Design for One Earth

Design for One Earth - The Book

To celebrate Earth Day RNL has launched an online version of our Design for One Earth book. The book represents a synthesis of research, ideas and approaches to sustainability that reveal the world around us. Its primary purpose is to help reframe the building industry’s definition of sustainability and to inspire action. It asks the deeper questions which are the source for new solutions and innovations for our built environment.

 

The book serves as a highly visual reference to RNL’s Design for One Earth framework which encompasses the balancing of environmental, economic and social priorities.  The context of the book is set up in the very beginning with a discussion on the importance of big picture thinking and a summary of the leading global issues facing humanity today.  The heart of the book is a deep exploration of the 12 Design for One Earth Values. These values are the core of the Design for One Earth framework which seeks a holistic and rigorous approach to sustainable design. At the end of the book we share the stories of three of our projects as case studies for the Design for One Earth framework to develop a tangible link to real life examples.

 

The original book was printed (digitally on 50% recycled paper with non-toxic toner) because we believe that having it in a concrete form is a more effective way to share and disseminate the valuable information.  This new iteration as an online book allows the message to spread to a wider audience with the hope of promoting a deeper dialog and sharing of ideas that can advance the sustainable design movement. This Earth Day we are asking you to think big – and take action!

 

Check out our Design for One Earth book online.   

 

The Big Picture in Sustainable Design

Sustainable design requires a big picture view. After all sustainable design is about seeking solutions to truly global problems. While it is critical to understand the local issues and context it is equally important to not limit your view to the local condition. The same can be said regarding American designer’s tendency to see all design problems through the eyes of a LEED checklist. The saying goes – if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Another great example of this is how the building industry in America has finally gotten the message that buildings account for roughly 40% of the US’s carbon emissions per year. What’s interesting is that while this is true, it’s only a part of the picture. Climate change is tied to global greenhouse gas emissions, not just US emissions. According to the World Resource Institute 2005 data commercial and residential buildings combined account for 16.5% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. While this is still significant and everyone in the building industry should be focused on reducing this contribution, the fact is there are many other significant sources that need as much attention as the building sector. Agriculture and land use changes combined account for 26% of the global emissions. This accounts for activities such as farming, livestock and deforestation.  When you look at the picture of carbon emissions you find that there is no singular source and no singular solution.  

A great way to get the big picture is to work in or learn about other areas of the world. We have so much to learn from each other and sustainability can only be approached with a global scale share of information and ideas. One great benefit of working in a foreign context is that it peaks your curiosity, sensitivity and empathy. It can also lead to new ways of understanding things that we have perhaps stopped questioning. At RNL we used to have “international” projects, which were distinct from our “domestic” projects. Now we have the mindset that all of our projects are global projects and we can apply this global experience to projects anywhere in the world including our own backyard. I have been known to present our sustainability work at conferences and begin with an image of earth and note – half in fun, but also half in thoughtful seriousness – that “this is the site of our next project.”  

A recent article by B.J. Novitski, It Isn’t Easy Grading Green - GreenSource Magazine offers a glimpse into green building rating systems around the world. It is encouraging that countries around the world are developing green building rating systems. It’s even more encouraging that the rating systems are learning from each other. Our experience with the Estidama Pearl Rating System in our work in Abu Dhabi has a similar affect at RNL. We appreciate Estidama’s focus on process and actual operations. You can also learn a great deal about sustainable design by practicing in such an extreme climate as the United Arab Emirates.  

I would like to see a more global standard for sustainability metrics; holistic frameworks that capture the full potential of design for environmental, economical and social benefits; and solutions that address the big picture issues as well as provide local innovation.  This is at the heart of the purpose for RNL’s Design for One Earth framework. Let’s keep an eye on the big picture.

Future-mapping

One of the classic definitions of sustainability is the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In fact, this definition was coined in 1987 by the Brundtland Commission in considering our common future.

The very essence of sustainability is to create this common future – or create an enduring future of abundance. Sustainability becomes not only a way to do optimize the triple bottom line, but it also becomes a strategic tool to help invent our clients’ future and to build in resiliency for the unforeseeable. This is going beyond future-proofing a design to a process of future-enabling the built environment.  The Design for One Earth framework can be expanded to include a future-mapping process for our projects.

The basic process for future-mapping for the built environment involves four steps.

Step 1 – Framework: What is the context and scale? What are the key clarifying questions that define our problem?  There are three primary scales within the framework – Global, Market and Project. The market scale filters relevant global perspectives to a specific project application. For example, what do economic trends regarding employment, education and income mean for the future of higher education markets? Do demographic trends indicate a change in the make-up of the college student of the future and how will our higher education buildings enable a new type of college student in the future? Our Metro State client is grappling with and positioning for these kinds of trends. 

