Architecture
In it’s quest for efficiency and performance, sustainable architecture has only made us want more - more buildings, more extraction, more stuff. What is architects crafted new desires, within planetary limits.
Vision for a purpose-led profession - rooted in a return to people, place and planet, over profit alone.
An anthology of purposeful architecture from around the world; asking questions of responsibility, methodology, and art.
R2
GDP
GWP - Global Warming Potential. A metric used to convert greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6) to equivalent amounts of CO2 by weighting their radiative properties for a time horizon of 100 years.
EXIOBASE 2.2 - multi-regional input-output database. (described the world economy at detail of 43 countries, 5 rest-of-the-world regions and 200 product sectors. Used to trace origin of the products consumed by households and represent global supply chains in 2007
SEEA - System of Environmental-Economic Accoubnting
A flower leaves no mystery,
a bud is different.
Encased in a tightly bound capsule, petals await,
the plant prepares.
The human waits, anticipates,
we longly watch the contraction in expectation of its expansion.
Behold, we witness, the bud, oh the bud,
but it has not yet bloomed.
The turn of another day,
yet still no bloom.
For what reason has this bud not flowered.
We are saddened, perturbed, something is wrong.
The bud has succeeded, yet the flower has not.
The human is dismayed,
the bud now destined for the bin.
Poor bud, for it was flourishing.
We learn the foundations, so full of longing to create Architecture for Greatness. And then we learn the tragedy of our world so deeply entrenched in consumerism and cognitive dissonance. We see our friends in a cycle of consuming and producing, their output effort adding to total effect of what seems like a flower coming into proud bloom. Yet there we are, am I, the bud, oh the bud, for it has not yet bloomed. The turn of another day, yet still no bloom. Alas, the bud, its flower is in proud expression, internalised within oneself. No need to output anything, not for now, while bud finds fulfillment in being bud.
Eudaimonia, or otherwise known as the ‘human flourishing’, is the total effect of oneself habitually striving for excellence in all that they do. Happiness, a bi-product of eudaimonia, is relative to activity, productivity, and a harmonious oscillation between exertion and reflection. But what would that all mean without the interpretation of us from others - such relational exchange is based on ones relativity to others and vice versa.
I make a metaphor of Aristotle's analysis of friendships (defined by 3 categories of friends), through that of a bouquet of flowers sitting in a vase of water - now let us visualise. Category 1, Utility, acknowledged as the relationship of the flowers between the human who observes them in their house. Such relationship has little to do with character between human and plant - rather, there is an expectation each party will participate in delivering something to benefit both. The plant were purchased by the human with intent of bringing ambience to the space and wonder from observing the flowers cycle of bud-to-bloom-to-decay. The plant in return, perhaps unwillingly, has the expectation that its picker/observer will continue to allow it to exist, post cut. Perhaps the human will supply it nutrient and an optimal structure to support its physicality throughout its evolvement. Most likely, the plant will then deliver a magical bloom, which pleases the human. This is a transactional relationship, a ‘give a little, get a little’ kind of association by service.
Now to observe a flower, well that brings pleasure. A blooming beauty bring with it a different association - for the human delights in the bloom and the experience of possessing something of beauty. In mirror effect, so to does the bloom delight in the human, for it has a witness for its wondrous display of life. Although the relationship is transactional and perhaps fleeting, it still demonstrates that witnessing a flower develop can heighten one’s emotions positivity, and induce feelings of pleasure.
Let’s rewind to our plant, at seed. Water comes and the seed turns seedling, then bush. The human arrives - he stands back smiling whilst observing, a relationship has formed. Little does the plant know, the human finds virtue in his natural form. The man walks past plant each day, admiring its resilience and steady growth despite it’s awkward choice of place to station its roots. One day the gutter-plant surprises man with a bud. Man de-tangles its roots and takes her home. Plant is shocked, but adapts fast to her new home. Man is enamoured, and compelled to be the best carer he can, as bud does her thing. Both plant and human, two somewhat self-sufficient equals, now virtuous companions, for their love for another is to see each party survive.