Building a greener future: architects begin to design with the earth in mind.

Architects Begin to Design with the Earth in Mind

"My profession does a lot of damage," admitted architect James Wines in the sober tones usually reserved for recovery groups. "I want to be part of reversing that, at least philosophically." An audience of several hundred nodded in agreement. The panel discussion last May was organized by New York City's Grand Tour Design, a program geared toward showcasing exemplary design via tours, exhibits and workshops.

The event was just one indication of the architectural community's response to growing environmental awareness. Whether planning buildings or entire cities, architects and designers are beginning to recognize their responsibility to make decisions more in harmony with the Earth. And a growing body of philosophy and industrial know-how is helping them along.

Even the conservative Washington DC-based American Institute of Architects (AIA) has established a Committee on the Environment to help educate the public and its membership via conferences and publications. Last June, AIA joined Britain's International Union of Architects for a four-day convention which drew 14,000 people and issued a commitment to place environmental concerns "at the forefront of the building process," said AIA president Susan Maxam.

"The architecture community occupies a position of power, considering that our designs for everything from bus shelters to offices to garages, shopping centers, churches, bars and homes directly affect nearly every aspect of human life," says architect William McDonough, whose firm did an eco-renovation of the Environmental Defense Fund's New York City headquarters back in 1986. "Architects are the medium through which elements pass and take shape. They are in the peculiar position of having to educate both the manufacturers who produce building materials and the public who benefits or suffers from the resulting structures."

Seeing a need for philosophical direction, McDonough came up with the "Hannover Principles" - nine eco-architectural guidelines which include such notions as creating safe objects of long-term value, eliminating the concept of waste, and sharing knowledge. "These principles are an attempt to provide leadership in a movement that often seems rife with opposing messages and solutions," he says. The movement toward recycling, though well and good, seems only a stopgap measure. Instead, "we must change the basic tenets by which we live." There is something fundamentally wrong, says McDonough, when a culture continually produces toxic building materials such as asbestos insulation, glues containing solvents and formaldehyde-laden particleboard. Recycling such products may only be slowing planetary demise. "Why not just fire up the old Cadillac, and charge down the highway, throwing everything out behind? The effect is the same - only quicker and less painful," he says.

Solutions, adds McDonough, lie less in constructing houses out of recycled tires and compressed soil, than in putting economic pressure on manufacturers. The construction products industry, for example, is currently dominated by oil companies heavily invested in producing oil-based products such as asphalt, shingles, vinyl and carpeting. But if the specifications for a large construction project called for, say, eight million dollars worth of air conditioning equipment without chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), or petroleum-free building materials, only manufacturers who could meet this requirement would win the contracts and prosper.

However, such economic incentives must be accompanied by the availability of "green" building products. Architect Paul Bierman-Lytle saw the need for a cohesive marketing strategy for such products, and recently opened a small showroom in New York City called Environmental Construction Outfitters (ECO). ECO provides specific catalog items such as non-toxic adhesives, insulation, sealants, paints and natural carpeting. Architects and interior decorators can view these materials - displayed as they would be upon installation - and then order them. ECO also analyzes each product with respect to its health and environmental impacts - natural resource depletion, energy consumption, durability, performance, disposability and recyclability. Lytle hopes such materials will "infiltrate local lumber yards" and building supply outlets, becoming ever more available - and affordable - to builders. "It is a constant frustration that the premium for using |green' design materials is 10 to 15 percent above normal construction costs," adds Lytle, whose game plan is to increase sales and decrease costs.

"The perception of higher cost and reduced durability remains a stumbling block to the broader use of green materials and methods," agrees Randolph Croxton, of New York City's Croxton Collaborative. He intends to disprove such perceptions. One of the goals of his firm's recent renovation of the city's National Audubon Society headquarters was to provide a "market rate building" competitively priced with standard construction projects. Indeed, Audubon expects to recoup its investment in under five years. "In renovating our society's existing structures," notes Croxton, "it's not difficult to vastly improve their energy efficiency by using simple, well-established building practices, like installation of non-toxic insulation, specially glazed windows and skylights that capitalize on natural daylight." Some systems on trial at Audubon go beyond that, incorporating such sophisticated systems as CFC-free heating and cooling, motion-sensing lights and chutes for recyclables. "The hoped-for outcome of the Audubon experiment is that existing building codes will be changed to reward high performance, waste reduction and energy conservation," says Audubon scientist Jan Beyea. But, cautions Croxton, "even when sound design is legislated into building codes, if people perceive that they are being forced to substitute less durable materials, and endure increased expense and inconveniences, they will find ways to get around the codes."

Notes Croxton, "Much of the money traditionally budgeted for the trappings of |fine design' - brass, marble, specialty wood panelling - was, in Audubon's case, diverted and invested in non-toxic materials, high performance systems and the creation of a people-friendly working environment." He believes consumers' - and developers' - values can change as the emphasis shifts from traditional symbols of status and wealth to new symbols of environmentally conscious design.

Solar architecture may become one such symbol. Popular in the 1970's as a result of high energy costs, it now seems to be making a comeback. New York's Adirondack Alternate Energy has built more than 300 homes incorporating solar design over the last 30 years. Their simple, unique heating system requires minimal back-up from conventional sources. "It's like a thermos bottle with a window on it," says founder Bruce Brownell. Southfacing windows capture light and heat, which is delivered via a series of metal ducts, to four feet of sand set below the lowest floor. At night, the stored heat is released. "The temperature never drops below 65 degrees, even after a long period of sunless days," says Brownell.

On the more hi-tech side are rooftop solar panels for heating water, and photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electricity - the latter now coming down in price as their popularity increases. Construction costs are between 15 and 20 percent higher when these systems are integrated into a building. And generally, the payback" period ranges from five to 10 years. "Although solar is a long term investment, there are short term gains in comfort and fuel savings," says Connecticut architect John Rountree.

As a result of solar design, numerous houses are now far less dependent on public utilities - often nuclear generated - and some are even "off the grid" completely. "I'm getting more and more calls for solar projects," Rountree says. "It looks like the |wave of the future."

Indeed, the idea of homes that are healthy both for the residents and for the Earth is at the forefront of the ecoarchitecture movement. If it succeeds, the time may not be far off when developers include as a selling point in their brochure for a new townhouse, office building or condo: "Built with environmentally sound materials" - and then watch with satisfaction as their building fills up.