The True Value of Our Environment

“The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocks that produce them are critical to the functioning of the Earth’s life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent part of the total economic value of the planet. We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biospehere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US $16-54 trillion per year.” (Costanza)

Aside from the absolutely staggering sum of money Costanza and his colleagues estimated above, a statement such as this calls into question shortsighted decisions which heavily impact the environment for the sake of financial gain. The problem here lies in the fact that given, for example, in an investment enterprise such as harvesting lumber in the Amazon, there is real and often quite considerable financial gain for those involved with selling this lumber while the human and other living inhabitants of our biosphere must pay the price. All too often there is a disconnect between those directly involved in deforestation and the remaining population who inadvertently creates the incentive and pressure to produce cheep lumber. Further propagating this negative feedback loop is the condition in which that small group of individuals benefiting from the sale of lumber is naturally incentivized to propagate and continue their fortunes and is in turn given the power to do so by their profits. In a perverse way it is easy to place blame on any one industry like forestry, oil, natural gas fracking or coal energy but, as with the ultimate placement of the costs, the blame rests fully on us all. In the end these environmentally destructive industries only act as representatives of their constituency.

What is interesting however is the implications of the empirical evidence Costanza and his colleagues presents in appraising the monetary worth of the natural environment. It would be easy to discredit such practice as impossible or unwise but Costanza argues that we make decisions about the value of things such as nature’s aesthetic worth and the value of human life everyday. He uses this tactic to place monetary values on natural capital and ecosystem services in order to uncover the true cost of nature’s exploitation. While largely incomplete, these data can help us estimate thresholds at which the true costs of our resource extraction overcomes their benefits in the only language that can be understood across any political boundary and social status; money.

As a final note,

I would like to propose a future most grizzly. Imagine a scenario in which we superseded our means as a species and created a catastrophic crash in the environmental systems on which we rely. As any good post-apocalyptic novel would tell you this is not too hard to imagine… but perhaps that, is not the scary part. What if we, being the incredibly resilient and resourceful creatures that we are, survived this crash and implemented technology to create a completely artificial support system in which every once-living factor on which we once relied upon was replaced by machines. Given the human determination to survive and our unprecedented resourcefulness, the scariest part about such a scenario is its daunting plausibility and the fact that such a state could ultimately become: SUSTAINABLE…

Sources:

Costanza, Robert. “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital.” Nature. 1997.

Assignment #5: Desigining the Luminous Environment

In constructing two different rooms with respect to two very different programs for their interior lighting conditions I first looked at the type of experience I wanted to create in each space. The quality, rather than the quantity, of light took a roll of greatest importance.

The Band Practice-Room

Band Practice-room Lighting Conditions

In this room the focus was placed primarily on creating a well-lit environment throughout the day while limiting harsh shadows or glare which would make reading sheet music difficult. At the same time I wanted to create a space that would be inspiring and comfortable for those who would inhabit and utilize the room. A source of inspiration came from the Christ of Light Cathedral which exemplifies beautiful lighting conditions that pervade the interior. To achieve a similar phenomenon my band practice room is fitted with a ceiling of curved louvers which reflect and refract incoming southern light, directed towards the back wall but throughout the year will not fall directly on the floor space. In addition, I included a wall of louver elements of a similar geometry intended to capture afternoon light. Finally the second story window directs natural light to fill the interior.

Christ Of Light Cathedral

The Chapel of Light

This temporal chapel is intended to provide a non-denominational space of meditation and prayer suspended from the rest of the world outside. I primarily achieved this by providing a high contrast condition between the cave-like interior and the brilliantly lit light wells. These become an object in themselves as light bounces through a curved back wall and floods out over an empty alter which can be used to place any relics or religious artifacts or worship. In addition there are two light slits along the edges of the walls and ceiling bathing the walls in near-parallel, highly textured light. There is also a space above the chapel that could be vegetated and use as a meditation garden which would dapple the incoming light creating a truly inspiring, ephemeral space.

