of course this also has its virtues, such as
establishing climate change and
sustainabilit as major subjects of design. But b formulating our
environmental
problems mostl in terms of political correctness, the discourse
on sustainabilit
deprives architects of nding answers to our climate challenge
through design.
you ma describe todas environmental problems as political,
economical, or
ecologicalbut we see them essentiall as a design challenge. We
are convinced
REDUCE CO2
th Joy of ecolomy
How o Mak suainabiliy
a Havn of Hdonim
BJARKE INGELS / BIG
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that we need to nd a wa to organize all the activities of our
societ so that we
can keep doing what we want to do without having to den
ourselves the free-
doms that technological development has given us. A sustainable
societ shouldnot be built upon frugal and ascetic behavior but
rather on innovative design
solutions. We believe that through the combined effort of
manufacturers, devel-
opers, investors, foundations, workers and residents, both
public and private,
engineers, and architects, we could design a societ that works
like a perpetual
motion engine. Our cities, our buildings, everthing we make, can
be designed
in a wa that allows us to drive as much as we want, to have an
air-conditioned
room, or take a 45-minute shower without harming the planet.
Now, more than
ever, design can improve human life.
Architectural projects should arise from the given conditions of
societ. Theshould not be driven b a single architects supposedl
superior knowledge about
how people should live, or what the cit should be or what the
right esthetic is
or isnt. Design needs to be a process of curation rather than
the act of a superior
creator. Designers have to attempt an almost impossible
summersault, without
stepping on anbods toes, to please everone. That increases the
demands on
architecture, and it also forces architecture into a more
exciting wa of operating
than heroicall, but no less stupidl, disregarding fundamental
constraints such as
relating to our context or staing within a budget. To Mies van
der Rohes motto
less is more we would retort es is more. Essentiall, architects
should sa esto all of the different aspects of a project. Following
the discourse on sustainabil-
it, and aware of the threat posed b climate change, we think ou
can address all
of those issues sustainabl in architecture.
Architecture is a means through which we can address todas
ecological con-
cerns in a wa that is also economicall sensitive and sensible,
because architec-
ture is capable of harnessing multiple inputs. Sustainabilit in
the current dis-
course is too much about ecolog, and not enough about econom. We
believe
that there is a fundamental misunderstanding that pits ecolog
against econom,
in a relationship akin to good vs. evil. Ecolog and econom are
not diametricopposites but rather two sides of the same coin.
Ecological initiatives will onl
prosper in the real world if the work as viable economic models.
Business mod-
els based on wearing down our national resources are not viable
for long-term
growth. Econom and ecolog need to merge into ecolomy. In econom,
waste is
worthless. In ecolog, there is no waste. In ecolomy, the waste
of one is the food
of another. The engine ofecolomy builds a hedonistic kind of
sustainabilit, a so-
BJARKE INGELS
