Design for One Earth

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.

How will Energy Drive Building in the Future?

We have seen the future of buildings in an energy driven world. Perhaps more accurately we have seen pieces of potential futures. One possible future is DOE/NREL’s new Research Support Facilities (RSF) project for the NREL campus. This project by the design-build of Haselden and RNL’s is designed to be a prototype for the future of zero energy buildings. Everyone involved on the NREL RSF has learned a great deal from this project and we have been asked by the Department of Energy to share these lessons. One of the Department of Energy’s goals is to make zero energy commercial buildings market viable by 2025.

 

The NREL RSF project shows a zero energy building future where buildings are optimized for multiple climate responsive passive strategies, and then complemented by very efficient mechanical and electrical systems – extending even into the design of the data center and the IT system for the building. This low energy building approach lends itself well to on-site renewable energy applications, which can then be sized as small as possible to offset the energy needs of the building. This approach can yield projects with significantly better energy and carbon reduction results than typical ENERGY STAR, LEED or 2030 Challenge benchmarks. In fact, this approach may even get us to the end game of the 2030 Challenge today.

The NREL RSF project has a very simple and direct form that is driven by energy. It is not very different from common building forms pre-dating air conditioning. The NREL RSF is a letter shaped building – in this case an “H”. This gives the building two long thin wings or “fingers” with the proper solar orientation and a connecting spine. The building was designed in section first to ensure proper daylighting, natural ventilation, thermal mass, transpired solar collection, and photovoltaic energy generation.

In addition to architecture, RNL has a strong urban design and master planning practice. We deal with the same energy and form issues at this scale. A unique emerging benefit of this is the ability to test new architectural and urban design ideas within a master plan. While our master planning approach addresses important sustainability issues such as land use, orientation, solar access, energy and water infrastructure, transportation, microclimates, pedestrian comfort and wind patterns – it doesn’t always have the scope to design the actual architecture. However, populating the urban plan with architecture helps it come to life. The architecture in these test beds is speculation – not unlike the speculative architecture and urban designs of sci-fi film sets. This provides an opportunity to speculate on new forms of energy driven architecture which leads to continued innovation. The speculative architecture on one of RNL’s recent sustainable city master plans in the UAE takes this idea of the “letter” or “finger” building into a more three dimensional, sculptural approach. The building becomes a vessel or body with more surfaces interacting passively with the environment.

 

There are many emerging design tools that will allow us to design more fluidly around energy. As BIM models become more energy model friendly we have quicker feedback on design decisions early in the process. New design tools are allowing us to automate the manipulation of form in direct response to energy. Tim Meador of RNL has been experimenting with this idea using Rhino 3-D modeling software with a Grasshopper algorithm plug-in using data from an Ecotect model. Surfaces can be scripted to respond to environmental data such as solar radiance which then can automate the free form depth of louver blades for shading or adjust the size of apertures for solar control.

The design of energy systems inside and outside our buildings will also be significantly different in the very near future. Starting on the inside, the occupants of a building have a significant impact on energy use. RNL is finding that in low energy buildings the plug and server loads account for more than half of all the energy use. This is a tremendous opportunity for improvements in occupant behavior, occupant energy feedback and green information technologies. If you have ridden in a Prius you understand the power of feedback on behavior. As you see your instantaneous MPG on the dashboard display you instinctively (or sometimes very purposively) make changes to your driving to move that MPG number up. The same technology is available in buildings.

Outside lies the electrical grid. We have all heard that it is antiquated and needs to be rebuilt, but apparently the grid is also dumb. Enter the smart grid. The idea is to run a communication signal on top of the electrical current on the same power line. With a smart grid the energy producer will have direct two-way communication with the energy consumers. This strategy reduces peak demands by managing energy use at the consumer level (demand side reduction). This opens up a world of possibilities including smart appliances, building energy interfaces, automation controls, better management of distributed renewable energy sources, better energy management for consumers, and better grid and equipment management for the utility. Xcel Energy is leading the way on smart grid technology and Boulder, Colorado is living the smart grid future now as one of the nation’s first smart grid cities.

How will all of these and other energy trends evolve to drive buildings in the future? One of my favorite truisms comes from a computer scientist named Alan Kay who said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”. We have the power to invent a clean low-energy sustainable future.

 

To see the visual slide show on this topic go to: http://www.slideshare.net/tomhootman/how-will-energy-drive-building-in-the-future

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.