Chapel Lighting Conditions

Photo credits:

Christ Of Light Cathedral: http://www.architecture-buildings.com/post/the-cathedral-of-christ-the-light-in-oakland-california-by-som/

Lighting: the good the bad and the shadowy

Desire for lighting

Much of Sherman’s lecture an the Dahl reading focused on lighting in technical terms and practical applications of windows and artificial lighting in architecture. However, it was Lam’s excerpt on lighting on human perception and experience that really caught my attention. Dahl points out:

During the day, we generally expect bright interior conditions, with wall and ceilings cheerfully illuminated, since they take the place of the sky and sunlit surroundings. At night , we expect the environment to be less bright, and luminance levels in the same space can be far below those appropriate during the daytime without making the space feel dark or generating feelings of gloom or sensory deprivation. Our eyes adapt to gradually changing luminous conditions during the cycle of the day and night, so that at night a candlelit room may be perceived as being brightly illuminated. The apparent brightness is high, even though the measured brightness or luminance is very low. (Dahl)

He considers current lighting standard codes developed by lighting engineers as fix-all solutions as blind to the truth that lighting plays a crucial part in the way we perceive an environment. He argues, instead, for quality over quantity. Without this in mind, the indiscriminate implementation of light as an end in of itself leads all to often to uncomfortably over-lit artificial spaces (ie; a 70s office building or Campbell Hall). It’s important to remember that we can use light to our advantage, intentionally manipulating it in all its aspects to create an environment and sensorial experience architecture alone cannot achieve.

Theater stage lighting

Clever implementation of lighting may be used consciously to create an experience or mood. Nowhere is this better seen than in the case of movies and theater. Color, intensity, direction and spread of light produces in the audience feelings of danger, joy, sadness or mystery. More to the point, lights have the capacity to focus the viewers’ attention on particular elements over others. That’s why the theater seating is always dark–we are allowed to be completely absorbed by the performance, forgetting our place and moment as spectator.

Unintended side effects of modern lighting

A common thread in my developing thought process fostered by this class has been to look at consequences of our modern civilization in contrast to the biological animals, we as humans, have been developing from before the advent of technology (in this instance, as early as agriculture). In the case of lighting, I have wondered how a relatively recent saturation of lighting has affected thousands of years of evolutionary body physiology. One interesting change is that of a disturbance of our earlier circadian sleep patterns. As I found in reading “The Myth of the Eight Hour Sleep” by Stephanie Hegarty, before the 17th century it was accepted fact that people slept in two segmented blocks; the first beginning about two hours after dawn followed by a two hour period of activity before a second sleep block. Virginia Tech historian Roger Ekirch found that during this period people often wrote, talked, contemplated dreams or had sex. So what happened to this delightful nocturnal reprise? “Ekirch found that references to the first and second sleep started to disappear during the late 17th Century… He attributes the initial shift to improvements in street lighting, domestic lighting and a surge in coffee houses – which were sometimes open all night. As the night became a place for legitimate activity and as that activity increased, the length of time people could dedicate to rest dwindled.” (Hegarty)

New York at night

The irony of this modern ailment resonates strongly with me as I lie in bed typing this very sentence well after midnight. I know, however that I am not alone, as the pressures and stress of the modern life affect nearly all of us (especially in the academic realm). But fortunately as we learn more about things like the effects of lighting on perception and biology we are armed with the ability to use this to our advantage and protect ourselves from its possible negative consequences. For instance, I have turned off one of my lights and kept the other indirect and in the warm spectrum to intentionally create an atmosphere of comfort and prepare my wary mind for sleep. Still, I can only imagine the long-term effects that have began to arise from the ever-lit mega city and the lamentable dwindling of visible starlight around them. We have entered an uncertain age in which too many children of the new millennium will grow up never knowing true darkness. Light pollution from millions of cars and street lights paint a picture of absolute obsession with artificial light that can be seen from outer space. Is this necessarily such a bad thing? If so, is there anything that can be done about it? Are we perhaps, too far gone?

Sources:

Hegarty, Stephanie. “The Myth of the Eight Hour Sleep.” BBC News Magazine. 22 February 2012. Web. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

Lam, William M. C. Perception and Lighting As Formgivers for Architecture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1977.