 

Step 2 – Scan: What are the driving forces for the future on the project? For instance will operations require high energy or water use? What are the climate factors now and potentially in the future? How will changes in demographics affect the workforce and the workplace? While scanning driving forces don’t forget to consider internal information, as well as external research. Some of the best research can come from our own projects and clients. It is also beneficial to seek diversity of perspectives by inviting outsiders with different, but valuable view points in on the discussion.

Some driving forces to consider are: Energy, Carbon /Climate, Water, Materials, Land use, Economy, Technology, Transportation, Health, Demographics, Politics and Society/Culture,

 

Step 3 – Synthesize: What might these identified trends mean for the future of the project and its market? Synthesize a handful of potential future scenarios or future-maps and use these scenarios as strategic design tools. Three to four scenarios should provide enough diversity to understand the potential range of future possibilities. The simplest scenario to create is the no surprise scenario where the future unfolds based on present trends. It is useful to create at least two other scenarios. First, the worst-case scenario and second the best-case scenario. Are there elements in these scenarios that have a direct impact on the project’s design? Can design strategically buffer against the elements of the worst-case scenario while enabling the elements in the best-case?

Step 4 – Plan: A well developed future-map provides a strategic approach so projects remain resilient and prosperous. It should influence a project’s program objectives, resulting in a solution that is future-proofed and future-enabled.  

Future-enabling strategies built into a project should be project specific. Here are some ideas on how to make buildings more resilient for the future.

+       Utilize green features to attract the next generation of the workforce providing a long-term talent recruitment advantage.

+       Pre-plan a project’s future adaptive reuse, making it easy to convert a building’s use. This is particularly relevant for projects with relatively short term purposes, such as sales centers.

+       Build in as many passive and renewable systems as possible such as daylighting, natural ventilation, thermal mass, solar control/passive solar, photovoltaics, geoexchange systems, water-reuse systems, etc. This will not only save on energy and water it will make a building more resilient to power outages, energy price surges, peak demand charges and droughts and water shortages.

+       Make every project photovoltaic-ready. Renewable energy from photovoltaic systems will reach grid parity with grid electricity in the near future of the buildings we are designing today. Why not make a low cost, no carbon future available for our clients by orienting and massing their buildings correctly for solar access and maintaining a ready roof space for incorporation of a photovoltaic system?

The future of sustainable design is the future itself. How can this technique drive innovation and bring more value to your current or next project?

The Future is Bright Green

One of my favorite books is Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21^st Century. The book is edited by Alex Steffen, designed by Sagmeister Inc. and with an introduction by Bruce Sterling. With a cast like this you can’t go wrong. (Yes, you should Google these people.) One of the underlying themes from Worldchanging is the idea of the bright green future. The premise is that society’s current focus on sustainability and solving our mounting environmental, economic and social issues will lead to a new era of prosperity - hence we will change the world.

It’s not too difficult to connect the dots and understand that the role of the built environment is central to this bright green future. On one hand the built environment is a significant sustainable design challenge and opportunity because of the many impacts the built environment have on the environment, the economy and on our health and well-being. On the other hand the buildings we are designing right now will live in this future. What can they contribute in the long run and how do they help us invent a bright green future?

 

Sustainable design is not just smart design that reduces environmental impacts while enhancing social and economic benefits. Although this is important, sustainable design is also about creating a sustainable future. With the built environment the long term view is as important as a design’s energy consumption model and metrics. The question now goes beyond just how much energy or water might be saved to questions about how the building will stay relevant and valuable in a rapidly changing future.

Stewart Brand began to tackle this issue with his book, How Buildings Learn. Perhaps the most compelling chapter is Chapter 11: The Scenario-buffered Building, where he begins to outline how architects and planners can use scenario planning to strategically consider the future in the planning and designing of the built environment and create “scenario-buffered buildings”. Steward Brand is now moved to consulting for organizations about the future as part of the Global Business Network.

Scenario planning – or future-mapping, as RNL is coining it- is a powerful tool and when taken in the context of sustainable design for the built environment it adds an important element that is missing in much of the industry’s dialogue on sustainable design. After all, sustainability is about creating an abundant future within the limits of one earth. Our designs should be creating that bright green future.

Look for more on future-mapping and its strategic application within the Design for One Earth framework in the coming weeks.

Design is an act of optimism

Design for One Earth is not a singular solution. It’s a journey toward a sustainable future through the design of the built environment.  The stakes are high and the need for design innovation is pressing. Innovation requires thinking big, setting significant sustainability goals and following a holistic systems thinking approach. Designing a bright green future requires a strong sense of optimism and the results can be extraordinary. As the saying goes – “the best way to predict the future is to invent it”.

 

Design for One Earth has four basic steps.

