For an ecological approach to architecture

conference proceedings on Ambiance Nantes, 2003

Theme of the workshop : theory on architectural and urban ambience, reference and referenciation Several works of research that we have conducted in our laboratory (CRESSON) have aimed at understanding the ambient milieu (among which sonic and optic environment) through one's experience. These works encourage us to consider an "ecological approach to architecture" which takes into account human, sensitive and social experience in situ. This approach is useful for a qualitative design of ambient environment in a sensitive and cultural way. It aims at identifying different types of referential situations through potential « formers » (« formants » in french) that characterise them and find their origin in perceptual ordinary experience. Standing close to what implies an architectural projection of space and built form, it could modify the cognitive attitude in design relatively to ambience. This approach gives importance to potentials of perception and action that an environment can afford to users and questions the criterias on which we can do specific physical measurments on qualitative dimensions. But it also questions the aesthetic criterias that are involved by active uses and the embodiement of « references » that guide architectural thinking. In a large definition, ecology is a multidisciplinary approach to the study of living systems, their environment, and the reciprocity that has evolved between the two. It leads to distinguish physical reality from a perceptual reality. Our analysis focuses on the active relation we can have when practicising the built structures and using its environmental potentials. Walking, sitting, talking, all our practices of architecture awake and use perceived ambient factors like sound, light and heat. Although many works show links between architectural spaces and social uses and teach us some important facts, the role of ambient factors is not clearly taken into account. Many works about environment psychology tend to define criterias based on assessment (good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, etc.) and effects on behaviors. Our approach does not aim at showing the effects of environment on judgments or behaviors (in that respect, it is not behaviorist). Rather we try to show the modalities by which the reciprocity between man and environment is experienced in different architectural forms in order to inflect projectual thinking. We are interested in following the questions :-how is perceived and structured an ambient environment, and how does it involve our action in every day life ?-how could knowledge on this issue inflect architectural and urban principles of conception and their references ?

IKSAD International Publishing House, 2023

The science of ecology is concerned with human-nature relations as well as the development of renewable and harmless energy sources. Especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, the damage caused to the ecosystem by human activities has made it necessary to search and research methods and ways of repairing as well as protecting the ecology. In today's world of high energy demand, the use of renewable clean energy, materials and technology is essential for the protection and restoration of the deteriorating ecosystem. In architecture, studies are carried out on ecological approaches in architectural design in order to ensure that construction activities are not against nature but in harmony with the ecosystem. Ecological approaches in architecture are addressed by different sources (design phase - production phase - use phase - post-use phase) under the main headings of resource conservation, environmental pollution control, climatic design, providing healthy conditions in interiors, structural waste management control, life cycle assessment (Tönük, 2001; Yılmaz, 2005; Williams & FAIA, 2007). In the structural sense, the concept of ecological approaches in architecture covers the size and function of the building, its relationship with the land, façade design (façade gaps and technology), material selection, and resource utilization. Ecological approaches in architecture also relate to concepts such as sustainability and smart designs and come up with concepts with different practices and scopes such as "eco-building, eco-cities, eco-tec cities, eco-design, eco village, eco campus, green ecological architecture...". In the 21st century, these design methods, which have become not only a necessity but also a trend and a marketing product, are taking their place in cities at micro and macro scales. Ecological approaches to cities and architecture have been developed by different disciplines in response to the urban problems that emerged due to the rapid construction after World War II. One of the important examples of these early studies is the work of Austrian painter and environmental activist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The artist intensely criticized the post-World War II urbanization and construction dominated by concrete, which developed in the context of rational architecture. The artist accused rational architecture of "cutting off man's relationship with nature, of being flat and artificial". In 1958, the artist revealed his ecological vision with the "Mouldiness Manifesto Against Rationalism In Architecture" and in the following years, he manifested his thoughts on ecological architecture with his demonstrations, speeches, models, drawings and projects. Within the scope of this study, the ecology philosophy of Hundertwasser, who aims to protect ecology at every stage of his design (design - production - use - post-use) throughout his production life (1958-2000) and produces manifestos and architectural projects in this context, will be examined. Hundertwasser does not see ecological design as green integrated into the built environment. The artist produced with the vision that the built environment should be built together with the natural environment, not against it, and revealed his philosophy with his own methods and manifestos. In this study, Hundertwasser's ecological design approaches and proposals, which started with the Mouldiness Manifesto in 1958 and continued until his death, will be revealed, and the projections of his ecological philosophy in today's ecological architecture will be evaluated. The environmental vision and works of the artist, who argues that ecological architecture is a physical and psychological necessity, are inspiring for today's ecological design studies. This study will discuss the reflections of the artist's eco vision on the present day and open new horizons for future studies. The study was created by the literature review method. The main purpose of the study is to contribute to the ecological architecture literature, which is a current topic of discussion open to development, by reading the eco-philosophy of Hundertwasser, an eco-activist. The discussion within the scope of the research is important in today's world where ecological problems are increasing rapidly, yet solution proposals remain singular. In the first part of the study, Hundertwasser's ecological philosophy and ecological architectural approaches will be revealed by reading his manifestos, speeches, drawings and projects. In the second part, the reflections of the artist's philosophy in today's ecological architecture will be analyzed. Finally, the micro- and macro-scale architectural approaches to the artist's ecological philosophy will be discussed and evaluated by cross-referencing them with contemporary ecological approaches.

