On Ecology and Sustainability
 

Ecology offers a unique perspective on problem-solving, seeing the complexity of every process as a valuable asset. This ecological mindset greatly impacts our approach to climate change across all aspects of our work.

 

The most economical and eco-friendly building is the one you don’t build. In other words, sometimes, the best solution is to question the problem.  Like every relationship in life, defining what we want is the most important task for us architects and clients. Do we really need a project? 

 

Ian McHarg’s Design with Nature (1969) became the most influential book in ecological urbanism by simply suggesting to understand the costs of what we do by deeply investigating the context of our interventions (nature, a landscape, a brief, money, time, energy, people, and ecological processes) and finding the most efficient path to success. To destroy dunes to build a road is a myopic cost saving: in time, losing the dunes will cause the coast to erode and increase the risk of flooding. Understanding the dune’s ecology and service to the region allows us to refine our design: the road is relocated behind the dune and raised to provide additional flood protection. The higher initial cost is offset many tens of times in the following years. Designing with nature is the opposite to designing against nature; it is an invitation to finding the path of minimal effort. 

 

In a domestic project, Nature is the current situation: it might not be as complex as an entire region, but it has many of the same elements: geology, hydrology, a brief, money, time, and people. What changes is the order or the degree of resistance of each layer: at this scale, the existing building acquires enormous importance. It embeds so much money, energy, carbon, and time that it would be crazy not to put it at the centre of the conversation. Can we use the current situation to our advantage? Reflecting on the idea of not building unnecessarily, we aim to add purpose from the beginning. This means staying open to what we find on-site, appreciating what’s there, the patina of materials, and quirky spaces.

 

Conversation is the next keyword. According to Edgar Morin, Schon the best way to navigate wicked problems like a project, or climate change it to instigate and guide a conversation with the situation. The environment, the clients, the existing building, money, time, carbon dioxide, and regulations all sit at the table. The designer becomes a facilitator, a mentor, a source of new ideas, and a detective. The project is the outcome of these conversations.

 

Ecological thinking, a process to navigate complexity creatively, is the perfect tool to integrate the planet’s needs into design. Ecological design connects discrete, small projects to wider contexts. By embracing its principles, we inevitably face the shortcomings of regulations and policies. We and our clients inevitably become activists, innovators and artists embedded in their time and place.

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Attention to waste management delivers cost savings and design opportunities. We’ve partnered with reclamation yards to salvage materials before construction begins. This not only saves our clients money but also reduces our environmental impact. 

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We’ve been avoiding new gas boiler installations to be kinder to the environment. In time, the accumulated knowledge brought us to think about ways to expand the reach of new, environmentally friendly technologies. So, we started a campaign and built a website, no-moregas.org, to help others find alternatives. We speak to government agencies and participate in the preparation of new reports that will lead to new policies.

 

Our projects become the case studies on which the new policies are written, us and our clients the initiators, activists and artists that gently fight for a better world, one home at a time.