Photo credits:

“New York at night” http://www.webdesigndev.com/inspiration/fantastic-city-lights-at-night-photography

“Theater stage lighting” http://lighting-design-pictures.blogspot.com/2010/07/stage-lighting-design.html

Assignment #4: Design For Comfort

Dubai Crescent (Ergoform)

Curitiba Bus Stop in Brazil (Trendland)

To begin thinking about the design of the bus stop I did a simple internet search and came up with a handful of quite interesting and innovative bus stop precedents. The Dubai Crescent project shown to

the right installed a number of sealed glass and steel structures that use mechanical air conditioning to shelter waiting passengers from Dubai’s aggressive daytime heat. Given the relatively inconsequential environmental impact (especially compared to the city’s enormous malls and world’s largest indoor ski slope) I wouldn’t necessarily argue that the airconditioned

bus stops aren’t a practical and cheep solution to keep residents comfortable. But in the desert, which experiences huge daily temperature swings from hot days to cold nights, perhaps large heat sinks could have been utilized to smooth out the peaks.

In the case of the micro-climate around the Culbreth  Road bus stop extreme heat is not the primary obstacle to thermal comfort of temporary inhabitants, especially considering the bus stop’s peak usage will only be when school is in session and in the daytime and late afternoon hours.

The psychrometric charts reveal that cold winters will be a major design challenge. This is particularly difficult to overcome as passive heating techniques quickly loose efficacy below 50ºF. This leaves about 75% of the time outside the comfort zone during the winter. Its possible that I may have to consider the implementation of heat pumps for the particularly brutal cold nights when fellow a-schoolers are waiting to head home at 2am. The summer on the other hand will benefit from cooling via air circulation which a you can see from the wind rose diagrams below.

The sharp edge condition of the parking garage in conjunction with the railroad and grounds lawn clearings funnel accelerated winds straight through the site. In both the summer and winter months the prevailing winds are primarily coming from the south-south west with more violent and erratic speed spikes occurring in the winter.

Bus Stop Design:

My intervention will incorporate various design features to expand the thermal comfort zone for waiting passengers. All design elements are passive; following the logic that it is-after all-just a bus stop and the 15 minute-or-so wait in a low traffic bus corridor does not justify the implementation of expensive measures such as photovoltaics or geothermal conditioning.

My aim was focused on keeping the thermal bubble warm in the winter and pleasant in the fall and spring under the assumption that in the hottest months of the summer, the primary users of the bus stop–students–wouldn’t be around. I also kept my primary focus on regulating wind flows and shading as these two factors play the largest role in determining the thermal conditions of this particular system.

Sources:

Foiret, Cyril. Creative Bus Stop Design. Trendland. http://trendland.com/creative-bus-stop-design/

Crescent: Dubai AC Bus Shelter. Ergoform: Think. Create. http://ergoform.in/urban-design/crescent-dubai-ac-bus-shelter/

[“You don’t get out much do you?”]

Oliver and I did a little urban exploring one day last week. Our travels took us to the far eastern edge of Charlottesville were we found the old mill building by the Rivanna. The architecture and weathered bricks were absolutely beautiful in the Golden hour of the afternoon. We looked around for awhile and found what we presumed to be the water purification plant not too far away. At the time it was great to just enjoy the afternoon outside away from studio. But we still couldn’t help but to notice the single pane windows and radiators suspended from below the sawtooth windows (you can see them directly behind me). Not to mention the tall tapered smokestack and water tower. This just goes to show that the things we’re learning in lecture have very real applications outside of studio. We can’t get away from it!

Assignment #3: Part 2

Design Primer

Objectives

The goal of my primer is to utilize the traditional technologies of the passive cooling systems gleaned from the case study of stilt houses on Inle Lake in Central Burma to be used in the design of habitations in similar climates. These may include places such as the marshes of Florida and Louisiana or villages along the Amazon in South America. As you can see from the psychometric chart above, there is an overwhelming period of the year that – using traditional passive cooling systems – is still outside of the established range of comfort. The region is extremely humid and often very hot yet the people who live in the city of Yewnghew still manage to live prosperous lives. Though careful analysis I posit that it is because of the unique thermal c0nditions found above the water which the inhabitants’ architecture utilizes that they are able to remain comfortable year-round.