This paper is part of an on-going research which attempts to reveal whether an analogy between ecology and architecture can benefit architectural design and if so, then in what ways. The analogy is done through an interpretation of three ecological principles which define the organization of living systems and then attempts to reveal how these three ecological principles may be implemented in architecture. The paper firstly describes the problem at hand and the need for a new model for architecture which may be better informed by the study of ecological systems. It then elaborates on the definition of the three ecological principles (fluctuations, stratification, and interdependence) which were chosen for investigation because they define the organization of living systems and therefore may be relevant as a basis for an analogy between ecology and architecture. The paper then presents brief examples of the current and possible further realization of these ecological principles in architecture.

A photograph of our studio at Riverside, taken shortly after we occupied it in 1990, shows only a handful of computers on the desks; today every single workstation has one. Computer screens have already replaced the traditional drawing board and some of the most fundamental aspects of our profession are changing as a result of this technology -in terms of working patterns, social relations, and our responses to environmental challenges. For example, many of the 'green' ideas that we explored in early projects are only now becoming a reality because of the new technologies at our disposal. This book is a survey of almost 40 years of work, a period of huge social and technological transformation. The rate of change is increasing rather than diminishing, and that can be seen reflected in the buildings and projects illustrated here. However, it is also possible to trace consistent themes and concerns throughout our work.

2004

By 'ecology' here I refer not just to the science of ecology (landscape ecology or cultural ecology) today, but also to the holistic, open-system and dynamic/process orientation the science ecology takes. By 'ecological' I mean a life-based, environment-oriented, evolution-directed reasoning and outlook. I like to therefore 3: Tulip Fields 4: Korean Wrapping Cloth So, as I talk about 'landscape' and 'design', both a 'Dutch subject' and Dutch strength, I like to talk more specifically about the unresolved tension between Modernity and Environmentalism. I believe that this tension needs to be explained and resolved to ensure Dutch leadership in 'integrative' and 'sustainable' environmental design. void here all ideological, fundamentalist, deterministic, conservative and even totalitarian characterization of the ecological approach to architecture and landscape architecture (as for instance in the case of rejection of 'foreign' or 'invasive' plants). Science is neutral, and art, as the aesthetician Herbert Read correctly noted, is a biological phenomenon. 3 (Cohen, ; Koh,1978). 4 Fitch, 1968 10: Attacking the modernist destruction of the ancient urban fabric of Paris, F.J. Batellier 11: Seoul, Korea 4. The cost of modernity, however, has been far more disastrous in East Asia than Europe, particularly in many rapidly industrializing nations without participatory democracy. This is in stark contrast to how the West has successfully assimilated Eastern philosophy and aesthetics in the beginning phase of Modern art and architecture towards the late 19 th century and early 20 th century. 5. Searching alternatives to Modernity, architects and landscape architects had engaged natural and social scientists in a lukewarm manner in the late 1960's and 1970's. Out of frustration of not getting out of their own 'box', and their inability to find a proper aesthetic language and design strategy, to go beyond Modernity, some of them went back to Modernist art with its self-referential and elitist attitudes. This is then the 'new modern', or 'soft modern'. 6. Without new language of design to effectively displace the old, in this case Modernity, even Ian McHarg, a pioneering proponent of the ecological approach in landscape architecture, was anti-architecture and anti-city, and favored the 'Romantic' English 'picturesque garden' and rustic,