UFFELEN, Ecological Architecture

1. Uffelen’s historic examples are very convincing. It is interesting how the author takes the reader through his text, citing examples from the ancient times till the present modern day. Today most designers around the world focus on sustainable principles as a conscious attempt to effectively utilize the available natural resources and in saving these resources for the future generations. The irony is that some of the basic principles such as using natural and locally available materials, orientation of the building, natural ventilation, etc are techniques which have been used since ancient times. These aspects are the basics every building should necessarily possess.

Also, this reminds me how the common people in India blindly believe in “vaastu shastra”(is an ancient doctrine which consists of precepts born out of a traditional view on how the laws of nature affect human dwellings. The designs are based on directional alignments. It used to be applied in Hindu Architecture, especially for Hindu temples and covers other domains, including vehicles, vessels, furniture, sculpture, paintings, etc. (Source : Wikipedia)) and demand these principles to be incorporated in their homes, trusting it would bring prosperity to their family. Hence, architects in India are forced to design according to the ‘vaastu’ principles inorder to satisfy the client and to make a living, without really looking at the where these principles originated from, its purpose and fail to explain to the clients how it sometimes does not suit the site context.

 

2. In my opinion, US might not be at the zenith in setting sustainability as a priority but it is definitely progressing compared to other countries in the world. The architecture schools in US play an important role in imparting knowledge on sustainable principles. During my research, while applying to graduate schools, I found high number of schools in the US that focuses on sustainable principles than schools in other countries. There are more schools in the US setting sustainability as a priority than in any other country which was also one of the reasons for me to choose US as the destination to pursue my masters.

Most sustainable buildings have high costs of construction/installation initially, though in the long run they may actually produce the desired results and reduce the running/maintenance costs. It is the client, who makes the choice if they are willing to invest the initial capital in a sustainable building. In my opinion, it is the responsibility of every architect to ensure that the building and building materials/technologies used responds to the site context and follows basic principles such as ventilation, orientation etc and not just merely looking at the aesthetics.

– Srivarshini