 Design Strategies in Two Seasons

The typology developed in Burma is unique in its capacity to accommodate for two markedly different seasonal climates. The first is that of the dry season, which is (despite its name) very humid and consistently hot and sunny. The monsoon season on the other hand is characterized by constant steady rain and often strong winds. The housing in this region and, more specifically, above the waters of the Inle Lake evolved a unique set of design modifications over hundreds of years to adapt to this particular climate.

Dry Summer Season

(1a) the window design: The hinge of the window rotates upwards rather than outwards, protecting the dwelling from direct sunlight-or radiative heat
(1b) elevation above water-level: the stilt construction allows for evaporative cooling from passing winds greatly reducing the temperature directly below the house
(1c) window placement: windows placed on opposing faces of the structure allow for cross-ventilation

Monsoon Season

(2a) the thick natural fiber roof: doubles as a thermal and moisture insulator
(2b) the elevation above water: prevents the flooding that would otherwise occur inland
(2c) the and windows: open up shade the interior from the heavy rains while still providing for ventilation and light penetration.
(2d) [unmarked] the long overhangs and walkways: shield the interior from the strong relentless winds

Sources:

Climate Consultant.

Erik. “A Boat Tour of Inle Lake – Nyaungshwe, Burma.” Around This World. 22 Oct. 2013. Web. http://www.aroundthisworld.com/a-boat-tour-of-inle-lake-nyaungshwe-burma/

“Average weather and climate in Myanmar (Burma).” World Weather and Climate Information. 22 Oct. 2013. Web. http://www.weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine-in-Myanmar-Burma

Assignment #3: Part 1

Traditional Climate Control Techniques: Stilt-Houses on the Inle Lake of Central Burma

Climate

“Myanmar’s Climate can be described as tropical monsoon climate. It is characterized by strong monsoon influences, has a considerable amount of sun, a high rate of rainfall, and high humidity that makes it sometimes feel quite uncomfortable. The annual average temperature ranges from 22 degrees Celcius (72° Fahrenheit) to 27 degrees Celcius (81° Fahrenheit) year-round.” (World Weather…)

Experiencing dry and rainy seasons annually, the climate of Inle Lake is often hot and humid with alternating periods of intense sun and intense rain. With a low annual temperature of 72° F, the inhabitants of Central Burma strive almost exclusively for the loss of excess heat. As you will see below they succeed in doing so using nothing more than passive cooling systems.

Architectural Adaptations

The photo on the left was taken in the city of Yewnghew, home to its own traditional building typography of the stilt-house. (Click here to see more photos of Inle Lake stilt-houses.) Ultimately, this arose from its particular set of environmental circumstances and climactic conditions. The lake is fairly shallow and provides much of the villagers’ food in the form of hydroponic gardens. To adapt to the modestly formidable climate, inhabitants have built their dwellings above the water supported by long pillions into the lake bed. As you can see in the diagrams, this allows for greater air circulation beneath and through the structures as well as placing them well above the flood waters of the monsoon season.

The water of the lake provides for evaporative cooling as well as acting as a large heat sink, absorbing heat in the day and releasing it during the night. The pitched roofs with long overhangs – traditionally constructed of natural fibers – serve a dual role of diverting rain water during the rainy season and shading windows and walkways from direct sun in the dry season. This compensates for the negative drawback of no shade from trees above. An excellent view of the closed and open windows (the former blocking direct sun and the latter open to allow for air circulation) can be seen in the photo to the above. The building typology of the stilt house can be seen in examples across the globe but each is unique in its evolution around different climates and cultures.

Sources:

Climate Consultant.

