Read the following information about sustainability, matching questions with the answers.

 

1) What is sustainability from an ecological point of view?

 

2) What is the definition of sustainability in the broad sense?

"What use is a sawmill without a forest?”

The dimensions of sustainability are often taken to be: environmental, social and economic, known as the "three pillars".

 

 

3) What is important for humans to live sustainably?

 

4) What is necessary to avoid depleting of natural resources?

Sustainability is the ability to maintain a certain process or state. It is now most frequently used in connection with biological and human systems.

"to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

 

 

5) Since when has the idea of sustainability been reconsidered?

 

6) What is a widely accepted definition of sustainability?

Since the 1980s, the idea of human sustainability has become increasingly associated with the integration of economic, social and environmental spheres.

Sustainability can be defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity and productivity into the future.

 

 

7) What are the three pillars of sustainability?

For humans to live sustainably, the Earth's resources must be used at a rate at which they can be replenished.

An unprecedented collective effort is needed to return human use of natural resources to within sustainable limits

 

 

8) What question illustrates the main idea of sustainability?

 

Now look at the two diagrams and try to explain their meaning.

 

1. Which diagram represents the three pillars of sustainable development?

2. Which of them shows economy and society bounded by the environment?

3. Read the following explanation and decide which of the two diagrams it describes:

The economy is, in the first instance, a subsystem of human society which is itself, in the second instance, a subsystem of the totality of life on Earth. And no subsystem can expand beyond the capacity of the total system of which it is a part.

4. Which diagram do you think expresses the idea of sustainability better?

Reading task A

Read the construction credo of eco-architects engaged in sustainable construction and comment on it. Do you share it? Which part has impressed you most?

 

2. Now read the text trying to grasp the idea of sustainability. Make sure you know these words:

 

Sensitive outline

Trigger halt

Imply holistic

Flexibility life span

Impact concern

Augment commitment

Spirits precious

Convention distinguish

Challenge anticipate

Witness evolve

 

Sustainability

 

“Our work embraces infrastructure, architecture and product design.

We design by challenging – by asking the right questions.

We believe the quality of our surroundings can lift the quality of our lives.

Our work ranges from new buildings to intervention within old structures.

We work from the scale of the airport down to the detail of a door handle.

We are guided by sensitivity to the culture and climate of place.”

Norman Foster

 

While architects cannot solve all the world’s ecological problems, they can design energy efficient, socially responsible buildings and they can influence transport patterns through urban planning. Importantly, sustainability also implies a way of building that is sensitive to its location and the culture that has shaped it. Although architects work on a scale unimaginable 40 years ago, sustainability is an issue that has driven the work of the practice since the early days and continues to inform what we do today. It is a thread that runs through from the very beginning to the present and on into the future.

Sustainability is a word that has become fashionable over the last decade. However, sustainability is not a matter of fashion, but survival. The United Nations, in its latest Global Environmental Outlook, outlined a series of possible environmental scenarios for the next thirty years. At worst, it foresaw crises triggered by increasing water shortages, global warming and pollution. It suggested that these trends might be slowed, but only if nations work together to address radically the global consumption of natural resources and energy, and to halt man’s degradation of the environment.

Sustainability requires us to think holistically. The location and function of a building; its flexibility and life span; its orientation, form and structure; its heating and ventilation systems and the materials used; together impact upon the amount of energy required to build and maintain it, and travel to and from it. Only by finding new solutions to these problems can we create sustainable forms of building for the future.

The best architecture comes from a synthesis of all the elements that separately comprise and inform the character of a building: the structure that holds it up; the services that allow it to function; its ecology; the quality of natural light; the symbolism of the form; the relationship of the building to the skyline or the streetscape; the way you move through or around it; and last but not least its ability to lift the spirits. This holistic approach is augmented by a strong commitment to the clients and also to the public domain and the many users involved. A high degree of personal service, coupled with respect for the precious resources of cost and time, therefore characterizes the client relationships.

Eco-architects work in the spirit of enquiry, challenging preconceptions and testing conventions. The process of ‘reinvention’ distinguishes all of their work – past and present – and rests on a duty to design well and to design responsibly – whether that is at the scale of an airport or a door handle. The last decades have witnessed key shifts in public attitudes to ecology and energy consumption. Architects have always anticipated these trends, pioneering design solutions that use totally renewable sources of energy and offer dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions. Environmental awareness is an integral part of the practice’s culture as it evolves to meet the challenges of the next years.

 

3. Answer the following questions:

 

1. How do you understand the way of building "sensitive to its location and the culture that has shaped it”?

2. What is the linking element of the past, present and future in building?

3. Can you explain what it means “to think holistically”?

4. What process distinguishes the work of an eco-architect?

5. What is the essence of this process?

6. What changes took place in our society in the last decades?

7. Why is environmental awareness called “an integral part of the practice’s culture”?

 

4. According to the text what are the constituent parts of the best architecture? Discuss each of them in pairs. Put them into the order of importance from your point of view. Make use of the following conversational formulas:

 

To my mind…

In my opinion…

As for me…

If you ask me…

As I see it…

I’d like to point out that…

I can’t but mention …

Reading task B