Empowering the architect to achieve sustainability

Abstract

On their current trajectory, the paths of sustainability and economics are set to collide. An architect needs to be the salesperson, rather than an advocate, of net-positive design. In order for sustainability to succeed, designers must push beyond certification program requirements. Sustainability must become affordable, and the world is relying on architects to solve the equation. However, the traditional client-architect relationship does not allow for an architect to implement the necessary freedom of design to take on this challenge. Through the study of developer-architects, who have complete and total control of all aspects of design and construction, I seek the meaning and empowerment brought about by the removal of the client from the architectural relationship. Once architects are trained in sustainability, the opportunities to create a solution to environmental issues will increase. In this paper, case studies are investigated that have employed this new identity and its methods for creating elegant and affordable, net-positive housing. An analysis of waste-elimination theories, such as William McDonough and Michael Braungart's Cradle to Cradle theory of the never-ending cycle of technical nutrition, serves as a basis for designing with best practices in mind. Currently practicing developer-architects, for example Jonathan Segal, have provided insight into the advantages of expanding the role of an architect to include development and contracting. The resulting conclusions highlight the avenue by which architects shall be empowered to take on an active and expanding role in implementing sustainable design