Erik. “A Boat Tour of Inle Lake – Nyaungshwe, Burma.” Around This World. 22 Oct. 2013. Web. http://www.aroundthisworld.com/a-boat-tour-of-inle-lake-nyaungshwe-burma/

“Average weather and climate in Myanmar (Burma).” World Weather and Climate Information. 22 Oct. 2013. Web. http://www.weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine-in-Myanmar-Burma

“Even though developments in analyzing and simulating the interior environment have revealed the remarkable variability and transiency of that environment, we stubbornly cling to the belief that the envelope supersedes all – acting as a barrier to the exterior, container of the interior and determinant of all extant physical phenomena. Essentially, we privilege that which we know, that which we see, that which matches our image of a permanent and static architecture.” (Addington)

Thermal comfort has long been a driver in the way we think about design. Indeed, many would argue along the lines of the Dahl and Eva article “Hot and Cold,” that design as we know it only came about from the desire to control external thermal conditions. As we read in the Addington article, the 20th century saw the advent of HVAC technologies which were seen as the answer to the loss of efficiency due to optimal working environments. The rapid growth of large scale commercial and office buildings required constant, homeostatic conditions for the uninterrupted flow of business. This too came in response to alternating shifts in the way access to outdoor air was perceived. By the mid 20th century, the mantra “Build tight, Ventilate right.” took precedence over any ideas of outdoor ventilation and access to nature.

There has since been a radical response to this lingering line of thought. Biophilic architecture is not only designed with its ultimate impact on the environment in mind but also an increasing emphasis on the relationship between its inhabitants and the surrounding natural environment. The picture to the left is of a project completed in 2010 by Canadian architect Omer Arbel. The home is unique in that every interior room has a corresponding exterior room. The boundaries between these are intentionally implicit in some cases creating a quite stimulating condition of threshold ambiguity. Unlike the cases previously mentioned, this home challenges our idea of a definite thermal envelope. As noted in the readings architecture has long been thought of as the control of the external environment but it is projects like this that blur the lines between landscape and architecture and force us to think about the role of the built environment in an entirely new way.

To paraphrase Bill Sherman in one of his lectures, “The human body is a complex adaptive system and if it is never stressed its resiliency Is diminished over time.” As we’ve learned in lecture and in the readings our skin does not directly sense temperature but rather thermal gain or loss. What this means is that while shifts in the external thermal environment may result in slight discomfort we are rarely in any real danger of bodily harm so long as these shifts are not too drastic or for extended lengths of time. I refer to my previous week’s blog post in which I proposed an extension of our perceived acceptable comfort limits. To prove just how resilient the human body can be, just look at the case of a Dutch man who holds the Guinness World Record for being fully submersed in ice for 1 hour, 52 minutes and claims to enjoy the physical challenge of subjecting his body to extreme cold. (Sterling)  Though his external body temperature drops to degrees above freezing during his feats, his internal temperature remains constant. This, he offers, is achieved by conscious mental control of his autonomic nervous system (see the TEDx video here). Though he is quite obviously an extreme case, his story provides us with an interesting possibility. What would our world be like, as one could imagine in the case above, if our built environment were designed with little to no regard for thermal control? Or better yet–imagine, perhaps, the opposite; a world in which architectural design returned to focus on thermal and natural systems rather than the stifling hermetically sealed envelope of the past fifty years.

Sources:

 Addington, Michelle. “Contingent Behaviours.” Energies : New Material Boundaries. ed. Lally, Sean. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley , 2009.

Dahl, Torben and Kristensen T. Eva. “Hot and Cold.” Climate and Architecture. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010.

Sterling, Toby. “Wim Hof, Dutch ‘Iceman,’ Controls Body Through Meditation.” Huffington Post. 22 May 2011. Web.

“Unusual and Unique House Design: 23.2 House by Omer Arbel, Canada.” Interior Design 2014. 3 Sept. 2013. Web

Technology is not THE Answer

There was a point in Western history in which the nascent blooming technology of the 20th century was THE answer to all of our emerging problems and complications associated with an economy and industrial infrastructure that was rapidly expanding. We quickly learned to rely on technologies such as automobiles, artificial lighting, automated machinery and assembly line production. Today, the only thing that has changed is the flavor of technology; we have smartphones to watch our stocks and tell us what the weather is going to be like for the day, advanced computer algorithms to analyze and predict consumer buying trends, and of course there is always “an app for that”. But in an age in which our growing population is putting pressures on our environment and systems, can we rely on the next new thing to bail us out of impending troubles? As our class looked at psychometric charts and through the readings it became clear to me that we have largely lost sight of an incredible potential for positive change: ourselves.