1. Awareness - Understand the scope and scale of the problems at deeper levels– both locally and globally.
2. Measure - Measure the global and local implications of the problem and set quantifiable goals.
3. Implement - Design, plan and implement solutions to meet one earth sustainability goals.
4. Improve - Celebrate implemented solutions that generate improvements to our built environment. Learn from successes and failures to improve future solutions.

 

The Design for One Earth framework encourages you to ask a different series of questions about design objectives for sustainability. In the current model we set performance goals for design as a percent reduction than our current baseline consumption (i.e. 40% water use reduction or 30% energy use reduction). Although this approach has value because it can set very tangible goals it doesn’t ask the bigger question which is how do you set a performance goal for a design based on the carrying capacity of the earth considering both global and local resources. The Design for One Earth approach also asks you to balance social and economic concerns with important environmental measures. One Earth is the Ultimate Design Metric.

 

The Design for One Earth framework encourages holistic design through systems thinking. System thinking provides better solutions by looking at whole systems and their interconnections rather than addressing individual design components separately. There are many design systems that flow through the built environment such as energy, water, air, materials, waste, transportation, land and food. Consider the flow of all systems through a built environment and work to close system loops and optimize and integrate all systems. Think of the built environment as an ecosystem.

 

The built environment must also be a great place for people. Design of the built environment can provide tremendous value. It can generate savings through reductions in energy and other resource use, but it can also positively impact health, well-being and happiness. Design can create places where people want to live, work and play – places that are beautiful, enduring and cherished over time. Design for One Earth can create the infrastructure for a new improved lifestyle with tremendous quality of live and low resource use. Can we live abundantly within the limits of one earth?

Design for One Earth

Can we live abundantly within the limits of one earth?

Can we offer future generations an opportunity for an even better life than ours?

Humanity as a whole is using the planet’s resources as if we had 1.3 earths. If we all lived like Americans do we would be using the resources of five earths. RNL believes the design of the built environment not only has the capacity, but also the responsibility to build a new world with a bright green future. Creating sustainable built environments requires optimizing the triple bottom line of environmental, economic and social priorities.

Design for One Earth is a design framework that expands of the triple bottom line by identifying twelve values and measures that define sustainable lifestyles and built environments at all scales. The goal is to use the Design for One Earth values as a guide for a design that expresses our clients’ values and desires resulting in environments that enhance their long term prosperity and respects the limited resources of one earth.

The Design for One Earth Values:

1. Zero Energy – Balance energy use and renewable energy supply so that the built environment consumes net zero fossil fuel energy. Implement energy efficiency, demand side reduction, on-site renewable energy and distributed and grid-wide renewable energy.
2. Carbon Neutral – Eliminate GHG emissions from the combustion of fossil fuel related to all human activities.
3. Water Balance - Balance water use so that so that needs can be satisfied without depleting the renewable freshwater resources available. Implement water use reduction in buildings and landscaping, rainwater catchment, and water reuse.
4. Materials Balance – Balance material use so that needs can be satisfied without depleting renewable natural resources. Incorporate durability, longevity, adaptability so that materials can serve a long life. Incorporate design for disassembly so that materials can be captured and diverted at the end of their service life. Incorporate reused, repurposed and recycled materials. Optimize local and global resources in material choices.
5. Zero Waste – Eliminate waste. Waste is an indicator of inefficiency and a sign of a design failure. Close the loop on material cycles so that all “waste” is diverted for re-use, new use, recycling or composting rather than disposal. Eliminate pollutants and toxicants in all forms.
6. Land Balance – Balance land use decisions to preserve ecosystems, promote ecosystem services, and develop new habitat and landscaped open space. Consider land use and landscaping at all scales including large open space habitats, roof top gardens and interior plants. Globally, agriculture has a significant impact on greenhouse emissions, water use, health and the economy. Consider food production within the built environment.
7. Prosperity – Prosperity is an inclusive economic measure that considers personal wealth, natural capital and long term value. Create sustainable places that provide opportunities and allow everyone to prosper.
8. Resilience – Resilience is part stability and part adaptability. It is a quality that promotes long term viability and the ability to weather adversity. Create built environments that hold long term value, are adaptable and enduring.
9. Visionary – Visionary is the use of innovation to create new value. Visionary is the use of foresight to invest for the future but also to invent the future.
10. Health – Health is the foundation of life. Health is measured at both the public and personal level and can be greatly influenced by decisions and systems at many scales. Promote health in the built environment through design for active living and through access to quality air, daylight and thermal comfort. Eliminate toxicants and chemicals that impede health.
11. Beauty – Beauty is an intrinsic part of nature and humanity. It is a basic human need and not a luxury or elitist concept. Promote beauty in the built environment and provide for a connection to nature and natural beauty.
12. Happiness – Happiness is the sum of many things, but an important measure of quality of life. Happiness is tied to many things including the built environment. Create environments that promote happiness, well-being, productivity and delight.