Thoughts on a Sustainable Built Environment

2020 is challenging the world as we know it. We have seen our country burn, flood, and now we are faced with a world spread pandemic. It has been a year filled with worry and fear, and we have not yet reached the month of April. This is prompting us to take action towards a more sustainable tomorrow. The Built Environment plays a central role in the challenges of population growth and climate change. To quote Architects Declare Australia, there is a critical need to “strengthen work practices to create architecture and urbanism that has a more positive impact on the world around us”. We want to see an increased awareness towards new methods of practice, a celebration of sustainable innovations, and an overall market shift for more intelligent environmentally friendly buildings. As part of the industry, we celebrate sustainable design and find inspiration in how fellow architects have developed new ways of approaching the field. One Central Park in Sydney is a great example of just that. The mixed-use building holds a low-carbon natural gas power plant supplying workers and residents with thermal energy. The two-megawatt plant could reduce greenhouse emissions equivalent to removing 2,500 cars off the roads every year for 25 years. A second example of award-winning sustainable architecture is the Council House 2. The office building in Melbourne is designed to conserve water and energy, reflecting the planet’s ecology, and by doing so creating a better environment for all its occupants. We will be following the shift towards a more sustainable tomorrow with excitement and hope. As architects we admire creative and innovative ways of approaching the field, as residents of this planet we crave solutions that will ensure the well being of our next generations.

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Source: “Australian Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency” Architects Declare Australia, https://au.architectsdeclare.com/. Accessed 17 March 2020.