In a sense, compared to the rest of the animal kingdom humans are unremarkable creatures . We are like any other organism in that we have the capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions. However, of recent we have become increasingly complacent to be totally dependent on technology to function in the modern world. One of the best examples of this that came up in class is our ability to change external thermal conditions. We hyper-regulate our external conditions, creating an artificial state conducive to consistent, perfect homeostasis. This is especially true of developed nations in which well lit,  air conditioned buildings are the norm. This has not always been the case as you can see from the graph to the left which outlines the past 2000 years of heating and cooling technologies.

The point I’m trying to make is that humans have existed for thousands of years depending on our natural bio-mechanisms to keep ourselves alive in a constantly changing thermal environment. To the right is a psychometric graph with a bounded box outlining our “comfort zone” relative to humidity and temperature. In the past half century this box has been getting smaller and smaller. I challenge that rather than changing our external environment we can change ourselves and our acceptable definition of “comfort” to displace some of the negative consequences of keeping our buildings within such a small window. We can suppress our urge to automatically start looking for some expensive new application of technology to make heating and cooling more efficient for the alternative of a sweater. Another example of human behavior change which could trump any technology can be found every time you use the restroom. It’s common practice to wash one’s hands after using the facility and proceed to either dry your hands on paper towels or use an electric hand dryer. In the US, the average person consumes about 749 pounds of paper every year, adding up to 187 billion pounds for the entire population. (Martin) One way we could make a dent in this waste would be to forego these two “technologies” altogether and simply use our trousers. A simple change in our behavior could cut out thousands of tons of unnecessary waste from our landfills from the paper towels, packaging of new hand dryers and paper towels and the hand dryers and dispensers themselves when they have come to the end of their lifespan and ultimately get thrown away. The simple solution is often the best.

In conclusion, we need to think of technology is not an ends but rather a means. What needs to happen is not an external change to technology but rather a change in the way we, as human, behave and expect. As David F. Nobel stated in the Lechner reading, “There are no technological promises, only human ones, and social progress must not be reduced to, or confused with, mere technological progress.” In the end technology is only as useful and efficient as the complete human system it is inserted within. Our cultural habit to look to technology as our first as our only solution to a problem as related in the Moe reading as the “Machine Mentality” should be shifted to a more  practical human mentality. Technology, therefore, should be thought of as AN answer rather than THE answer. 

Sources:

Lechner, Norbert. Heating, Cooling, Lighting : Design Methods for Architects. New York: Wiley, 1991.

Martin, Sam. “Paper Chase.” Ecology. 9 Oct. 2013. Web. http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/10/paper-chase/

Moe, Kiel. Thermally Active Surfaces In Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.

Related articles

• Technological progress does not automatically benefit everyone. (robotonomics.wordpress.com)

Assignment #2 Precident

The East Coast Greenway: www.greenway.org

The East Coast Greenway is the nation’s most ambitious long-distance urban trail project.   By connecting existing and planned shared-use trails, a continuous, traffic-free route is being formed, serving self-powered users of all abilities and ages. 3,000 miles long, the Greenway links Calais, Maine at the Canadian border with Key West, Florida. Alternate routes will add another 2,000 miles to the ECG trail system. (Greenway.org)

This project, started in November of 1991, provides hundreds of cities along the Atlantic shore region with an inviting place to experience nature and connect with other members of the  community. In addition to acting as a linear park, the Greenway provides those within access a safe route to commute, as the trail doesn’t run alongside street traffic. As for the composition of the trail, the website describes it as, “A linear park [that] will be entirely on public right-of-way, incorporating waterfront esplanades, park paths, abandoned railroad corridors, canal towpaths, and pathways along highway corridors.” Though it does not exclusively utilize converted rails as my project proposal did, the project informed my design by confirming that it would not fall into one of the biggest follies that ambitious public works projects often face: apathy. While the health benefits of trail use and exercise are widely publicized, this precedent provided me with the proof that the biggest driver in my proposed system change would likely work as the Greenway had. What it relied on most was the assumption that the public desire to use a long-distance trail network would be there in the first place.